Looking for the best way to snapshot backup HDD using .ISO files

[HazyJ28]

Is there any good tool outside of Windows Administrative Tools for creating .ISO image backups? (like a free third party tool)
I'd rather go that route than the "file by file" manual backup like I have been doing. It would be much easier to snapshot my HDD than doing tedious, manual backups. Or would you recommend a built in Windows tool to do this?

Thanks in advance! 

[HanZie82]

Maybe google "backup hdd to iso".
I could do that for you and post a link but i would have no idea if it would actually work.

[HazyJ28]

7 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

Maybe google "backup hdd to iso".
I could do that for you and post a link but i would have no idea if it would actually work.

Thanks for the response, but I have already spent about 2 hours googling and reading on forums. It seems that everyone disagrees about the trustworthiness and effectiveness of these programs, that's why I came here- to see if there was any universally standard and agreed-upon piece of code.

I'm not one of those people who go bothering people on forums without doing my own research first.

Regardless, cheers and thank you.

[NinJake]

I'm not sure if it's ISO as I haven't used it in a bit. But Macrium Reflect Free worked wonders for me for taking images.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

MaCrium Reflect's image files are a proprietary kind of .iso file. Imaging works great for backing up System files (OS and programs) but is too inefficient for backing up data files.

 

What I recommend is segregating System files from data files, then using imaging for the System and a folder/file syncing program for just the data. The obvious way is to have the System on a separate boot drive and the data on its own drive(s). If all your machine has us one drive and you do not want to (or cannot) add another one, you can have separate partitions for the system and the data (that's what I do with my one drive wonders notebooks).

 

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging (imaging is basically a snapshot of whatever is being imaged; think photo image). I do not recommend the paid version anymore because 1. the free version is adequate for most people and 2. the company that make Macrium Reflect (Paraount Software) uses a company I do not trust called Cleverbridge (or "Not so Clever Bridge", as I call them) which I've had trouble with because of their incompetent web design and cavalier attitude towards it).  To be effective as a backup, images need to be stored off the computer, preferably on an external drive. More on this in a moment

 

For backing up data, I recommend FreeFileSync (FFS). When set to Mirror Mode (not the same as RAID 1), it will essentially create a clone of the drive or partition being backed up. After the initial backup, updates go very quickly because only files that have been added, changed, and deleted will be dealt with.

 

A feature of many folder/file syncing (including FFS) is called Versioning. When enabled (which I strongly recommend), it will take files deleted duringa backup update and send them to a user designated Versioning folder of drive. This helps to prevent losing files due to accidental deletions or corruption, including files infected with a virus or other malware.

 

I mentioned earlier about keeping images on an external drive. Normally, this is because, if the image is sored in the computer and the drive it's on gets lost, the image will also be lost. To reduce the number of drives and to simplify the recovery process, if one is using folder/file syncing, one can save images to a folder on the data drive or partition in the computer. This folder will then be backed up to external backup drive with the rest of the data when updating the backup drive.

[D.U.F.F.]

Use a linux live USB stick and Disk software.

 

[HazyJ28]

On 11/20/2019 at 1:27 PM, Lady Fitzgerald said:

MaCrium Reflect's image files are a proprietary kind of .iso file. Imaging works great for backing up System files (OS and programs) but is too inefficient for backing up data files.

 

What I recommend is segregating System files from data files, then using imaging for the System and a folder/file syncing program for just the data. The obvious way is to have the System on a separate boot drive and the data on its own drive(s). If all your machine has us one drive and you do not want to (or cannot) add another one, you can have separate partitions for the system and the data (that's what I do with my one drive wonders notebooks).

 

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging (imaging is basically a snapshot of whatever is being imaged; think photo image). I do not recommend the paid version anymore because 1. the free version is adequate for most people and 2. the company that make Macrium Reflect (Paraount Software) uses a company I do not trust called Cleverbridge (or "Not so Clever Bridge", as I call them) which I've had trouble with because of their incompetent web design and cavalier attitude towards it).  To be effective as a backup, images need to be stored off the computer, preferably on an external drive. More on this in a moment

 

For backing up data, I recommend FreeFileSync (FFS). When set to Mirror Mode (not the same as RAID 1), it will essentially create a clone of the drive or partition being backed up. After the initial backup, updates go very quickly because only files that have been added, changed, and deleted will be dealt with.

 

A feature of many folder/file syncing (including FFS) is called Versioning. When enabled (which I strongly recommend), it will take files deleted duringa backup update and send them to a user designated Versioning folder of drive. This helps to prevent losing files due to accidental deletions or corruption, including files infected with a virus or other malware.

 

I mentioned earlier about keeping images on an external drive. Normally, this is because, if the image is sored in the computer and the drive it's on gets lost, the image will also be lost. To reduce the number of drives and to simplify the recovery process, if one is using folder/file syncing, one can save images to a folder on the data drive or partition in the computer. This folder will then be backed up to external backup drive with the rest of the data when updating the backup drive.

Thank you so much! I'm going to try the methods you mentioned and I will report back!

[HazyJ28]

On 11/20/2019 at 2:08 PM, D.U.F.F. said:

Use a linux live USB stick and Disk software.

 

Hey thanks for the response! But of course, I'm a normie Windows user