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cloning posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Windows x64

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 is a great free imaging and partitioning tool


Paragon has long been a name respected by technicians and IT professionals. Their latest release is aimed squarely at home users, and it's a program well worth trying out.

Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition is an excellent, multi-talented hard drive management app. So, what can you do with it? For starters, it will create and restore images of your hard drives and partitions. There's also a built-in tool for creating bootable rescue media (either CD or USB flash drive).

Tasks can be scheduled to run at regular intervals, and you can also create differential jobs (which only back up files that have changed since the previous backup). On massive partitions, the differential option can really speed up the imaging process.

You can also mount previously created images so you can explore them like any other folder or disk on your computer - or manually add additional files.

In addition to backup and imaging tasks, Backup & Recovery can also perform a number of partition management tasks. Use it to create, format (FAT32, NTFS, EXT2/3/4, Linux Swap), and hide partitions as well as check filesystem integrity and check for surface defects.

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free is loaded with great features. It's simple enough for casual users and powerful enough to be of use to seasoned veterans.

It's free for non-commercial use and downloads are provided for both 32 and 64-bit Windows. You will need to register for a serial number, but it's well worth the minimal effort (just be sure uncheck any 'email me special offers' boxes).

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Windows x64

O&O DiskImage offers powerful cloning features for 64-bit Windows


O&O makes a ton of great software, and they're doing a great job of releasing native 64-bit versions of their apps - like DiskImage.

Like Macrium Reflect and DriveImage XML, DiskImage runs right in Windows. It performs well, imaging my C: drive's 70GB several minutes faster than Reflect.

DiskImage has some other very cool features, like the ability to mount images as a virtual drive, burn images to CD or DVD, and clone drive-to-drive. It also supports incremental images which can save huge amounts of time when backing up drives with a lot of data.

Jobs can also be scheduled, making DiskImage an excellent option for disaster recovery on your workstations and servers. While it's not free, a 30-day trial is available for download and the pro version is reasonably priced at around $30US.

You'll need to fill out a form when you download - just make sure to uncheck the newsletter option if you don't want to be contacted. A 32-bit version is also available.

Filed under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

Four apps that will/might keep your wife from killing you


...when her computer crashes.

Jason's writeup of PMS Buddy inspired me to write a sort of Public Service Announcement. Since I'm sure a lot of our loyal readers are "the friend that knows about computers," I thought I'd share some programs that I should've used long before my wife's hard drive took a dirt nap.

Prepping a close one's computer for a catastrophic event is kind of like stockpiling supplies for a fallout shelter. When the proverbial bomb drops, you'll be safe - as long as you've got the right provisions.

1. GMail. I took the liberty of setting up what I think is a phenomenally crafty stealth email backup. Step one: enable IMAP and copy all the old messages to GMail. Step two: set up GMail to automatically check our ISP's crappy POP server. Step Three: set Outlook Express to access GMail via POP and leave the original copy on the server. Step four: twiddle thumbs. All emails are now stored in the cloud where a hard drive is a lot less likely to take a steaming hot bath in coffee.

I've chosen to use POP instead of IMAP because of the odd problem we've had with our GMail for Domains access. Phone calls from home that start "Why is it telling me the server can't be contacted?" aren't good for my health.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Shareware, Freeware

5 Free Apps to Clone Your Hard Drive

Hard drive prices are so low now that it really makes sense to use an imaging program. That way you've got a perfectly cloned backup of your system exactly the way you have it configured in case of a crash, which is much more convenient than reinstalling Windows, activating, and loading all your applications all over again.

Here are four great apps to get the job done - without spending a dime!

DriveImage XML. Runtime Software has never placed too much importance on looks, and it's for a very good reason. Their software works really, really well. DriveImage was the first software I used to create images within Windows. Scheduled backups can be created with the Windows Task Scheduler and command line switches. DriveImage is free for private, home use only. Yes, Macrium Reflect does the same thing and looks nicer, but it's $39.99.

For a straight-up, drive-to-drive clone, you can use Runtime's Shadow Copy. Shadow copy is free for everyone, not just home users.

Like DriveImage, XXClone runs in Windows. It has an extremely simple interface, and gives you the option to copy volume ID to your destination and make it bootable. The interface also provides quick access to the Windows disk manager, in case you need to perform some quick drive tasks prior to cloning. XXClone is free for personal, private use.

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Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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