Best Free Hard Drive Image utility for Windows 7?

[Salmon Trout]

Then threw a spare HDD in to test and the image got to 91 % and failed...

Needless to say i have no impression of Win7's image app as i refuse to try it.

I suspect you found out that the HDD is unreliable. I have used the W7 image backup on 1 64 GB pen drive, 4 different hard drives: (1 internal, 1 USB, 1 FireWire and 1 NAS) and have restored OK from all of them.

[Dumb_Question]

I've just created a sector by sector image of my HD using EASEUS DiskCopy.  It seemed to work OK, the sample of files I looked for were present and correct, the partitions ands data on them were all the correct size to better than the nearest 0.01 GB.

I haven't used my copy (backup), I hope never to have to !

This version (free one) of EASEUS requires you to make a bootable CD/DVD, and you run it by booting from that.  This has the advanrage, they say, of making it O/S independent.

but I've another question:
I'm running W7 on an HP Pavilion, and I've just been reading in HP Advisor about the W7 Image backup, which has also been described in this topic.  I was thinking of making a set of 'System Recovery Disks' using HP's own software, which only allows to you do this once, when I read this article.  The question is, why would anyone use HP proprietary software to create System Recovery Disks (4 or 5 DVDs I understand) which modifies your system, when you can make as many system images as you like with the W7 backup imaging software, which preserves your system ?

Dumb_Question
2.August.2012
HP Pavilion dm4 1050ea - Windows 7

[BC_Programmer]

I haven't used my copy (backup), I hope never to have to !

As I believe has been noted before in this thread by myself and others, backing up or imaging a drive without then testing the created image/backup is not a good idea, for a few reasons.

1. The Interface will be unfamiliar.

So you find that your drive is corrupted, or something is wrong and you need to restore the Image. The first question is how. The second, is once you know how, you aren't going to be as familiar with the restore interface as you were with the backup interface, and given the possibility of lost data and the general anxiety this sort of thing can cause, one wrong move or mistaken button press could end badly.

2. There is no reason to assume the image is good

The only way to know if an image is actually good to restore is to restore it, the same way you would if you had a Hard drive disaster or other issue that required you to do so. I would recommend that this become a part of the routine; make the backup image, verify it, and then restore from it. Obviously the last item has some issues  that might crop up, so it might work better with a configuration that let's you restore without overwriting existing data (since if you restore in place and find it was corrupted you no longer have the originals!). Most imaging programs have good verification techniques but you cannot trust them 100% and more importantly It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the restore interface so you aren't wandering blind when you do need to restore.

Backing up and imaging is only a safety net if it works. Many people create backup images that simply do not work for one reason or another, meaning they are basically wasting time to make their data feel safer, rather than actually making it safer.

The question is, why would anyone use HP proprietary software to create System Recovery Disks (4 or 5 DVDs I understand) which modifies your system, when you can make as many system images as you like with the W7 backup imaging software, which preserves your system ?

"Recovery" disks wipe everything and put the machine into the factory default state. This means it will have any originally installed (bundled) applications and other crapware. Personally I never use the recovery disks.

[patio]

Backing up and imaging is only a safety net if it works. Many people create backup images that simply do not work for one reason or another, meaning they are basically wasting time to make their data feel safer, rather than actually making it safer.

Quote of the Month Finalist ! !

[RobCr]

This post is for future Googlers
Allan recommended Acronis, and lamented that it was not free.
Assuming that you write your images to somewhere safe (EG an external Dock, with a 3.5" drive sticking vertically out of it), then Acronis  HAS A FREE VERSION.
Buy a Seagate 3.5" drive to shove vertically into your dock.
Make sure that the dock can take a 2GB drive, as that size is the sweet spot (in Aust) for price per GB (TB).
Now go to the Seagate web site, and download the free Seagate DiscWizard (Acronis program).
After you install the program, immediately make a bootable CD, and use that for your image creating and recovering. I do that, and I only use the installed program for browsing the contents of past images (looking for a file or two).

Acronis have foolishly 'hidden away' the Verify option. You get to it via the Tools option, where your history of past images are listed. If you right click one there will be a Verify option. You should always Verify your images, immediately after creating them.

I have two external drives, in their individual Docks ($25 per Dock), so that I am not shoving drives in and out. I alternate the drives that I save images into.

[soybean]

but I've another question:
I'm running W7 on an HP Pavilion, and I've just been reading in HP Advisor about the W7 Image backup, which has also been described in this topic.  I was thinking of making a set of 'System Recovery Disks' using HP's own software, which only allows to you do this once, when I read this article.  The question is, why would anyone use HP proprietary software to create System Recovery Disks (4 or 5 DVDs I understand) which modifies your system, when you can make as many system images as you like with the W7 backup imaging software, which preserves your system ?

I have a new HP laptop (Windows and just made a set of  'System Recovery Disks' using HP's own software.  It took 6 DVDs.  As far as I know, all manufacturers provide a way to do this.  Many years ago, manufacturers issued recovery discs (for full restoration to the original configuration) with new computers. When manufacturers stopped doing that, probably to save costs, they added the capability for the user to create a set of recovery discs.  These user-created recovery discs are the same thing as the recovery partition on the hard drives of these newer systems but, of course, the recovery partition on the hard drive will be useless if the hard drive fails.

As you and others have stated, a set of such recovery discs can only take your system back to the original configuration.  So, I agree that making periodic drive images with a drive imaging tool such one of the ones mentioned in previous posts is the best practice.  After you've made many changes to a computer, you really don't want to have to go back to day one and re-configure it all over again.  Still, having a set of recovery DVDs seems worthwhile; that way, you do have the option of going back to the original configuration and getting a fresh start.

[soybean]

I just now realized I quoted a post from Aug. 2012.  If I had noticed at the time, I would not have posted.

[DaveLembke]

Hey its fine..lol... i've done that before or accidentally posted to the virus/malware section by accident where I am not allowed to yet until I get the necessary qualifications to do so.

I ended up getting a drive duplicator for $80 and going this route actually. My system although is a Compaq is basically just the Compaq enclosure with all new guts inside. The Windows 7 install was a clean installation so I didnt have the option for burning a system restore set as computers off the shelf come with these days. Back when I bought this Compaq in 2003 and it came with Windows XP Home it had this utility and that came in handy for a few rebuilds until the motherboard died in 2009 after 6 years of heavy use.

So currently I have a master backup drive that is 500GB that I can use to build other 500GB drives off of and insert into this computer. I tried to perform a 500GB to 1.5TB clone and it did not like cloning different sized drives to migrate the data from 500GB to 1.5TB, but if I wanted to, I could always use the Seagate Disk Utility that came with the 1.5TB to migrate the 500GB to the 1.5TB at some point. The drive duplicator is pretty simple, just populate it with drives in the correct locations to not write an empty drive of 0's to the drive with all the data and start it and it has an LED indicator that shows its progress. Transfer took almost 1.25 hrs drive to drive for 500GB and I positioned a desk fan blowing cool air across them as they chugged and one was built from the other.