Image tools: A com­par­i­son of the best programs

Acronis True Image 2017 is designed as a user-friendly backup software for private users and is available for PC and Mac as a permanent license without a cloud con­nec­tion (Essential), or as a 1-year sub­scrip­tion with 50 GB (Plus) or 1000 GB (Premium) Acronis Cloud Storage. All licenses can be acquired for one, three, or five computers, as desired. A free edition is not offered. The man­u­fac­tur­er does, however, allow a 30-day trial period for in­ter­est­ed parties, where you can download and install the software without reg­is­tra­tion.

All product versions of the imaging software offer:

• Complete image-based backups
• Backups of chosen files and folders (file-level)
• Tools for exact cloning of drives at the sector level
• Try&Decide tools for the testing of new software com­po­nents and drivers

The software supports not only internal drives (HDD, SSD, and RAID) as backup media, but also optical drives (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R, etc.), USB drives (1.1, 2.0, 3.0), eSATA, FireWire, Thun­der­bolt, network attached storage (NAS), FTP servers, and PC card storage devices. Backups can be divided among multiple backup media if needed.

True Image 2017 is ad­ver­tised by the man­u­fac­tur­er as the world’s fastest backup software. And the software did indeed perform quite well in the AV-TEST run by The In­de­pen­dent IT Security Institute in April 2017. True Image 2017 saves a 50GB test set of 56 CD image and film files from SSD to HDD in under 12 minutes. According to Acronis, True Image 2017 is around 60% faster than the previous version when backing up and restoring complete images. All backup data is au­to­mat­i­cal­ly com­pressed.

Acronis True Image 2017 also reported a rel­a­tive­ly good per­for­mance in the AV-TEST of usability with 77.78%. The image tool makes up for a somewhat lengthy in­stal­la­tion process with a clear, self-ex­plana­to­ry user interface.

The program offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty to create mul­ti­lay­ered backup plans. For example, users can choose a weekly complete backup, or choose select data to be backed up daily in parallel.

The backup can be set in­cre­men­tal­ly, dif­fer­en­tial­ly, or to user-defined pa­ra­me­ters. An in­te­grat­ed search function makes it possible to search through images and only back up single files or folders as needed.

The con­fi­den­tial­i­ty of the backup data (es­pe­cial­ly on cloud-based backups) is secured using password-protected 256-bit AES end-to-end en­cryp­tion.

While True Image 2017 is geared toward private users, Acronis specif­i­cal­ly targets companies with Backup 12.5. The product, which is specially designed for hybrid cloud in­fra­struc­tures, is available to business customers in both standard and advanced editions. Licensing is available for each system as a yearly sub­scrip­tion (1 to 3 years) or un­re­strict­ed sub­scrip­tion. The imaging software supports various physical or virtual systems, cloud platforms, vir­tu­al­iza­tion tech­nolo­gies, and Microsoft ap­pli­ca­tions. This allows for backup strate­gies that include all secure corporate data, re­gard­less of whether it’s on a local computer, remote system, private or public cloud, or mobile device.

For larger companies with more than 50 employees, the advanced edition of the imaging software is rec­om­mend­ed. This expands the standard edition with functions specif­i­cal­ly designed for large IT in­fra­struc­tures.

• Support for tape drives, libraries, and au­toload­ers
• Guideline-based group man­age­ment
• Role-based ad­min­is­tra­tive access
• Data au­then­ti­ca­tion via Acronis Notary
• Disaster recovery within 15 seconds via Acronis Instant Restore
• In­cre­men­tal restora­tion of virtual machines via vm­Flash­back

The heart of the imaging software is its backup man­age­ment console, which enables the man­age­ment of all systems connected to the control unit via a central ad­min­is­tra­tional interface. Users obtain access to the backup man­age­ment console via the cloud. A cor­re­spond­ing interface is found in your Acronis account after pur­chas­ing the product. Si­mul­ta­ne­ous operation of the man­age­ment console is also supported on-premises.

• On-premises console: Install the Acronis backup man­age­ment console on a system in your local IT in­fra­struc­ture to backup other devices in your company network.

• Cloud console: Access the cloud version of the backup man­age­ment console using your web browser to back up con­nec­tion devices over the internet.

The user interface of the backup man­age­ment console resembles the web portal for the private user software Acronis True Image 2017, but clearly offers a larger spectrum of functions.

