Disk Image software

I've used Reflect for a coupla SSD conversions with no problems.  Backup/restore works better than cloning for this IMX
 

JohnKenn
Thanks abacab.
 
Still fuzzy on the difference and had seen a reference like you said to having multiple "images" on a disc.
From the standpoint of recovering from a meltdown where you may have to transfer an image or a clone to say a new hard drive, any advantages one over the other?
Clueless in Seattle (or close to there anyway)
 
John

You don't 'transfer' a clone.  A cloned drive is a one for one physical drive.  You can swap a cloned drive with the original, for example, by physically unplugging the cables and moving things around.
 
Having an 'image' is a way of storing the complete contents of a drive in a file container.  When you restore an image file to a new or exiting disk, you will then have a clone of the source drive, but only once you have completed the 'restore' job with your chosen app.
 
So for upgrading disk hardware, the 'cloning' method is the most direct way to go.
 
For system backup and recovery however, drive 'imaging' is more practical.  You can store multiple versions of the drive image file on a large external drive.  For example, full daily, weekly, & monthly images can be scheduled and retained, while setting limits on the max number of each before the oldest gets deleted.  That helps you manage the space on the backup drive. 
 
I have used several programs for this over the years, including Acronis and the built in Windows 7 image.  But currently I am using Macrium Reflect Free, which fully meets my needs.
 
A nice feature here is that you can directly mount any Macrium image as a virtual drive with a Windows drive letter (by double clicking the image file name), allowing you to browse the files & folders in an image file, and copy them anywhere with drag and drop.  Since I take daily images, I can skip file backups this way, and recover anything I might want from an image file without restoring it. 

JohnKenn
Abacab,
Good explanation. Think I got a handle on it now. Thanks for your time and for the information on Macrium.
John

 
Great, good luck with that!
 
The only real shortcoming with Macrium Reflect Free is that you cannot post on their support forum without a paid license.  But it is a fairly full featured product that should meet most home user needs.  https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
 
The bright side is that the user guide is very well written and explains everything.  Complete user guide in HTML and PDF formats >> https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/

Cactus Music
Thanks Abacab, The new SSD is a Samsung Evo and I never looked on the disk that came with it so your method is exactly what I will do. I'm lucky as this laptop actually has a second drive bay which I can easily use. I'll just put the new drive in there and go at it. Thanks this made it easier than I thought. 
 
Only issue I have to deal with is I allowed all the VST libraries like Air and Dim pro to go to the C drive as it was big enough. The SSD is only a 240 so I'll have to move the libraries first.. that will be fun and games. 
 

Just a quick heads up about the dual drive bay setup in the laptop. 
 
I have heard reports that you should only have one drive connected when you attempt to boot with the new SSD, until the BIOS gets things sorted out with the new SSD in the boot position.
 
Apparently just swapping the drives after the cloning process can confuse the BIOS, so that it may not recognize and boot from the SSD, if it can still detect the original boot drive.

I think that you will enjoy having an SSD as the main boot drive!  My desktop ran like an entirely new computer when I made the switch.
 
Unfortunately, my Acer laptop would require a complete teardown to replace the HDD.  I didn't buy it for music, rather to use as a portable office... but it seems to run my DAW software as a 2nd computer fairly well.  Maybe one of these days I will expand the RAM and add the SSD.  The mobile i5 seems to run fairly well otherwise...

You can use Macrium Reflect Free to clone to another internal or external drive.  This version support direct disk cloning.  This would be useful for testing, or cloning to another brand of drive.
 
From the Macrium Reflect v7 User Guide
 

Disk cloning

With Macrium Reflect, you can clone your system disks to enable you to swap failed disks out of your system and
get things back up and running again in minutes.

Cloning is often confused with imaging. The process is identical but instead of storing data to a file, it replicates
volume contents and disk structures to an alternative device. When the cloning process is complete, the target disk
is identical to the original and contains a duplicate of all volumes, files, operating systems and applications.

Note: Any data on the target disk prior to the cloning process will be erased.

Cloning a disk is particularly useful to upgrade an existing hard disk and in the event of a hard drive failure, you can
simply replace the failed disk with a clone and have your system up and running again in minutes. However, cloning
a disk is not an efficient way of backing up your data if it changes frequently because the clone will only contain one
point in time as there is no 'Backup Chain' history that is available with Disk Images. Also, Disk Images can be
compressed and saved to any location.

1. Select the disk you wish to clone in the main application window and Click 'Clone this disk'.

2. In the wizard that opens Click Select a disk to clone to...

3. Select the hard disk you wish to clone to.

4. If you do not want to modify the order or size of partitions of the clone, click Next. This is the default
behavior.