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Small Business Server Support Forum    
Forums > 3rd party software and network information > Backup
Subject: Use Drive Image XML For Imaging
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David Farrior User is Offline
United States
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1/20/2006

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1/03/2008 06:09 PM  
I don't know if any of you guys have used it, but DriveImage XML look like a great free option for imaging servers.

I am not thinking of replacing normal backups, but I thought it would be a nice supplement to your normal backup software of choice.

For me, I was thinking of keeping my normal backup solution which consists of backing up to external 2.5" USB harddrives using BackupAssist with the exchange plugin. Then, using DriveImage XML to back up to a 3.5" drive (not in a rotation) nightly. So, you would then use the image to do a complete restore of the server if necessary but use backupassist if only a partial restore was necessary. (individual exchange mailbox, one set of folders, etc)

DriveImage XML just uses VSS like it seems that most other backup solutions use anyway. I just thought it might be quicker/easier to just restore a whole image instead of using ntbackup to do the restore.
Andrew NP Tech User is Offline
Australia
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10/16/2006

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1/06/2008 02:43 AM  
Why not spend $45 and buy R-Driveimage http://www.drive-image.com/ .

You are right that taking an image for disaster recovery makes sense (though normally as an addition to your regular daily backups) however DriveimageXML (and other similar free imaging programs - and there are quite a lot out there) are all very basic, missing key features and have limited support and development that you would expect in commercial software. On the other hand Datacraft Shadow Protect and Acronis Echo are incredibly expensive for occasional small business use. So R-Drive image is perfect as it quite usable, does what its advertised to and is so cheap that its really a no-brainer once you have tried out the free 15day trial and see that it does what it says.
David Farrior User is Offline
United States
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1/06/2008 03:53 AM  
I understand your comment about support as it is a free product. Other than that though, could you be more specific on exactly what the additional benefits are?

They would have to purchase and external usb drive so an extra $45 should not be that big of a deal. I suppose in theory the $45 would be money well spent just on support. If all they are is using the same technology (VSS) then it seems like Microsoft is doing most of the heavy lifting.
Andrew NP Tech User is Offline
Australia
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1/06/2008 06:37 AM  
If you go to the website you can get a list of the features however the main ones are that its faster (especialy when using compression), has diferential and incremential backups, can restore directly to a blank drive - even a smaller one, automaticly creates partitions, can resize, can change formats, can restore to locked partitions - ie can restore windows from within windows, has scripting support, has support for verifing images, has suport for actions on failure - ie send an email if a backup fails for some reason. It also has a bootcd creator (creates a linux based R-driveimage CD for bare metal restores) and some other features.

I think for $45 its a good deal - and yes your right that VSS does do the heavy lifting like it does in Acronis ect. However $45 is very reasonable for thoes features and you can try it first for free to make sure your happy.
Andrew Hussey User is Offline
France
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2/24/2006

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3/29/2008 02:06 AM  
I've spent some time looking for cheap or free imaging solutions. I'll admit to perhaps not doing proper testing after settling on R-Drive and have deployed it to about 20 SBS customers.

We've recentrly done some proper testing of R-Drive using a lab server (brand new hardware and basic SBS installation) and there's a hell of a mess around to get the recovered system to boot, usually requiring third party products to repair the boot sector and/or partition table.

Also, R-Drive has a habit of rebooting servers while doing images. This can usually be circumnavigated by using seperate schedules to backup each partition - it seems to only be when you do all the disks in one shot.

R-Drive can take several hours to do it's work too!

And.....technical support from R-Drive is farcical.

I'd love to hear from anyone using R-Drive that can refute the above points.

Not been much happier with Paragon Imaging software so far.

Currently testing ShadowProtect and getting good first impressions. Image backup that took R-Drive 3+ hours was completed in 50 mins.
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Forums > 3rd party software and network information > Backup > Use Drive Image XML For Imaging


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