To add a new device to the backup man­age­ment console, click on “Add Device” and select the desired backup agent from the list on the right side of the page. Install the system on the target device and connect it to your Acronis account.

An overview of all devices connected to the backup man­age­ment console can be displayed by clicking on “All Devices”.

To lay out a backup plan, select the desired device and click on the “Enable Backup” button. It opens a menu for the con­fig­u­ra­tion of backup plans.

Each backup plan is in­di­vid­u­al­ly named.

With Acronis Backup 12.5, you can choose to back up the entire system of a selective device or just in­di­vid­ual hard drives, par­ti­tions, folders, or files. The imaging software also gives you the option to only save the current system status.

Like Acronis True Image 2017, Acronis Backup 12.5 also offers a clear calendar function which can be used to automate backup cycles.

Backups can be encrypted with a password-protected AES algorithm of 128, 192, or 256 bits.

In addition to the basic functions of image-based backup plans, Acronis Backup 12.5 offers a series of advanced settings under “Backup Options” such as alarms, backup val­i­da­tion, file filters, and com­pres­sion.

An overview of your defined backup plans can be accessed in the “Backups” menu on the right side of the page.

If you want to use Acronis Backup 12.5 to restore backed up data at a specific time, select the cor­re­spond­ing backup for the desired device and click on “Recover.” You also have the option to download the selected backup data as zip files.

All actions that are carried out via the backup man­age­ment console are logged by the image tool. Access entries as necessary by using the “Ac­tiv­i­ties” tab. Click on an entry to display details about the re­spec­tive oc­cur­rence. The activity protocol contains in­for­ma­tion on the status of the action, the device and backup plan, and the start, com­ple­tion, and duration of the activity. You can also see which user started the activity.

One of the core functions of Acronis Backup 12.5 is its role-based ad­min­is­tra­tive access. Using the “Manage Accounts” function, you can create as many ad­min­is­tra­tor user accounts as you wish and assign different areas of re­spon­si­bil­i­ty using group mem­ber­ships.

The German software man­u­fac­tur­er Paragon offers a free edition of their image tool Backup & Recovery 16 as “the most powerful free backup solution ever”. With more than 5500 downloads, the freeware has secured itself a top position in the ranks of free backup software. But does the tool keep all its promises?

Backup & Recovery 16 is available free for private users. After a 30-day trial, further use requires a free reg­is­tra­tion with the provider. For com­mer­cial use, a com­par­a­tive­ly in­ex­pen­sive single-user license is required.

The following functions are included in the free edition of Paragon Backup & Recovery 16:

• Complete image-based backups
• Complete restora­tion including operating system, programs, and settings
• Selective restora­tion of in­di­vid­ual hard drives, par­ti­tions, or files
• Creation of a bootable Microsoft Windows PE rescue medium
• Dif­fer­en­tial backups
• In­cre­men­tal backups
• Automatic retention
• Universal Image Mounter (UIM)
• File filter functions
• Calendar function for regular backups

The software offers an appealing, well-designed interface and guides you through the backup process using a wizard.

Each backup is au­to­mat­i­cal­ly named and given a time stamp.

With Backup & Recover 16 Free, you can choose to back up the entire system including con­fig­u­ra­tions, single hard drives and par­ti­tions, or chosen files and folders.

A filter function gives you the op­por­tu­ni­ty to only include par­tic­u­lar file types in the backup plan.

The imaging software supports local hard drives (HDD, SSD), external hard drives via USB and FireWire, RAID systems, network drives, and FTP/SFTP servers, as well as optical file storage like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs as des­ti­na­tion media.

Backup routines are created with the help of a calendar function and so-called backup jobs.

If the data security is im­ple­ment­ed as a partial backup, then the number of in­cre­men­tal or dif­fer­en­tial backups can be adapted in­di­vid­u­al­ly until the next full backup.

Each image-based backup is saved as a pVHD container.

To prevent memory bot­tle­necks, Backup & Recovery 16 Free offers a retention function. If this is activated, backups that are no longer necessary are au­to­mat­i­cal­ly deleted. To reduce the data through­put and storage space re­quire­ments, the image tool offers in­cre­men­tal and dif­fer­en­tial backup schemes as well as various com­pres­sion grades.

