Disk imaging program?

[Nio Wiklund]

2014-06-30 17:07, John Hupp skrev:
> On 6/30/2014 10:51 AM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
>> 2014-06-30 15:55, John Hupp skrev:
>>> On 6/30/2014 5:54 AM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
>>>> 2014-06-24 20:35, John Hupp skrev:
>>>>> I'm looking for a freeware disk imaging program that supports/offers:
>>>>> __ imaging of Windows and Linux partitions in a single image-the-disk
>>>>> operation that includes the boot sector and related structures
>>>>> __ bootable disc can do offline image backup and restore
>>>>> __ image to spanned DVD’s
>>>>> __ good compression
>>>>> __ free for business as well as personal use
>>>>>
>>>>> Notes on a few of the programs I have considered:
>>>>>
>>>>> Clonezilla doesn't know how to span to DVD's.
>>>>>
>>>>> Promising newcomer Aomei Backupper has no stated support for ext4
>>>>> partitions.
>>>>>
>>>>> Redo Backup is a front-end for partclone, and I have seen no
>>>>> documentation indicates that it supports spanned DVD's.
>>>>>
>>>>> In short, everything that I have looked at in the past or now in a
>>>>> fresh
>>>>> new sweep falls short on one point or another.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm willing to fudge on my desire for a single image-the-disk
>>>>> operation
>>>>> if I could find a recipe or documentation on how to use a
>>>>> partition-oriented tool with a script that uses several succeeding
>>>>> operations to build a complete drive backup.  Needless to say, I would
>>>>> want to arrive at both backup and restore scripts.
>>>>>
>>>> Hi John,
>>>>
>>>> Clonezilla creates 2 GB chunks, which can be copied to DVDs and file
>>>> systems in general, that cannot manage files larger than that. I don't
>>>> know (haven't tried) to write the image directly to DVDs, but it would
>>>> certainly be possible in a two-step procedure (with intermediate
>>>> storage
>>>> in an external HDD or flash drive).
>>>>
>>>> Best regards
>>>> Nio
>>>>
>>>> ps/
>>>> I don't really trust DVD disks for backup, but that is another issue.
>>>> /ds
>>> Hi, Nio.
>>>
>>> Yes, I was aware that I could do such a restore in two steps, and have
>>> used that setup at least once.  But I wanted the cheapest, simplest
>>> thing to give away with a computer to someone with no more than average
>>> skills.  ("Just boot with this .....")
>>>
>>> I have had a fair amount of exchange about this on the Ubuntu users
>>> forum, much of it exploring the idea of using dd in conjunction with
>>> utilities that zero-fill free space (as a preliminary step) and then
>>> compress and split the resulting dd archive.  But that idea stalled at
>>> the point where there was no apparent way to input the DVD splits to dd
>>> during a restore.  (Also a challenge with removing the boot disc and
>>> replacing it with a data disc, but I imagined that could probably be
>>> solved with a small distro that boots to memory.)
>>>
>>> After I last posted there, I also encountered PING, which may possibly
>>> do what I wanted, at least on a dual boot setup with Win Vista.  But it
>>> and its backend partimage are apparently no longer under active
>>> development,  and people report some problems with Win 7, so I already
>>> regard it with less enthusiasm and have not had a closer look.  (But
>>> interesting to note that partimage is one of the alternate backends
>>> employed by Clonezilla, so they must think it is reliable for certain
>>> purposes.)
>>>
>>> I've concluded that, for the moment, I can't get quite what I was
>>> looking for.  My choices are among half a dozen solutions that are a
>>> compromise on one goal or another.
>>>
>>> --John
>> Hi again John,
>>
>> I see your situation. How much data is it (compressed)? Would it be
>> possible to squeeze it into a reasonably cheap USB pendrive?
>>
>> Best regards/Nio
> 
> I looked at that.  As I recall, the drive image of the dual-boot
> installation with maximum compression was over 20GB (the lion's share of
> that due to the Windows Vista partition -- I think I can probably still
> get my usual Lubuntu-only installation onto a single bootable Clonezilla
> DVD).  In any case, I remember that a 16GB drive would not do -- I would
> have to move up to a 32GB drive.
> 

The cheapest (and rather slow) 32 GB pendrives cost approximately
18 € or $ 24 in my country. There is a 'pirate tax' on DVDs so seven or
eight of them cost a significant sum too.