In addition to making image backups of my system, I've recently used ATI to
make a clone of my main drive to an external eSATA drive enclosure, and it
checks out fine. (I use the nice Vantec external HD enclosures, which have
their own power switch built-in). (and I have two types of these: SATA and
USB), and I use the SATA enclosure for the clone backup).

But what I don't understand is this:

Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some disk
activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external drives).

This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives; there,
if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is recognized.

Is this by design?

At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows, and
that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns drive
letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the clone is
made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the partitions on the
backup drive, as expected.

My solution to this mess has been as follows:
Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and delete
all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at this time).
THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected, and proceed making
the clone.

I have had this same issue occur with me, I also do the same as you, attach
the drive and boot, it's seen and I can use ATI to create my clone.

"Bill in Co." wrote:

> In addition to making image backups of my system, I've recently used ATI to
> make a clone of my main drive to an external eSATA drive enclosure, and it
> checks out fine. (I use the nice Vantec external HD enclosures, which have
> their own power switch built-in). (and I have two types of these: SATA and
> USB), and I use the SATA enclosure for the clone backup).
>
> But what I don't understand is this:
>
> Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
> windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
> Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some disk
> activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external drives).
>
> This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives; there,
> if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is recognized.
>
> Is this by design?
>
> At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
> since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows, and
> that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns drive
> letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the clone is
> made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the partitions on the
> backup drive, as expected.
>
> My solution to this mess has been as follows:
> Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and delete
> all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at this time).
> THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected, and proceed making
> the clone.
>
>
>

"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In addition to making image backups of my system, I've recently used ATI
> to make a clone of my main drive to an external eSATA drive enclosure, and
> it checks out fine. (I use the nice Vantec external HD enclosures, which
> have their own power switch built-in). (and I have two types of these:
> SATA and USB), and I use the SATA enclosure for the clone backup).
>
> But what I don't understand is this:
>
> Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
> windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
> Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some disk
> activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external drives).
>
> This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives;
> there, if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is
> recognized.
>
> Is this by design?
>
> At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
> since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows, and
> that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns
> drive letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the
> clone is made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the
> partitions on the backup drive, as expected.
>
> My solution to this mess has been as follows:
> Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and
> delete all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at
> this time). THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected, and
> proceed making the clone.


Bill:
I assume you're working with an Intel-based system. This "hot-plugging"
(lack of SATA device recognition) has been a problem with Intel chipsets
(even up to Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller) at least with respect to
the XP OS environment. Theoretically this lack of SATA device recognition
(in terms of the device being "hot-pluggable") should be overcome by setting
the BIOS SATA controller mode to the AHCI setting, however it seems that
this mode while supported in Vista is not supported in XP. So the result (at
least based upon my experience) is a failure to boot the system when the
AHCI mode setting is selected.

We haven't run into the same problem with AMD-based systems (at least those
I've worked with, not including AMD's latest offerings). There the BIOS
default settings re the SATA HDD seem to work just fine and the external
SATA HDD (either SATA or eSATA) are "hot-pluggable" ("hot-swappable")
without further ado. (I would like to hear from anyone who has worked with
AMD's Phenom II X3 & X4 processors and hear their experience re this issue).

But if you are working with an Intel-based system there's a relatively
simple workaround to effect the "hot-pluggability" of an external SATA HDD
without the need to reboot the system. After the device is connected &
powered-on, access Device Manager (WinKey + Pause key, Hardware tab, Device
Manager or place a shortcut on your Desktop) and click Action, Scan for
hardware changes. The system will then detect the external SATA HDD.
Admittedly a bit of a pain but it beats rebooting, no?

If anyone coming upon this thread has had different experiences than I've
recounted re this issue with Intel-based systems, i.e., they've been able to
manipulate BIOS settings to effect this "hot-plugging", "hot-swappable"
capability re externally-connected SATA HDDs in a non-RAID configuration
without the "workaround" I mentioned above, then I would certainly like to
hear about it.
Anna

