Experiences w/ Drive Imaging Software?

Futurepower(R) asks: "Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP have crippled file systems. The file system cannot copy some of the files that are necessary to the operating system. If you don't have experience with Microsoft operating systems, you may find this amazing, but it is true; Microsoft supplies no method of backing up and restoring fully operational copies of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Microsoft's advice is to reinstall the operating system and all programs every time you want to move to a new or backup computer. For confirmation of this, see the 'Microsoft Policy Statement' in the article, The Microsoft Policy Concerning Disk Duplication of Windows XP Installations. Many industries use numerous programs; installing them all may take a week or even more. All of the disk image duplication programs I've used have problems, in my experience. What program do you use? What has been your experience with it? Can you recommend a program, or recommend staying away from one?"

"This policy of providing no way to backup and restore a fully installed system is impossible for corporations, of course. So Microsoft technical support representatives recommend sector-by-sector disk image duplication, even though it is against Microsoft policy. Copying each sector of a hard drive bypasses Microsoft's copy protection by which Microsoft punishes all users, even if they are honest.

Sometimes Microsoft technical support recommends using 'third-party' disk image programs. For example, sometimes support representatives recommend using Symantec Ghost.

All of the disk image duplication programs I've used have problems, in my experience. So, here's a question: What program do you use? What has been your experience with it? Can you recommend a program, or recommend staying away from one?

Here are my experiences:

Symantec Ghost sometimes fails with non-specific error messages. Uninstalling Ghost does not uninstall all the Ghost software. Symantec is one of the companies using copy protection, so using Symantec products may be a case of jumping from the Microsoft frying pan to the Symantec copy protection fire; also, you have no assurance that the copy protection will not become worse in the future.

PowerQuest DriveImage and DeployCenter have an uncertain future. PowerQuest was bought by Symantec. This was after PowerQuest released DriveImage 7 with problems. The sale cannot be a happy event for those who spent hundreds of dollars on DeployCenter.

I've tried Acronis True Image. I've had better luck with it than with Symantec or PowerQuest products. However, like the others, it sometime gives non-specific error messages that say something like, 'I've failed, and I'm not going to tell you how to troubleshoot the problem.'

Fred Langa, publisher of LangaList, recommends BootIt. I have no experience with it.

I haven't tried g4u, free, open source software provided under the BSD license g4u has the drawback that it writes only through FTP. There is no way to write to a network drive or a CD-R.

It's disgusting; people just want to make functional backups, but to do it they are dragged over the coals."

Comments

Has always worked for me ...

[bigjocker]

dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/dev/hdb1

If you want to encrypt after the copy you can do

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/hdb1

Sorta

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Microsoft supplies no method of backing up and restoring fully operational copies of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. "

Mostly true, but not entirely. NTBackup.exe will save your system state (registry, drivers, etc) plus you can backup Program Files and Documents and Settings etc too. In theory (meaning: I've never done this) you could do one install of Windows, install your apps, then use NTBackup to save your system state and your Program Files/Docs and Sets folders. Then, you could go to the other machines, first do a vanilla install of Windows, copy the .BKF file to each machine, and use it to extract the system state and program files into the right spot.

I will say again I have never done specifically this. but I have saved a mucked up registry using this techique before. In your position, it's a method I'd explore. Expect limitations. For example, I don't know if XP'll shit itself over it's activation process. I suggest this as a direction to explore, not as a solution I'd stand behind.

Oh, one other thing, XP doesn't install NTBackup.exe by default, you have to extract it from the XP CD. Google has plenty of help here.

Re:Sorta

[Old Wolf]

I used NTBackup.exe to make daily backups on a former employer's NT4 system (direct to backup tapes). It all seemed to be working fine, until one time the harddrive crashed. I went to restore the backups, and found that he had ejected the tape during the previous backup becuase the noise was annoying him (!) Byebye database.

Re:Become a switcher

[gbjbaanb]

lol. external firewire drive?? Then you only have to worry about your data-retention issues!

HHOS...

[Lodragandraoidh]

I hate to echo what has already been said, but this needs to be hammered home:

Why not give up that overpriced POS operating system - and find freedom and ease of administration in the *nix fold.

If you are stuck using the unmentionable OS - then I feel sorry for you, and will light a candle and say a prayer for your safe passage from the dark side.

As an aside, isn't it funny that the most easy to use and useful tool for backing up your drive images is itself a linux tool?

Re:Experiences with Norton Ghost

[Anonymous Coward]

HAL error? Do you mean like:

I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Mod Parent...How?

[Slightly Askew]

Hello. I'm fairly new to slashdot, and I have all of these moderator points I don't know what to do with. I would like to mod down the post I just read as -1 Troll. It was posted by Cliff and titled "Experiences w/ Drive Imaging Software?". Thanks for the help.

Re:Experiences with Ed Norton Ghost

[Jon_E]

Personally, I like Ed Norton Ghost - It beats the crap out of itself and then starts fights between the other filesystems installed in the system.