Resolved Good Free Drive Cloning Software

I got a Seagate 1.5 TB external drive. I've been reading over all the drive cloning programs available and was wondering if there really is a truly free good cloning program.

If I have to I suppose I could buy but I am on a limited budget so I try free first. Here is what I have looked at:

XXClone
EasUs Disk Copy
DriveImage XML
HDClone
Macrium Reflect
Clonezilla

I appreciate any comments/suggestions

Mitch

 

I like CloneZilla because it is reliable for me.
Free Imaging software - CloneZilla & PartImage - Tutorial

Unlike other imaging software you choose your destination where to back up first, then what to back up.

I burned the ISO file to a CD then boot from it staying in the beginners mode.
I only use it to image for now because I haven't learned any of the advanced options yet.
It's a bit of a learning curve but well worth learning.

From "Steve R Jones" link, go to CloneZilla Live then step-by-step examples to learn more.

 

Hi Mitch,
Seagate has available within their diskwizard setup a version of Acronis Trueimage but it will only work with atleast one seagate disk present, available on their site as a free download
Works fine for me, but I am biased as I prefer Seagate drives
Jac

 

Pete,
with the Acronis software from Seagate, if I remember rightly; it allows you to do both, but as I said it is set-up to only run as long as a seagate (& possibly a maxtor, now owned by seagate) drive is connected
Jac

 

Steve and Flatiron2: Thanks for the info about Clonezilla, looks like it will work for me.

Jac: I thought my Seagate came with just an ad for Carbonite. I'll have to dig further since my HP has a Seagate drive.

Pete: Cloning I think is what I want. I want an exact duplicate of what I have so I don't have to go through reloading the OS (all I have is recovery discs) since it come with a lot of junk I don't want. At least until I get Windows 7 [found out bestbuy has layaway - woohoo!]

 

Agree totally Pete.

Mitch if your hp has a seagate as a base drive then I will still say go with their free software, having used the acronis that comes from seagate, if you wish to buy one of the best to use with any disk, I would do that and I have seen a special offer on this site that is worth the look when it pops up!

Jac

PS: and it works with USB as well

 

Thank Pete! I just downloaded DiscWizard. As soon as I have the time this (my work week run Thursday - Monday) or on my weekend I'll install and run.

I will let y'all know how it turns out.

 

DiscWizard installed, drive cloned, clone verified. I'm satisfied.

Thanks for the great advice.