backup software for vista

[mrweirdo]

Does anyone know of any software to do image backups of a vista install or main hard disk to multiple dvds besides the usual norton ghost?

I need to make some sort of a hard backup copy of my sisters new laptop before she goes to school which unfortunately has windows vista home on it so it doesn't have the fully featured windows backup utility that can do just that. Norton ghost requires the latest version for vista of which i don't. Not to mention dislike using in the first place.

What are some other options preferably free?

 

[bramdo]

Hi,

i've tried a lot of the but i really would recommend ghost 12. You can find it on ebay.co.uk for max 15 usd incl shipment and legal but without box.

regards
Bram

 

[Evander]

Some of the hard disc manufacturers give out free versions of imaging software. Seagate owners, for example, can look the the disc wizard setup. Another possibility is to just backup your hard disk with the trial version of a payware app, I remember all the apps that have full featured trial versions, but there's paragon drive copy, acronis trueimage, and others

 

[Schadenfroh]

Arconis True Image for free if you own a Seagate or Maxtor Hard Drive

 

[mrweirdo]

hrm thats a great idea actually. to bad my sisters comp is a toshiba hence toshiba drive but I have plenty of other systems around with toshiba drives in them. Those trials are sorta was i was hoping for as well. I use superduper on the which is similar allowing for image backups in the free mode. You get more advanced features if you buy it. Anyways time to look into this stuff

Oh the reason I don't care for norton ghost anymore is the fact that I used to use it in a tech job environment with many different machines a few years back. I swear about 30% of the pcs we tried to make backups for experienced some sort of corruption do to the softwares image making process. It was a real PITA so I'd like to stay well clear of it

 

[Skypix7]

I used Acronis TrueImage 11 which said it was doing good archives but when I went to restore to a new hard drive using the bootable CD, although it verified the archive was solid, it hung during the recover...after 4 hours. I'll not use it again, I'm looking for a simple cloning tool myself in case I have these kinds of problems in future and need to do a complete system restore.

 

[mechBgon]

Vista Business and Vista Ultimate also have a built-in image-based backup: find it here :camera: if you have either Business or Ultimate.

You must log on as an Administrator to make these backups, it's one of the few tasks you can't do from a Standard account.

 

[Blazer]

acronis works for me, i have it on all my PC's, have used it for years, with a home network setup using a cat5 i create all my images to a dedicated storage PC, most of the problems are related to using a usb backup device, i have seen those problems my self so i donot use a usb a device for my backups.

 

[Skypix7]

It seems to either work or be a pile of poo for a lot of people. I tried installing it on a competely fresh install of Vista 64 bit and it not only wouldn't complete the install (antivirus and internet were disabled to make sure there were no conflicts), but I couldn't do a manual uninstall per the companies step-by-step help document! Then it fried my master boot record, which I just restored with the Vista boot disc.

I took the Acronis cd and broke it in half out of frustration. Software shouldn't be so flaky with a brand new install on a powerful new system like mine (Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Quad 6600 cpu, 8GB DDR2 ram).

Glad it's working for you though. It's just not working for a lot of other people...the Acronis forum is loaded with all kinds of bizarre and arcane problems, and their tech support is very polite but they say things like "disable your antivirus each time before you make a backup." Which is ridiculous.