Hdd Cloning/copying Software Advice Sought

Please can any one recommend some software that will look at every 0 and 1 on one drive, and write that to anouther? A perfect mirror, copy.

My goal is to be able to install winxp to a raptor hdd, update it, put the DX 9.0c on it, install some basic useful apps like winzip, firefox, msn, acrobat reader; and then make a perfect mirror backup of this onto anouther partition on anouther hdd. Basically so that when I go through my quarterly refresh cycle, I can start installing my main games and applications on to a fresh base operating system with only the basic apps I need.

I dont expect to get such functionality from free software (although that would be a huge bonus!). Budget really is up to £30. Dont "lol" at me if thats unrealistic; I really havent a clue about these things.

PS. I dont want software that runs an agent in the background ala Norton Ghost (unless versions more recent than 2003 dont do this). Be it running straight from a bootable cd or initiated by a windows installed application, it must not require any nonsense installed.

DriveImage XML V1.16
http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

dd is a command line utility that does ecactly that. You can download a bootable cd of knoppix for free and run it off of that.

Gnufsh said:

dd is a command line utility that does ecactly that. You can download a bootable cd of knoppix for free and run it off of that.

Click to expand...

I second this. Download a Knoppix CD for free:

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

then read up on the command "dd". Might be a little read if you're new to linux, but it's really not that difficult. Here's a start:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=362506

g'luck~

Ghost does not need to be installed to windows. You only need to make a boot disk from it.

Acronis True Image!!!

http://www.acronis.com/

FREE FULLY FUNCTIONAL 30 DAY TRIALS!

i use it all the time my favorite program to date for this kind of stuff.

DriveImage doesn't necessarily need to be installed to Windows either, as it can be run from a BartPE boot CD/DVD as a plug-in...

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

... and it works just as well if not better than Ghost or True Image, plus it's FREE. BartPE Builder only need be installed to create the bootable disk, which can then be uninstalled if desired using Add or Remove Programs.

Sata, Raid arrays and IDE mixtures are more easily run by all image programs today as support for newer chipsets and sata support is available.Ntfs support is also available now when the program is booted from IBM or similar dos program which can support the writing long file names and many support complete block by block copy regaurdless of drive or file errors.
I have been using IBM dos (PC dos) for years, along with raid arrays and NTFS long before it was supported.It can be written to floppy or cd's with a little effort.There is very little difference between the programs and even drive manufacturers image programs. If you have paid for a program use it, or use a free version if you have not.
If you have an option to enable bus master driver in bios, it can copy in excess of a gig a minute.

Can this stuff be used for a one time mirror?

I want to throw a raptor in my computer and use it as my C drive. I don't want to rebuild everything on my computer again.

Would one of these apps work?

Does the latest version of Ghost let you save the copy to a drive accross a network?

tried all of the above, and only ghost worked for me

jeepguy_1980 said:

Can this stuff be used for a one time mirror?

I want to throw a raptor in my computer and use it as my C drive. I don't want to rebuild everything on my computer again.

Would one of these apps work?

Click to expand...

Yes. WD has one as well as Maxtor. They are best to use the destination drive's program first.

zOn3, It does now have network support but you should refere to Samantics site for more information as I have not used the network part.

I got my Raptor today. What program does WD make to swap my drive over?


Edit - I think I found it. Data Lifeguard 11.2?

Fr3@k3r said:

Acronis True Image!!!

http://www.acronis.com/

FREE FULLY FUNCTIONAL 30 DAY TRIALS!

i use it all the time my favorite program to date for this kind of stuff.

Click to expand...

Just used this myself, and worked great!

I wound up using the WD Data Lifeguard. It worked ok. Only problem was it insisted on copying both partitions of my old boot drive which is significantly larger than my new raptor. So, I had to trim a few files, copy everything, delete everything on the 2nd partition and then use partition magic to merge my new boot drive into one drive.

Everything works, except my Zone Alarm that keeps popping up all these alerts. Guess I'll remove it and reinstall it.

As long as you image C: to either a file or disc, the hardest part is swapping drives.
DriveImage-excellent & free but does not support incremental backup
Acronis-excellent not free & does incremental