EDIT 2: For Windows 7 users you have alternative of using Windows 7 built-in system restore image. See my guide here.
What is PING? It has an interesting name, PING stands for Partimage Is Not Ghost. It is a FREE tool to image your hard drive for backup and to restore disk partitions. After I had tried ntfsclone from System Rescue CD, i keep diving in the net for another free and friendlier backup/drive image tool. My need is simple, I want to image my hard drive from boot CD/DVD, installing a program in Windows to create image is useless for me since I do not need a frequent backup. At last I found this, and I tried to backup a Windows Vista partition successfully. This tool has a simple GUI and the instructions are easy to follow. Now, you can image your hard drive with PING.
First, Download the ISO and burn the bootable CD. To create a restore image like my previous post, follow this steps. Assume the drive we want to backup is C: while the image destination is D:\Restore\
1. After booting the CD, the screen stop in black command prompt screen. Press Enter.
2. Press Enter in welcome screen.
3. Choose "Reboot the system".
4. Choose "Local Disk/Partition".
5. Select partition (with Documents and Settings) to backup and press Spacebar. Press Enter to continue.
6. Select partition to place the restore image and press Spacebar. Press Enter to continue.
7. Type folder to place the restore image. (Type "\Restore" in this case). Press Enter to continue.
8. Select "Create New Image" and press Enter.
9. Type your image name (eg. MyWin) and press Enter.
10. Choose "gzip" and press Enter.
11. Restore start and wait until it finish and reboot your system.
12. Take out your PING CD.
To restore to the state your image was made.
1. Boot the CD, press Enter in command prompt.
2. Press Enter in welcome screen.
3. Choose "Reboot the system".
4. Choose "Local Disk/Partition".
5. Select "### CHOOSE THIS if you want a RESTORATION ###", press Space and Enter.
6. Select the partition where the restore image is store, Press Space and Enter.
7. Type folder where the restore image. (Type "\Restore" in this case). Press Enter to continue.
8. Select the image name (MyWin in this case). Press Enter
9. Select "No" when ask if want to restore BIOS setting.
10. Restore start and voila.
To have better understanding browse through the print-screen guide from PING's website. More documentation from PING's website.
EDIT: There are more features offered by PING, you can store your restore image in a LAN networked PC or you can build a bootable DVD which contain your image. Another way is to boot the PING ISO from your local harddisk, goto the FAQ and search for "How can I put the PING ISO into my harddisk and boot from it".
can i place the restore image on an external harddisk? so when i need to restore in other (different, but same on specification)computer, i just need to restore from that external harddisk.
ReplyDeleteYes you can. When ask where to store your image, just select the USB mass storage device. You can even make a restore image for your USB mass storage device.
ReplyDeletedoes it have the option to only copy the used space on the drive you want to creat an image of?
ReplyDeletePING only create image on your used space of the HDD.
ReplyDeleteI usually make a partition on the usb drive just for the backup (10 Gigs). My routine thanks to this great program has saved hours.
ReplyDeleteI do a clean install on a 10 Gig partition (XP), all the programs I need including Delorme Atlas. Use the PC a few days to make sure everything you want is installed and ready to go.
Then run PING and backup as instructed here. I choose uncompressed. It restores 10 Gigs in about 4 minutes.
I have about 4 systems backed up. I always have to restore someone's PC so this program is great. I installed Vista on my wife's laptop and she didn't like it so I booted PING and restored it to XP (I meant to multi boot but for some reason Vista installed to the new partition I made for it but the boot sequence didn't include a choice to go to XP. This worked on my son's PC but not my wife's laptop, have no idea why).
So I have some work to do, I just did a downgrade on my ASUS G50VT-X5 and that is not something I want to have to do again (although ASUS has all the drivers you need for any OS but there's so much stuff on these things they are great).
PING is awesome, I recommend it over any kind of backup software. It is fast, I don't even bother with GZIP but I haven't needed to save space. Vista most likely needs to be reduced in size. I recommend getting drivers and getting rid of Vista unless you really really need it. I can really tell the difference when playing games, they wont max out in Vista but they can have everything turned up and maxed in XP.
@Greg: It's good to know my guide helps you. I wrote this with the initial intention of my own reference when i forgot how to do it in the future. :) PING is really a very good program for this task.
ReplyDeleteFor Vista multiboot with XP, you can set the default OS to boot, here's the guide Hope this helps.