Program for copying discs: an overview of free products

The lion's share of popular utilities that make backup hard drive - commercial products. Of course, the software that holds the leading position is convenient and effective, but its cost is quite high. The article will cover completely free products. Most of their work requires the creation of a bootable USB flash drive. Of course, this approach is associated with some inconvenience, but it will help out if the operating system suddenly ceases to turn on.

Redo Backup

The main advantage of the program is its simplicity. It has a minimum of options. Due to this, the start occurs almost instantly. After loading, a simplified OS, similar to Ubuntu, appears on the screen. It automatically opens the main utility window.

In addition to the basic tools, the program for copying hard disks includes several secondary functions. The file manager will be indispensable if the primary operating system does not boot. The distribution has in its set an application that can reset the parameters of the hard drive. Thus all data from it will be deleted. GParted utility will allow to change the size of HDD partitions, make any of them bootable, format.

Additional tools Redo Backup

In addition to basic tools, Redo Backup includes such programs for the PC as a photo viewer, text editor, Internet browser, terminal emulator. If the computer stops running due to lack of free space, the built-in Baobab application will be useful. It will build a diagram of files and directories and indicate which of them occupy the most space on the disk. If you accidentally delete the necessary document, it can not be repaired, because the software bundle includes the PhotoRec utility. After creating an HDD image, it can be saved to another physical medium, remotely sent to the SMB directory or to a folder on the FTP file server.

The size of Redo Backup is so small that it can fit on any USB flash drive or CD.

AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI is released immediately in four editions: an image of a bootable flash drive, two free versions of the application installed in Windows, and one paid. I must say that this approach introduces some confusion. Two free versions are almost the same.

The main plus of the paid Professional edition is the function of incremental hard disk image creation. With its help, each new backup is not recorded with full copying of all files. Only the modified and new data is added to the already created image. In addition, the distribution of the paid version includes the possibility of remote download. That is, the program files for the PC are located on the same machine, and downloaded to another. Of course, such a function does not prevent the system administrator, but it does not need a simple user.

The developers claim that free versions work more slowly, but if special speed measurements and can determine it, then "by sight" no advantages in this regard are not noticed.

Main features of AOMEI

Even the free version of AOMEI offers the user many more options than Redo Backup. Copying can be done in many ways: simple cloning of HDD, creation of backup only the system partition, transfer of the entire contents of the disk to another medium. The latter is very convenient if it is necessary to restore the machine in a short time.

To ensure that the image files do not take up too much space, the program for copying the discs compresses the data. The compression level is set by the user. If there is no lack of space on the medium, and time is short, compression can be turned off.

AOMEI can work on a schedule. For this purpose, a scheduler is built into the program. At the specified time, the application will automatically start, make a copy, and then complete.

Clonezilla

Clonezilla is an absolutely free program for copying discs. Its source code is open, which means that anyone can participate in the development. The application interface is implemented as a step-by-step wizard. However, the application is quite complex and will attract experienced users, but beginners will scare away. It should be noted that the utility is fully Russified, which makes it possible to read comments and learn functions in their native language. The translation of the text is correct.

The program for copying discs can work with any file system used by both Mac and Linux, and Windows. To create a bootable flash drive, you need to make minimum efforts. Copy all the program files to a USB drive, and then just run the makeboot.bat file

A backup copy can be created as separate files or as an image. The latter is recommended if the system partition is backed up. Of course, Clonezilla can also restore data based on the created copies. By default, the backup is written to the local drive by the utility, but nothing prevents changing the settings so that it automatically sends to the remote SMB directory or the server via the SSH protocol.

If you have secret or important documents, the program for copying disks has the ability to encrypt all files with the AES-256 algorithm. The minimum system requirements of the application will allow to run it even on the most low-power and obsolete machines.

HD Duplicator

If Windows does not boot and the faulty HDD is the fault, HD Duplicator will come to the rescue. This application is designed specifically to create images of disks with bad sectors, damaged by the magnetic surface, a faulty block of heads. The only condition that is necessary for the correct operation of the software complex is the installation of a second working HDD in the computer.

Rapid change of operating modes between UDMA and PIO allows copying in cases where other products hang. In addition, the program is completely independent of the BIOS, and access to the HDD is directly.

The main advantages of the product:

• High speed of work.
• Restore information from defective areas of the surface.
• Combining different algorithms for maximum security of all operations.
• Reboot the PC with a long lack of availability of the drive, which helps reduce the risk of HDD failure.

The program for copying damaged disks has only one drawback - it is not free.