Disk Copy - Clone - and/or Image ?

[Tim]

What is...if there is...the difference between disk copy, disk clone, and
making a disk image ? I am upgrading to Win 7 Pro from XP Pro...but I want
to keep my current XP installation intact and bootable via bios - not dual
boot "just in case". Plan on making about 4 total backups/clones/disk
copies so my XP install will hopefully work in the same box but new
motherboard/cpu using the XP CD install/repair install procedure. (have
retail XP CD - registered and not an OEM system )

What's the best way to go...I have both Seagate's Disk Wizard
(Seagate/Maxtor drives ) and Acronis True Image Home 2010. Seagate talks
about drive cloning...Acronis about disk copying ?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated !!

Thanks, Tim

 

[Shenan Stanley]

What is...if there is...the difference between disk copy, disk
clone, and making a disk image ? I am upgrading to Win 7 Pro from
XP Pro...but I want to keep my current XP installation intact and
bootable via bios - not dual boot "just in case". Plan on making
about 4 total backups/clones/disk copies so my XP install will
hopefully work in the same box but new motherboard/cpu using the XP
CD install/repair install procedure. (have retail XP CD -
registered and not an OEM system )
What's the best way to go...I have both Seagate's Disk Wizard
(Seagate/Maxtor drives ) and Acronis True Image Home 2010. Seagate
talks about drive cloning...Acronis about disk copying ?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated !!

The words and who says them and what they happen to be referring to when
they say them.

Copy is usually just that - copying. It may be unable to get in-use files.

Clone is usually a one-off process. You take one disk and you clone it
directly to another.

Imaging is taking a disk and creating a file (usually multiple) copy of it
in its entirety that can then be applied as many times as you like to as
many other disks as you would like.

 

[peter]

Shenan pretty well explained it.
If you are aiming to re use XP installation after you have upgraded XP to Win7
I would just make an image using Acronis. This is on the assumption that you
would be
replacing W7 with the XP image if you don't like W7. With the Acronis Emergency
Boot
disk you can re apply the image to the original HD and it would revert it back
to the time
that image was made.
You could also Clone your present HD to another HD. This would make an
XP bootable HD that you would just use to replace the old HD if you dont like
W7.

notice the theme...don't like W7.. because of the upgrade edition of W7 you have
it would be against the EULA to use both OS at the same time.

peter

 

[Andrew E.]

New board & probably diffrent CPU socket would kill youre idea(s)...
If a new board is to be installed after youre hd imaging,then the OS
configured to the old board would'nt be compatable to new board.An xp
"Repair" installation isnt going to work since the xp system files have
nothing to do with the old boards files..Saving youre user data files can
be done & reinstalled to any pc running xp,simply use the File Transfer
Wizard from xp cd,set as old pc,select data,save data to new folder,once
its thru,move folder to cd.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snip>

New board & probably diffrent CPU socket would kill youre
idea(s)...
If a new board is to be installed after youre hd imaging,then the OS
configured to the old board would'nt be compatable to new board.An
xp "Repair" installation isnt going to work since the xp system
files have nothing to do with the old boards files..Saving youre
user data files can be done & reinstalled to any pc running
xp,simply use the File Transfer Wizard from xp cd,set as old
pc,select data,save data to new folder,once its thru,move folder to
cd.

Andrew E.,

Still the disinformationalist, eh?