Hard drive cloning

[Ed Wood]

I have three hard drives, all Western Digital, 2 - 250gb (one is a SATA drive
& the other is a standard IDE drive), and a 1TB drive. Currently, my 1TB
drive is the boot drive, but I want to change it to a 250gb drive. After I
accomplish this switch, I want to be able to clone my new boot drive C: to
the 1TB drive, so that I can do an exact restore to drive C:, should I
somehow lose that drive.

Obviously, any changes made to drive C: during each computer session would
have to me made to the cloned drive on the 1TB drive. I suppose this could be
accomplished by an automatic cloning process overnight.

My question is: How do I do this? What software is there available to do the
job?, and how do I set it up to do it? I have access to Norton's Ghost 10,
but, unless I am setting it up wrong, the drive sizes have to be the same for
it to work. Obviously, my boot drive is 1/4 the size of the backup 1TB drive,
so I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[olfart]

I have three hard drives, all Western Digital, 2 - 250gb (one is a SATA
drive
& the other is a standard IDE drive), and a 1TB drive. Currently, my 1TB
drive is the boot drive, but I want to change it to a 250gb drive. After I
accomplish this switch, I want to be able to clone my new boot drive C: to
the 1TB drive, so that I can do an exact restore to drive C:, should I
somehow lose that drive.

Obviously, any changes made to drive C: during each computer session would
have to me made to the cloned drive on the 1TB drive. I suppose this could
be
accomplished by an automatic cloning process overnight.

My question is: How do I do this? What software is there available to do
the
job?, and how do I set it up to do it? I have access to Norton's Ghost 10,
but, unless I am setting it up wrong, the drive sizes have to be the same
for
it to work. Obviously, my boot drive is 1/4 the size of the backup 1TB
drive,
so I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

try Casper.....http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

 

[dadiOH]

I have three hard drives, all Western Digital, 2 - 250gb (one is a
SATA drive & the other is a standard IDE drive), and a 1TB drive.
Currently, my 1TB drive is the boot drive, but I want to change it to
a 250gb drive. After I accomplish this switch, I want to be able to
clone my new boot drive C: to the 1TB drive, so that I can do an
exact restore to drive C:, should I somehow lose that drive.

Obviously, any changes made to drive C: during each computer session
would have to me made to the cloned drive on the 1TB drive. I suppose
this could be accomplished by an automatic cloning process overnight.

My question is: How do I do this? What software is there available to
do the job?, and how do I set it up to do it? I have access to
Norton's Ghost 10, but, unless I am setting it up wrong, the drive
sizes have to be the same for it to work. Obviously, my boot drive is
1/4 the size of the backup 1TB drive, so I don't know what to do.

You make an image. That image can be restored to any drive at least as
large as the one that was imaged. Alternately, you can clone (copy) your
drive to any other the same size or larger.

In either case, it should make no difference if the destination drive is
larger than the source.



--

dadiOH
____________________________

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Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[JS]

Since you have Ghost 10 this is what you do.
1) Assuming the used space on your current 1TB drive
is less than the 75% of your 250GB drive and both drives
boot partitions (if you have more than one partition)
are formatted NTFS or FAT32 then continue to step #2.

2) Use Ghost to create an image backup to your third hard
drive (Don't forget to Check Mark the 'Verify' option).

3) Verify the Ghost recovery CD (boot from the CD) can see
the image backup file you created. Do not perform a restore
just yet, just validate that when booting from the Ghost CD
you can see the image backup file.

4) Create a Primary Partition and format the 250GB drive
that you intend to use for the new boot drive. Be absolutely
certain you are formatting the correct hard drive. Also remember
that an image backup must be restored to like formats
(NTFS to NTFS) or (FAT32 to FAT32).

5) Remove the 1TB drive. This leaves just two 250GB drives
connected. One of the two drives has the image backup file you
created in step #2 and the other drive is the newly formatted
drive that will become your new boot drive.

