We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Hard Drive Clone

My PC is getting quite old and rather than wait for major problems with my hard drive I am looking for a freeware package to clone it.
I know of Norton Ghost but if there is a freeware package that anyone could recommend I would prefer that.
Also, not being too savvy with techie stuff if the options are simple to use all the better.
Change is here to stay

Comments

  • fwor
    fwor Posts: 6,955 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If it met your criteria I would recommend Clonezilla - it's free and Open Source, but it does take some getting used to, so I won't!

    An alternative would be to download the Seagate disk tools from their website, as this includes (or did when I last looked) a cloning tool based (IIRC) on an old version of Acronis. However, you may find that it is locked down so that it will only work on Seagate or Maxtor drives

    Acronis themselves also offer a free 15 day trial of the basic version of their cloning tool, but I've never tried it.
  • gjchester
    gjchester Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    Driveimage XML *Might* be able to do what you want, However look in PCworld they do a PCworld branded drive backup software, which cost me 97p on clearance, it's really just Ghost under there own label.
  • Are you looking to just replace the drive or buy a new pc? If you are looking for a new PC then I would not clone! I would network the 2 computers together and copy the data you wish to have on the new pc. If you are buying a new disk drive then some of the manufacturers do include a disc copy tool which will do the clone for you. Good luck as this can be quite stressful!

    Alistair
    www.kallkwikdesignandprint.co.uk
  • Apreciar
    Apreciar Posts: 627 Forumite
    apeebles wrote: »
    Are you looking to just replace the drive or buy a new pc? If you are looking for a new PC then I would not clone! I would network the 2 computers together and copy the data you wish to have on the new pc. If you are buying a new disk drive then some of the manufacturers do include a disc copy tool which will do the clone for you. Good luck as this can be quite stressful!

    Alistair
    www.kallkwikdesignandprint.co.uk

    I am just taking the precaution of having a copy of my drive in case of failure.
    If the failure was too great I would buy a new pc but would prefer not.
    Change is here to stay
  • google for "PC Inspector Clone Maxx"

    free dos utility, download as ISO then burn to CD, boot from CD to use.
  • XDA
    XDA Posts: 405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I always use a free program called Snapshot:

    http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/down.htm
    “Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be thrown out of the nearest window!”
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 354K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 247.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 603.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.3K Life & Family
  • 261.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.