i read about many options to clone the system drive in another recent post (acronis, o&o, r-drive) but i d like to know which of these can perform the cloning operation _while the system/OS is running_. i have a win 11 OS. for restoring a clone it s obviously mandatory to boot from a boot medium but i find it a pain having to boot from a boot medium each time i wanna backup, so i d like a solution that is installed as an app inside my running win 11 and clone while the system is running.
exactly like the windows own backup/clone feature does it. btw noone mentioned this option in the other post so i am wondering why. is the windows own backup/clone feature no good?

 

It's less risky to clone a sys drive "offline" (booting from a removable device).
Acronis Backup & Recovery has an option to clone a running sys disk, but as far as many sys files are open and running you may encounter problems with "locked" system files and loose time ...
And it's a different software from Acronis True Image, you need to install it on your system first ...
(no installation needed with True Image boot device).
Windows own backup doesnt include a real clone maker option if I remember right ...

 

AOEMI Technician Plus does a bootable exact system drive clone (minus temp files) while the O/S is running using VSS. You can even minimise it and keep doing things - within reason - if you want to open 3,000 browser tabs and similtaneously run a DAW and an intensive game you are asking for trouble without backing up anything......I mean 'normal operations' - I have never had one fail yet.
I am sure there are others that can do the exact same thing.

 

With the " O&O DiskImage Professional " after installation you create an " Emergency StartDisc " if your system crashes or freezes due to virus infection etc, you start the PC from the CD ROM - CD in and then you can restore your complete system.

You can start "O&O DiskImage Professional" at any time in Windows "without CD and reboot. I always make a complete backup of the hard disk C./ that takes depending on the size of the hard disk. SD 250 GB about 20 minutes.

I don't want to badmouth Windows, but when it comes to my data, I prefer to trust professionals like O&O DiskImage Professional.

 

I have cloned while using my computer as ever without problems, with Ashampoo.

 

There is a difference between cloning and a full backup of the C./ hard disk.

Clonen
You want to exchange the internal Windows hard drive in your notebook for a fast SSD? Or a data drive for a larger model? Then you need to clone the contents stored on it to the new model. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't offer an option to move the data to the new disk using on-board tools, even in the current Windows. Fortunately, there are free programs that do the job.

Full backups
The most basic and comprehensive backup type is full backups. As the name suggests, this involves copying all data to other media, for example tapes, hard disks or DVDs/CDs. The main advantage of full backups is that they provide a complete copy of all data on a single collection of media. This means that data can be restored quickly, which is captured in the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) metric.

 

ok, thx. so does O&O do a clone or only a full backup? and if it does only full backup will it still help when i got a virus or fucked up my system by installing software that messed with my system, or can only a clone restore help then? also if it can do clones can it do clones as well when the sys is running or then only backups?

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2022

One makes a " full backup " of the hard disk C:/ to be able to restore his data in case of crisis.
Because of the virus Trojan risk one makes complete backups. That means the complete hard disk C:/ . But then you need space on a second hard disk of the same size. For example, my PC is frozen after a website visit, no mouse movement possible. Pay a few bitcoins.

Then you turn off the PC - emergency start disc in and then you restore your complete PC. There are also viruses so-called boot viruses that you delete but at each boot they are again that. Of course you can also reinstall your Windows. I need 3 weeks to install everything.

 

I guess nowadays they all can because they rely on windows shadow copy service.
I use paragon harddisk manager and it works well, used acronis for a while, worked well too

 

Macrium Reflect is what I use and is Phenomenal and quick!

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

 

Have you ever restored anything ?

 

Yes a full backup of my C: drive while running and restore is just as easy. it is my only goto solution for backup and cloning

 

This is what I use since years. Can backup the running system partition. Can restore the running system partition without boot USB, only restarting. Can restore backed system partition to a PC with different hardware. It's fast. Never had any problem.

Other desirable features are also present: mount the compressed backup file as another drive, etc.

Probably the most popular, Acronis, can also do those things and perhaps more. But last time I used it was very bloated. I've heard good things about Macrium but never tested it.
Aoemi Backupper is my choice. Has all I need and then some more.

 

Which version? Pro,Work or one of the Enterprise editions?

 

Starting from Pro and upwards every version has the good stuff I mentioned.

 

ghjk

 

Last edited: Aug 12, 2022

Not a smart idea. You boot into a cloning software and do it there while your system is not dependent on gazillion operations.
You are asking for more trouble tbh.

 

this is just an assumption of urs i reckon. i rather deal with proof than assumptions and the proof that it works were given by users (right here in this thread), who r doing live backups and confirmed they never had probs with em. as several users said VSS paves the way to do live/online backups wihtout any issues, so i m not sure what u r basing ur assumption on. if it was more than a assumption pls enlighten us what exactly is problematic regarding live backups?

 

No, experience.
You can have a failed clone operation from booting into a clone software let alone doing it while you are running your OS and programs. It takes about 30 min to clone a 512gb SSD, you can do it while you take a shower or go out for a walk.

 

i still dont get the point since the above apps have integer checks that check the img after the operation. if this check fails then yes something went wrong and u gotta do it again but i doubt they ll fail that often otherwise devs would have dropped the live/online feature long ago