HD Cloning and backup options?

[AMD_Gamer]

im looking to make complete images of my harddrive and back it up to a backup server and then be able to clone it back to the drive it came from if something happens, what is the best program to do this?

also a bootable option would be good that you can boot into and then make a backup image of the drive and store it somewhere then if something happens boot with the program again and clone it back to the hardrive

the new versions of Acronis and Ghost do not support booting so what else is there that is freeware i could do this with?

[Old Hippie]

I have never used anything but Acronis, and it's never let me down.

the new versions of Acronis and Ghost do not support booting
This is rather confusing because.......

Acronis Bootable Rescue Media can be created in the following formats:

Floppy Disk
CD-R/RW
USB Flash Devices
.ISO File

Acronis Secure Zone is a special hidden partition which is used to store both your images and special boot loader named Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.


Or, am I missing something here?

[axan]

Acronis is very good and yes it's bootable you can make rescue cd/dvd and use that to backup/restore your data.

[AMD_Gamer]

sorry i should have done some more research, i will give it a try

any other programs that are free?

also what about something for linux based systems?

[axan]

acronis can do linux systems too but i think you need the workstation edition not home

[Old Hippie]

any other programs that are free?


That's a good question. I've been using Acronis so long, I've never thought about a free alternative.
I Googled this (http://www.hsinlin.com/software/backup.html), but I can't vouch for any of 'um.
If you're up for a little testing, I'll be more than happy to read the results!