Can somebody tell me what the difference is between an image of a drive and
a copy of a drive.
thanks
David

David Williams <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3f64ab19$(E-Mail Removed)...

> Can somebody tell me what the difference is
> between an image of a drive and a copy of a drive.

A copy of a drive produces a second drive with the same
contents as the original drive. The copy can be booted
just like the original. They dont need to be the same
sized, but obviously the second drive needs to be big
enough to contain all the DATA on the original drive.

An image of a drive is theoretically a FILE which
contains all the information from the original drive
and some extra stuff that allows the original drive
to be restored from it, if say the drive dies etc.

The image cannot be booted directly, it needs to be
restored to a physical drive before it can be booted.
Most modern imaging apps have some way of getting
individual files or a number of files out of the image file.

In practice its not usually just one file, the
image file is usually chopped up into 2GB
bits so it can be put on any type of partition.

>The image cannot be booted directly, it needs to be
>restored to a physical drive before it can be booted.
>Most modern imaging apps have some way of getting
>individual files or a number of files out of the image file.
>

I have this question

If your hard disk data is fragmented and if you make
an image followed by restore of the image will the the disk
now be defragged?

Farouk Dindar

Farouk Dindar wrote:

>>The image cannot be booted directly, it needs to be
>>restored to a physical drive before it can be booted.
>>Most modern imaging apps have some way of getting
>>individual files or a number of files out of the image file.
>>
>
>
> I have this question
>
> If your hard disk data is fragmented and if you make
> an image followed by restore of the image will the the disk
> now be defragged?


Yes. I've heard of people using Ghost for this purpose, as it's faster
than a "normal" defrag.

-WD

>>
>> I have this question
>>
>> If your hard disk data is fragmented and if you make
>> an image followed by restore of the image will the the disk
>> now be defragged?
>
>
>Yes. I've heard of people using Ghost for this purpose, as it's faster
>than a "normal" defrag.
>
>-WD
>

Hi Wil

Thanks for the information.

I have been testing Acronis True Image recently.

This morning I made an image on a slave drive and then deleted
everything on my main disk.

I then restored the image.

I just ran the win 2k defrag utility and it gives me these answers

===============
Volume WIN2K (C:

Volume size = 10,252 MB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 2,731 MB
Free space = 7,520 MB
Percent free space = 73 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 1 %
File fragmentation = 3 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 19,030
Average file size = 158 KB
Total fragmented files = 79
Total excess fragments = 565
Average fragments per file = 1.02

===================

Farouk Dindar

Farouk Dindar wrote:
>> The image cannot be booted directly, it needs to be
>> restored to a physical drive before it can be booted.
>> Most modern imaging apps have some way of getting
>> individual files or a number of files out of the image file.
>>
>
> I have this question
>
> If your hard disk data is fragmented and if you make
> an image followed by restore of the image will the the disk
> now be defragged?
>
> Farouk Dindar

If the image process is *file* based, the fragmentation level is back to 0
because during the creation process the files are sequentially read and then
put in the image file (a rather time consuming process).
If the image file is *sector* based, the actual fragmentation level is
exactly recorded in the image file. After a restore the very same
fragmentation level is actually restored as well as other sector based
optimizations (Drive Image always images sector based, and only the
allocated sectors (SmartSector Technology.).

--
M.f.G.
Michael Kimmer

"Ein Tag an dem Du nicht lächelst ist ein verlorener Tag"
"Eine Nacht in der Du nicht schläfst ist eine verschlafene Nacht"

Farouk Dindar <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:KX29b.233$(E-Mail Removed)...

>> The image cannot be booted directly, it needs to be
>> restored to a physical drive before it can be booted.
>> Most modern imaging apps have some way of getting
>> individual files or a number of files out of the image file.

> I have this question

Tad radical in a technical newsgroup |-)

> If your hard disk data is fragmented and if
> you make an image followed by restore of
> the image will the the disk now be defragged?

Yes, with most imaging programs.

Not always tho, with Ghost for example you
can do a image at the physical sector level,
and that basically produces exactly the same
thing when restored, fragmentation and all.

"Farouk Dindar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:2b49b.489$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> >>
> >> I have this question
> >>
> >> If your hard disk data is fragmented and if you make
> >> an image followed by restore of the image will the the disk
> >> now be defragged?
> >
> >
> >Yes. I've heard of people using Ghost for this purpose, as it's faster
> >than a "normal" defrag.
> >
> >-WD
> >
>
> Hi Wil
>
> Thanks for the information.
>
> I have been testing Acronis True Image recently.
>
> This morning I made an image on a slave drive and then deleted
> everything on my main disk.
>
> I then restored the image.
>
> I just ran the win 2k defrag utility and it gives me these answers
>
> ===============
> Volume WIN2K (C:
>
> Volume size = 10,252 MB
> Cluster size = 4 KB
> Used space = 2,731 MB
> Free space = 7,520 MB
> Percent free space = 73 %
>
> Volume fragmentation
> Total fragmentation = 1 %
> File fragmentation = 3 %
> Free space fragmentation = 0 %
>
> File fragmentation
> Total files = 19,030
> Average file size = 158 KB
> Total fragmented files = 79
> Total excess fragments = 565
> Average fragments per file = 1.02
>
> ===================

You should have got those details before the restore too.

And you can still get some fragmented files in some situations.