How can I create an exact replica of my hard drive?

[tigersty1e]

I have an external hard drive and I want to copy the exact image of my hard drive onto the external hard drive just in case my main hard drive craps out on me.

Then copy the image from the external hard drive onto the same formatted drive (or new one, doesn't matter) and make it so the hard drive never failed.

Is this possible?

 

[JackMDS]

The best Application for this purpose is Acronis TrueImage10 Home.

You can clone the HD to the external, or create a backup image and emergency boot CD Disk.

Vista, And XP compatible.

Trial here, http://www.acronis.com/homecom...ng/products/trueimage/ (look at the right side of the page).

Good price here, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832200002

If the HD is Seagate or Maxtor, log to Seagate site there is a free download of similar application.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/in...nVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

[0roo0roo]

ghost if you have it lying around. guess not
ghost old school command line always worked fine. newer gui stuff probably works as well, backs up the os into an image file you can save and restore to another drive in case of failure. best to keep your o/s on a separate smaller partition and not fill it with junk so restoring clean o/s is easier. also best to make image right after clean o/s install so you can always revert. compressed xp + office images are about 600mb

 

[Markbnj]

This question has now been asked and answered 270,435 times. Just kidding; I didn't check.

I like to toss out DriveImage XML from Runtime Software. It's free, and so far it works well for me. Pretty flexible in terms of setup, and they have a CAB for BartPE so you can easily set up a Bart boot disk that offers DriveImageXML in the start bar menu. Makes it easy to boot a machine and restore.

 

[tigersty1e]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
This question has now been asked and answered 270,435 times. Just kidding; I didn't check.

I like to toss out DriveImage XML from Runtime Software. It's free, and so far it works well for me. Pretty flexible in terms of setup, and they have a CAB for BartPE so you can easily set up a Bart boot disk that offers DriveImageXML in the start bar menu. Makes it easy to boot a machine and restore.

I like this procedure best 'cause it's free. But I'm a total noob with all this hard drive stuff.

Tell me if this is the correct procedure.

So I create a partition on my external drive and then copy the contents of my main hard drive onto the partition. If the main hard drive fails, then I boot my computer from my external hard drive and then copy the contents of the external hard drive onto my main hard drive and then I'm all good. Is this correct?


Also, my main hard drive is NTFS and the external is FAT32. Will that be a problem?

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Edit: Is this really free?

When Step 3 has completed and you are ready to copy the recovered files over to the "good drive", you need to purchase a license code if you have not already done so.

http://www.runtime.org/datarecovery.htm

 

[corkyg]

Imageing is not cloning, and requires restoration. To replicate a HDD you can use the software provided by the drive OEM (free) or as was stated, TI-10 or a current version of Ghost which supports cloning.

Most cloning is best done using a bootable CD or flash media that does not get involved with the actual OS on the source drive.

I do drive cloning regularly, and just finished changing HDDs in my T60 laptop by cloning using TI-10's rescue media placed on a flash drive.

 

[tigersty1e]

I've seen some tutorials and some of the tools they use is Windows Live CD, DVD burner, and the original XP install disc.

I don't have a DVD burner, Windows Live CD, and I don't have the original XP install disc with me.

Can I still perform this operation?

 

[corkyg]

Specifically - what brand of HDD are you wanting to clone to? To clone a drive you don't need any of those things you cited.

 

[tigersty1e]

I want to clone from a 20gig Maxtor ATA drive to an external Western Digital My Book 500GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1142290230595


I just want to create a 20 gig partition on the external drive.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: tigersty1eI don't have a DVD burner, Windows Live CD, and I don't have the original XP install disc with me.

Can I still perform this operation?

Let me explain to you how Acronis True image works.

It can do full cloning but that is Not what you are looking for.

Install True Image10 on the computer and start it.

Backup your Hard Drive as a whole to the external; it creates a compress image file (usually 60% of the original size). This image includes everything, partitions, OS, all files, and installed applications.

When finished burn from within the program a Boot CD (not DVD).

If trouble occurs put the Boot CD, and Boot the computer (No need for any original or otherwise and other CD). The boot start True image from the CD (it has its own OS on it), it would sense any drive on the system. Internal, external, or Network drive. Open the previously saved image, and depending on the size of the drive in 10 to 30 min. (more if it is a huge Drive) you would have your whole drive restored.
$30 is only 5 combos at your favorite Fat and cholesterol Chain. Serious users should judge correctly when it is time to save or time to pay for basic countable insurance.

Disclaimer I have No business relation with Acronis and do not benefit if you buy their products. I recommend it because I use it and currently it is the best product for backup, Cloning, and managing hard drives issues.

 

[tigersty1e]

Thanks for your help, but I'd like to find a program that does this cloning for free.

I don't need to consistently make back ups of my hard drive. I only need to do this once just incase my hard drive fails.

I'll backup the necessary documents manually by dragging the docs.

 

[Markbnj]

You can do exactly as JackMD suggested using DriveImage XML and BartPE for free. The only cost is for a burner, which you probably want anyway. Without a burner the best bet is cloning to another drive.

 

[0roo0roo]

well with ghost you create a drive image. it is a single file ..sorta like a zip file compressed with all the files from your boot drive/partition. so you don't need to keep it in a separate partition, its not messy, its just one file. it only is mulitple if you go over the 2gb limit or whatever then it starts to span multiple files. and yea to restore such images we tend to boot from a boot cd or floppy or usb thumb drive..you can find out how to make those bootable through google pretty easy. some newer program packages will do that step for ya.

the only need for partitioning is with the original boot drive. well suggested not required. it makes imaging and restoring the drive image easier, you can format that partition and not have to worry about losing as much and such. generally you can restore a boot partition image to any drive as long as its big enough, the software should compensate for the different sized partition as long as it fits.

as for fat32 usb drive? just right click it in windows and format it as ntfs.

 

[tigersty1e]

If I create an exact replica of my hard drive to an external hard drive connected with the USB cable, can I run my OS and applications off the external hard drive only? (without any internal hard drives connected by sata or ata)

 

[0roo0roo]

assuming you can set your pc to boot from that drive. trying to run programs off a drive image or simply cloned drive tends not to work. programs need to be installed with the running os.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_cloning

some freeware ones listed

 

[JackMDS]

If the External drive can be the boot drive and the computer assignes it as drive C:\, a cloned Drive would work as a primary drive.

If the Boot is done by a CD, or any other type of Drive, and or the cloned drive is Not C:\ then it can not be used as the primary drive.