Clonezil­la is an open source image program that makes it possible to clone entire hard drives or in­di­vid­ual par­ti­tions bit for bit and copy them to another data medium. The software was developed by the Taiwanese National Center for High Per­for­mance Computing (NCHC) and is available at no cost to users under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2.

The live system of the backup software can be run in various modes. In addition to the rec­om­mend­ed standard mode (Default settings) in the res­o­lu­tion VGA 800 x 600, multiple other modes of operation are available under “other modes”. Select “Safe graphic settings” to run the live system with secure graphics settings. Other hardware problems can be avoided by selecting “Failsafe mode.” Start Clonezil­la in To RAM mode to copy the entire live system to the workbook. The external medium can be ejected. This mode is par­tic­u­lar­ly useful when the computer doesn’t provide enough external con­nec­tors for storage devices.

Once you’ve decided on an operating mode, select the desired language version and keyboard layout.

The current version of Clonezil­la Live is available in multiple language versions.

Click on “Select keymap from full list” and search for the keyboard layout “pc / qwerty / English / Standard / latin1 - no dead keys.”

You will then be asked if you want to start the backup tool or change to the command line. Select “Start_Clonezil­la.”

Backup and restora­tion op­er­a­tions with Clonezil­la Live are carried out in two backup modes: “device-image” and “device-device.”

Select the “device-image” mode to select a backup as an image file or select an image for recovery. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, the “device-device” mode offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty to clone data and so transfer it directly to another hard drive or recover it from one.

Clonezil­la Live has the following options for the selection of des­ti­na­tion or source device:

• local dev: Backup to or recovery from internal or external hard drive
• ssh_server: Backup to or recovery from an SSH server
• samba_server: Backup to or recovery from a Samba server
• nfs-server: Backup to or recovery from an NFS server
• enter_shell: Manual selection of storage des­ti­na­tion or image source via command line

If the target or source medium has been selected, Clonezil­la mounts it into the file system. This is followed by the selection of the partition as well as the sub­di­rec­to­ry, which serve as the storage des­ti­na­tion or image source.

Next, select one of five backup or recovery actions:

• savedisk: Back up a hard drive as an image file on the target medium
• saveparts: Back up a partition as an image file on the target medium
• re­store­disk: Restore a hard drive from the image file on the source medium
• re­storeparts: Restore a partition from the image file on the source medium
• recovery-iso-zip: Create an emergency medium (Live CD or USB storage device)

If you select one of the backup options (savedisk or saveparts), you’ll be prompted to select the hard drive or partition you want to back up and name the image file. If you select one of the recovery options (re­store­disk or re­storeparts), Clonezil­la will ask which hard drive or partition the backup data should be written from. If you want to create a bootable emergency medium instead, select the recovery-iso-zip action.

Dri­veIm­age XML 2.60 from Runtime Software is the com­pe­ti­tion to Paragon Backup & Recovery, and is marketed with a dual license system. While the image tool is free to private users, com­mer­cial use requires the purchase of a com­mer­cial license for 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 users. The purchase includes 2 to 10 support requests, and software updates for one year.

Both editions of the imaging software offer users the same range of functions:

• Image-based backups for logical drives and par­ti­tions
• Copy function from one drive to another
• Restora­tion of image-based backups on any target drive
• Ex­trac­tion of in­di­vid­ual files and folders from created images
• Calendar function for automatic backups
• Creation of a boot medium (Runtime Live CD or WinPE-Boot CD)

As opposed to Acronis True Image 2017 and Paragon Backup & Recovery 16, the current version of Dri­veIm­age XML only supports image-based full backups. Backups of selected files or partial backups can’t be carried out with the simple imaging software.

To back up your data, first select the source drive or desired partition. The setup of backup plans is done with a wizard, just like with Paragon Backup & Recovery 16.

Then specify a logical or physical hard drive as the des­ti­na­tion medium and define the imaging options. A direct backup isn’t possible on optical data carriers (CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, etc.).

Dri­veIm­age XML offers three com­pres­sion levels: None (no com­pres­sion), fast (minor com­pres­sion), and good (high com­pres­sion).

Backup files are created as so-called “hot images”. Select the “Try Volume Shadow Service first” option to have Dri­veIm­age XML access the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), in­tro­duced with Windows XP, which allows you to mirror running discs.

