Free Imaging software for backing up Windows partitions
 

I am interested, which imaging software is "best" for making images of ntfs windows partitions.
Until now, i was using Acronis true imgage, and it was great. Usualy, the procedure was: I installed Windows XP, configured it, defragmeted, and then i made image of Windows system partition(C) on another partition(E).
In case of corrupt system i only had to restore image from E disk, and i had new system ready.
Now i would like to switch to freeware aplication.
I was searching in this forum, and i found mostly dd, partimage, g4u,..
But there is a lot of confusion, about ntfs, linux partitions,....

I am only interested in windows backups of system partition, and maby another partition(D), where i install some programs.

Linux has only limited support for NTFS. There are some extensions around but they should be considered "experimental" at best.

In order to run them, you would need to install a linux system, and then add the NTFS support. Knoppix is the only distro ( its a live CD ) I know of, there may well be more, that supports NTFS, sort of. Not good enough ( in my opinion ) for what you want to do. Image restores have to be exact.

Your best bet would to look for free windoze software.

Of course the better way is to learn linux, and ditch winbloze with all its spyware, malware ( I could add a few more ) problems.

Your choice.

You only mentioned Linux once, in passing, in your post:...so are you looking for some way to backup your Windows partitions from Linux, or did you accidently drop into a Linux forum when you were looking for Windows advice?

Assuming you are dual booting and want to do the backups from Linux, you can certainly use dd for that. However, dd will do a raw copy and won't know or care about what OS/filesystem type it's copying. This means you'll get all the junk you really don't need to image along with the good data. Temp files, Windows swap files, etc. Things like True Image and Ghost have the ability to filter this unneeded stuff out as they are designed for Windows. Also, some things need to be adjusted in a Windows image/restore when you're moving the (bootable OS) image from one partition to another. Ghost takes care of this (mostly) - I'm sure True Image tries to as well. I'm talking about things like your boot.ini file. dd won't touch this.

If you are already apparently dual-booting Windows, and you already have True Image, why are you looking elsewhere for software? I have not used TI personally (I used Ghost back in my Windows days), but TI has a good reputation.

camorri: i think there is no windoze real software for imaging partitions. Well, i found DriveImage XML, using Winpe for bootcd , i could be option too. I can't switch from windows to linux, since this is not for me, and there are a lot of computers to archive..

haertig: lol, well, i was looking free solution for backing up windows systems, or better linux provides some good solutions that are free for windows environment, like Samba for filesharing, that's why i was looking for Acronis true image alternative solution in Linux.
I am not dualbooting, this are business workstations with simple installations: windows partition on C, program files on D and documents on E partition, and standard programs like msoffice, adobe reader,.... I am looking elsewhere because of costs of software..
you have 3 choices:
-spend a lot of money for a software
-use illegal software - not my stile
-use free software

I'll try Knoppix and PartImage software, that is on this cd. I read it should work with ntfs, and if there will be a problem, it will occur while making the image, rarely while restoring the image. Since there are a lot of computers to backup, and the backup image is only, to reduce new installation time, i see no harm trying free software solution. If i get 90% success of restoring images with free software, i'll be happy. But i think i'll get higher results.

I don't mean to hijack your thread here, but I AM dual booting (XP and Kubuntu) and am also looking for a way to create an .ISO of my Win partition for use w/ VMWare. (I still have that ONE Win ap I can't do without...)

As a nuB, I'd rather have something w/ a gui, but if I get some tips on dd that don't absolutely terrify me, I'll try that, too. From what I've heard, in the hands of a nuB, dd stands for "Destroy Disc".

ANYTHING to help me jump ship from Windoze. :)

Vin¢

P.S., I already have NTFS support enabled and can read that partition from Konsole.

There are options out there. Here is one that costs...

http://www.acronis.com/promo/ATI/true-image-004.html?source=google&ad=image+disk&s_scid=disk%20image|625494257&gclid=CPyPtdXIgocCFQYdIgodO34wHA

Here is a free one, note, the downloadable one is not full featured.

http://www.drive-image.com/

Click on drive-image to see the features, and download.

I'm sure there are more choices out there.

Imaging program...
 

camorri,

Thanks for your reply. I also have been continuing my research, and have stumbled upon PartImage (www.partimage.org).

It's free, but the NTFS support is "experimental". After unmounting the drive, it worked fine. It offers 3 levels of compression; I chose the middle (.gz level), which burned a 14Gb image into an 8½ image file. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to get it onto a DVD. :) -Maybe I'll just shove it off onto my external drive, but I'll have to figure out how to enable USB 1st.

Ah well, ya can't lose 'em all.

Vin¢