Looking for recommendations for ghosting software. I know there is freeware available but I wouldn't mind paying for quality software. My laptop does have a DVD drive but I imagine most people these days use an external USB drive.

Thanks

Macrium Reflect - The 'freeware' version is perfectly adequate. I've been using it for several years.

Looks like there is no longer a freeware version, or is that misleading?

https://www.easeus.com/backup-...ct-still-free.html#2

And they want 50 bucks per year for their software.

I don't mind paying, but I do mind having to keep paying.

I had in mind paying a one-time fee and then that's it. I don't see why I would need patches if it's simply ghosting what's on my hard drive. We don't need no stinking patches.

Here's the link

https://www.macrium.com/products/home

I believe you'll wait the trial version (there's a button on the right side of the page) rather than the freeware version.

Thank you but do I see correctly that they want annual fees? Annual fees for what?

What I'm looking for is software that takes a snapshot of my HD. If it works to do this in 2023, why would it not work the same way in, say, 2025? I do not want to marry these people. Why would I need to keep paying them? Makes no sense to me.

I just saw that the Free Version was going away. I'm sure it would still be available on numerous 'Freeware Websites' though. I use Macrium Reflect 8 on my Windows 10 machines. The setup.exe file is 176.6 MB.

OK, just checked...It's available for download on filehorse.com:

Macrium Reflect v 8.0.7279 (64-bit) is available here --> https://www.filehorse.com/down...reflect-64/download/

In case you were wondering, filehorse is a trustworthy site.

I plan to continue to use Macrium Reflect 8. It does NOT need to be updated, and as I indicated, it's perfectly adequate for my needs, and likely yours as well.

Here's a link to the Users Guide --> https://updates.macrium.com/re..._v8.0_user_guide.pdf

Thank you. This will err should prevent a repeat of my recent troubles.

I don't have to deal with such a problem often so I'm no expert but Veeam for Windows was easy enough to use and saved my butt a couple years ago.

Para,

I use Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. It's $49.00 a year but it's a full protection suite with imaging/ghosting software. I use it for home and for work. Never had an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Rotty37:
Para,

I use Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. It's $49.00 a year but it's a full protection suite with imaging/ghosting software. I use it for home and for work. Never had an issue.

That's what I use too. It works well enough and it comes with malware/ransomeware/virus protection.

Being Win 10 illiterate, what doe this software do? Is it an alternative to backing up the hard drive?

Thanks,

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Being Win 10 illiterate, what doe this software do? Is it an alternative to backing up the hard drive?

Thanks,

RMD

Ghost imaging is a fancy term for "drive cloning."

Basically, Para has a PC with a hard drive he wants to replace (either because it's dying or because he wants a running backup, only one person can answer why and that's him), and a fresh drive. This is software that runs off a temporary boot drive (so-called "live" CD/DVD/USB stick) and allows the drive to be cloned 1:1 in its entirety. This is usually done for boot drives for ease of transition (rather than spend hours installing then activating the OS, then hours more spent tweaking you just spend a couple of hours doing a file transfer process) .

Mr. Bossman, I just used Clonezilla whenever I needed to do something like that.

Thank you.

RMD

Actually, that's NOT really the case here. I believe the intent is not necessarily to replace the Hard Drive, but rather to simply create a backup the existing one. While 'Drive Cloning' can be one feature of Ghost Imaging software, it's not the only one, nor is it the most valuable. The most valuable feature(s) of Ghost Imaging software is the ability to take a snapshot in time of either all, or part of the hard drive, to include the entire Hard Disk, a Partition, or even specific files and/or folders. This can include differential and incremental backup images, either manually, or by creating backup plans, which can be scheduled to do so automatically as well. It should be noted that typically, many 'freeware' versions of Ghost Imaging software (including Macrium Reflect 8) do not facilitate Incremental Backups, or the ability to backup specific files and/or folders. That said, while you cannot do specific file/folder backups, you can restore specific files and/or folders from a Backup Image that contains them, regardless of whether the image is of a Partition, or the entire Hard Drive.

The beauty of having a Backup Image is the ability to restore to that 'snapshot in time', regardless of the boot status of the machine, such that it's as if anything that occurred after that image was created, never happened. Whenever deploying a new (or recovered/reset) machine, I utilize Macrium Reflect to take an image of the 'C:' Drive at various points in the deployment/software installation process, so I've always got a way to get back to a clean image quickly and painlessly. Typically, I create a 'Baseline Image' after I've installed the OS and run Windows Update, another after installing Microsoft Office if that's on the particular PC, and a 'Deployment Image' after all other software is installed and the PC is fully configured. I keep ALL of my data on another physical drive (or partition) so I never have any concerns about data recovery should the OS get corrupted for some reason. My biggest concern is usually re: issues associated w/ updates, and honestly 99% of the problems people have with their PC (at least those that don't do stupid things!) are following an update that didn't go properly! Generally, after I've got the Images(s) associated with the clean install of the OS/deployment of a PC, the only thing I need to be stay on top of is backing up my data! YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Thank you. This will err should prevent a repeat of my recent troubles.

Not denigrating using an actual imaging software but a quality backup program will work just as well.
The built-in to Windows 10 is not very intuitive IMO, but several others are including both free and paid.

A free one that I generally install on client desktops (laptops) is the Veeam Agent for Microsoft.
You can also buy a licensed version for more functionality.

For servers I will install a paid product BackupAssist but it would also work on desktops.
Both offer full bare metal restoration, and I have used it successfully many times.

As far a for imaging products _ may of the SSD vendors offer a free version that works with their SSD's.
Additionally, Acronis is an industry standard with their T rue Inage Product aka now Home & Office

Another one I use is EASEUS that also can create images but has some partition tools as well.

Again all of them are basically an imaging product for backup purposes.