Drive cloning software for Vista?

[blurredvision]

What is the best hard drive cloning software for Vista out right now? I know Ghost is typically the bread winner in this category, so is it 100% compatible with the Vista file system, or is there something better out there that you guys use?

A friend at work was asking me about this today, and I had no idea what the answer was. Thanks.

 

[corkyg]

Cloning is a very specific form of bit by bit duplication of a drive. The best has always been Acronis TrueImage - supposedly Vista compatible with version 10, latest build. However - yes - it does install in Vista and does all the backup stuff. But it fails the cloning test.

The version that clones Vista perfectly is version 8, build 937. Anything NEWER will require a minor repair using the Vista DVD to fix "Partition=Not Found."

The cloning process is best never done from within Windows, but always using the TI prepared, bootable Rescue Disk. That way, the OS never really enters the picture - it just doesn't get involved in the process. (TI Rescue Disk boots to a Linux variant.)

The Catch 22 is this - in order to create the version 8 Rescue Disk, you need to install version 8 on some XP machine. Once the R/D is made, it will do any system anywhere.