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View Full Version : Free Alternative to Ghost...


mechmike0034
03-27-2006, 06:58 AM
With some limitations: http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm


DriveImage XML is an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives.

The program allows you to:


Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
Browse these images, view and extract files
Restore these images to the same or a different drive
Copy directly from drive to drive
Schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler
Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.
Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup!

Restore images to drives without having to reboot.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP Home, XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 only.
The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.

I played with it a little over the weekend. It does what it says it does - I moved a Win XP Pro install to a larger HD with it in about 30 minutes.
redcolours
03-28-2006, 05:21 PM
interesting - thanks for the heads up!
ive been an avid Ghost proponent - i cant say enough about the product. possibly one of the best computer lifesavers of all time (next to ZAR32).

ill give it a whirl sometime soon. thanks again!
gwilks98
04-03-2006, 10:40 AM
Nice find. If only it worked on Win2K server...
wung
04-03-2006, 11:08 AM
GREAT FIND! i've been thinking about buying ghost, but now i'll try this before spending the money ...
mcs328
04-03-2006, 02:02 PM
I've been looking for an alternative to Ghost. I had another symantec rebate become invalid even though I know it wasn't. I haven't gotten any of my valid rebates either.

For my next computer, I'll be adding this as another free alternative along with AVG Antivirus and Open Office.
DarkFury
04-04-2006, 07:58 AM
Does it do incremental as well as full backups?

Norton Ghost 9 does...
mechmike0034
04-04-2006, 01:45 PM
Does it do incremental as well as full backups?

Norton Ghost 9 does...

I don't know... Haven't had much time to play around with it - I've just used it to move two installations to larger drives.
eSDee
04-04-2006, 04:53 PM
In order to use this, you have to be upgrading your hard drive or transferring from one identical system to another right? If so, I wish I could use it to image an XP system with basic programs/settings then use it on different systems. That would be perfect for my situation.
mechmike0034
04-04-2006, 09:21 PM
In order to use this, you have to be upgrading your hard drive or transferring from one identical system to another right? If so, I wish I could use it to image an XP system with basic programs/settings then use it on different systems. That would be perfect for my situation.

I tried that and had stop errors on boot as well as driver and drive letter issues. The two machines were very different though. It took a repair install to make a boot happen - by then I could have done a fresh XP load. You also can't copy a larger drive to a smaller one, even if there's not much data. I couldn't copy a 40GB drive with 5GB of data (35GB free) to a 30GB drive unless I used a third-party partitioner to make the 40GB smaller.
Dem0072
04-05-2006, 01:47 AM
Sounds just fine if you have a home network & don't want to fool around spending hours of reinstallation every time Microsoft chokes.

Otherwise it has its pros & cons, very interesting though.

I wonder, whats its "SATA Marriage" policy? (for SATA drives that basically marry the motherboard, and in which a fresh reinstall & reset of the boot rom is required to get a boot off the same SATA drive, say after a SATA port, breaking).