Anna wrote:
> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In addition to making image backups of my system, I've recently used ATI
>> to make a clone of my main drive to an external eSATA drive enclosure,
>> and
>> it checks out fine. (I use the nice Vantec external HD enclosures,
>> which
>> have their own power switch built-in). (and I have two types of these:
>> SATA and USB), and I use the SATA enclosure for the clone backup).
>>
>> But what I don't understand is this:
>>
>> Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
>> windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
>> Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some
>> disk
>> activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external drives).
>>
>> This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives;
>> there, if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is
>> recognized.
>>
>> Is this by design?
>>
>> At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
>> since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows, and
>> that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns
>> drive letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the
>> clone is made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the
>> partitions on the backup drive, as expected.
>>
>> My solution to this mess has been as follows:
>> Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and
>> delete all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at
>> this time). THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected, and
>> proceed making the clone.
>
>
> Bill:
> I assume you're working with an Intel-based system. This "hot-plugging"
> (lack of SATA device recognition) has been a problem with Intel chipsets
> (even up to Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller) at least with respect to
> the XP OS environment. Theoretically this lack of SATA device recognition
> (in terms of the device being "hot-pluggable") should be overcome by
> setting
> the BIOS SATA controller mode to the AHCI setting, however it seems that
> this mode while supported in Vista is not supported in XP. So the result
> (at
> least based upon my experience) is a failure to boot the system when the
> AHCI mode setting is selected.

Amazing that hot swappable SATA isn't the default, especially considering
that SATA is so much newer than USB. I can't understand why Intel didn't
get with the program on this. But I haven't checked the BIOS setting on
that yet.

> We haven't run into the same problem with AMD-based systems (at least
> those
> I've worked with, not including AMD's latest offerings). There the BIOS
> default settings re the SATA HDD seem to work just fine and the external
> SATA HDD (either SATA or eSATA) are "hot-pluggable" ("hot-swappable")
> without further ado. (I would like to hear from anyone who has worked with
> AMD's Phenom II X3 & X4 processors and hear their experience re this
> issue).
>
> But if you are working with an Intel-based system there's a relatively
> simple workaround to effect the "hot-pluggability" of an external SATA HDD
> without the need to reboot the system. After the device is connected &
> powered-on, access Device Manager (WinKey + Pause key, Hardware tab,
> Device
> Manager or place a shortcut on your Desktop) and click Action, Scan for
> hardware changes. The system will then detect the external SATA HDD.
> Admittedly a bit of a pain but it beats rebooting, no?

Sounds like it, thanks! However, I assume that when I do this, it's still
going to take a fair amount of time (just like it did after rebooting) for
the disk to be fully recognized in windows again? (When I did it my way
after rebooting, it took a few minutes for that backup drive to get fully
recognized by windows).

I guess one advantage of doing it outside of Windows (using BootItNG on a
floppy or Flash drive) is that after that is done (in its DOS-like bootdisk
environment, which is very quick), and then we boot up into Windows, it's
very fast (since all the partitions were already removed). (All this in
preparation for the new cloning operation)

A second comment:

Of course, the other thing that is a pain is always having to remember to at
least initialize the clone once *without* the normal internal system HD
connected (so I have to pull the case off, and disconnect it, temporarily -
a bit of a nuisance). It would nice if I could avoid that step by simply
changing the BIOS boot disk priority settings, but I don't think that alone
will work (so long as the other drive is connected, I mean). But maybe??

However, I think you said this disconnect step wasn't necessary with Casper
though, but I'm not sure. However if that is indeed the case, then Casper
must somehow get the system to write a new disk signature to the backup
drive even though the other drive is still connected? If that's the case,
I don't understand why ATI can't do that too.

>> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
(SNIP)
>>> Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
>>> windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
>>> Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some
>>> disk activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external
>>> drives).
>>>
>>> This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives;
>>> there, if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is
>>> recognized.
>>>
>>> Is this by design?
>>>
>>> At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
>>> since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows,
>>> and
>>> that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns
>>> drive letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the
>>> clone is made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the
>>> partitions on the backup drive, as expected.
>>>
>>> My solution to this mess has been as follows:
>>> Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and
>>> delete all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at
>>> this time). THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected,
>>> and
>>> proceed making the clone.


