Our day-to-day life is measured by how much product we have been. Imagine working hard for an entire day and finding yourself back in the same place as you were at the start of the day. Frustrating, isn’t it? That is exactly what happens when your PC has a system crash, and all the work is lost.
Many mega businesses, independent bloggers, law-firms, etc., face this problem regularly, and it is quite a serious issue that demands attention. System failures should be dealt with as harshly as any cyber attack.
Regularly backing up data and files with the help of disk imaging software is one of the most effective and efficient ways to deal with this problem. Disk imaging and disk cloning can help companies and other major industries save up on their precious time, effort and money.
Although they are a little different from each other, disk imaging and cloning serve a similar, if not the same, purpose. So, we go on to ask ourselves the most obvious question next:
What Is Disk Imaging/Cloning?
Both disk imaging and disk cloning have a really important place in the IT sectors of many modern businesses and companies. Although they are quite similar, we will now go on to break them down to you and differentiate between them.
Disk Imaging: It makes a compressed copy of your drive. This file can then be restored, and your drive can now have the extra push that it needs. This file might be a little large in size and hence should be stored in either external drives or the clouds. It will also help you provide backup to multiple computers with the same configuration.
Disk Cloning: It, on the other hand, makes an exact replica of your drive, which is uncompressed. This will lead to you having a direct replacement in case your hard drive fails.
Verdict: If you are looking for a quick fix, then cloning is better as it will simply replace your corrupted or damaged hard drive. However, disk imaging provides much more flexibility and versatility. Choose accordingly.
That being said, let us now take a closer look at nine of the best disk imaging software.
9 Best Free and Open Source Disk Imaging Software in 2021
1. FOG
Another great option for disk cloning, FOG provides an encrypted and compressed version of your drive. Not only is this efficient but also a safe method to try out since it provides extra protection through data encryption. It supports multi-casting and provides all the basic imaging and cloning functions. FOG is exceptionally good at providing differential backup and even allows proper resizing of a disk volume. This application is also good for Linux and Mac users.
2. Clonezilla
This free software is multi-featured and has many versions (Clonezilla live, Clonezilla Lite server, Clonezilla SE) available for both free and purchase. It helps with system development as well as data recovery through disk imaging. It even supports disk cloning up to 40 computers! Low-end computers can use Clonezilla Live, which has very minimal system requirements of just about 196 MB of RAM.
Clonezilla also offers many custom boot parameters, which let you change the imaging process manually. It is excellent software that is available for free and is a great help to both major businesses as well as young entrepreneurs.
3. DoClone
Developed in C++, DoClone is a free disk imaging/cloning software. The software is quite easy to use. DoClone can image/clone drives of different volumes and even supports the live cloning feature. You can use this software from a LAN across various devices, which lets you do multiple cloning. It is a perfect disk imaging software to use for offices that have a LAN Network because of its efficient data transfer feature.
4. Part Clone
Part clone supports nearly all file formats with effective drive imaging, cloning, and partitioning. This software aims at the proper cloning of files and supports advanced administrators. It rechecks the data it saves to make sure it is genuine and also verifies the back-up blocks. Part Clone is user-friendly, and all its commands are in a lucid text mode. Furthermore, Part Clone maintains transparency by letting the user view the usage docs without any hindrance. This free software is definitely worth a shot.
5. AOMEI Backupper
AOMEI Backupper is free software that fulfills your basic data protection needs of backup, sync, restoration, and cloning. It provides customizable backup settings like backing up on a regular basis, creating an incremental and differential backup, allowing email notifications, etc.
It also provides safe and easy cloning where the bad/corrupted sectors are automatically skipped in the process. The simple version of AOMEI is available for free. However, the PRO and WORKSTATION modes have to be purchased. The WORKSTATION mode is perfect for computers used in offices as it provides many additional features along with the round-the-clock priority service.
6. Mondo Rescue
Reliable, sturdy, and licensed, Mondo rescue is an efficient disaster recovery software that has received great user reviews. Mondo Rescue is known for its quality and is used by billion-dollar enterprises like IBM, NASA, Siemens, HP, US Department of Agriculture, etc.
Mondo even protects against hardware and software raids with its effective controllers and is swift in the process. The backups of multiple files and folders made by this app are generally accessible. It should be high up on your priority list if you are genuinely looking to invest in disk imaging software which would be worth it.
7. Macrium Reflect
This software definitely ticks all the boxes under the multi-featured column. Macrium provides a plethora of features in its free version as well as the 4 other forms of paid versions. It provides regular and reliable updates, which upgrade the quality of the app every time.
Other than basic disk imaging and cloning functions, Macrium Reflect also lets you image live running Operating Systems. This software is exceptional in the fact that it lets you boot your backup and also has a scheduling function. To top it all of Macrium assures safe backup by encrypting your data and also protects you from ransomware. This app really has it all!
8. Easeus
Capable of cloning entire disks and partitions, EaseUS is another addition among the great free disk imagine applications for Windows. Other than the basic cloning and imaging functions, EaseUS has a handy scheduling function enabled in it. With over 20 million users, this award-winning software is known for its extensive features.
The quick restore feature is especially intriguing as it restores lost data in a matter of seconds. EaseUS comes with a free version and an Enterprise version (which you have to purchase). You should definitely give this software a try because of its quaint features, if nothing else.
9. Drive Image XML
An easy and reliable way to fix your disk imaging issues, Drive Image XML can copy one drive to another effortlessly. It offers both a private edition as well as a commercial edition for people with different needs. Round-the-clock buyer support and free updates for a year are some of the additional perks available for the commercial version.
The unique factor about this software is that it can run on pretty much any version of Windows. Drive Image XML also comes with the scheduling option and lets the user restore the file on the same drive or another of his/her choice. It is a neat and tidy app that is worthwhile.
Final Words
To combat the irritating problem of lost data and corrupted drives, we have focused our attention on disk imaging apps. Through proper research and scrutiny of user reviews, we have come up with 9 of the best disk cloning applications. This article was specially written for a broad spectrum of readers ranging from the advanced tech master to a common man unaccustomed to the technical lingo.
Most of these apps are free, which should be a good enough reason for you to try them out. Features like scheduling and real-time backup of data are crucial, and most of the apps on our list have this feature. Always check for these two features in the app of your choice as these two happen to be the handiest features.
In the modern world of booming technology, data is at the pinnacle of every sector. Losing precious data is something we cannot afford to do, and that is why we should invest in good enough disk imaging software to prevent that from ever happening. Even with the installation of newer hardware or software, we risk the chance of losing important data; hence precaution is a must. Follow our article and choose any app according to your choice and be safe from unnecessary data loss.