Use the “Raw mode” function to create a 1-to-1 copy of the selected data. In the standard settings, Dri­veIm­age XML only copies occupied sectors to the des­ti­na­tion medium.

Each backup consists of an .XML file that contains a de­scrip­tion of the copied drive as well as a .DAT file that contains the actual image in the form of binary data.

Data saved as an image can be com­plete­ly recovered using the restore function. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, Dri­veIm­age XML also offers a browse function based on the .XML file that allows you to search through images and extract selected files or folders.

The image tool Backupper from Aomei is available to private and com­mer­cial users in the version AB Standard 4.0.4 as freeware with a limited range of functions. If you need ad­di­tion­al backup features or to backup server data, then you can turn to the fee-based editions AB Pro­fes­sion­al or AB Server. Aomei also provides two versions of the imaging software directly to service providers with Backupper’s Tech­ni­cian and Tech­ni­cian Plus. The software supports the operating systems Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10, as well as Windows Server 2003, 2008 (R2), 2012 (R2), and 2016. The purchase of a permanent license includes a lifelong update service and a free upgrade to sub­se­quent versions.

The free version of the imaging software already offers all basic functions needed for a pro­fes­sion­al backup:

• Image-based system backups
• Backups of chosen hard drives, par­ti­tions, folders, or files
• In­cre­men­tal and dif­fer­en­tial backups
• Backup sched­ul­ing
• Tools for cloning hard drives and par­ti­tions
• Real-time syn­chro­niza­tion
• E-mail no­ti­fi­ca­tions
• Com­pres­sion
• En­cryp­tion

The ac­qui­si­tion of user licenses AB Pro­fes­sion­al and AB Server extend the range of functions to include tools for cloning the entire system, combining images, and au­to­mat­i­cal­ly deleting backups that are no longer necessary. The fee-based product versions are also equipped with a universal restore tool that enables users to restore the image of a system on a different computer with different hardware.

Other pro­fes­sion­al features are command-line-based operation, event-driven backup schemes, a file filter, and the PXE-BOOT (Preboot Execute En­vi­ron­ment) tool, which allows multiple computers on the network to boot using the same image file.

While licenses for the AB Pro­fes­sion­al and AB Server editions are acquired per device, companies can secure rights to install Aomei Backupper on any number of computers or servers with the licenses AB Tech­ni­cian or AB Tech­ni­cian Plus. In addition, software de­ploy­ments for company use provide advanced functions for the prepa­ra­tion and dis­tri­b­u­tion of images in the network (image de­ploy­ment).

In the Standard Edition, Aomei Backupper stands out with an intuitive user interface and appealing design.

To create a backup, select one of the five backup options: System backup, hard drive backup, partition backup, file backup, or file syn­chro­niza­tion.

If you don’t want to use a custom backup strategy, then the backup process follows two steps:

• Step 1: Select the data source
• Step 2: Select the des­ti­na­tion medium

Each backup is in­di­vid­u­al­ly named.

In addition to a backup on local networks and storage devices connected to the network, Aomei Backupper Standard 4.0.4 also makes it possible to create a backup on the cloud. In principle, all cloud storage providers are supported (for example, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon Drive, OneDrive). But a pre­req­ui­site is that the online storage is in­te­grat­ed as a drive in the file system.

Aomei Backupper Standard also offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty to define extended backup options and schedules.

Click the “Options” button to access the backup settings. Here, you can prepare a com­men­tary for the re­spec­tive backup if necessary, and define settings for en­cryp­tion and com­pres­sion as well as for the dis­tri­b­u­tion of image files and the backup method.

Aomei Backupper uses the AES en­cryp­tion algorithm.

To reduce the storage space re­quire­ments of image files, Backupper offers three com­pres­sion levels: none, normal, and high.

By default, Backupper only backs up occupied sectors of the file system. But if you wish to create an exact image, selected hard drives or par­ti­tions can be copied sector by sector.

Like Dri­veIm­age XML, Backupper uses VSS tech­nol­o­gy. The image tool also provides an Aomei internal backup tech­nol­o­gy, which makes it possible to backup data without dis­rupt­ing or rebooting the system.

Clicking on the schedule opens the imaging software’s sched­ul­ing settings. Here, you can define automatic backup processes and select desired backup strate­gies under “Advanced Settings”.

Though it’s possible to create in­cre­men­tal and dif­fer­en­tial images with Backupper, the freeware offers less design freedom than the competing product, Paragon Backup & Recovery 16 Free.

