backing up a hard drive image to an external dive ?

MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

backing up a hard drive image to an external dive ?

 

in my old IT days we used Norton.  that was over 20 years ago.  what the it kids usung these days??

 

thanks.

Comments

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,619

    I use Acronis True Image.  There are a couple of free ones but I haven't had luck with them.

  • LeatherGryphonLeatherGryphon Posts: 11,788

    I've used the Acronis True Image "free" version that came with my SSD but it is free because it is customized to only work if you have the manufacturer's brand of SSD in the system.  I think I bought an actual copy of Acronis True Image a year or two ago but have never used it.  Regardless, the "free" version did a very easy job of cloning my existing hard disk system drive to the new SSD and configuring the system parameters to boot from the new SSD instead of the old drive.  But I imagine that copying a hard drive image to an external drive would be done just as easily and quickly.   But I haven't actually done that exact thing so why are you still reading my comment?

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,961

    I used Acronis on my Win XP and Win 7 but it won't work on Win 10 - needs a new version which doesn't come for free. After I deleted all the pre-installed crap that came with my new Win 10 pro laptop, partitioned the HD (left SSD as C:), installed the essential stuff (like Bryce), I created a boot DVD (tools included in Win 10), and then used AOMEI Backupper Standard free to back up my installations on all partitions to a network drive (google "AOMEIBackupperStd" to find the web page).

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited May 2020

    thanks.

    have you successfully restore from acronis?

    reading some reviews on it.  my pc doesnt have dvd or cd drive.  would a restore boot from the bacj up external usb drive?? hopes

     

    if my hd crashed now would be beyond tears.  be national day of mourning 

    Post edited by Mistara on
  • galattgalatt Posts: 226
    edited May 2020

    I use AOMEI Backupper to regularly clone my drive to my external. I've never had any problems

    Post edited by galatt on
  • SlimerJSpudSlimerJSpud Posts: 1,456

    I use Clonezilla, which is free.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,619
    Mystiarra said:

    thanks.

    have you successfully restore from acronis?

    Yes, I've restored from ATI backups many times.

    Mystiarra said:

    reading some reviews on it.  my pc doesnt have dvd or cd drive.  would a restore boot from the bacj up external usb drive?? hopes

    Depends on your computer/BIOS.  If you can't boot from a rescue USB drive, ATI can clone a disk, then you just swap it for the dead one.

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165

    Use the windows 10 systems image tool for back ups  https://www.windowscentral.com/how-make-full-backup-windows-10

    or use a cloud service for $80+ a year like carbonite https://www.carbonite.com/

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,715
    edited May 2020

    I have Acronis, but prefer for just backups to use EaseUs.

    I have a disk image of C drive though, and use Windows own feature for that.

    Post edited by nicstt on
  • starionwolfstarionwolf Posts: 3,670
    edited May 2020

    just be aware that write speed might be slow especially if you have an old computer with USB 2.0 ports.  I was using my external USB 2.0 hard drive to store backups of my games.  I bought a SATA hard drive to store the backups.  I spent two days copying files from the external drive to the new internal drive.  The transfer rate was around 20 - 25  MB per second.  Online games frequemtly update thier files.  Obviosly, I'll need to update the game backup files on the external drive often.  No way am I going to spend 45 to 90 minutes to backup and restore a computer game. If you have a faster external drive then read and write times should be way faster.

    Post edited by starionwolf on
  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,006
    edited May 2020

    I'm using Image for DOS, a bit nerdy I guess but I've created and restored hundreds of images on multiple PCs without a single error or problem.  I has byte for byte verify both on creating and restoring so you can be sure that the restore is exactly as the original disk/partition.

    https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

     

    Post edited by Taoz on
  • Seven193Seven193 Posts: 1,122
    edited May 2020

    For people who use backup software other than Windows, such as Acronis True Image, how would you do a system image backup if your operating system failed?

    You see, when Windows fails to startup, it gives you some recovery options, like "Startup Repair", "System Restore", or "System Image Recovery".  If you choose "System Image Recovery", then you're given an option to load a system image backup from an external drive.

    This is a backup created by Windows backup, and I assume Windows can't load a backup created by other software.  I also assume you can't run your Acronis software when the operating system is down.  So tell me, what do Acronis True Image users do in this case, because it seems such an inconvenience to use backup software other than Windows.

    Post edited by Seven193 on
  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,619

    You create a rescue DVD (or USB flash drive if your system can boot from a USB drive) and use that to run ATI.  Or if you cloned a drive rather than making a backup, you can just swap that one in.

  • TaozTaoz Posts: 10,006
    Dave230 said:

    For people who use backup software other than Windows, such as Acronis True Image, how would you do a system image backup if your operating system failed?

    Image for DOS works independent of the OS, you run it from CD/DVD or USB media.  It comes with software that can create such media. So far I've only used CD media myself though.  

  • IvyIvy Posts: 7,165

    You create a rescue DVD (or USB flash drive if your system can boot from a USB drive) and use that to run ATI.  Or if you cloned a drive rather than making a backup, you can just swap that one in.

    I done that, i took my main 1TB SSD and secondary 2TB HDD into a place called Phone Doctor a local business that does cell phone data recovery. and they cloned both hards drives cost around $39 for each drive plus cost of the new hard drives.. well worth the money spent and all I do now is every now and then I just update the clone drives with the back-up shadow copy to update the system files specially if add some new hardware.  wth as much crap I have loaded it was a great option to get a replica of my system, I bought and brought the new hard drives with me I order online.   I keep all my daz content on external HDD drives so those are backed up regularly. Plus when i see hard drives on sale I try get s few to keep on hand just in case i need a another external drive for daz content...lol

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