> Anna wrote:
>> Bill:
>> I assume you're working with an Intel-based system. This "hot-plugging"
>> (lack of SATA device recognition) has been a problem with Intel chipsets
>> (even up to Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller) at least with respect
>> to
>> the XP OS environment. Theoretically this lack of SATA device
>> recognition
>> (in terms of the device being "hot-pluggable") should be overcome by
>> setting the BIOS SATA controller mode to the AHCI setting, however it
>> seems that
>> this mode while supported in Vista is not supported in XP. So the result
>> (at least based upon my experience) is a failure to boot the system when
>> the
>> AHCI mode setting is selected.
>>
>> We haven't run into the same problem with AMD-based systems (at least
>> those I've worked with, not including AMD's latest offerings). There the
>> BIOS
>> default settings re the SATA HDD seem to work just fine and the external
>> SATA HDD (either SATA or eSATA) are "hot-pluggable" ("hot-swappable")
>> without further ado. (I would like to hear from anyone who has worked
>> with
>> AMD's Phenom II X3 & X4 processors and hear their experience re this
>> issue).
>>
>> But if you are working with an Intel-based system there's a relatively
>> simple workaround to effect the "hot-pluggability" of an external SATA
>> HDD
>> without the need to reboot the system. After the device is connected &
>> powered-on, access Device Manager (WinKey + Pause key, Hardware tab,
>> Device Manager or place a shortcut on your Desktop) and click Action,
>> Scan for
>> hardware changes. The system will then detect the external SATA HDD.
>> Admittedly a bit of a pain but it beats rebooting, no?


"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Amazing that hot swappable SATA isn't the default, especially considering
> that SATA is so much newer than USB. I can't understand why Intel
> didn't get with the program on this. But I haven't checked the BIOS
> setting on that yet.

> Sounds like it, thanks! However, I assume that when I do this, it's
> still going to take a fair amount of time (just like it did after
> rebooting) for the disk to be fully recognized in windows again? (When
> I did it my way after rebooting, it took a few minutes for that backup
> drive to get fully recognized by windows).


Bill:
While the SATA device recognition will not be instantaneous, the system will
detect the SATA HDD fairly quickly. Surely a lot quicker than having to
reboot the system to effect device recognition.
Anna



"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A second comment:
>
> Of course, the other thing that is a pain is always having to remember to
> at least initialize the clone once *without* the normal internal system HD
> connected (so I have to pull the case off, and disconnect it,
> temporarily - a bit of a nuisance). It would nice if I could avoid that
> step by simply changing the BIOS boot disk priority settings, but I don't
> think that alone will work (so long as the other drive is connected, I
> mean). But maybe??
>
> However, I think you said this disconnect step wasn't necessary with
> Casper though, but I'm not sure. However if that is indeed the case,
> then Casper must somehow get the system to write a new disk signature to
> the backup drive even though the other drive is still connected? If
> that's the case, I don't understand why ATI can't do that too.


Bill:
Yes, you've got it right insofar as the Casper 5 disk-cloning program. There
is *no* need to disconnect the source HDD following the disk-cloning
operation and boot only with the cloned (internal or external eSATA) HDD
connected. It simply doesn't matter whether the cloned HDD is connected
during the initial boot to the source HDD immediately following the
disk-cloning operation.

Nor is it necessary to directly boot to the cloned HDD with the source HDD
disconnected immediately following the disk-cloning operation. (Naturally
many users may want to do this if only for the sake of determining that the
clone "took" and the cloned HDD is indeed a bootable device. But it's
unnecessary to prevent the possible problem to which you're referring). It's
another reason why we prefer the Casper 5 program as a comprehensive backup
program for a wide range of PC users.
Anna

Anna wrote:
>>> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> (SNIP)
>>>> Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
>>>> windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
>>>> Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some
>>>> disk activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external
>>>> drives).
>>>>
>>>> This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives;
>>>> there, if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is
>>>> recognized.
>>>>
>>>> Is this by design?
>>>>
>>>> At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using
>>>> eSATA,
>>>> since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows,
>>>> and that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it
>>>> assigns
>>>> drive letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when
>>>> the
>>>> clone is made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the
>>>> partitions on the backup drive, as expected.
>>>>
>>>> My solution to this mess has been as follows:
>>>> Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and
>>>> delete all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at
>>>> this time). THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected,
>>>> and proceed making the clone.
>
>
>> Anna wrote:
>>> Bill:
>>> I assume you're working with an Intel-based system. This "hot-plugging"
>>> (lack of SATA device recognition) has been a problem with Intel chipsets
>>> (even up to Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller) at least with respect
>>> to
>>> the XP OS environment. Theoretically this lack of SATA device
>>> recognition
>>> (in terms of the device being "hot-pluggable") should be overcome by
>>> setting the BIOS SATA controller mode to the AHCI setting,

UPDATE: I checked the BIOS settings, and that option is not present on
mine.

