Best Free Drive Imaging Program

Disk images are the answer if you regularly need to reformat a hard drive and reload the OS and applications. You can create an image (a copy or clone) of a fairly new installation, and keep it for when your disk gets over-full of dross, crashes, or gets a bad virus infection; or if you want to create a new build with the same profile. No one who has heard of disk images now installs the OS, apps and data from scratch - unless they have a very good reason to do so. Reinstalling an image takes a tiny fraction of the time, compared to rebuilding it as per normal.

Acronis True Image was released as freeware for a short period in mid-2008, and if you managed to download it at that time, you can congratulate yourself (we gave you a big heads-up here). It is recognised as the best of the Windows online solutions (though there are some issues with Vista). This 'new' version of Acronis 8 had some incorrect configuration defaults fixed that mean it is better than ever. The faulty image creation configurations that meant system files weren't included by default were fixed; all images now include hidden files by default. Therefore you can safely ignore this issue if you are using ATI Personal v8 build 896 onward. However there are some issues with Vista and SATA disks, especially SATA RAID arrays, and even more so if you run a software RAID array via the ICH9 disk controller chip. Also bear in mind that Vista contains an integral imaging backup facility, so 3rd-party drive imaging may not be quite so vital as with other OS's.

You can still get Acronis free if you buy a new Seagate (or Maxtor) disk, as it is built in to the free Disk Utilities software they provide. These free disk tools are well worth getting and another good reason to buy a Seagate disk. It's a hefty download at 105MB though.
 

Storing your disk images
From personal experience I can tell you that there are good and bad ways to organise your disk images. My preference is with USB external hard disks - using a separate enclosure and disk. I think the best way to do this is to use an external disk enclosure, and then buy a disk to suit. You can get an IDE-ATA (eg PATA) enclosure, or a SATA enclosure. Then, buy a hard disk to suit, or use a spare disk. Always buy a USB disk enclosure with an integral fan. If you don't, the whole thing gets so hot you can fry an egg on it. As the internal temperature will be 90 degrees C or so the disk's reliability and life are bound to be affected. I use the Venus brand enclosures, there are PATA and SATA versions with fans. So as an example, you could get a Venus SATA USB enclosure with fan, and a Seagate 500GB disk to go in it. You'd also get the Seagate Disk Tools including Acronis. I believe this makes a good backup system.

USB external disk - U build it
I feel this solution is better because having just had a proprietary external hard disk die on me, I've realised the best solution is one that (a) has a cooling fan, and (b) allows you to swap the disks fast. You can't swap out the disks easily in a pre-built assembly, you need a manual on how to open it or a hammer and chisel. One you built yourself is always going to be better, even if it costs $10 more. The Venus enclosures are cable-less as well, you just slot the disk in. Sorted.
(The SATA ones are really smooth, the ATA ones need a bit of jiggery-pokery as the older power & data sockets are cruder.) See the linked heading above, to jump to more tech info at the foot of the page.
 

Now the Acronis freeware download has been discontinued, other freeware drive imaging programs are back in the limelight. None come close to matching the extensive feature set of Acronis TI or its near commercial rivals; but in some cases they're easier to use.

Some of the freeware drive imaging programs work by booting from a diskette or CD, loading a lightweight Linux environment, and then executing a command. This limits their use to offline imaging - only meaning that they cannot be used within Windows while it is running. However, these programs are small and fast, and while they might not offer the entire suite of features that the commercial programs boast, they do perform the core drive imaging tasks quite well.

G4U - Ghost for Unix has a comprehensive set of advanced features, and is many people's preferred solution at present. G4U is a very small program that can be downloaded in either boot diskette or CD format and offers a lot of features. Not only can it clone disk to disk (any size) and copy disk partitions, it can also create and restore image files both locally and from an FTP site, if the workstation is connected to a wired network with a DCHP service. This feature is great for backing up a workstation directly to an image file stored on another computer for either safekeeping, or for deployment to multiple workstations on the network. The various features of G4U are implemented by executing commands via the console, but a reference of the simple commands is displayed immediately after booting using the G4U boot media.

G4U will suit users who are happy using the command line console; and it also has the feature set more adventurous users may need.

DriveImage XML will suit users running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 who need a normal Windows GUI (on-screen) solution. It uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service to backup drive and partitions to image files, or will clone drive to drive while Windows is running. Because of this, a Windows task can also be created and scheduled to automatically create backup images. While this program can perform the tasks it promises, backups do take longer than using one of the offline programs previously mentioned. However, because it can create scheduled backup images while Windows is running, it's great for running online backup images as a redundancy option, in addition to the offline backups you will probably want to make as your main images. With its attractive GUI interface, it will be an easy first choice for many XP users. It's easy to use and reliable, and the use of XML means the image has more repurposing options than usual.

HDClone Free Edition is the one if you aren't a dyed-in-the-wool techie, if you only need to transfer one disk's contents to another - the free version can't create or restore disk images, so take note of that. It's straightforward - unlike many of the alternatives - and acts via a GUI, unlike some. Just in case you aren't clear what that means exactly, it refers to the fact that it runs just like any other modern Windows program, and not like a DOS text / keyboard-only program from 15 years ago (or some Linux operations today).

It's worth a look if the only functionality that's needed is to clone one disk to another larger disk. It is a relatively small download, can be run from either a diskette or CD, and has a graphical user interface that makes it super-easy to use. HDClone requires no command line interaction and is perfect for upgrading from one hard drive to another. Remember, the Free Edition of HDClone is not capable of creating or restoring image files -  or cloning from a larger disk to a smaller disk, or working with individual disk partitions.

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To be reviewed:
Macrium Reflect
GParted-Clonezilla LiveCD
SelfImage
XXClone
CloneZilla
DigitalDolly

Products that will not be reviewed as they do not appear to be suitable:

Apricorn EZ Gig II
Acronis Disk Director
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G4U
Website:
http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/
Download link:
http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/#reqs
Author: Hubert Feyrer
Current version: 2.3
File Size: 3.1MB (CD ISO version)
License: Freeware
Operating Systems Supported: OS and file system independent but no USB functionality
64 bit capable: No
Any special system requirements: No
Portable version available: This product is self booting
Additional software required : None

DriveImage XML
Website: www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
Download link: www.runtime.org/data-recovery-downloads.htm
Author: Runtime Software
Current version: 1.21
File Size:1.5MB
License: Freeware
Operating Systems Supported: Windows XP, Vista
64 bit capable: No
Any special system requirements: No
Portable version available: No
Additional software required : None. Can also be incorporated into a Bart PE Boot Disk.

Acronis True Image 8.0
Website: http://www.acronis.com
Download: available only within disk manufacturers' software bundle, see Note below
Author: Acronis
Current version: v11
Filesize: [21MB] integral with Disk Utilities bundle
License: Freeware (v8 only)
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 98, 2K, XP (and Vista, only with manufacturers' utilities) ¹
64 bit capable: No
Any special system requirements: No - but I advise the use of an external USB hard drive for the images
Portable version available: No
Additional software required: No

USB external disk assemblies
Get your own box and hard disk, and put them together for a better system than you can buy. You need a SATA or ATA box, according to the drive you've got spare. If you're buying new, get a big SATA disk and choose a box to suit. It's well complex at the moment, there is SATA, SATA2, eSATA, and maybe more...  This is why I don't buy into any new tech for a year or two, it's a nightmare. Anyway: I could tell you to google for the boxes, but I tried and there were a zillion results, mostly wrong, so here's a link to a UK firm that does the SATA (but not ATA) versions:
www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=venus+usb
The boxes I use are:- 
ATA: Venus USB external hard disk enclosure with fan, JJ-23VB2
SATA1&2: Venus USB external hard disk enclosure with fan, JJ-23VSU
You'll have to find a national mail-order firm in your region. In the UK I used Scan (SATA versions) and Misco (ATA version). Note that these are the new box versions from Venus (actually Jou-Jye at jj-computer.com). Take a look at the page link I gave above, and look at the boxes' appearance (oval edge shape). A lot of wholesalers (especially in the US it seems) still have the old version with a squarer shape, black, and large end-caps. I don't think you want that one.
I don't stand the disk boxes on edge, I stick 4 rubber feet on them and lay them flat. Up to you I guess, it just makes me happier to have them work 'right way up'.

Note 1: if you are using a new Maxtor or Seagate drive to back up to, the free downloadable Maxtor or Seagate utilities has a limited version of Acronis that works with Vista (though maybe not for multi-SATA disk arrays).

Contributors
Valuable contributions to this category have been made by: Ted, Ron T., graybrother, Adrian Cornforth.

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Category Editor's note:
Currently I'm looking for user experiences with the GParted-Clonezilla LiveCD, especially on Vista / SATA. If you can post a comment with your experiences - good and bad - we would all appreciate that.

Please contribute your suggestions - they are an important part of our updating process. Remember that you can register, login, and edit this page wiki-style; however, your edits will go into moderation before they go live. For example if you added a brief review of your favorite program, we could set that live very quickly. You can include a link to the software author's site. BUT, please note: your description should be balanced and fair. If you don't include some negative points it will be hard to take you seriously. Be reasonable: every program has some issues (or at least, both optimal and sub-optimal modes of use), so flag them up.

I personally apologise for not having a Vista / SATA multi-disk set-up in order to test these software products on the latest equipment. However, the theme of this site is probably something like "The best simple, free or low-cost solutions to computing problems" and therefore I think a basic and conservative approach to the hardware is acceptable. I've worked all my life with tech hardware of one kind or another and now, using it for business purposes, I know there is only one sensible viewpoint: simple, tried and trusted solutions are best. If you've got the time, money and patience - then sure, use all the latest kit. I don't need the problems. In my opinion manufacturers use us for beta testing and I ain't having it.

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This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Chris Price. In the computing area his interests include freeware / open-source software, website software, web usability for all, and ethical SEO.
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