free / cheap disk imaging software?

brianeaglesfan

Can anyone offer any suggestions for a free / cheap disk imaging software that I can use to make backups of my home computers? I'm getting sort of tired of having to restore the OS and then install office / firefox / etc. every month or so due to spyware infestations. Plus it'd come in handy should a HD crash. Thanks!

Psoasman

What OS are you running? If you are running Win7, you can just use the built-in tools. I create an image every couple of months and store it on an external HD.
What kind of A/V are you running? If you keep your A/V updated, you shouldn't have to restore so often.

CompuTron99

Aronis True Image Home should work for you.

Newegg.com - Acronis True Image Home 2011

It will allow you to make a USB boot drive too instead of having to use CD's.

Devilsbane

FOG is a free tool, but is Linux based.

uncleant

Clonezilla.

Clonezilla - About

mctwist

uncleant wrote: »

Clonezilla.

Clonezilla - About

I second clonezilla, we use it at the office, and it works great.

brianeaglesfan

It's a mix of 7 and XP. Thanks for the suggestions, will check them out.

qcomer

brianeaglesfan wrote: »

Can anyone offer any suggestions for a free / cheap disk imaging software that I can use to make backups of my home computers? I'm getting sort of tired of having to restore the OS and then install office / firefox / etc. every month or so due to spyware infestations. Plus it'd come in handy should a HD crash. Thanks!

More importantly I would look at what you are doing to get spyware or corruption so often. I havent had spyware in years on my computers.

Backups are always good to have, but I would look into why you are having to reformat "every month or so".

Do you run active AV? Are you visiting questionable sites? Whats going on?

brianeaglesfan

qcomer wrote: »

More importantly I would look at what you are doing to get spyware or corruption so often. I havent had spyware in years on my computers.

Backups are always good to have, but I would look into why you are having to reformat "every month or so".

Do you run active AV? Are you visiting questionable sites? Whats going on?

On every computer I have access to I run up-to-date AV and spyware protection. I tend to look at a lot of sites that link to other, not always familiar sites (like message boards, facebook, etc.) and occasionally rogue software does make its way onto one of the pc's / laptops. I use a lot of open source software and it just becomes a PITA to have to reinstall / restore every little thing, hunt for drivers, etc., whenever I run into an infection I can't get rid of. The "every month or so" may be overstating it, but you get the idea.

BrizoH

PartImage is another free tool that I've used in the past

SteveLord

Another vote for Acronis. Whatever you get, if you utilize external HDDs, you MUST get eSata. It is awesome for imaging.

thehourman

mctwist wrote: »

I second clonezilla, we use it at the office, and it works great.

Same here Clonezilla.

If your HDD or if you have a western Digital HDD, you can go to there website and download the Acronis software for free. The catch is you have to have WD HDD.
WD Support