Which disk imaging software to use?

Hi,

I'm trying to make a disk image of my company's Win2003 SBS server, but I'm unsure which program is good. My main concern is cost, as we are not likely to use it extensively, so I can't justify a solution that costs a thousand dollars. Anybody has any recommendations? I don't need anything fancy - just a disk imaging software.

 

I’ve no experience of server backup but the best imaging software around at the moment is by a company called Paragon. They recently received Microsoft Gold Certification for their Drive Backup program. Their server edition is $399.
http://www.drive-backup.com/corporate/server/index.htm

I’ve used several of their products over the last 6 years and always found it proficient and dependable.

 

We use Veritas which has recently been bought by Symantec. But it aint cheap.

 

We use Ghost by Symantec, but I'm not sure of the cost.

 

Its funny that I'm replying to this thread after so long, but I've had to put my hunt for a disk imaging software on hold due to other work concerns.

I've checked out Paragon's Exact-Image 7.0, but I'm not entirely sure if it can do what I want, seeing as the demo does not allow any restore functions to be used.

I want to deploy an installation of Win2003 SBE. I read up on the procedures for sysprep, and it says the the image must be placed on a bootable startup media.

I'm thinking of using a DVD as my startup media. Does anyone know of an inexpensive disk-imaging software that will support this method? This is the first time I've done something like this and I would like to know if there are any complications/issues regarding such a procedure.

Thanks in advance,

- Pierre

 

If you just want an image as a backup for restoring to the same computer, then you don’t need to use sysprep. That’s for deploying images to other computers.

The sepes for Exact Image do not say it is suitable for Windows Server editions.

 

Ok. So I guess exact image is out. So what can I use to deploy windows server 2003?

 

Symantec Norton Ghost should be fine for you. It allow you to backup as a disc image to a file, to another HD or CD/DVD. It also does Clone Disc. I have used this to do many things. I use it as a total back of dics image. I use it when I upagread the Hard Drive system(primary to increase disc space). I also use it to deploy new Client computer.

 

It's my understanding that Ghost won't install on Server 03.
Now if you’re going to install on an XP box and Ghost over the network that's a different story.

 

If you want a simple ghosting utility that is efficient and cheap, check out g4u. It's an open-source ghosting utility based on one of the BSD flavors. Pop it in, run "uploaddisk username@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx filename.gz" and you'll be golden in just a little bit of time. I just cloned an 80 GB drive with WinXP on it and was left with a disk image weighing in at just over 3 GB. Worth a try.

Free, simple to use, and the restore is just as easy as the cloning.

 

Disk Imaging

Couln't resist replying to this one even if I am a bit late. McTavish is right - I also use Paragon Backup V7 and can thoroughly recommend it.

 

Imageing Hard Disk

Have a look at Image for Windows here http://terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html