Holt said:Thank you very much, Rock. I found your reply very helpful. Following your
recommendations, I made some researches. An article in PC Magazine pleased
me.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1644439,00.asp
By reading the article in PC Magazine, I got the following impression.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Norton Ghost comes with a bootable CD. The CD is equipped with WinPE and
Norton Ghost. The CD can boot a PC and finds the internal and external
drives. The Norton Ghost on the CD then restores files or a disk image from
an external drive to the internal drive. The Norton Ghost on the CD has a
Windows user interface by WinPE instead of a DOS user interface.
Rock said:I use Drive Image 7.0 by Powerquest.
DI has a bootable CD called the PQRE,
PowerQuest Recovery Environment.
I'm not sure what its boot environment
is based on.
I use ... the Acronis True Image 8 program.
you can easily create a bootable ATI CD
within the Acronis program
You can use a mouse.When you are in the environment booted from the ATI CD, can you use a mouse?
Or, is it a keyboard-only environment?
You can use a mouse.When you are in the environment booted from the ATI CD, can you use a mouse?
Or, is it a keyboard-only environment?
Holt said:Rock wrote:
When you are in the environment booted from the PQRE CD, can you use a mouse?
Or, is it a keyboard-only environment?
If it is a keyboard-only environment, then what kind of keyboard-only
environment is it? Do you proceed by hitting arrow keys and the Enter key?
Or, do you have to type in like "rstr e: c:" to restore from the e drive to
the c drive?
Did the PQRE bootable CD come with DI when you purchased DI? Or, did you
have to construct and burn to create the PQRE bootable CD after you
purchased DI?
Holt
Holt said:Thank you for your reply, Rock.
Anna said:(snip)
repeatable.
Mike:
I fear that I too misunderstood your problem with Acronis True Image. From
your description, I'm still not entirely clear as to the specific steps you
take to clone one HD to another HD and the resulting scenario (problem) that
follows.
I've been using the ATI8 program over that past six months or so and have
found that program both simple to use and effective in its results. I use
that program (as I use any disk imaging program) for one purpose and only
one purpose - to *directly* clone the contents of one HD to another HD. In
doing so...
*I do not use the program to create disk images on removable media, e.g.,
DVDs*
*I do not make "incremental" backups via the cloning process*
Direct disk-to-disk cloning is my sole interest so as to reasonably maintain
a near-failsafe backup system involving my day-to-day working hard drive. I
have no other interest in using a disk imaging program. In so doing, I
prefer to carry out the cloning operation using the bootable CD (a/ka
"Bootable Rescue Media" as Acronis calls it) that one can easily create in
the ATI program. I find the simplicity, straightforwardness, and portability
aspects of using the bootable CD more to my liking than using the Windows
GUI. It's simply a personal preference.
I mention the above because I want you to understand precisely how I use the
program, which may be different from the way you employ it and thus my
comments may have little or no relevance to your present situation and/or
the problem you're experiencing. On the other hand, perhaps a review of the
basic steps one can use in creating direct disk-to-disk clones with the ATI
program may be of use to you in your present predicament and be of some
interest to others who are considering a disk imaging program for routine
and systematic backup purposes.
Here are the basic steps I follow to *directly* clone the contents of one HD
to another HD (internal or external). (It's actually an edited version of
step-by-step instructions I prepared for a local computer club).
START
1. Ensure there are no other storage devices connected to the computer other
than the source and destination drives.
a. If both drives (source & destination) are connected, and the computer
is running, insert the Acronis bootable CD in your CD/DVD drive and restart
your computer. If you're cloning to a USB/Firewire external HD, that device
can be connected before restarting your computer.
b. If *only* your working drive (the source disk) is connected at the
time the computer is running, insert the Acronis bootable CD in your CD/DVD
device and shutdown your computer. Disconnect the computer's power cord and
connect the second (destination) drive you'll be cloning to and boot up with
both drives connected.
2. Upon bootup, the Acronis main screen will display. One of the icons will
be "Disk Clone". Double-click on this icon.
3. The "Welcome to the Disk Clone Wizard!" screen will display. Click Next.
4. The "Clone Mode" dialog box will display with two options. Select the
"Automatic" option (it probably will be the default) and click Next.
5. The "Source Hard Disk" screen will display with your two drives listed.
Make *absolutely certain* that your source disk (the drive you'll be cloning
*from*) is highlighted, and thus selected. Click Next.
6. The "Destination Hard Disk" screen will display. Again, make *absolutely
certain* that your destination disk (the drive you'll be cloning to) is
highlighted (selected). Click Next.
7. Assuming your destination disk is not a "virgin" disk, i.e., it contains
data, the "Nonempty Destination Hard Disk" screen will display. Select the
"Delete partitions on the destination hard disk" option and click Next.
8. The "Hard Disk Drives Structure" screen will display reflecting the
"before and after" cloning operation. Again, make absolutely certain that
your source and destination drives are correctly indicated. Click Next.
9. The final screen before the cloning operation takes place will display
summarizing the impending process. Once again, the important thing to note
is that your source and destination drives are correctly reflected. Click
the Proceed button to begin the cloning operation.
10. Following the cloning operation, remove the bootable CD and shutdown the
computer. DO NOT REBOOT AT THIS TIME!
11. If you're working with internal hard drives, it's a good idea to verify
that the cloning operation was successful and that you now have a bootable
clone. So after shutting down the computer, disconnect its power cord, open
your case and disconnect your source disk. Power up and boot with the
destination disk to ensure that it is indeed bootable and that all is well.
Incidentally, I'm assuming in all this that your motherboard will allow you
to boot to the cloned drive regardless of its position/configuration on the
IDE cable. We have come across some motherboards which will not permit a
boot from any position other than Primary Master. If so, you'll need to make
the necessary reconnects/reconfiguration for your cloned drive in that
situation in order to test that it is bootable. Presuming it is, shutdown,
remove the power cord, and reconnect your source disk (assuming that's the
drive you plan to continue to use as your day-to-day working drive). It's
probably best to disconnect the cloned disk after you've verified that the
cloning operation was successful. See the note below.
If, on the other hand, you've cloned to a USB/Firewire external hard drive,
no further action is necessary. Remember that the USB/Firewire EHD is *not*
bootable. And, of course, the external drive should ordinarily be
disconnected from the computer following the cloning operation.
Some notes about disconnecting a cloned internal drive following the cloning
operation: Both Symantec (Norton Ghost) and Acronis recommend this. Both of
their tech support have stated that with both drives connected there is a
strong possibility of file corruption and/or booting problems. Also
mentioned is the possibility of virus infestation of both drives when both
are connected as well as the possibility of electrical surges
damaging/destroying both drives while both are connected. As a general
proposition, the only time both internal drives will be simultaneously
connected following the cloning operation is when you want to re:clone the
contents of the cloned HD back to your day-to-day working HD for restoration
purposes.
And a final important note reiterating the information in step 10. above.
Following the cloning operation, shut (power) down the computer; disconnect
the source disk; and make the *initial* boot of the cloned drive while it is
the *only* drive connected at that time. If, on that initial boot *both*
drives are connected, there's a distinct possibility that the cloned drive
will not boot at a subsequent time. This is particularly so when you're
working with a WinXP operating system.
END
Are the above steps more-or-less the process you follow? I take it you use
the Windows GUI to perform the cloning process, however, the basic steps
aren't really very different, are they? Anyway, let me have your thoughts on
this.
Anna
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