Windows 7 10 Commercial Disk Imaging Software Features and Backup/Restore Speed Comparison

[reghakr]

To me, hard disk imaging is one of the most important thing to do after I’ve perfectly finished setting up a computer system the way I wanted. It is the best way of restoring the changes back to the way it was and also the best way to clone multiple computers with same hardware. I’ve always been using the good old Symantec Ghost for DOS version to do all that and only recently I’ve been using Macrium Reflect full edition on my new laptop because it was sponsored by Macrium.

Since Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition DOS version has never failed me, I never wanted to try out other products including the famous Acronis! However, many years has gone by and I believe the technologies that they used must have improved a lot. Will Symantec Ghost still remain as my favorite disk imaging software? Well I wanted to post this 2 weeks ago but was caught with Norton 15 being released and then Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Suite.. Do note that I am only comparing shareware disk imaging software and the free ones are not included in the list. I hope that this comparison will be able to help you decide which disk imaging is worth buying.

Here are the list of disk imaging software that I have tested:

1. Acronis True Image Home 2010 (build 6.029) – Website
2. Active@ Disk Image v3.34 – Link Removed
3. DriveClone Pro v7 – Link Removed due to 404 Error
4. Macrium Reflect v4.2 Build 2028 Full Edition – Website
5. Norton Ghost v15 – Link Removed
6. O&O DiskImage Professional v4.1 Build 47 – Link Removed - Invalid URL
7. Paragon Drive Backup v9 Professional Build 8681 – Link Removed
8. R-Drive Image v4.6 Build 4601 – Website
9. Windows 7 built-in Disk Imaging
10. StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop Edition v3.5 – Website
​

The testing was done on my desktop computer:

CPU: Intel Pentium D 2.80GHz
Mainboard: MSI 945P Platinum
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Hard Drive 1: 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (Windows 7),
Hard Drive 2: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s (Backup Location)

More....................Raymond.CC Blog - Daily updated news of useful advanced computer tips and tricks
​

 

[RAK]

Very interesting. There are some +/- in the comparisons, so it can be down to a personal choice, particularly for speed. Overall I think I'll stick with my favorite - Acronis.

 

[vincarrillo]

"Software Features and Backup/Restore Speed Comparison"

Still shaking my head wondering where the "features" and "comparison" part of your post went.

 

[RAK]

It's all in the link. Near the bottom of the post. Reghakr is passing on an excerpt from the whole article, for information.
When you grab the link, you have to page forward a couple of times to see all the diagrams and pages.