TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite

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TeraByte’s Image For Windows has a new version, 3.00a. Since this is a major version upgrade, it isn’t a free upgrade for licensed owners of IFW 2.xx. We are entitled to 50% off, however. There are some changes in the UI, but I haven’t used it enough yet to say much else.

“The TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite includes Image for Windows, Image for Linux, Image for DOS, and the OSD Tool Suite. Image for DOS and Image for Linux support the same powerful drive image functionality without requiring a working Windows installation. “

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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I downloaded the Suite on the 5th, uninstalled version 2.99-00, installed the 3.00 Suite, and imaged my SSD (i.e., C: drive) – worked like a charm!
I also logged in at TeraByte (using my old account info) and downloaded the new version 1.33 of BootIt Bare Metal (it didn’t undergo a major version upgrade, so I didn’t have to plunk down any additonal change).

RockE

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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How much is 50% off? I’m in my lean years 🙂 — what’s the dollar amount?

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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[bbearren]

$19.47

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.

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$19.47

I believe that is still one license for one computer, correct? I’ll have to recalculate for three computers, correct?

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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I believe that is still one license for one computer, correct? I’ll have to recalculate for three computers, correct?

Of course, there is nothing to prevent you from buying more than a single license, or buying a commercial version.
Here is a screen clip of part of page 225 from the TeraByte manual. I think you’ll find that your license can be used on up to three of your personal computers.

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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Thought I’d mention a small snafu I encountered today with regard to the 2.99 version of Image for Windows. This is probably of interest only to other Image for Windows users who may be using an older version.
I had IFW installed on a second computer (not mentioned in post # 2) and that machine was still Windows 10 version 1511 (it is usually not connected to the Internet, so it had not been upgraded to version 1607).
I decided to connect to the Internet and allow Windows Defender to update before running a backup of that computer’s hard drive, because WD was “nagging me”. WD updated alright, and I decided to run IFW 2.99 to backup that computer’s hard drive, before upgrading IFW to 3.00, and installing some other programs.
PHYLock kept waiting for drive writing to cease, and never was successful.
I eventually downloaded and re-installed PHYLock, then it worked.

I won’t have the problem again, because I have now upgraded IFW to V3.00 on that computer. But I thought it might be of interest because I’d seen mention of re-installing PHYLock on the TeraByte forum in the past (even though I’d never had to previously).

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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Today I noticed that the suite is now version 3.01, released on August 16th. I’m downloading it now.

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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My results:
After downloading and installing the new version 3.01 of the Suite, I ran it and backed up my OS drive (Windows 10 ver. 1607). The image file was a bit smaller than the one made using version 3.00 even though the used space on C: had increased. Imaging took slightly less time, too.
So, I’m pleased with the new version at this point. I’ll be doing a restore later (after I sleep; it’s bedtime).

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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[bbearren]

RockE is correct; one license is good for 3 personal computers owned by you or your immediate family. I have a copy installed on my desktop, my NAS, and my laptop, all with the same license.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren. Reason: remove html tags

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Thanks RockE! I’ll remember it is for three computers at the most.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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You’re certainly welcome.
You can find the Image for Windows user’s manual here.

RockE

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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For years (back to Langalist days), I’ve been making Image 4 Windows images of my XP and Win 7 computers. A few months ago (April 2016) I finally NEEDED a restoration on my XP machine. I discovered that I can’t restore it to a new drive!

Will the new version 3 actually restore an image, or will it be another placebo mimicking as a “backup solution” that wouldn’t work?

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[bbearren]

For years (back to Langalist days), I’ve been making Image 4 Windows images of my XP and Win 7 computers. A few months ago (April 2016) I finally NEEDED a restoration on my XP machine. I discovered that I can’t restore it to a new drive!

Will the new version 3 actually restore an image, or will it be another placebo mimicking as a “backup solution” that wouldn’t work?

In the Langalist days, there was no Image For Windows. Drive imaging was built into BootIt Next Generation, and the image files were *.IMG. Image For Windows image files are *.TBI.

Image For Windows won’t restore *.IMG files. One must boot into an older version of BootIt Next Generation in order to restore *.IMG files (the newer versions of BootItNG don’t include drive imaging). I’ve used BootIt Next Generation since the ’90’s and I never had an issue restoring a drive image to a new hard drive.

I bought Image For Windows when TeraByte offered it a few years ago, and have been using it ever since. This post was the most recent example of restoring to a new hard drive.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren. Reason: remove html tags

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I appreciate your quick response bbearren. For brevity reasons, I tried to keep my post short. Yes, I have years’ worth of V1 and V2 BootIt and Image 4 Windows updated software downloads, but I never needed to test it until April of this year.

Yes, I should have tested a restoration l-o-n-g before I actually needed it. My bad.

I backup my computers to a dedicated PC through my internal network. But when I tried to restore my main XP computer, I4W couldn’t find the new drive. I used the Image for DOS CD.

I’m at a crossroad ~ I liked Image 4 Windows, but I’m probably going to buy Acronis True Image. It’s a HUGE download, and I haven’t had the time to download / read the instruction manual / etc.

I read *this* thread because I’d hoped that v3 suite would be better.

