Copy my Hard Drive

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kiepie

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Hi,

Want to copy my hard drive with all the current settings on ect. for safe keeping (was recently formatted).

But what I want to know is, when I format it again, how do I get the "clone" back onto the hard drive without installing Windows?

Do I need to create a Boot Up disk?
 
kiepie said:
Hi,

Want to copy my hard drive with all the current settings on ect. for safe keeping (was recently formatted).

But what I want to know is, when I format it again, how do I get the "clone" back onto the hard drive without installing Windows?

Do I need to create a Boot Up disk?
Click to expand...
Forget Ghost, it's just too much hassle to get hold of in the first place - before you get into making a bootdisk, booting up and all that other malarkey when xxclone:
# Makes a self-bootable clone of Windows system disk.
# Supports all 32-bit Windows (95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP).
# Can restore the self-bootability in many cases.
It takes only a minute to run.
Everyone should keep the Freeware handy for just in case.
# The Pro version is ideal for daily backup.
# Supports common internal disk drives (IDE, SATA, SCSI).
# Supports external USB/FIREWIRE drives (good for a laptop).
# Competes with Norton Ghost, DriveImage, MaxBlast.
# Much faster than any of them in typical daily backup.
# Need not go to the DOS mode. Operates in regular Windows environment.
# Simple to use by novices. IT professionals think it's great.
Click to expand...

It's my (formerly) Secret App To Cloning (haven't seen it mentioned here before) :rolleyes: But bottom-line, you:
- install the app to your drive
- run it and clone your drive to a backup drive
- put backup drive away (obvious power-up/down drive connect/disconnect steps taken as read). Should you actually need that backup drive, you just connect it and boot from it, it IS that simple!
 
everyone has his own opinion on what to use,but in the end it really depends on you,If you a advanced user then any onw will do,i personally like Acronis.
 
bdt said:
Forget Ghost, it's just too much hassle to get hold of in the first place - before you get into making a bootdisk, booting up and all that other malarkey when xxclone:


It's my (formerly) Secret App To Cloning (haven't seen it mentioned here before) :rolleyes: But bottom-line, you:
- install the app to your drive
- run it and clone your drive to a backup drive
- put backup drive away (obvious power-up/down drive connect/disconnect steps taken as read). Should you actually need that backup drive, you just connect it and boot from it, it IS that simple!
Click to expand...

So basically I make a clone, then I can format my Primary Drive?
Load Windows with my Bootdisk (the xxclone) and copy it back to the fresh primary drive?
 
kiepie said:
So basically I make a clone, then I can format my Primary Drive?
Load Windows with my Bootdisk (the xxclone) and copy it back to the fresh primary drive?
Click to expand...

I am not sure about xxclone but as far as I know Acronis copies the partitions from the drive, so you don't even need to format the drive, as the backed up image contains all of this data already. You can just put the image back on another machine or create a bootdisk..
 
xxclone means copying the drive you want saved to a new drive that you can then boot with no intermediate steps (if you did it right ..but that just means switching on the bootable option, it's not like it's hard or 'sekrit' or anything)
 
I'm not totally following now. :o

Let's say I have a 40GIG Hard drive in my Laptop. It's a fresh copy of Windows and all the drives it needs, now I made a clone.

After a year I want to format/clean my 40GIG Hard drive in my Laptop. What is the steps then?
 
Acronis True Image all the way - you make an "image" of your drive/partition -- a year down the line when you want to wipe the HDD clean and start again, you restore the partition image using the Acronis boot disk (made after installation)

This is the easiest and most reliable software package I've owned, and has saved my bacon a few times... well worth the spend.
 
I use drivexml. U can image a drive an then even transfer to a larger formatted one! i have done this with win xp and will do so again tonight, best yet is its free.
 
howardb said:
Acronis True Image all the way - you make an "image" of your drive/partition -- a year down the line when you want to wipe the HDD clean and start again, you restore the partition image using the Acronis boot disk (made after installation)

This is the easiest and most reliable software package I've owned, and has saved my bacon a few times... well worth the spend.
Click to expand...

I made a "image" onto my 60GIG USB drive. It doesn't want to boot from there.

How will I load that "image" onto the laptop then?
 
kiepie said:
I made a "image" onto my 60GIG USB drive. It doesn't want to boot from there.

How will I load that "image" onto the laptop then?
Click to expand...

Acronis will prompt you to make a Rescue Boot CD when installed - if you have made an image and dumped onto USB stick, you will not be able to boot from the USB stick - you will need to boot from the Acronic CD that you made from the program, after installation. You will then be able to restore the image to whichever drive you wish.

If you did not make the boot CD on installation, click on Tools, then Create Bootable Rescue Media - follow the prompts...

Please keep in mind that you cannot make in image of one PC and put it on another, unless the PC's have identical hardware types, or unless you have not installed any motherboard and hardware drivers -you will run into problems, and it also contravenes MS's policies... ;)
 
Its simple. Get Bart PE with the DriveImage plugin. Extract your Windows Cd to a folder and start BartPE(It should start searching for the Cd automatically). Once its finished under plugins add the DriveImage cab plugin and enable it. Select 'burn to Cd' and put a empty cd in your Cd drive and Select build. Now download the DriveImage XML exe file and run it. Select 'Backup' and select the drive you want to backup. Make sure you store your backup in your external hard drive and dont forget to select 'Compress'. Once its finished boot the disc you burned with Bart PE (With external Hard drive plugged in) and select 'Go'. Under programs you should see DriveImage XML and you can then restore your drive with the data saved on your external hard drive at any time. Good luck!
 
howardb said:
Acronis will prompt you to make a Rescue Boot CD when installed - if you have made an image and dumped onto USB stick, you will not be able to boot from the USB stick - you will need to boot from the Acronic CD that you made from the program, after installation. You will then be able to restore the image to whichever drive you wish.

If you did not make the boot CD on installation, click on Tools, then Create Bootable Rescue Media - follow the prompts...

Please keep in mind that you cannot make in image of one PC and put it on another, unless the PC's have identical hardware types, or unless you have not installed any motherboard and hardware drivers -you will run into problems, and it also contravenes MS's policies... ;)
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply. It didn't ask me to make an Rescue Boot CD. :confused:

When I try and create one, I get this error:

Running TI11 Build 8053 but when I try to create bootable rescue media using Acronis Media Builder I get the following message with whatever CD-R disc I put in my CD-R drive:

E00460007 Bad media Message

The processing bar almost reaches the end of the window and then the
message is displayed whilst the media is automatically ejected.

Has anyone else come across this issue? Is this a bug or is there something wrong with my system. I have tried both CD-R and CD-RW discs; multiples of both but with no success.
Click to expand...
 
killat said:
Its simple. Get Bart PE with the DriveImage plugin. Extract your Windows Cd to a folder and start BartPE(It should start searching for the Cd automatically). Once its finished under plugins add the DriveImage cab plugin and enable it. Select 'burn to Cd' and put a empty cd in your Cd drive and Select build. Now download the DriveImage XML exe file and run it. Select 'Backup' and select the drive you want to backup. Make sure you store your backup in your external hard drive and dont forget to select 'Compress'. Once its finished boot the disc you burned with Bart PE (With external Hard drive plugged in) and select 'Go'. Under programs you should see DriveImage XML and you can then restore your drive with the data saved on your external hard drive at any time. Good luck!
Click to expand...

This is quite a mouth full! :p

I assume that is an extra download?

Extract your Windows Cd to a folder
Click to expand...

Please explain?
 
Google Hiren's BootCD 9.5 and download it (about 96MB). All you will ever need for cloning & then some...!
 
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