take copy of a hdd

Reasteh · 12 Jul 2010 at 10:06

Hi,

How can i take a mirror of a HDD to put onto another HDD. So all files, setup, installed programs etc. So when I plug it into another computer it will be exactly the same?

Is there some software I could use?

Philtor · 12 Jul 2010 at 10:12

There's a few different software packages that will do this....

http://clonezilla.org/ (Free)

http://www.todo-backup.com/ (Free)

http://www.acronis.co.uk/homecomputing/ (Free Trial)

Philtor · 12 Jul 2010 at 10:14

Or if your using Windows 7 then it has a built in image creation tool in the backup & restore centre

Aod · 12 Jul 2010 at 11:08

or if you're in a corporate setting then you should use Norton Ghost

Burnsy2023 · 12 Jul 2010 at 11:14

Aod said:
or if you're in a corporate setting then you should use Norton Ghost

If you're in a corporate setting you want to use Windows Deployment Services, not Ghost

Sp00n · 12 Jul 2010 at 11:26

Reasteh said:
Hi,

How can i take a mirror of a HDD to put onto another HDD. So all files, setup, installed programs etc. So when I plug it into another computer it will be exactly the same?

Is there some software I could use?

If the other computer is different hardware wise then you may have trouble getting it to boot, just so you know.

Memphis · 12 Jul 2010 at 12:13

Sp00n said:
If the other computer is different hardware wise then you may have trouble getting it to boot, just so you know.

And there's OS licensing issues if you intend running both machines.

Aod · 12 Jul 2010 at 12:17

Burnsy2023 said:
If you're in a corporate setting you want to use Windows Deployment Services, not Ghost

oooh. i'll make a note of that

SiriusB · 12 Jul 2010 at 14:28

philtorrens said:
Or if your using Windows 7 then it has a built in image creation tool in the backup & restore centre

Which only restores to a disk that is equal or larger in size - worth noting on the off-chance the new HDD is smaller.