6) Insert the Ghost recovery CD and boot the PC. Use the image
backup to restore to the new boot drive. Do not pick/check any
option to "Restore original disk signature' or 'Master Boot Record (MBR)'.

7) See if you can boot from the new 250GB hard drive and both
250 GB drives are identified properly.

8) Run the PC for several days (Without the 1TB drive connected
as this is your ultimate backup).

9) If everything is fine then using Ghost 10 create another image backup
(to a separate folder so as not to delete the image you created in step 2)

10) Then connect the 1TB drive, verify you can still boot from the 250GB
drive and reformat the 1TB drive.

Note: If you are using PATA drives you will need to change the jumper
settings. SATA should not be a problem.

 

[nomore]

What you want to do does not make much sense.
Your 1 tb drive is much faster than the old clunker 240gb drives. You will
likely see differences in performance if you boot from one of those old
junkers.
Why not simply repartition the 1 tb drive?

 

[Ed Wood]

The reason that I do now wish to make the 1TB drive is because of losing all
of my data. For some reason, I seem to be the target of viruses and trojan
horses, which cause me to have to reformat my drive every few months.

I am running AVG Internet Security, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot S&D, and
Malwarebytes software on my system, but somehow things seem to get through.

No, I am not going to "Porn" sites, etc. (I am a retired minister), but my
wife will check her gmail account, navigate to different links that some of
her friends send her, and, many times, I will find that she has left the
computer and failed to disconnect from the internet. Perhaps that is the
reason I get attacked, I don't know.

If I can make the 250gb drive the boot drive, clone the drive to the 1TB
drive, in case of an attack, I can reformat the 250gb drive, then restore the
clone files back to the drive and be up and running. That way, I will not
have to reinstall all of my programs again.

Thanks,

 

[HeyBub]

The reason that I do now wish to make the 1TB drive is because of
losing all of my data. For some reason, I seem to be the target of
viruses and trojan horses, which cause me to have to reformat my
drive every few months.

I am running AVG Internet Security, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot S&D, and
Malwarebytes software on my system, but somehow things seem to get
through.

No, I am not going to "Porn" sites, etc. (I am a retired minister),
but my wife will check her gmail account, navigate to different links
that some of her friends send her, and, many times, I will find that
she has left the computer and failed to disconnect from the internet.
Perhaps that is the reason I get attacked, I don't know.

If I can make the 250gb drive the boot drive, clone the drive to the
1TB drive, in case of an attack, I can reformat the 250gb drive, then
restore the clone files back to the drive and be up and running. That
way, I will not have to reinstall all of my programs again.

You're moving everything to a smaller drive so that subsequent re-installs
will be faster?

I think you're trying to solve the wrong problem.

First, I'd get a router/switch which will function as a pretty-good hardware
firewall. This will prevent random probes by malicious software.

Second, note what infestations you experience. Each will have its own
preferred delivery vector: dodgy web sites, social phishing techniques,
"Install me and I'll fix...", etc. Shore up the vulnerability that has
proven to be too weak.

Note: You can't fundamentaly "clone" a drive to a smaller one. Cloning
operates at the hardware level, as in: "copy track 200 from source to
target." If the target doesn't HAVE a track 200.... To do what you suggest
implies the copy software have some level of logical (not physical) smarts.
Most don't.

 

[olfart]

<snip>
Note: You can't fundamentaly "clone" a drive to a smaller one. Cloning
operates at the hardware level, as in: "copy track 200 from source to
target." If the target doesn't HAVE a track 200.... To do what you suggest
implies the copy software have some level of logical (not physical)
smarts. Most don't.

No True. Casper....http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/ wil clone any
size drive to any other size....as long as there is room on the smaller
drive. They offer a free 30 day trial. It's fast, easy and reliable

 

[Frank Holman]

No True. Casper....http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/ wil clone any
size drive to any other size....as long as there is room on the smaller
drive. They offer a free 30 day trial. It's fast, easy and reliable

All cloning software will clone to any size drive as long as there is
adequate space available.