best free/shareware to backup the system with an image

[sobriquet]

Hello.

Does anyone know any good suggestions for a shareware or freeware
equivalent of Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image to create an image
file as a backup from the system partition of a computer so windows
can be restored to an earlier configuration including all installed
programs (presuming all programs were installed on that same system
partition)?
Or, even better, a webpage that compares and evaluates various free/
shareware and commercial alternatives for making such system backups
in the form of images (that can be backed up on an external drive or
stack of dvds).

Kind regards and thanks for any suggestions, N

 

[Rod Speed]

Does anyone know any good suggestions for a shareware or freeware
equivalent of Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image to create an image
file as a backup from the system partition of a computer so windows
can be restored to an earlier configuration including all installed programs
(presuming all programs were installed on that same system partition)?

Seagate does have an older version of True Image available for download for free.

That version does work fine.

Or, even better, a webpage that compares and evaluates various free/
shareware and commercial alternatives for making such system backups in the
form of images (that can be backed up on an external drive or stack of dvds).

Havent noticed one of those, but you should be able to find it with a google
search which uses the common imager names if one exists, just have the
search keywords with say 4-5 of the most common imagers etc.