DRIVING IMAGING--
ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
HARD DRIVE IMAGING/BACKUP IN GENERAL
"Hard drive imaging" and "hard drive backup" are used synonymously. They refer to the process of using software and/or hardware to back up an entire hard drive. You do these backups at various points in time. For example, I back up my home computer every 30 days using both "Acronis True Image Home 2010" and "Clonezilla" to maximize my chances of recovering from unforeseen problems such as hard drive failures or non-recoverable bugs in the constant barrage of updates that I get from Microsoft.
After installing your backup software. you have to use it to make a bootable "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive, if your backup software normally runs in Windows. If it runs from a bootable LiveCD anyway, such as Clonezilla, you will not have to do this.
If you back up or image your computers' main hard drive (the hard drive that has the Windows directory) at regular time intervals like I do, the series of backups (also called "images" or "archives") acts like a "time machine" when you encounter problems with your computer. Such a series of backups (or "images") is a more reliable way of getting your computer back to an earlier point in time than using the "System Restore" feature of Windows which only backs up only some of the files of your main hard drive. To do "hard drive imaging", you have to have some "imaging software" for doing it and your have to have a separate hard drive or partition (a hard drive or partition that is not the one that the Windows directory resides on) to store the backup files onto. Your software options include commercial, not-free software like "Acronis True Image Home 2010", almost-free software like Seagate's "DiscWizard" or Maxtor's "Maxblast 5", and free software such as "Clonezilla".
If and when your Windows hard drive fails or Windows has some major problems and it's "System Restore" feature does not resolve the problem, you boot your computer with the "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive (that you have to use your "imaging software" to create prior to the catastrophic event) to restore your Windows hard drive. During this restore operation, the backup software runs from your "Rescue Media" and it reads the backup "image files" that you created to prior to the catastrophic event.
To basic procedure for backing up or "imaging" a Windows hard drive is as follows:
If the "imaging software" is a Windows application, install it as a Windows application.
If the "imaging software" runs from a bootable Linux LiveCD, boot up your computer with it.
Use the "imaging software" to make at least one "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive.
Save this "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive in a safe place--you will need it if and when you need to "restore" your W
Periodically (weekly, monthly, or bi-montly) use the "imaging software" to back up ("image") your Windows hard drive. This process creates a set of backup files that is also called an "image". This "image" will reside on a drive that is not your Windows hard drive.
Save these "images" for possible future use.
The basic procedure for restoring a Windows hard drive from a previously-created "image" is as follows:
Insert the "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive into your computer.
If it is not already attached to your computer, attach the hard drive where the "image" files are located to your computer (by means of an IDE cable, a USB cable, a Firewire cable, an eSATA cable, a SCSI cable, a PC Card slot, or an ExpressCard slot).
Power up your computer.
Your computer will boot up from the "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive.
Use the "restore" function of your "imaging software" and your previously-created set of backup files ("image") to restore the Windows hard drive of your computer.
ACRONIS.. AND OTHER COMMERCIAL DRIVE IMAGING SOFTWARE
"Acronis True Image Home 2010" ("Acronis..") is a commercial software application for backing up the hard drive of your computer. If you are a member of a computer user group, you can get a deeply discounted copy of this software from the "User Group Relations, Inc." Web site at
http://www.ugr.com/TrueImage.html
"UGR" stands for "User Group Relations" which is owned by Gene and Linda Barlow. They visit many computer users groups to demonstrate "Acronis.." and other software products.
"Acronis.." can be operated in two ways:
After you get it as a installation CD or as a software download, you have to install it into your Windows computer. (Yes, I know that there is a Linux version.) Then, you have to start "Acronis.." as a Windows application and make a bootable "Rescue Media" CD or a bootable "Rescue Media" USB flash drive device. Then, you can use the "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive to boot up your computer. This second mode of operation is actually Acronis' brand of GNU/Linux and they call it "standalone mode". At this point, you can run Acronis.. in two ways: As an applications inside Windows AND in "standalone mode" as a small Linux application.
Start by reading the wide range of reviews and ratings for "Acronis.." at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16832200008
and
A lot of end-users of "Acronis.." are very happy with it.
A lot of end-users of "Acronis.." hate it and think that it is no good.
