Taken from the article “Best Free Drive Imaging Program” < http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm > at TechSupportAlert.com and augmented with details from the tools’ websites.
Recommendation: I have been using Paragon Backup and Recovery Free frequently and it has been reliable and has all the features i need. It will clone the working system.
I have used Drive Image XML, PING, and Clonezilla with success. I did not try Macrium Reflect Free because you can not restore to another drive unless you buy their commercial version.
Note if you’re imaging a drive you have already removed from a system, a sata-to-esata cable plugged into a esata port on a computer is very fast (you still have to provide stata power to the drive, somehow).
| attribute | Macrium Reflect Free Edition | Paragon Backup and Recovery (Advanced) Free | Drive Image XML | PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost) | Clonezilla |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| registration required? | no | yes, register on web, get email with prod key and sn | no | no | no |
| clone – raw sector by sector image | yes | ||||
| clone a working, running system | yes. both? | both? | yes (“uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS)” / both? |
offline boot | offline boot |
| clone directly to another drive | called “Drive to Drive” | ||||
| clone to dest | Any backup destination – including external storages, CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs, network as well as the secured hidden partition (Backup Capsule) | ||||
| attribute | Macrium | Paragon | Drive Image XML | PING | Clonezilla |
| file backup | no | not listed in feature list | |||
| mount image file | yes | yes | yes | ||
| restore file from image | yes via mounting | yes via mounting | yes via mounting | ||
| recovery | “Linux Rescue CD” or “Windows” PE (Pre-install Environment) Recovery | linux(/dos from website) based bootable CD (“Create bootable USB Flash drive, CD or DVD” –from website) | tutorial and plugin to do Bart PE yourself | ||
| from the comments, from the techsupportalert.com author: “And if you can only get an optical booting disk [ie no USB boot] with any of these, there are numerous programs out there to turn that into a bootable USB drive, I’ve had the best luck with Unetbootin, YUMI, and Universal USB Installer. YUMI is great for a multiboot USB device, it is the first multibooting USB creator that works most of the time, and it has worked with almost everything I’ve tried so far. Hope this helps and good luck.” | |||||
| attribute | Macrium | Paragon | Drive Image XML | PING | Clonezilla |
| partition editing | very basic | ||||
| time (8GB) | 9 min | 28 min | |||
| differential backups | no | yes | |||
| restore to different / smaller? partitions | There is NO Restore to dissimilar hardware in free version! | yes, even smaller | different drive, same size or larger | ||
| virtualize system disks | yes | ||||
| backup is a hidden full system mirror that can take over should the original become damaged | called ‘Backup Capsule’ | ||||
| attribute | Macrium | Paragon | Drive Image XML | PING | Clonezilla |
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