Easiest way to image one hdd to another?

richieboy · 4 Jun 2006 at 17:10

I need to image everything from HDD to another, larger capacity HDD, and i was wondering what you guys thought would be the easiest way to do it?

Does Ghost have the ability to copy EVERYTHING from one HDD to a new replacement one? Basically i would prefer to do this than re-install the OS and all of the users apps, data, etc...if i can just create an image from a HDD and copy it directly to another one on the same IDE channel. Can the Ghost boot disk do this?

Are there any other utilities that can do this? Does XCOPY do anything like this?

Many thanks.

xtreme.BIN · 4 Jun 2006 at 17:18

Nortons Ghost can make an exact sector copy (clone) of one Hd to another no problem.

TomTomTom · 4 Jun 2006 at 17:29

I happened to be inquiring about issue relating to this today as well. A freeware prog I found copies everything, so that the copied-to HD will boot up with the OS from the copied-from HD.

the prog is here: http://www.bootitng.com/copywipe.html

I haven't tried it yet, but from the website it looks like a proper utility to me.

richieboy · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:32

TomTomTom said:
I happened to be inquiring about issue relating to this today as well. A freeware prog I found copies everything, so that the copied-to HD will boot up with the OS from the copied-from HD.

the prog is here: http://www.bootitng.com/copywipe.html

I haven't tried it yet, but from the website it looks like a proper utility to me.

This is perfect - if it works

iCraig · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:53

Sync Toy

zetec452 · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:55

iCraig said:
Sync Toy

SyncToy is good for documents and stuff like that but I doubt it would clone a whole disk.

Velocity · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:57

Norton Ghost is your best and most reliable bet.

iCraig · 4 Jun 2006 at 19:08

JonRohan said:
SyncToy is good for documents and stuff like that but I doubt it would clone a whole disk.

I clone my C and D drives onto a backup drive each week without any problems.

zetec452 · 4 Jun 2006 at 19:11

iCraig said:
I clone my C and D drives onto a backup drive each week without any problems.

Including OS?

I'd be very interested to see that work. I wouldn't have thought that synctoy would have the intelligence or the facility to copy locked files.

puppy · 4 Jun 2006 at 21:20

Try Acronis True Image - *much better than any Norton rubbish imho - and yes, I do use it

Sputnik II · 4 Jun 2006 at 23:01

puppy said:
Try Acronis True Image - *much better than any Norton rubbish imho - and yes, I do use it

Agreed, Acronis true Image is far superior. I think Acronis disk director suite will also clone hard drives iirc.

iCraig · 4 Jun 2006 at 23:51

JonRohan said:
Including OS?

I'd be very interested to see that work. I wouldn't have thought that synctoy would have the intelligence or the facility to copy locked files.

I guess so, it can mirror your drive, every single file. Which includes OS I guess.

Although it isn't the best, it's free.

fini · 5 Jun 2006 at 00:01

I'm always of the opinion that if you get a new drive it's a great opportunity to reinstall everything - your system will be much faster afterwords.

fini

zetec452 · 5 Jun 2006 at 09:00

iCraig said:
I guess so, it can mirror your drive, every single file. Which includes OS I guess.

Although it isn't the best, it's free.

Im going to give that a go

.

SyncToy is a pretty good tool.

xtreme.BIN · 5 Jun 2006 at 15:26

Symantec Ghost Corp. (100% DOS) = For Pro's who know stuff about computers
Acronis True Image = For kids who think they know stuff about computers

hp7909 · 5 Jun 2006 at 15:35

xtreme.BIN said:
{snip}Acronis True Image = For kids who think they know stuff about computers

lol

Get that! Or I will cry & tell on you :mad:

Also, don't some of the hard disk software (e.g. Maxtor's MaxBlast) have a Cloning feature?

Mr Blonde · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:37

If anyone's still interested give XXCLONE a go - http://www.xxclone.com/xxclone.zip

Couldn't be easier to use, free for personal use, fast and does what it says on the tin. I've used it over 30 times now without a single problem. *Tick all the boxes under 'Adv.setup' and the job's a goodun.

richieboy · 5 Jun 2006 at 17:30

Thanks for all your suggestions guys, CopyWipe did the job...although unfortunately the whole process did'nt go as smoothly as planned and i was having loads of problems with PartionMagic 8 not actually doing any of the merges or resizing of partitions i wanted it to, wasnt a happy chap and had to leave it as more of a bodge job :mad:

The CopyWipe part of the job did as it should though - so can recommend that, although it did take a little longer than Ghost has on previous occasions.

Sputnik II · 5 Jun 2006 at 23:25

xtreme.BIN said:
Symantec Ghost Corp. (100% DOS) = For Pro's who know stuff about computers
Acronis True Image = For kids who think they know stuff about computers

I thought it was more like:-

Symantec Ghost Corp. (100% DOS) = For People who like to use pirated software that isn't worth buying.
Acronis True Image = For people who keep up with the times and use the best of todays technology.

Wyrdo · 6 Jun 2006 at 10:44

I've used Ghost for years and decided to try Acronis True Image, I much prefer it to Ghost.