For the sake of comparison, you will find a similar diversity of opinions for "Norton Ghost" at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832108346&Tpk=norton%20ghost
and
For any specific drive backup/imaging software application, whether it is free or not, you will find lots of folks who love it and lots of other folks who hate it. It depends on their personal experience with that particular software application.
So what is the true low-down on drive imaging software? It is difficult for the software developers to create a drive imaging product that works on everybody's computer. It is especially hard because Microsoft keeps "updating" the later versions of software and the software developers have to keep updating their software products to keep their drive imaging products functional for the wide range of hardware that they have to run on, in addition to the many and constant changes that Microsoft makes to their supported versions of Windows.
Liz and I have been using various versions of "Acronis.." for the past 9 years and we find that different versions of "Acronis.." run on different motherboard and hard drive combinations.
If you upgrade or replace your version of "Acronis.." with a more new-fangled one, please do not discard an earlier version. You might still need the older version.
We have also discovered that for any specific version of Acronis.. the "standalone" way of running Acronis from a "Rescue Media" CD or USB drive will work on more motherboard and hard drive combinations than when you run Acronis.. as an Windows application.
For example:
"Acronis True Image Home 10" is able to back up and restore for both a no-name computer that I purchased in 2002 and a Sony Vaio desktop tower that I purchased in 2004. Both of these computers have ASUS motherboards and both run "Windows XP Home".
"Acronis True Image Home 11" is able to back up and restore for the no-name computer that we purchased in 2002. "Acronis True Image Home 11" is unable to backup and restore the Sony Vaio desktop tower. "Acronis True Image Home 11" is able to back up a Sony VGN-series laptop.
"Acronis True Image Home 2009" is able to back up and restore the Sony Vaio desktop tower. "Acronis True Image Home 2009" is unable to backup the no-name computer.
"Acronis True Image Home 2009" is unable to back up and restore our Sony VGN-series laptop.
FREE DRIVE BACKUP/IMAGING SOFTWARE TO THE RESCUE !
There are now at least six free software applications for backing up/imaging hard drives:
Seagate's DiscWizard,
PING,
EASEUS Todo Backup for Windows
"PartImage" is one of the software applets inside "Clonezilla" so we did not consider it to be a separate "imaging" application. We found two good articles able free backup/imaging software. See
http://dottech.org/featured/6194
and
http://www.winvistaclub.com/d75.html
Note that these two writers rank the seven free software applications differently.
With seven alternatives, all with lots of folks on the Internet vouching for them, you probably should try these freebies before spending your hard-earned cash for Acronis..
Liz and I tested "DriveImage XML" about four months ago after reading some raves about it in MaximumPC magazine. We were successful in making backups and restores but we found it slow, hard to use, and the folders of backup files that it created were huge compared to the sets of backup "image" files that "Acronis.." and "Clonezilla" make.
In the past 30 days, Liz and I tested Seagate's DiscWizard, Maxtor's Maxblast and Clonezilla.
We were able to make successful backups and restores of our home computers with all of these products. Here is what we discovered:
SEAGATE'S "DISCWIZARD" AND MAXTOR'S "MAXBLAST 5"
Seagate's "DiscWizard" software and Maxtor's "MaxBlast 5" are both actually "Acronis True Image 11" minus a few insignificant "bells and whistles" features. You get get a free copy of Seagate's "DiscWizard" at Seagate's Web site or you can get a free copy of "MaxBlast 5" at Maxtor's Web site. Seagate and Maxtor are the same company anyway, with Maxtor operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate. Maxtor was acquired by Seagate in 2006.
SEAGATE'S "DISCWIZARD"
"DiscWizard" arrives in an incognito yellow-colored CD with any non-OEM Seagate hard drive that you buy. This yellow CD is modestly named "DISC UTILITY":
If you buy an OEM version of a Seagate hard drive and you do not get the incognito "DISC UTILITY" CD, you will find fine print on the top of the drive that suggests that you download "DiscWizard" from Seagate's Web site to assist you in installing the hard drive.
Even of you do not own a Seagate hard drive, you can still download a totally-free, fully-functional copy of "DiscWizard" at:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard.
The file that you download is called "DiscWizardSetup.en.exe".
If you double-click on this file, the installation of DiscWizard will start:
Note the "Powered by Acronis" logo near the lower right hand corner of the screen.
