Free Disk Imaging Software?

[Jutsu]

Hey guys, I am looking to update to SP3 however I want to create backup images of my computers before I do. I was wondering if any of you can recommend Disk Imaging software will allow me to backup and restore a hard drive. I have done Google searches and haven't found anything promising and I don't want to buy a copy of Ghost, True Image Home/Ent, or Retrospect

Thanks
Jutsu

 

[pxc]

You could use Clonezilla if you have a second computer to run TFTP on.

 

[Crotan]

Take a look at Seagate DiscWizard, it's powered by Acronis does a great job never had any problems from xp to Vista 64bit. It has an automatic and manual mode. It can resize the image to fit a larger hardrive, not sure on shrinking but either way take a look

What I use to clone and backup every time. There are various other solutions out there and im sure others will point them out as they stumble across the thread

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

 

[Joe Average]

If you have a Maxtor or Seagate drive, the software for those (MaxBlast or SeaTools) will have a stripped down version of Acronis True Image as part of the toolset - but they only function if you have a Maxtor or Seagate drive in your system, at least one.

If you want some free imaging software that can work with any drive, there seems to be only one choice these days: DriveImage XML. I'm a big fan/user of True Image (have been since before it was even a publicly known product) so I can't vouch for the reliability or usability of DriveImage XML - all I can say is that I see it mentioned more all the time, and it's always been positive.

For what it's worth, you could do a lot worse than spend $40 for Acronis True Image, honestly. It does so much and is so useful I can't imagine not recommending it more than pretty much any other software product I have used over the past 30 years. It truly is a lifesaver unlike most anything else.

 

[Crotan]

If you have a Maxtor or Seagate drive, the software for those (MaxBlast or SeaTools) will have a stripped down version of Acronis True Image as part of the toolset - but they only function if you have a Maxtor or Seagate drive in your system, at least one.

Incase there is any misunderstanding, SeaTools is something different than Seagate DiscWizard which works with any brand hard drive as long as you have at least one seagate or maxtor drive, though its downside is that it is intended for full hard drive imaging where the destination will be completely imaged so anything on the destination drive will be overwritten. Not to mention the GUI isn't hard on the eyes like most cloning software out there. Of course it is a stripped down version of Acronis and buying the full version would be ideal.