Norton Ghost vs Acronis True Image vs Clonezilla

[Guybrush Nosehair]

Although I'm no computer expert, my father has asked me to set up a RAID system for one of his computers at his office. He's had it with the (seemingly crappy and expensive) company that manages his systems, and likes me to manage systems when possible. Recently, his server's HD failed, and the three backup HDs that were supposed to be keeping backups were setup incorrectly by the IT guys.

He told me that he already has a copy of Ghost, though he could never figure out how to set it up. Is Ghost really the best program to use? I've read that Acronis True Image is better and faster, and is relatively cheap. Can anyone tell me why it's better? Also, how does Clonezilla compare to these products? I'm hesitant to use it because it's free (although I'm admittedly a big fan of free software.) Does Clonezilla constantly backup the HD, or does the user need to tell it to make a backup? Also, how hard is this process? Do I just change the HD jumpers (assuming he wants to use an internal drive) and run the program from the BIOS? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[zabnat]

What is it exactly what you want to do here? First you talk about RAID and then about HD imaging tools?

I have used Ghost many years ago and have used Clonezilla recently. Both got the job done. I don't know if they are really suitable for daily backups as how I've used them you have to reboot the computer from a boot disk and run the tool. Also it takes several hours to clone the disk (depending how much data is there) and it might require user interaction. I don't know if there is a version that could take a image while the OS is running (on Windows 7 the backup utility can do this).

What I would do is this: set up the server with 2 or more disks using RAID 1 (mirror), take a initial image of the servers disk(s) to an external drive using one of those imaging tools, get an external drive with ethernet (nas) and set up the servers Windows Backup to take daily backups to that external drive over the network. Place the nas drive so that it isn't located near the actual server and is accessible to take with you if needed (fire in the office). If you want better data security, you should also take offsite backups.

[Guybrush Nosehair]

Thanks for your response. What I'd like is a program that will take constant images of the drive and back them up to another drive. If this is impossible, I'd like one that can at least take several images a day (or even one.)

I'm actually not looking to setup backups for his server. He really just wants me to do this for one of his computers.