Click on "Install Seagate DiscWizard" to install it as a Windows application. DiscWizard's executable files will reside in newly-created folder called "Seagate" in C:\Program Files\.
MAXTOR'S "MAXBLAST 5"
A similar "MaxBlast 5" CD is bundled with every non-OEM Maxtor hard drive that you buy.
You can download a totally-free, fully-functional copy of "MaxBlast 5" at:
The file that you download is called "MaxBlastSetup.en.exe"
Double-click on it and the installation of "MaxBlast" will start:
Note the "Powered by Acronis" logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen.
Click on "Install Maxtor MaxBlast" to install it as a Windows application. MaxBlast's executable files will reside in newly-created folder called "Maxtor" in C:\Program Files\.
"DISCWIZARD" AND "MAXBLAST" WORKAROUND
After you install either "DiscWizard" or "MaxBlast 5" into your Windows computer, and you start either software application, it will check your computer for the presence of a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive. If a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive is not found, an unfriendly error message will be display. At this point, if you click on the "OK" button, the "DiscWizard" or "MaxBlast 5" will close and you might be might be tempted to believe that these two software packages will not operate on computers that do not have an least one Seagate or Maxtor hard drive installed on them.
A "Mike D" who works for Seagate's "Tech Support" department has posted a workaround to this hardware restriction. See
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=Discwizard&thread.id=264
Several other bloggers on the Web have stated that this workaround allows them to use "DiscWizard" and "MaxBlast 5" on the hard drives of manufacturers other than Seagate.
Still other bloggers on the Web have stated that when you make a bootable "Rescue Media" CD or USB drive with Seagate "DiscWizard" or "MaxBlast 5", you can then run "DiscWizard" in "Standalone mode" and the technology restriction screen is not displayed, even if your computer does not have a Maxtor or Seagate hard drive.
Yet another group of bloggers have stated that they just attached an external Seagate or Maxtor hard drive to any computer that they run "DiscWizard" or "MaxBlast 5" on in order to avoid dealing with the "technology restriction" screen.
COMPARISON OF "DISCWIZARD" AND "MAXBLAST 5" AND "ACRONIS.."
For a list of minor "bells and whistles" featues that are available in "Acronis True Image Home 11" but that are missing from Seagate's "DiscWizard", see "Answer 3" at
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090524093147AABaIuv
For a comparison of the various versions of "Acronis True Image Home..", see
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/comparison.html
You can an idea of what features "DiscWizard" and "MaxBlast 5" have by looking at the "..True Image Home 11" column.
For most of our readers, the differences between the "DiscWizard", "Maxblast 5", and the various versions of "Acronis.." will be trivial.
Seagate and their Maxtor subsidiary are the dominant manufacturers in the hard drive business. Their obviously close relationship with Acronis will help keep Acronis' "True Image Home" series of software and their "DiscWizard" and "MaxBlast 5" bundled software utilities compatible with Seagate and Maxtor hard drives. We as computer end users will benefit from this collaboration.
CLONEZILLA
Clonezilla is a software application that runs from a Linux-based "LiveCD". It does not run as an application from inside Windows. Like Acronis.., Clonezilla can back up hard drives that have been formated by any version of Windows, DOS, or Linux. It is actually a "super application" that attempts to back up your hard drive using one of four software applications: Partimage, ntfsclone, partclone, and dd.
By utilizing these four software applications, it maximizes the odds that it can successfully back up any combination of motherboard and hard drive that you present to it.
Clonezilla is only available as a Linux application inside several Linux-based LiveCDs that you have to boot up you computer with. According to Dennis McCormick of the "Tucson Computer Society", the best LiveCD for running Clonezilla from is the "Parted Magic 4.4" CD.
"PARTED MAGIC 4.4" LIVECD
You can download the ISO image file of the "Parted Magic" LiveCD from
http://partedmagic.com/download.html
Download the "Stable version", not the "Test version".
The file that you download is called "pmagic-4.4.iso.zip".
After you unzip it, you will have a file that is called "pmagic-4.4.iso".
Use your CD burning software to burn this iso file to a blank CD-R disk.
