How would you recommend backing up an entire hard drive?
Back story:
I often help others perform a clean OS installation (usually Windows) or migrate to a new hard drive. I like to begin with a full disk backup, so I can later revert the entire process, retrieve individual files, preserve factory-installed diagnostics, etc. In the past, I've used some combination of dd
/ddrescue
(single step for drive, but space inefficient) or ntfsclone
for individual partitions.
Requirements:
- Store NTFS partitions efficiently
- Navigate partition(s) to retrieve individual files
- Preserve partition structure, MBR, etc
- Preserve factory-installed diagnostics or recovery partitions
- Restore entire image to a new hard drive
- (Optional) One-step archive