Windows Boot Camp backup application anyone?

[bluesteel]

can someone develop an application for OSX Snow Leopard/Lion, that works, that can backup a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition, and then restore it? i would pay $50+ for an application that can do this successfully. why hasn't anyone developed anything yet?

i've already tried Winclone to no avail...all i get is errors when i try to restore. i guess Winclone hasn't been updated in a while and isn't supported by Snow Leopard.

 

[balamw]

Winclone usually works fine if you use uncompressed DMG.

I've been working on a replacement and trying to figure out why winclone fails as much as it does on SL. I hope to get an early version out next month, but am also working on several iOS projects.

I think you are in the minority if you will pay $50 for this.

B

 

[bluesteel]

Winclone usually works fine if you use uncompressed DMG.

i used uncompressed DMG, but i got errors when trying to restore the partition...i don't trust Winclone anymore

I've been working on a replacement and trying to figure out why winclone fails as much as it does on SL. I hope to get an early version out next month, but am also working on several iOS projects.

I think you are in the minority if you will pay $50 for this. B

hey, i might be a minority, but maybe not. i think a lot of people out there want a reliable application that can backup Boot Camp, and i think there are people out there that will pay for a solid solution. there just isn't anything available right now, and there are so many of us using Boot Camp...there has got to be a market for a Boot Camp backup/restore app.

develop an application that works and that will be kept updated, and i'll buy a license for sure. good luck

 

[Aidoon]

Forgive what may be a newb question, but I'm a current Windows user thinking of going bi, OS that is... I'm surprised that Boot Camp doesn't seem to offer simple backup solution. Does anybody happen to know if Parallels will backup both Windows & Mac partitions.

 

[balamw]

Most bi-OS folks use a native Windows backup as their primary line of defense and run that within Windows. (The W7 backup is fairly decent).

What we are talking about here is really imaging/cloning while booted to OS X, which can be useful in cases like the OPs where they may want to resize the Windows partition.

If you use Parallels or Fusion with a non-shared (Boot Camp) VM, they VM is just a file and gets backed up with your regular Mac OS X backups. The VM software alos allows you to make "snapshots" of the VM as another level of backup. You lose that ability in a shared Boot Camp/VM install of Windows.

So if you don't need full access to the hardware, stick with a VM-only install for the most flexibility.

B

 

[bluesteel]

Most bi-OS folks use a native Windows backup as their primary line of defense and run that within Windows. (The W7 backup is fairly decent).

What we are talking about here is really imaging/cloning while booted to OS X, which can be useful in cases like the OPs where they may want to resize the Windows partition.

If you use Parallels or Fusion with a non-shared (Boot Camp) VM, they VM is just a file and gets backed up with your regular Mac OS X backups. The VM software alos allows you to make "snapshots" of the VM as another level of backup. You lose that ability in a shared Boot Camp/VM install of Windows.

So if you don't need full access to the hardware, stick with a VM-only install for the most flexibility.

B

i run Maya, Nuke, and Adobe CS5 in Windows 7 Boot Camp, so i definitely need full access to the hardware. so if i am working in Windows via Boot Camp, i can backup my files with Windows Backup, but its not actually making a bootable copy/clone of Windows, right?

what i'm looking for is the ability to make a clone of my Boot Camp partition just like i do with my OSX partition. i'd like it so that if i had to replace the hard drive my Boot Camp partition is on, i can just copy the (clone/image/bootable backup) back to the new hard drive.

 

[HiNRG]

Sponsor a Dev to write a Winclone Replacement

Anyone wanting to take up the challenge of developing a replacement for WinClone I would like to speak to them.

I am talking about a commercial (PAID) engagement to write software that I would then have IP ownership over and would sell commercially. Happy to discuss revenue share models or straight $ for doing the job.

There are some additional features over and above current WinClone I would like to discuss.

NB: I am also canvasing recruitment agencies for a contractor to do this, plan to have something in place by middle of May, so first come first served.