PC hardware forum: Cloning a Hard Drive

Yes. No ifs, ands or buts.

Here's what I use today to copy a drive:

a. Desktop PC with no hard disks, but a boot floppy.
b. Norton's Ghost (hope to replace with Acronis soon).
c. A pair of these adapters for notebook drives -> http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

Hope this helps,

Bob

Acronis is the best cloning software i have used , and yes it clones all data and the cloned hard drive can be used as a boot drive.
harold

I use a program called Casper XP. I cam across it looking for a simple easy to use program that would clone my primary harddisk should it ever fail me. It works. I have 2 hard drives in my computer and I occassionally clone one to the other. I have switched the primary with the secondary to see if it works and it does.

XP home edition - HPa350n - 2.8 160 hd 512 Ram Nvidia 128 MB ATI TV wonder. My computer has crashed 3 times and I lose all info I've put on hard drive. I have problems with my DVD/CD drive. It doesn't recognize CD's I've saved before. Do I need to format CDRW and/or DVDRW blank disks before I try to add info? What info is recognized on these disks? How do U reformat pics??? I have disks that show .udf as the extension and have asked EVERYONE for help with this. Please help if you can!

Thank you, Sandra Jones in OKC catkiss68@cox.net

To fully answer your question: Yep! It does it all.

Now, the next issue is where do you clone ''to'' - either a CD-RW or run a second hard drive (or a network server.) You can't clone to the same drive you are using, in short.

In the tech business, we built an ''image'' with all the necessary operating system files and user software (MS Office and others.) We regularly updated our laptops, desktops and so forth with the appropriate O/S and drivers included.

Some backups are still necessary for personal documents, e-mail PST files and various personal data backup files.

Cloning is fast, quick and very, very reliable. I've used 4-5 different cloning software packages...pick one that you like or one that's highly recommended.

Good luck,

Jpark

I too used to use Norton Ghost, but switched to True Image. I switched after I installed SP2, and Ghost 2003 wouldn't load. However, I found that True Image requires a third party application to format a DVD-RW. Then when I needed it, True Image wouldn't run from the boot CD. I got an error message stating that True Image does not support Window Dynamic Disks. I don't use a Windows Dynamic Disk. So after almost three weeks of back and forth emails with Acronis teck support fixes, and sixteen wasted CD's, I gave up. Acronis finally admitted that there was a problem using True Image with some utilities like Norton Go Back. I depend on Norton Go Back, so I switched to Norton Ghost 20005. It too works within Windows, and has a true GUI when booting from the CD. I have had no trouble using it from Windows, or the CD. I am still waiting for Acronis to refund my money.

Good Luck. I too had nothing but trouble with this
program. They should wait till it's not a beta before
they sell it. I sent many unanswered emails to their
so called customer service. You can probably forget
about your refund. My advice is not to use "Acronis"
unless you enjoy formatting you hard drive.

Cloning/Imaging/whatever only protects you against loss of data (OS, programs, files, etc.) from your hard drive when the hard drive fails or when the data is corrupted. If your PC dies because of a failed CPU, motherboard, RAM, or whatever AS LONG AS IT'S NOT YOUR HARD DRIVE, then you don't really need to worry about "loss of data". Simply replace the failed hardware, start your PC, and you're back in business.

If you refer "totally crashes" to an OS failure and therefore the PC fails to start but otherwise okay (i.e. all the hardware are in good condition), that's when the restore/bootable CD you created with one of these utilities can help you restart the computer and reload the data to your hard drive.

Hope this helps.

Hello...I got a little sidetracked after reading TheMaskedVillian's Post, but I think I have my thoughts organized on this now.

Your (new) Hard Drive's Manufacture will most likely have a Utility that will copy your old Hard Drive to your new one and make it bootable. But...XP is touchy. 2 years ago, I had no luck when I bought a new Maxtor Hard Drive and tried using their MaxBlast Utility to transfer XP Home to the new, larger drive. I had Norton Systemworks 2002 Pro, so I also tried using Ghost, but gave it up after two or three tries.

That was the trigger that set me off on a search for an XP clone program that worked without a PHD in Computer Science or the patience of Job.

I finally found it in Acronis True Image, r.e. ray111 & glennlee.

Then I read cyberay's Post on Casper XP, and since there is a free trial, I downloaded it today and tried it. Works Great. Actually a bit easier to use than Acronis (one less click), but the main features that appealed to me are the Help Files and Tutorials. Casper XP has a simpler layout that is much easier to read and follow than Acronis', even though Acronis is pretty good itself.

Acronis <http://www.acronis.com> has a 15 day Free Trial. I don't know if there are any restrictions to the trial version or not.

Casper XP <http://www.fssdev.com> has a 30 day Free Trial. Their only restriction is that the trial version will only partition a same size Hard Drive. It will work on a larger drive, it just won't partition any disk space larger than the original.

Good Luck.

You may not have explore all of Ghost's options. A sector copy is possible with Ghost and I used it to move a dual boot XP+Linux to a new hard disk.

Many will never read the manual.

Bob

Highly recommend CasperXP. Been using it for years after a disasterous crash. Can clone to an internal or external HD and then put in safe place until next month.
Able to take all data from desktop HD and make accessable for my laptop on trips with USB2 connection.
Scott.

Over the past several years, I've had to move to another computer several times. I've also managed to crash my laptop a couple of times, and was quite dismayed when I found that the backup I thought I had either wasn't functional, or required so much manual manipulation that it was easier to just reinstall the apps, and pray the data I lost was stored in some little corner or on my PDA.
I'm probably an intermediate computer user - I don't know a lot about running the background DOS files for Windows. I use my computer as a tool, not as the end objective, so I don't want to have to spend a lot of time trying to learn advanced computer stuff.
I've tried Norton Ghost, and several other programs, including Iolo System Mechanic (an otherwise wonderful maintenance software package, well worth the $$)- all with the same frustration. I even purchased an external USB CDRW primarily b/c I thought I could use it w/ XP's system restore to easily backup a complete system. In the fine print in XP, I found the one type media that CANNOT be used w/ system restore is USB CDRW! (unfortunately, USB is the primary way to connect an external CDRW w/ laptops!)
With my last move, I did quite a bit of research online, examining every "relocation utility" I could find. The only one I found that seemed to fit my needs - a total transfer of apps & data & preferences without having to manually select files - was a program called "MoveMe" from SpearIt software (www.spearit.com). For $39.95, my transfer to my new laptop (Dell Latitude 610) was COMPLETELY painless, and fast. Since the software is downloaded online (best to have a broadband access), you don't have to go when the the store is open (it seems like this kind stuff, especially if there's a problem, occurs late at night ! ) There is the option of manual settings for the software, but the 'wizard' worked fine for me. FYI, you purchase one copy per data transfer. If you need to do more moves, you have to buy more programs (but w/ discount packaging). Customer service was great too. Finally, it has a feature where programs that potentially will run differently on different machines can be installed into a 'sandbox' to make sure they work w/o conflicts before being fully installed.
Again, I'm certainly not a computer expert, but this is software I can enthusiastically recommend without any reservations.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

Since you have used Casper, does it clone to CD's and/or DVD's, and which can be used to restore a PC?

I looked at Casper's website, and couldn't find anything that says whether it does or doesn't.

You can keep digging up disk duplication software, but why not stick to the top ranked products?

Bob

It's a fine program and I've used it for years. But today's consumer will be put off by its demands and will want something easier. I'll change to Acronis if the need arises.

Hope this helps.

Bob