05-21-2008, 10:04 PM
Pardon the thread necromancy, but its time for an update!
I've finally ordered my new laptop (a Lenovo Ideapad y510), and is due to arrive from the good folks at New Egg tomorrow. Upon receiving it my plan is to strip out the erroneous programs, install the important programs, update the drivers and then take a drive image.
I took Ghastmaster's advice, and played around a bit this week with the freeware applications. Here's my review:
As Ghastmaster pointed out, drive imaging involves the creation of an image file, which is roughly akin to an ISO. Since its saved as one file, there's no way of accessing individual files unless you unpack the image first. So if the file goes belly up, you will likely lose everything. Fortunately the freeware programs are generally reliable when the image is stored on the same harddrive, in a different partition.
Unfortunately, the freeware programs have a chance of failing if the file is stored elsewhere - an external harddrive, a DVD, etc. This may or may not be an issue depending on your needs, but if you're like me, you'd like to be able to store images elsewhere in case of a physical HD crash.
The final verdict for the freeware versions is this: If you're looking for a handy way to cut reformatting time, its a great tool provided you backup vital files. If you're looking for a way to protect yourself from data loss, its not yet reliable enough to depend on it (though this may change in the future updates).
If you're concerned with data loss, a good alternative I've found is Acronis True Image 11 Home edition. It's not free, but it only costs $50 and comes with a suite of backup utilities (in addition to drive imaging). They offer a 30 day free trial of their full version, and if you're interested in drive imaging I recommend checking it out.
After trying it, I'm pretty certain I'll put down the money to buy it when the trial runs out. Its really that good!
Cheers,
Munk
I've finally ordered my new laptop (a Lenovo Ideapad y510), and is due to arrive from the good folks at New Egg tomorrow. Upon receiving it my plan is to strip out the erroneous programs, install the important programs, update the drivers and then take a drive image.
I took Ghastmaster's advice, and played around a bit this week with the freeware applications. Here's my review:
As Ghastmaster pointed out, drive imaging involves the creation of an image file, which is roughly akin to an ISO. Since its saved as one file, there's no way of accessing individual files unless you unpack the image first. So if the file goes belly up, you will likely lose everything. Fortunately the freeware programs are generally reliable when the image is stored on the same harddrive, in a different partition.
Unfortunately, the freeware programs have a chance of failing if the file is stored elsewhere - an external harddrive, a DVD, etc. This may or may not be an issue depending on your needs, but if you're like me, you'd like to be able to store images elsewhere in case of a physical HD crash.
The final verdict for the freeware versions is this: If you're looking for a handy way to cut reformatting time, its a great tool provided you backup vital files. If you're looking for a way to protect yourself from data loss, its not yet reliable enough to depend on it (though this may change in the future updates).
If you're concerned with data loss, a good alternative I've found is Acronis True Image 11 Home edition. It's not free, but it only costs $50 and comes with a suite of backup utilities (in addition to drive imaging). They offer a 30 day free trial of their full version, and if you're interested in drive imaging I recommend checking it out.
After trying it, I'm pretty certain I'll put down the money to buy it when the trial runs out. Its really that good!
Cheers,
Munk