backup

[rb]

What is the difference between creating a backup image of my disk, and
cloning it?

If you cloned it, wouldn't that make the backup drive a new drive C?

How does all this work?

 

[Robert Guth]

What is the difference between creating a backup image of my disk, and
cloning it?

If you cloned it, wouldn't that make the backup drive a new drive C?

How does all this work?

Well, It's nearly the same. A cloned drive and a backup image of it, is the
same.

 

[Xandros]

It is a matter of semantics. Both are exact duplicates however an image is
generally considered to be creating a backup file and cloning is duplicating
one drive to another.

 

[rb]

So does the "image" include all program files and setting? If I played it
back, would it make a complete Windows and files on a slick disk?

 

[Mick Murphy]

It depends whether you make a backup of your files, or a backup of your
complete System, C:.

 

[rb]

Got it. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[Xandros]

Yes that is what "exact duplicate" means. Having said that though there are
imaging and cloning programs that will enable you to create an image that
has files excluded. For example I use Acronis TrueImage for my backup
solution. I exclude the pagefile.sys, and hiberfile.sys when I'm creating an
image which helps to keep the size of the resulting file smaller for
archiving. However if I use Acronis TrueImage to clone a drive from one
drive to another I don't bother excluding anything.

 

[Daave]

What is the difference between creating a backup image of my disk, and
cloning it?

If you successfully clone your hard drive (that is, if you clone the
contents ot your hard drive to another hard drive), you could remove
your old hard drive and put in the clone and boot from it and not notice
any difference (assuming both hard drives are identical). Put another
way, cloning results in bootable *media*.

If you were to create an image of your hard drive and store this image
on another medium (e.g., CDs, DVDs, or an external hard drive), you
could eventually use the same software you used to create this image to
restore it back to the original hard drive. Or you could remove the hard
drive if it's faulty, put a new one in, and *then* restore the image to
the new hard drive. In this case, although the image itself is not
bootable, once it is restored, the *hard drive* is bootable.

Again, once you have a clone, it is instantly bootable -- no additional
software is required. The image, however, is not bootable unless you
restore it -- so you need software.

If you cloned it, wouldn't that make the backup drive a new drive C?

Backing up is a vague, generic term. Instead, use the terms above
(cloning and imaging, wihch are types of backups). If I use the term
"back up," I'm talking about backing up specific data (like Word
documents, spreadsheets, MP3s, etc.). You can use good ol' Windows
Explorer for this. Or use Windows's ntbackup program. Of course, if you
image or clone your drive, *everything* (including your data) is backed
up.

HTH.

 

[Twayne]

What is the difference between creating a backup image of my disk, and

cloning it?

From a user's point of view, not much difference. One will be usable
immediately, the other, a backup image, needs software to "restore" the
data to another hard drive.

If you cloned it, wouldn't that make the backup drive a new drive C?

In your case, probably. It would be more accurate to say that if a
bootable disk were cloned, the clone would also be bootable. Not
everyone uses drive C as the boot disk although it's not the norm,
fortunately. Another problem with that question is, "cloning" does not
make a "backup"; they are two different things in this context. It
makes a "clone". A "clone" of a human body is identical to the
original. But a "backup" might have the eyse stored next to the hands,
the feet where the testicles belong, tongue inside, well ... you get the
drift. A "backup" won't necessarily resemble the original until it is
"restored" by an application, usually the one that created it. That's
when the eyes get put under the forehead, the feet on the ends of the
legs, etc..

How does all this work?

Very well, fortunately! <g>

That's a subject with as many answers and variants in definition of
the terms as there are stars in the sky. If you want a pretty decent
explanation of those terms, try looking them up at wikipedia.com. disk
image and disk clone are two good search terms to start with.

For your homework assignment: Which method actually creates a sector by
sector copy of the original where the contents of any numbered sector on
the original disk are identical to the same numbered sector on the
target disk?
Which one would restore a fragmented pagefile to a non-fragmented
status?

HTH