USING CLONEZILLA FOR BACKING UP AND RESTORING HARD DRIVES
For detailed step-by-step instructions on how to use Clonezilla to back up ("image") a hard drive, see
http://www.aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/CZ-backup.pdf
For detailed step-by-step instructions on how to use Clonezilla to restore a hard drive, see
http://www.aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/CZ-restore.pdf
To use Clonezilla to restore a hard drive, you use the "Parted Magic 4.4" LiveCD to
boot up your computer. Then you use a set of backup files (an "image") that you have previously created with Clonezilla (during a backup) to restore or "re-image" the hard drive.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN "CLONEZILLA" AND "ACRONIS.."
I have discovered 8 differences between "Clonezilla" and "Acronis True Image..":
DIFFERENCE 1:
Clonezilla is free but Acronis.. is not free.
DIFFERENCE 2:
Clonezilla uses a text-based "wizard" to step you through the various decisions you have to make before it can start its backup process. This text-based menu is harder to read and understand than the graphical screens that Acronis.. offers for stepping you through the same decision-making process.
DIFFERENCE 3:
For backing up (imaging) hard drives, Acronis can operate either inside Windows as a full-fledged Windows application or in "standalone mode" from the bootable "Rescue Media" CD or USB flash drive (which runs Acronis' customized version of GNU/Linux).
Clonezilla cannnot run from within Windows as a Windows application. Clonezilla has to operate from a LiveCD such as the "Parted Magic 4.4" LiveCD (which runs on a customized version of Slackware Linux).
DIFFERENCE 4:
Clonezilla does not let you locate and then restore a single file or folder from inside a set of backup files (an "image").
Acronis.. allows you to browse inside a backup set of files to locate and restore a single file or folder inside a set of backup files.
DIFFERENCE 5:
In the default "live wizard mode", when backing up a hard drive, Clonezilla can only put a set of backup files into an existing directory at the top-most "root" level of a hard drive.
Clonezilla is unable to put a set of backup files into a directory that is located "below" the "root" level of a hard drive.
In the default "live wizard mode", when restoring a hard drive, Clonezilla can only restore from a set of backup files that are located in a folder that is located at the root level of a hard drive. Clonezilla is unable to restore a hard drive from a set of backup files that is located below the root level of a hard drive.
For example, you cannot use Clonezilla's "live wizard mode" to a restore file set located at
D:\2009-09-21\backup1\
since the "backup1" folder is one level below the root level of the D: drive.
DIFFERENCE 6:
Acronis.. can restore from "image files" that are located anywhere on the hard drive where the "image files" are stored.
In the default "live wizard mode", when restoring a hard drive, Clonezilla can only read from a set of backup files that is located inside an existing directory at the root level of a hard drive.
Clonezille cannot restore a hard drive from a set of backup files that is located at a directory that is at a level that is below the root level of a hard drive. For example, you can restore a hard drive from a set of backup files (an "image") at
D:\2009-09-21\,
but you cannot use Clonezilla's "live wizard mode" to restore a hard drive from a set of backup files that is located at
D:\2009-09-21\backup1\
DIFFERENCE 7:
When backing up a Windows hard drive, Acronis.. can create a new folder on the hard drive where you want it to store the set of backup files (the "image"). In restore or backup screens where you are browsing for a disk or folder, Acronis offers you a "Create folder" button.
Clonezilla is unable to create a new folder on the hard drive where you want it to store the set of backup files. In the screens where you are asked to select the appropriate directory to restore from or to, Clonezilla only lets you choose from existing directories.For example, if you want your backup set of files to be located at D:\2009-09-21, you have to use another software program (such as "Windows Explorer" in Windows.. or "PCMan File Manager" in Linux) to create this directory before starting Clonezilla.
DIFFERENCE 8:
When you are selecting hard drive partitions to restore or backup in Acronis.., the label names of the partitions are displayed to help you select the desired hard drive partition.
When you are selecting hard drive partitions to restore to or backup in Clonezilla, the label names of the partitions are not displayed. You have to use other information to determine which hard drive you need to restore or backup. Clonezilla does display the manufacturer's model number and this information can help you distinguish between the different hard drives that are connected to your computer.
None of the 8 differences between Clonezilla and Acronis.. are "show stoppers". All involve feature that Clonezilla lacks that Acronis.. has. For users of Clonezilla, all of the 8 differences have workarounds. These workarounds have been incorporated into our above-mentioned instructions at the aztcs.org Web site.
To get a better idea of how Clonezilla works and how it differs from Acronis.., you can view the YouTube videos at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WGSMHWV73s
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA5JBgwdek8