Users who want to set up advanced backup schemes have to upgrade to the paid pro­fes­sion­al edition.

Click on “Start Backup” to begin the backup process. The progress of the backup can be tracked with the status bar.

Aomei Backupper Standard also offers the pos­si­bil­i­ty to create a bootable emergency medium based on Linux or as a WinPE disc – choose between a CD, DVD, USB storage device, or ISO file.

The backup tool DiskImag from the Berlin-based software company O&O offers users Pro­fes­sion­al, Work­sta­tion, and Server product editions. The software supports all current Microsoft operating systems from Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 – in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. All editions have a free 30-day trial period, no reg­is­tra­tion required. If you want to continue to use the image tool after the trial period, you need a paid permanent license for each device. Companies receive volume licenses and starter kits from O&O.

With the pro­fes­sion­al edition, O&O DiskImage 11.0 provides all relevant functions that users need for a com­pre­hen­sive backup of a single PC:

• Image-based backups
• File-based backups
• In­cre­men­tal and dif­fer­en­tial backups
• 1-click backup: Back up an entire computer with the click of a button
• Search function for images
• Integrate ISO files as drives
• Tool for the cloning of hard drives and par­ti­tions
• Hot imaging
• VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) support
• Bare Metal Restore by means of WinPE-based bootable medium
• Control via the command line
• Machine In­de­pen­dent Restoring (MIR): Recovery on different hardware
• Com­pres­sion (LZNT 1 or BZIP2)
• Multi-level en­cryp­tion
• Full scripting support

The Server and Work­sta­tion editions, which are tailored for company use, extend the imaging software’s range of functions to include tools for central network man­age­ment.

• Cross-product man­age­ment console
• Tools for remote in­stal­la­tion and con­fig­u­ra­tion
• Extended scripting interface
• Detailed logging functions

The user interface of O&O DiskImage is slick and at­trac­tive. An overview of all the basic functions can be found on the homepage of the ap­pli­ca­tion. This point separates O&O DiskImage only mar­gin­al­ly from competing products such as Acronis True Image 2017 or Aomei Backupper 4.0.4. One unique feature, though, is the 1-click image, with which the entire system can be backed up with a single click. O&O rec­om­mends this function, for example, when backing up your system for the first time.

As desired, you can create a backup image of the entire system, in­di­vid­ual hard drives, or selected par­ti­tions with O&O DiskImage.

You can also create backups of selected files or folders.

The imaging process is either started manually or run as a “Job.” For backup jobs, you define automatic backups. This ensures that backups are created regularly. You can define the frequency using one of the following settings:

• Once
• Daily
• One or more times per week

O&O DiskImage also supports event-based backup strate­gies:

• In con­nect­ing to a par­tic­u­lar device
• When starting the system
• When a user logs in

By allowing the con­fig­u­ra­tion of imaging options, O&O DiskImage separates itself from the com­pe­ti­tion with the backup profile. Users have access to four pre­de­fined profiles: Default, Express, Mul­ti­me­dia, and Archive. The imaging software also gives the option to save cus­tomized settings for imaging methods, com­pres­sion, and en­cryp­tion as a user-defined profile.

Full backups can be carried out in three ways with O&O DiskImage:

• Used sector: Only sectors that are occupied are copied
• Forensic: O&O DiskImage generates an exact sector image of the source drive
• Direct forensic: O&O DiskImage generates an exact sector image of the source drive. The data is then read out via a low-level system interface. Direct forensic backups enable you to back up encrypted data.

Users also have the option to only backup the data that was added or altered since the last full or partial backup.

As des­ti­na­tion media, O&O DiskImage supports internal hard drives (HDD, SSD), external hard drives via USB or Firewire (HDD, SDD), network drives, RAID systems, or FTP/FTPS. Users can save images as needed on CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray using a native burn function. O&O DiskImage also supports virtual hard drives (VHD), used in the context of Microsoft Virtual PCs (VPC).

If a backup is started, the progress can be monitored via a status display.

If the backup process is closed, O&O DiskImage displays a summary of the performed action.

With O&O DiskImage, you can also create a WinPE-based emergency medium on a CD, DVD, or USB storage device as necessary, or you can save a rescue system as an ISO file on the desired des­ti­na­tion medium.