>>> however it seems that
>>> this mode while supported in Vista is not supported in XP. So the result
>>> (at least based upon my experience) is a failure to boot the system when
>>> the AHCI mode setting is selected.
>>>
>>> We haven't run into the same problem with AMD-based systems (at least
>>> those I've worked with, not including AMD's latest offerings). There the
>>> BIOS
>>> default settings re the SATA HDD seem to work just fine and the external
>>> SATA HDD (either SATA or eSATA) are "hot-pluggable" ("hot-swappable")
>>> without further ado. (I would like to hear from anyone who has worked
>>> with AMD's Phenom II X3 & X4 processors and hear their experience re
>>> this issue).
>>>
>>> But if you are working with an Intel-based system there's a relatively
>>> simple workaround to effect the "hot-pluggability" of an external SATA
>>> HDD
>>> without the need to reboot the system. After the device is connected &
>>> powered-on, access Device Manager (WinKey + Pause key, Hardware tab,
>>> Device Manager or place a shortcut on your Desktop) and click Action,
>>> Scan for
>>> hardware changes. The system will then detect the external SATA HDD.
>>> Admittedly a bit of a pain but it beats rebooting, no?
>
>
> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Amazing that hot swappable SATA isn't the default, especially considering
>> that SATA is so much newer than USB. I can't understand why Intel
>> didn't get with the program on this. But I haven't checked the BIOS
>> setting on that yet.

UPDATE: As I mentioned, I checked the BIOS settings, and that ACHI option
is not present on my system. More below.

>> Sounds like it, thanks! However, I assume that when I do this, it's
>> still going to take a fair amount of time (just like it did after
>> rebooting) for the disk to be fully recognized in windows again? (When
>> I did it my way after rebooting, it took a few minutes for that backup
>> drive to get fully recognized by windows).
>
>
> Bill:
> While the SATA device recognition will not be instantaneous, the system
> will
> detect the SATA HDD fairly quickly. Surely a lot quicker than having to
> reboot the system to effect device recognition.
> Anna

Right. Let me ask you this, Anna: does it end up doing exactly the same
thing, or does it just do a quick scan and leave it at that (and not go
through all the dvice recognition and setup stuff it does when it reboots)?

I'm guessing it does exactly the same thing, though, but at least saves the
reboot time - but only that. IOW, there will still be a device
recognition time of a few minutes where it sets up all the drive letters and
all that. More below.


> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> A second comment:
>>
>> Of course, the other thing that is a pain is always having to remember to
>> at least initialize the clone once *without* the normal internal system
>> HD
>> connected (so I have to pull the case off, and disconnect it,
>> temporarily - a bit of a nuisance). It would nice if I could avoid that
>> step by simply changing the BIOS boot disk priority settings, but I don't
>> think that alone will work (so long as the other drive is connected, I
>> mean). But maybe??
>>
>> However, I think you said this disconnect step wasn't necessary with
>> Casper though, but I'm not sure. However if that is indeed the case,
>> then Casper must somehow get the system to write a new disk signature to
>> the backup drive even though the other drive is still connected? If
>> that's the case, I don't understand why ATI can't do that too.
>
>
> Bill:
> Yes, you've got it right insofar as the Casper 5 disk-cloning program.
> There
> is *no* need to disconnect the source HDD following the disk-cloning
> operation and boot only with the cloned (internal or external eSATA) HDD
> connected. It simply doesn't matter whether the cloned HDD is connected
> during the initial boot to the source HDD immediately following the
> disk-cloning operation.
>
> Nor is it necessary to directly boot to the cloned HDD with the source HDD
> disconnected immediately following the disk-cloning operation. (Naturally
> many users may want to do this if only for the sake of determining that
> the
> clone "took" and the cloned HDD is indeed a bootable device. But it's
> unnecessary to prevent the possible problem to which you're referring).
> It's
> another reason why we prefer the Casper 5 program as a comprehensive
> backup program for a wide range of PC users.
> Anna

OK, I'm going to look into this a bit more, and try to "get to the bottom of
it" (as to why it can do that, but ATI can't, or whatever). Evidently
Casper must then rewrite the clone HD signature to the clone drive's MBR
*right after making it* (and it has to be rewritten, because it still
contains the identical cloned MBR values from the source drive, and that
signature must be unique for each HD). At least as I understand it.

