Is Disk genius Standard, normally US$69 available anywhere at a discount?

kelper · Mar 24, 2024

But DiskGenius free won't let you do a disk image. Imaging is different from cloning and is only disk to disk.
DiskGenius free will only allow you to clone a partition, not a whole disk. And cloning a disk is very wasteful as it copies the whole disk, including empty sectors.

It's so slow it quotes transfer speeds in MB per minute!

cereberus · Mar 24, 2024

kelper said:
What does Image Guardian do? My backups are on a USB HDD and can't be hacked. I normally go offline when I backup, by booting into Macrium RE or booting from the USB HDD. I also trust my Webroot anti malware.

Rapid delta restore does not seem to speed up my restores, and with modern computers being so fast, is any difference really a factor?

I can see why many here will not buy DiskGenius when they are covered by well known utilities.

I will contact them and try and negotiate a discount for our members.

Huh Rapid Delta Restore blitzes restores if a recent backup.

Anyway, I see no point in directly comparing Disk Genius with imaging tools. They are fundamentally different.

Also comparing one off cost of DG against lease of MR is disingenuous as you can still buy an MR perpetual lease.

Also, comparing life to 104 - may you be so lucky but I know I have no chance of getting that old by a decade or two.

I ask my key question again in a different way.

Do you need those paid features and do you think it is worth it?

Personally, I do not see point in buying software tools "in case" I need them.

I buy them on the belief I will use them sufficiently to justify the expense.

Of course, being a mere mortal, I do not always get it right, and I fully accept buying something "just in case" may have been the right decision - but hey hindsight is not the same as forsight LOL.

kelper · Mar 24, 2024

@cereberus
You don't need to be so rude! A perpetual license to Macrium Reflect 8 will not give you a license to Macrium Reflect 9 or later.
DiskGenius includes imaging tools so the comparison is totally valid! A diskGenius license, by comparison, will give access to all future versions.

I buy lots of things 'just in case' hoping I will never need them. Fire extinguishers, home insurance, seat belts, parachutes in a private plane, a spare wheel in the car and a puncture repair kit, roadside assistance, a dental plan, pet insurance - need I go on?

SIW2 · Mar 24, 2024

I dont want partition E in the image .

Click Manage Partitions

Remove E.

Click Ok

I dont want partition D in the Image

Click Manage Partitions

Remove D

Click OK

sdowney717 · Mar 24, 2024

kelper said:
But DiskGenius free won't let you do a disk image. Imaging is different from cloning and is only disk to disk.
DiskGenius free will only allow you to clone a partition, not a whole disk. And cloning a disk is very wasteful as it copies the whole disk, including empty sectors.

It's so slow it quotes transfer speeds in MB per minute!

Every time I clone with disk genious free, I get at least 3 partitions cloned all at the same time, the entire disk.
it is like Macrium free, both do the same kind of process.

cereberus · Mar 24, 2024

kelper said:
You don't need to be so rude! A perpetual license to Macrium Reflect 8 will not give you a license to Macrium Reflect 9 or later.
DiskGenius includes imaging tools so the comparison is totally valid! A diskGenius license, by comparison, will give access to all future versions.

I buy lots of things 'just in case' hoping I will never need them. Fire extinguishers, home insurance, seat belts, parachutes in a private plane, a spare wheel in the car and a puncture repair kit, roadside assistance, a dental plan, pet insurance - need I go on?

I was not being rude.

Re. items - obviously you buy items for personal life safety.
So are you going to prevent an injury by have a copy of DiskGenius - I think not.

At best it may prevent some inconvenience, and maybe some financial loss.

In the end, you asked if it was worth the money - I personally do not think so.

If you think it is worth it buy it. It is 100% up to you

kelper · Mar 24, 2024

Thanks. I tried DG free and it only allows me to clone one partition at a time. My 120GB disk is only 40% occupied but a cloning it took 35 minutes.

SIW2 said:
View attachment 91343

View attachment 91344

I dont want partition E in the image .

Click Manage Partitions

View attachment 91345

Remove E.

Click Ok

View attachment 91346

I dont want partition D in the Image

Click Manage Partitions

Remove D

Click OK

View attachment 91351

View attachment 91352

View attachment 91353

But a file by file backup is not a disk image!

SIW2 · Mar 24, 2024

OS Migration.

Automatically selects only the partitions needed by Windows. ( Optionally add any extra partitions with the "manage partitions" button)

SIW2 · Mar 24, 2024

The free version was used in my screenshots.

Free version definitely allows clone disk to image by files

I posted the screenshots above.

But a file by file backup is not a disk image!

This is not a "file backup" it is an image backup by files.

There are several imaging methods, by all sectors, by used sectors, by blocks, by files.

Here is restore disk image I did a couple of days ago

Can adjust the resultant partition sizes with the little arrow things before starting the restore process.

The image header contains all the info - partition style, partition sizes and types. Those are created on the target disk.

kelper · Mar 24, 2024

OK, so what is the difference between 'data sectors only' and 'all files'? Does 'all files' include the other partitions need to restore Windows to a blank disk?

SIW2 · Mar 24, 2024

All Sectors: Back up all sectors of the source disk to the image file in sequence from beginning to end, without checking whether these sectors contain valid data. This disk imaging method will copy a large amount of invalid data and take longer time, and yet it is the most complete method. When restoring the image, the target disk should not be smaller than the source disk.

Data Sectors Only: Valid data is backed up to the image file "as it" according to the file system layout of each partition on the source disk. The disk imaging process only backs up sectors containing valid data and it is the fastest way. When restoring the image, the target disk should not be smaller than the source disk.

All Files: Backup all files and other valid data of the source disk one by one into the image file. This method does not backup sectors that contain invalid data, so it is quite fast. The disk image can be restored to a smaller disk which is large enough to receive the data to be restored. The storage location of restored files will be rearranged, and the newly restored disk will be free of file fragmentation.

The disk image can be created with various compression levels, from Fast, Normal to High Quality. Data compression option affects disk imaging speed and the size of the image file. The higher compression quality you choose, the slower the disk imaging speed will be, but the smaller the image file will be.

When imaging system disk, you can choose hot backup mode which can complete the task without restarting computer or rebooting to WinPE.

SIW2 · Mar 24, 2024

kelper said:
Does 'all files' include the other partitions need to restore Windows to a blank disk?

I did that restore to a blank disk. Of course it works.

It has the same partition style and the same partitions as the image. In my case gpt with esp, msr and os partition. It also has the same disk guid as the source disk.

Like a lot of other imaging programs the partition sizes can be adjusted before starting the restore.