Vista Ultimate is a POS: Can't even Ghost itself

[austonia]

I have custom PC running Vista Ultimate and all I want to do is replace my original C drive (500gb) with a faster Raptor (150gb). I want to keep all my old programs and settings.

So I install Raptor as X drive. I need to copy all files from C drive to X, then make X the boot drive. But of course, I can't do this while half the OS files are in use. Hours of Google search no help. I call MS support, get transferred twice, and end up with some nice guy who can't help at all.

"Sir, Vista doesn't support drive to drive copying. You need third party software."

wtf?!

Any ideas..? TIA.

 

[MrChad]

You need third-party software. Your technique of copying files doesn't work for any Windows operating system; it has nothing to do with Vista.

How to copy or backup one partition to another using Data Lifeguard Tools 11.

 

[corkyg]

Mr Chad is right - copy files doesn't put them in the correct location for the OS. You have to clone the drive. Most drive OEMs have free software that can do that.

It is not a Vista problem. It applies generally to any OS.

 

[stash]

Actually you could do something like with without third party software, but only if you were going to a bigger drive, not a smaller one. Ultimate includes CompletePC Backup.

 

[Narse]

You have not been able to just copy a boot drive since Windows 3.11 at least, you need something like Symantec Ghost.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: stash
Actually you could do something like with without third party software, but only if you were going to a bigger drive, not a smaller one. Ultimate includes CompletePC Backup.

Yep, pretty sure you can use the built in imager.

 

[Pabster]

PEBKAC :laugh:

 

[Boztech]

Windows Vista can image itself, but you will need a PE CD in order to complete the deployment process from one drive to another.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/...c3fa1033.mspx?mfr=true

Edit: The volume size is irrelevant so long as there is sufficient space to copy down the image.

 

[bsobel]

Edit: The volume size is irrelevant so long as there is sufficient space to copy down the image.

Actually thats wrong, the new volume has to be >= the current volume size, not the current data size.

 

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Edit: The volume size is irrelevant so long as there is sufficient space to copy down the image.

Actually thats wrong, the new volume has to be >= the current volume size, not the current data size.

WIMs are hardware agnostic, where are you getting that info?

 

[bsobel]

WIMs are hardware agnostic, where are you getting that info?

UltimatePC backup doesnt use WIM's it uses VHD's

 

[livingsacrifice]

Yeah, I am getting ready to do this same thing but I know it won't ghost itself you have to use some other program on bootup to mirror the files from one disk to another. I am probably going to use Symantec Ghost. I beleive there was a post about free version of Acronis TrueImage for people with ceirtain types of hd, I can't remember if WD fell into that category. That would be a perfect program for this project. Didn't know Vista Ultimate came with a imaging program, I even own it and didn't know that

 

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: bsobel

WIMs are hardware agnostic, where are you getting that info?

UltimatePC backup doesnt use WIM's it uses VHD's

I was referring to ImageX which is the built-in command-line imaging tool in Vista.

 

[pm]

Based on the wikipedia entry ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_cloning#Freeware ), there are several free disk cloning utilities. Among them: http://freeghost.no-ip.org/