Not having to open up the case and disconnect the main drive, and then
having to boot up one time on the clone to make sure its properly
initialized, and then having to shut down and disconnectting the clone and
reconnecting the main drive once again (AND resetting the BIOS boot device
priority along the way) would be a nice thing.

"Andy" <wrote:
> I recently checked out True Image Home 2009 and Casper 5
> by cloning a triple boot disk containing Windows XP, Windows
> Vista, and Windows 7 RC. Both programs cloned the disk
> correctly, meaning that the clone had a unique disk signature,
> and the MountedDevices entries in the registries of the three
> operating systems were properly modified to reflect the disk
> signature and partition offsets.

This is major news for users of those utilities! But now we'll
have to add at the end of every rendition of proper cloning
procedure, "But if you use TI 2009 or Casper 5, you don't
have to do this." What a pain! :-)

*TimDaniels*

> "Andy" wrote:
>> I recently checked out True Image Home 2009 and Casper 5
>> by cloning a triple boot disk containing Windows XP, Windows
>> Vista, and Windows 7 RC. Both programs cloned the disk
>> correctly, meaning that the clone had a unique disk signature,
>> and the MountedDevices entries in the registries of the three
>> operating systems were properly modified to reflect the disk
>> signature and partition offsets.


"Timothy Daniels" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ec$(E-Mail Removed)...
> This is major news for users of those utilities! But now we'll
> have to add at the end of every rendition of proper cloning
> procedure, "But if you use TI 2009 or Casper 5, you don't
> have to do this." What a pain! :-)
>
> *TimDaniels*


Tim:
While it would be "major news" insofar as the ATI program is concerned,
based on my experience over a nearly three-year period with the Casper 4 and
(current) Casper 5 programs, this capability has *always* been present in
the Casper programs as I described in my previous post to "Bill in Co.".
Anna

Anna wrote:
>> "Andy" wrote:
>>> I recently checked out True Image Home 2009 and Casper 5
>>> by cloning a triple boot disk containing Windows XP, Windows
>>> Vista, and Windows 7 RC. Both programs cloned the disk
>>> correctly, meaning that the clone had a unique disk signature,
>>> and the MountedDevices entries in the registries of the three
>>> operating systems were properly modified to reflect the disk
>>> signature and partition offsets.
>
>
> "Timothy Daniels" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:ec$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> This is major news for users of those utilities! But now we'll
>> have to add at the end of every rendition of proper cloning
>> procedure, "But if you use TI 2009 or Casper 5, you don't
>> have to do this." What a pain! :-)
>>
>> *TimDaniels*
>
>
> Tim:
> While it would be "major news" insofar as the ATI program is concerned,
> based on my experience over a nearly three-year period with the Casper 4
> and
> (current) Casper 5 programs, this capability has *always* been present in
> the Casper programs as I described in my previous post to "Bill in Co.".
> Anna

What is interesting is that when I went to both of their websites, and
looked at the support sections and the FAQs there, I couldn't find this
specific issue being addressed explicitly (nor in their documentation files
which I also have).

Also, if one is using the previous version of ATI Home (11.0), I thought I
had read of some reader comments of possible incompatibilities between the
newer and older versions, but I can't recall now. Maybe it was just that
if you make an image with the newer version, the older one can't use it,
which would make sense.

Anna, did you see my last post where I asked you a couple of more questions?

Timothy Daniels wrote:
> "Andy" <wrote:
>> I recently checked out True Image Home 2009 and Casper 5
>> by cloning a triple boot disk containing Windows XP, Windows
>> Vista, and Windows 7 RC. Both programs cloned the disk
>> correctly, meaning that the clone had a unique disk signature,
>> and the MountedDevices entries in the registries of the three
>> operating systems were properly modified to reflect the disk
>> signature and partition offsets.
>
> This is major news for users of those utilities! But now we'll
> have to add at the end of every rendition of proper cloning
> procedure, "But if you use TI 2009 or Casper 5, you don't
> have to do this." What a pain! :-)
>
> *TimDaniels*

It would be nice if that change was documented somewhere (either at their
web site or in their documentation).

But also, as I said to Anna, there may have been some potential
incompatabilities between using the older and newer versions of ATI? Or
maybe it was just that you can't use the older version with the newer
version images. I can't recall now what some of the reader comments on the
new version of ATI were, bugt I do remember reading of some possible issues.