Thread: Hard Disk Care Package

For Forrest Gump, life is like a box of chocolates-full of surprises. PC users, however, largely do not appreciate surprises, since quite often, surprises on the computer usually end up being quite nasty.

There are many steps that users take to avoid these kind of surprises. For instance, installing an anti-virus program on your PC to protect it against infections, an anti¬spyware application to detect malware, a firewall to monitor ports and incoming and outgoing network traffic; regularly updating the operating system, third-party software) with security patches; setting up a data recovery program in case the unthinkable happens, and your data is damaged, corrupted or goes missing.

Of course, none of the steps listed above guarantee that files and data are safe. Which is why, users should regularly and methodically create a backup image of the hard drive, of the most important files in their possession just to play it safe.

Partitioning the local hard disk is a great way to minimize loss of information. For instance, when you purchase a new desktop PC or a notebook, you should create an additional drive for personal data only. i, is way files on that partitioned drive wi stay intact if Windows ever crashes and the entire system has to be set up anew. Since the partitioned drive isn't touched, the files on that drive remain safe and accessible.

So, if you are very attached to the files on your PC, and don't backup more than once in a blue moon, you absolutely must tryout the hard disk suites loaded on this month's CHIP DVD. Now, no software actually offers all the features we deem essential for the well being of a hard disk in one application, but we did come up with a combination of two individual products, with functions to backup, partition, create an image and manage the various hard drives, with utilities like defragmentation and error checks.

TEST PROCESS

We tested all programs under Windows XP and Vista. While testing the image creation and management tools, more emphasis was placed on functionality such as system backup, rather than backing up on a network. Ditto for the data backup functions. In the case of partition managers, we first tested the program's compatibility with Vista, after which we logged its features in XP.

Image Function

The functionality of the image tool was given the highest weightage with 30 percent. We timed the creation of an image of a local hard drive running under the Vista operating system, and checked if incremental and expandable images were supported. This latter feature is important for all programs; it should be able to expand or increment the existing images so they do rjot need to create a completely new image whenever the system is secured anew Instead, only the changes are saved. The programs ", should also allow restoration of individual files or folders from the image file using an Image Explorer. An image program should also support the creation of an emergency restore medium, with which it would be possible to run a system backyp if Windows does not boot properlY' any more. Thus, the image of the system could be burned to an optical disk or stored on an external disk to later serve as a data carrier.

Data Backup

Undoubtedly, the most important component of a good hard disk suite, the backup tool, is given equal importance as imaging with 30 percent weightage. No wonder, backing up is a better option for storing documents as compared to the inflexible archiving method used by imaging tools Here, as with imaging, the programs should support incremental as well as differential backup. The differential backup method stores only the differences to the initial backup file, which is almost always an optimum compromise between the most and least storage space required. The incremental method, on the other hand, stores only the differences to the last created backup file. While this method is certainly faster, it requires that all the archives created since the initial backup should be stored for full recovery.



Partitioning

If you use a PC that runs the Windows Vista operating system and want to partition the hard disk with a third-party software, then you are bound to come across a multitude of problems. That is because this new operating system from Microsoft has a separate, full-fledged partition manager onboard already, which can do a whole lot more when compared to its counterpart in XP, that is, creating, expanding, reducing and deleting partitions. It is located in the Control Panel under 'Administrative tools
I Computer Management I Storage I Disk Management'. The real problem here is the underlying principle behind the partition tool it simply creates partitions in a manner different from other such tools. Normally, a partition tool reserves the first 63 sectors of the boot partition for the Master Boot Record So, if a partition tool does not take this number into consideration while creating a new partition, Vista will not boot the next time Thus, all partition managers should be able to pass this all important Vista compatibility test.

Hard Disk Management

A complete care package for the hard disk needs to have all the essential tools in keeping the disk uncluttered and damage free. This includes a defragmentation
tool, a feature to examine the hard disk for errors, repair the master boot record (MBR), and safely delete a partition.

Value for Money

This rating is obtained by compiling the features and the utility of the application against its price. In case of freeware and shareware tools available for downloading from the Internet, we replace the price with the download size (and therefore, the time taken to download the application) for arriving at the value for money rating.

Test Results

The tabulated results display a myriad of information. Here's how it's broken down.

IMAGING

Almost all the imaging tools are new. In fact, Acronis True Image Home 2009 turned up just in time for the test. The only exception here is the product from Avanquest: Partition Commander 10 is based on Paragon Partition Manager Professional 8.5, and Perfect Image 11 on Paragon Drive Backup. Furthermore, on a closer look, the differences between the basic functionality of Partition Commander from versions 9 to 10 are not too great. It still lacks an intuitive user interface, and, when it comes down to it, is not as easy to use as the Acronis products.

An imaging tool should analyze the system when the system starts and should automatically recommend a backup strategy-all the programs do this. Plus, they all have maintained a high standard as far as the image creation process is concerned. An ongoing system image where the system backs up, while the tool runs in the background operation is just as obvious as saving an image on another PC in the network. The only criterion where major differences were noted was speed.

Acronis creates images relatively faster than the other test candidates. The software is ahead even when it comes to compressing the image, bur here the lead is only marginal. Compared to the Drive Backup and Perfect Image, which bring
up the rear in image compression, Acronis compressed an image of a 2 GB partition on XP with 40 MB to spare.

The recovery CDs from Paragon and Norton can load even missing drivers-it becomes particularly important when the external storage hardware is not detected. While Norton analyzes the missing drivers on its own, in Paragon, the user has to manually track down the INF files.