PING (PING Is Not Ghost) is a free, open source distribution that offers similar functionality to Symantec Ghost. It backs up and restores (clones) a hard disk. It is a live Linux ISO, which is based on the popular Linux From Scratch (LFS).
PING uses Partimage, the program which performs the backup and restore features.
PING can be booted directly from a CD/DVD, or integrated into a Remote Installation Server (PXE/RIS).
Key Features
- Toolbox for rescuing a system.
- Backup and Restore partitions or files to a MS Network Shared directory.
- Backup and Restore the BIOS data.
- Blank local admin’s password.
- Create a restoration bootable DVD.
- Partition and Format a disk before installing Windows (so to make sure your unattended Windows installation will happen on the right partition).
- Most network cards automatically recognized by the kernel.
- Most CD/DVD readers automatically recognized by the kernel.
- No need to run a Ghostcast server to receive images over the network.
- Wide range of supported filesystems.
- Store an image on several CD/DVD (CD/DVD-spanning).
- Much much smaller than WinPE / BartPE.
Website: ping.windowsdream.com
Support: Forums
Developer: SysAngel
License: GNU General Public License
Related Software
| Disk Cloning Software | |
|---|---|
| GParted | Industrial-strength package for partition editing |
| Clonezilla | Perform system deployment, bare metal backup and recovery |
| Rescuezilla | Easy Backup, Recovery & Bare Metal Restore |
| FOG | A cloning / imaging solution / rescue suite |
| G4L | ncurses-based hard disk and partition imaging and cloning tool |
| Mondo Rescue | Reliable, disaster recovery solution |
| FSArchiver | Save the contents of a filesystem to a compressed archive file |
| PING | Partimage Is Not Ghost |
| Partclone | Save and restore used blocks on a partition |
| Redo Rescue | Simple backup and recovery solution |
| Foxclone | Image backup, restore and clone tool |
| qt-fsarchiver | Frontend for fsarchiver to save/restore partitions, folders and MBR/GPT |
| Partimage | Stores partitions to a image file |
| dcfldd | Enhanced version of dd |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Backup Tools | |
|---|---|
| restic | Fast, efficient and secure backup software |
| Borg | Deduplicating backup software |
| Duplicity | Encrypted bandwidth-efficient backup |
| TimeShift | Takes regular incremental snapshots of the filesystem |
| Duplicati | Store encrypted backups online |
| bup | Backup a system based on the git packfile format |
| Déjà Dup | Hides the complexity of doing backups the Right Way |
| Bacula | Network backup, recovery and verification |
| Kopia | Secure backup/restore tool that allows you to create encrypted snapshots |
| Clonezilla | Offers similar functionality to Symantec Ghost |
| Bareos | Backup Archiving Recovery Open Sourced |
| rsync | Fast remote file copy program |
| BackupPC | High-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs |
| Vorta | Desktop client for Borg Backup |
| Backrest | Web UI and orchestrator for restic backup |
| Back in Time | Equivalent of OS X's Time Machine |
| UrBackup | Easy to setup open source client/server backup system |
| Rescuezilla | Easy backup, recovery & bare metal restore |
| Mondo Rescue | A powerful disaster recovery suite |
| KBackup | Backup program targeted at non-computer experts |
| rsnapshot | Local and remote filesystem snapshot utility |
| Amanda | Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver |
| FOG | Cloning / imaging solution / rescue suite |
| Partclone | Provides utilities to save and restore used blocks on a partition |
| XtraBackup | Backup tool for InnoDB and XtraDB databases |
| Plakar | Scalable backup solution |
| kup | Backup scheduler for the Plasma desktop |
| BURP | Uses librsync to save network traffic and space |
| Btrbk | Backup tool for btrfs subvolumes |
| Pika Backup | App focused on backups of personal data |
| PING | Also offers similar functionality to Symantec Ghost |
| dar | Full featured archiver with support for differential backups |
| tar | Tar archiving utility |
| Cedar Backup | Local and remote backups to CD or DVD media |
| shallow-backup | Git-integrated backup tool |
| ArchiveKeep | Keeps your files archived in multiple places |
| ZnapZend | ZFS centric backup tool |
| Vykar | Fast, encrypted, deduplicated backups in Rust |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |