Windows 10: Acronis True Image Alternatives

LoL ...yup, I went from Acronis which I had been using since at least 2007, bought every version to even the latest release. 2015 I think.....to removing Acronis, completely from both my computers, and now I only use Macrium Reflect Free. Also gained at least 200+ megs of space on both my SSD's too boot!! Acronis each year has become VERY bloated and also loaded needless crap into memory. Macrium Reflect just works for me, as I only do complete image backups anyhow. *Smile

 

I have an external USB3 attached enclosure where I reuse the HDDs I recover from my laptops when I install SSDs on the laptops. And recenty I also bought a 256GB and a 512GB SSD to be used in that enclosure.

 

Yep. Another way to boot it, is to create a partition on an internal/external HD, format as FAT32, copy the content of the ISO and mark it as Active then you don't need a USB/DVD.

Since everything is run from RAM, you can surf the web with no worry to get infected, test freeware, play video etc...

I created my own WinPE since my favorite browser is Firefox and added my own paid version of tools. Also include Macrium/Windows Recovery/Mini Tool Partition/AOMEI Partition etc...

 

I know....I know, Dino and I've been VERY jealous of your ability to make Your WinPE as I love what you were able to do!!!! Someday, I am going to try and learn how.....lol Try....being the key word. *Smile

 

@OldMike65
FYI, Registry Workshop has been updated to Version 5 as I know this is one of your favorite program.

 

What!!!??? ....on my way....THANKS!!!!!! *Party*Party

 

Jeez, you guys! So much to put in my Bucket List!

 

We have the registered version too, life time updates. Not sure what the difference is between free and registered thou, as I have been a registered owner for around 10 years.....or so... *Smile

 

I have just tried to do this, created a partition, formatted it as fat32, mounted iso as a drive and enabled all hidden files to be seen, and copied everything to the partition.

I went to disk management. and right clicked on partition, but option to make it active was greyed out.

How do you make it active (note: my pc is an eufi install if that is relevant).

Once it is active, how do I boot it - presumably adding some kind of boot entry making PC dual boot?

 

Read Topguns tutorial think it will explain it better...
https://www.tenforums.com/general-dis...sb-hd-ssd.html

 

Can you post a picture of your current disk management so that we can evaluate the situation.

 

@cereberus
For MBR disk. Use diskpart to mark it active. To boot it, access the boot menu and select from the boot menu or if your PC does not have boot menu then you would have to set the boot priority in the BIOS for it. Exactly the same way as if you boot from USB/DVD.

In addition. If the disk you use is GPT then there's no such thing as "Active" in GPT disk. You would have to format the partition as NTFS, copy the files and from boot menu, select the disk with UEFI prefix to boot from.

NOTE: This procedure will work with both KYHI's Recovery WinPE and Macrium Rescue disk.
For KYHI's Recovery, you'd need to have a larger partition size since it is over 1MB.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

 

@DeaconFrost - looks like you opened up a can of Macrium here. Any thoughts/questions on the suggestions so far?

Image for Windows/Linux/DOS (Terabyte Unlimited) is also worth checking out, especially in terms of reliability, although a bit technical for somes' tastes and, IIRC, not much on free options.

 

I have My PE setup as a bootable partition - rather then a bootable disk..
And keep it also on a bootable USB...

You need to add a New BCD Entry to make the Partition Bootable via Boot Manager

@topgundcp
Can I test or can you link me to your ExamDiff script..

 

Same technique can be used to boot any bootable wim file. ( Iso booting from hd is also possible, but not using efi - though there is a complex workaround )

To get back to the original subject, there are several imaging solutions which have both free and paid versions.

They all seem to work fine - depends which you prefer as they have some different functions. Aomei has the most in the free (standard) version - even includes "restore to different hardware".

Paragon has a unique feature - allows excluding files/folders from image.

Try them and see. I use Aomei mostly but the others work ok too.

AOMEI Backupper Standard

Paragon Backup & Recovery Free | Paragon Software

Macrium Reflect Free