Best software for making images of HDs

[stoofa]

I'd like to:

Take an image of my HD - write this to either a DVD or external HD, I guess it depends on how big the image is.
I'd then like to be able to boot from either the DVD or a USB drive and recover the whole image without the need to install anything.

What is the best software out there at the moment to achieve this?

Ta

 

[mrk]

Windows 7?

I don't know about such software that can do it in such a seamless process other than Windows Backup in Windows 7.

1: Create System Repair Disc in Windows backup

2: Create a system image (this is a .VHD file and can be mounted in Windows directly and browsed like a removable drive which is absolute awesomeness).

3: If system breaks then simply boot with system repair disc previously created and choose the option to restore the system using the image which might be stored on a USB drive, network location or whatever.

So good, so easy.

Alternatively if you're not on Windows 7 then CloneZilla will be able to create a partition/disk image and save it to x location. CloneZilla can then later write the image to a new disk or the same disk if the OS breaks.

CloneZilla runs in its own boot environment though so you need to reboot to load it off disc. It is also free too.

 

[CaptainCrash]

CloneZilla runs in its own boot environment though so you need to reboot to load it off disc.

I'd actually see this as a positive - I've never been entirely happy with the idea of cloning a running OS, although I'm sure plenty of people use Acronis to do so with no problems.

 

[mrk]

You can only be entirely certain with Windows doing it itself really (VHD image)