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I've installed fresh Windows 7 Ultimate (32bit) on my laptop. I've installed all the application/WindowsUpdates which I wanted to and my system is ready to use. All my other data is now on D: drive. I need to backup image of my system drive (C:) and want to be able to restore it whenever needed.

I want to back it up only once. I don't want to do scheduled backup and I will only restore it on this system.

Is there any free tool which can allow me to write DVD or back up image on an external hard drive or on my E: drive?

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  • not cheap idea to save money on backups ))
    – stim
    Oct 8, 2010 at 14:46

4 Answers 4

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Paragon Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced

Does Complete & Differential Backups, Backup Scheduler, Backup to FTP servers, Backup Capsule (unerasable) and P2V Migration (physical to virtual).

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  • If you have tried it, can you let me know how was your experience with it?
    – IsmailS
    Oct 9, 2010 at 5:11
  • I just tried it for a few minutes, and it had a nice, friendly and modern UI, unlike Clonezilla which is a bit of a relic. Screenshots are available here : paragon-software.com/home/db-express/screenshots.html
    – harrymc
    Oct 9, 2010 at 7:05
  • If I've backed up image of C: drive on E: and do I need to also build recovery media? Also will I be able to format (not quick) my C: drive before restoring image?
    – IsmailS
    Oct 11, 2010 at 11:23
  • As far as my understanding goes, you need the recovery media to boot with, in case your disk becomes unbootable, to restore the image. Restoring the image is in essence the same as a format, but nothing stops you from booting with the Windows CD, formatting, then rebooting with Paragon. I would also counsel making a dry-run with the Paragon boot CD, to see if it can at least see the backup image on the E drive.
    – harrymc
    Oct 11, 2010 at 11:51
  • @harrymc just to clarify, can this perform a 'bare metal restore'? I recently purchased a laptop and I'm looking to do a full system image of the HDD(all partitions; sector-by-sector duplicate) preferably to multiple DVD's that is self bootable restore.
    – greatwolf
    Jul 20, 2011 at 6:27
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Macrium Reflect Free

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Clonezilla?

Clonezilla, based on DRBL, Partclone and udpcast, allows you to do bare metal backup and recovery. Two types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live is suitable for single machine backup and restore. While Clonezilla SE is for massive deployment, it can clone many (40 plus!) computers simultaneously. Clonezilla saves and restores only used blocks in the harddisk. This increases the clone efficiency

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  • @linker After checking out Clonezilla for a bit, I cannot seem to find a way to get it to back up to multiple DVD's. Do you know if this is possible?
    – greatwolf
    Jul 20, 2011 at 6:29
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You can try the default Windows System Restore, but that is not as good as other third party software (Rollback Rx comes thru my mind now).

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    It's not free :(
    – IsmailS
    Feb 4, 2011 at 4:21

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