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[bbearren]

I do fairly frequent tests of my drive images by doing an actual restore. There is no better confidence builder in a drive imaging utility like Image For Windows. I’ve never had a failure.

In my piddlin’ with Windows’ guts over the years I’ve pooched my systems more times than I can count, but always had a current drive image to get back to where I had been. I have a gracious plenty of experience with BootIt NG’s imaging utility and Image For Windows, to the extent that I have never felt a need to try any other. This thread is a couple of years ago, but still relevant.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren. Reason: remove html tags

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I noticed that TeraByte announced V3.02 of the imaging software on August 26, and is now offering BootIt Bare Metal bundled with the drive imaging Suite (Image for DOS, Image for Linux, Image for Windows) for a price of $49.98 (USD).
I’m downloading it now (read more at: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm).

RockE

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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UPDATE: Well, I downloaded the new version, and imaged the C: drive of two computers (one is an SSD) and everything went as expected.
I imaged before upgrading the TeraByte software, then upgraded it, created a new WinPE boot device (and tested it), then imaged again. I’ll purge some of the old images later to free up space on the two 3 TB drives where I keep redundant images.
I didn’t time the imaging process, nor did I record the compression (e.g., ratio of image size to used data being imaged).

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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[bbearren]

I installed v3.02 today and made three partition images, my O/S, Programs, and Users. In Settings I increased the RAM cache size to 32MB and the disk cache size to 16MB.

O/S time: 7:28
size: 36.5GB of 60GB
IMG: 25.1GB
Ratio: 1.45:1

Programs time: 8:18
size: 46.5GB of 100GB
IMG: 30.4GB
Ratio: 1.53:1

Users time: 7:41
size: 28.1GB of 60GB
IMG: 21.7GB
Ratio: 1.29:1

The time includes byte-for-byte validation after creation of the image, at enhanced speed A. Compression is default, priority is High. I’m going to update my TBWinRE USB boot drive hopefully tomorrow, restore these images, and I’ll record those times also.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren. Reason: remove html tags

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After installing the TeraByte Disk Image Backup and Recovery Suite (V3.02) I created multiple boot media (an Image for DOS Boot CD, an IFL Boot USB drive, TBWinRE Boot CD, etc.). I will eventually use each one to image and to restore so that I’ll know which may be faster.

Using default settings and version 3.02 of Image for Windows, I backed up my C: drive (512 GB SSD) which had 66.4 gigabytes of “used” capacity to my internal 3 TB hard drive. The resulting image file is 26.7 gigabytes.

Unlike WSL member “bbearren” (a remarkable fellow) all my Programs, OS, and User folders are on the C: drive (everything pretty much standard, a mundane Windows 10 Home installation).
I store the IFW images on my internal 3 TB drive along with some videos, music, and other temporary files; everything is also copied to another 3 TB drive (in a hard drive dock).

Next, I booted from my TeraByte Windows Recovery Environment (TBWinRE) boot disc and restored that image I’d made with Image for Windows (back) to the SSD. Afterward, Windows booted normally and my system is intact.

So here are the particulars:
Using Image for Windows to create an image of the 66.4 gigabytes on drive C: (an SSD) took 12 minutes and 40 seconds.
Restoring that image (overwriting the C: drive) by booting from a TBWinRE CD (then launching IFW) took 9 minutes and 10 seconds.

For now, I’m quite satisfied with that performance.

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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[bbearren]

I’ve semi-automated my drive image regimen using Image For Windows commandline scripting. It’s much easier than one might think; Image For Windows does most of the work you.

Using the GUI to create a drive image one reaches a screen just before the summary/start screen. Note the “Show Command” button near the bottom.

Click the “Show Command” button and the selections you’ve made are seen in script:

Put a check in the “Save as file” checkbox, click on OK, and save the script in the “Program Files (x86)TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite” folder.

In the IFW Manual one can find the necessary command structure to edit a batch file that will (in my case) create a folder on the target drive for my drive images and name the image file using the naming convention to which I am accustomed.

Give this script a name that you like and save it as a batch file (click the dropdown beside “Save as type”, select “All Files (*.*)” and put .bat on the end of your filename). To test it, double click your batch file, acknowledge the UAC prompt, and the script will run under the Image For Windows executable. The GUI will popup to show you the operation’s progress (but this can be set to run minimized and only seen on the taskbar).

This same batch file can be used in Task Scheduler to further automate your drive imaging, which will be my next step.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by bbearren. Reason: insert images in context

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TeraByte Image for Windows Version 3.37 made available on January 25, 2020, free for licensed users, $38.94 for the package for new customers.

Downloaded, updated the program, then updated my TBWinRE rescue USB stick, then updated my Windows Recovery Environment.  Took about half an hour. all together.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

RockE

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TeraByte Image for Windows has a new update, Version 3.38 made available on February 28, 2020.

Also, BootIt® UEFI has a new Version 1.17 made available on February 28, 2020.

If you already own either, the updates are free.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Pim

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I downloaded v3.38 yesterday, but was otherwise engaged.  This morning I installed it, then used the tbwinre.cmd to update both my TBWinRE rescue USB and my Windows Recovery Environment.

It took less than 10 minutes for the whole shootin’ match.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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