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Bakaka BakakaFlag for Ghana

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best imaging disk tool

hi,

i would like to get an advice on which software you best recommend to buy for cloning and or imaging disks?

At current - i used spotmau (http://www.spotmau.com/products/package/full.html?url=http://www.spotmau.com/products/package/full.html&campaignid=62144202&adgroupid=3240874002&targetid=kwd-3449103722&loc_physical_ms=2184&matchtype=p&network=g&device=c&keyword=spotmau&adposition=1t1&gclid=CO3Dk7fVudICFVVsfgodSUoFMg) - it comes with a bundle and other utilities for cleaning the pc as well.

But i am really after the best software which allows you to clone and image your disk to another disk?

There is FTK Imager but i want to know which one you guys recommend?

I am after a paid version?

Please advise?

Thanks.
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Ramin

There are a number of paid options such as Norton Ghost (Symantec) and Acronis.

easier to use and better though is Paragon's backup and recovery.


free softwares:

one of the best software for backpacking or cloning whole HDD or SSD
http://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-backupper.html

Clonezilla and FOG are also very good.

http://clonezilla.org/
https://fogproject.org/
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ASKER

ok so it looks like then aomeitech is the best one right?

as i said earlier - i am not interested in the free version.

I am interested in a tool that can clone and or image disks to another disk..
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Ramin

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thanks i have gone ahead and bought the paragon one.

cheers.
Please look at top ten reviews, specifically the feature comparison charts. Pick the one that has the features that's most important to you.
http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/utilities/best-disk-imaging-software/

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I'm glad I could help. Thanks
Hi Bakaka,
It's my opinion that nobody can tell you what the "best" is because (1) it's unlikely that anyone has tried every single product out there and (2) what's "best" (or even "better") is a matter of opinion. For example, Ramin mentioned three products above — my guess is that he never tried Casper, which I think is better than all three that he recommended (and, yes, I've tried all three). In fact, I used Acronis previously as my go-to cloning/imaging product, but after it failed on a restore several years ago, I decided to search for a better product, discovered Casper, and never looked back. Casper has, literally, never failed on creating a clone. I have used it many, many times in recent years to clone to a new SSD. I even run it every evening in the wee hours (it utilizes the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule jobs) on several machines to clone the hard drives (a mix of HDD, SSD, and hybrid). It has an intelligent cloning mechanism so that it copies only the necessary tracks. The first run takes a while, but after that, it's extremely fast. It can clone to the same size drive or to a larger one or even to a smaller one, as long as there is enough space on the smaller one to house the used (non-free) space from the larger one. It's not free, but it's reasonably priced and worth every penny. Here's a 5-minute EE video Micro Tutorial that I did on it:

Cloning a Hard Drive with Casper
https://www.experts-exchange.com/videos/210/

As a disclaimer, I want to emphasize that I have no affiliation with this company and no financial interest in it whatsoever. I am simply a happy user/customer.

Another very well-regarded product is Macrium (also not on Ramin's list). I haven't used it myself, but experts here at EE whose opinion I trust speak highly of it. Regards, Joe
@Joe -  I didn't try Casper, but I tried all three that I mentioned above and Paragon is the best,
what you experience with it may be a hardware problem not Paragon's problem.
also it is always the number one on the top list of best Hard Disk Manager Professional tools in top magazines.
Ramin,
So you're saying that, in your opinion, Paragon is the best of the three you tried. I'll buy that. As far as the "top magazines" go, those articles are written by folks like you and me — and the only thing they represent is the opinion of each author. I just did a quick web search and came up with an article that said Acronis is #1; and another article in PC Magazine (which I presume you'll agree is a "top magazine") that put ShadowProtect Desktop at the top of its "Best Backup Software of 2017" list:
ShadowProtect Desktop, the consumer version of the leading enterprise-level backup software, is the most reliable disk-imaging local backup software available.
In fact, Paragon isn't even #2 in that article — Acronis is. It says this about Paragon:
Paragon has finally created a backup utility that's accessible to home users, but the product still lacks some usability and tools of the competition.
So Paragon is clearly not "always the number one on the top list" (sic). And, of course, we could be dealing with different products from the same vendor, such as Paragon's Hard Disk Manager 15 Pro and Backup&Recovery 16. In any case, a key point is that we're dealing with opinions here. Regards, Joe
@Joe - Thanks for your information, but it will not change my mind to stop working with Paragon Software and starting Casper. (trusting a software is depend on your experience with that software), anyway thank you for sharing your valuable experience.
> trusting a software is depend on your experience with that software

Something we agree on! :)  Regards, Joe
thanks guys...and thanks Joe for the casper software. I will definitely look into it.
You're welcome, Bakaka. Good luck with your selection! Cheers, Joe
Best is also relative. Each user has a tool which is the best for him and his needs. And people are different. Acronis and Shadow Protect are aiming the enterprise market, Paragon is the best for advanced home users.