A good - preferably opensource backup software for Windows 8

[av24man]

I'm trying to find software that is able to back up all of Windows 8 - stystem and user data

I'd prefer opensource - because the price is right (free!)

I have tried the latest version of clonezilla and on two different systems it backed up but errored on a partition and on restore it errored on same partition -- Windows ran a recovery and all appears well but I don't like that it errored and unsure how reliable the end result will be

I could dd and do a byte-by-byte image but that is time consuming and takes up too much space

Have used Genie Timeline and Windows File History but those are for personal data only and desire a recoverable backup

Appreciate any assistance and hope to find a software solution that is free

[chmod1337]

dd actually isn't that slow if you set a reasonable block size (20M/30M seems about right for my applications) and use bzip2 to compress the image on-the-fly, or even better use parallel bzip2. You can use even more advanced compression technology, but bzip2 worked reasonably well for me.

Should look something like:

dd if=/dev/sdX bs=20M | pbzip2 > hdd.img.bzip2

If size is more of a concern, you can of course use delta compession. I know this solution is by no means the most powerful one, but it is simple, flexible, reliable and you do not have to use any proprietary software.

Give dd another try! dd and bzip2 have never failed me, others have.

[baii]

Reflect free edition, disk image only though.

It does compression and allow digging file from the img.

[ab115]

I used Backup Software for data backup & disaster recovery in Windows Server/Workstation/PC - EaseUS EaseUS Todo Backup free to resize & clone my partitions while installing my SSD. No complaints and I understand it's recommended by a couple of other sources for the price range.