Newbie question on Partition Magic, Drive Image Pro, Ghost, etc.. on Windows XP.

[Joe Donaldson]

Thanks much in advance for any help you can give me on the below.


I use Norton Ghost on my PC in order to backup my hard disk to an
external USB drive. It works flawlessly and if I ever have to do a
full restore to my disk - I always can boot fine.

I recently bought Partition Magic ONLY to resize partitions and also
hoping that I could move data from one partition to another (like
Ghost). However I think I am wrong in that this program cannot copy
DATA at all.

****Is this correct?

****I think Windows XP can perform partition duties per a book I read.
Hence is it true I prob not need Partition Magic just for
Partitioning??

****Should I stick with Ghost or should I now buy Drive Image Pro?

***Finally I tried to copy one disk to disk to another and went to the
Western Digital site to download LifeGuard. It was 1.7mb and when I
tried to run it, it said it HAD to run on a floppy. Well it does not
fit on a floppy..
Ideas?


Thanks, Joe

 

[Pavel A.]

***Finally I tried to copy one disk to disk to another and went to the
Western Digital site to download LifeGuard. It was 1.7mb and when I
tried to run it, it said it HAD to run on a floppy. Well it does not
fit on a floppy..

It might be a self-extracting floppy image. Insert a blank floppy and run it.
It will copy the program to the floppy.
--PA

 

[Richard Urban]

Partition Magic does NOT do imaging.

Partition Magic does so much more than XP built in partitioning utilities.

Partition Magic is just what it says - a partition manager program, par
excellence!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Joe Donaldson]

Thanks
Joe

It might be a self-extracting floppy image. Insert a blank floppy and run it.
It will copy the program to the floppy.
--PA

 

[Alex Nichol]

I recently bought Partition Magic ONLY to resize partitions and also
hoping that I could move data from one partition to another (like
Ghost). However I think I am wrong in that this program cannot copy
DATA at all.

****Is this correct?

****I think Windows XP can perform partition duties per a book I read.
Hence is it true I prob not need Partition Magic just for
Partitioning??

XP internal facilities will not do the kinds of things PM will do; only
delete partitions and make new ones in free space. Partitioning tools
in general do not move data around; you do that in windows itself, using
a couple of My Computer windows and (I suggest) Right-dragging around,
which makes it easy to be sure if you are copying or moving things

****Should I stick with Ghost or should I now buy Drive Image Pro?

Getting DI will not add anything over what the Ghost you have does -
stick with what you know.

 

[NobodyMan]

Thanks much in advance for any help you can give me on the below.


I use Norton Ghost on my PC in order to backup my hard disk to an
external USB drive. It works flawlessly and if I ever have to do a
full restore to my disk - I always can boot fine.

I recently bought Partition Magic ONLY to resize partitions and also
hoping that I could move data from one partition to another (like
Ghost). However I think I am wrong in that this program cannot copy
DATA at all.

****Is this correct?

PM will not move data in any way. It allows for non-destructive
dynamic partition resizing/creation. Even so, it's best to back up
your system prior to using PM because things can and do go wrong.

****I think Windows XP can perform partition duties per a book I read.
Hence is it true I prob not need Partition Magic just for
Partitioning??

XP can't do partitioning on-the-fly like PM can. It can only do
destructive partitioning, resulting in complete data loss on any
partition in question.

****Should I stick with Ghost or should I now buy Drive Image Pro?

If you have Ghost you don't need DI, unless you like the DI interface
better. One is really no better or no worse than the other, IMO.

 

[Sunny]

PM will not move data in any way. It allows for non-destructive
dynamic partition resizing/creation. Even so, it's best to back up
your system prior to using PM because things can and do go wrong.

<snip>
Not totally correct, while PM won't move data from one partition to another,
it will move all the data of a partition to another part of the hard disk.
(found out when I foolishly selected "create a primary partition *before*
current primary partition, then sat around for a hour, while PM dutifully
moved the entire content of C (WinME) to make way for a 15Gb C for WinXP)

 

[Dave Cohen]

<snip>
Not totally correct, while PM won't move data from one partition to another,
it will move all the data of a partition to another part of the hard disk.
(found out when I foolishly selected "create a primary partition *before*
current primary partition, then sat around for a hour, while PM dutifully
moved the entire content of C (WinME) to make way for a 15Gb C for WinXP)

Too late for this post, but bootitng from bootitng.com has the
functionality of ghost, pm and managing multi os for a fraction of the
combined costs of those mentioned. Can evaluate for free.
Dave Cohen

 

[Bob Harris]

As others have said, PM can copy an entire partition to another partition.
However, that is different than the function of GHOST or DriveImage which
create compressed images of a partition. The PM copy option is for
infrequent migration of partition form one disk to another, not for frequent
backups.

DriveImage and GHOST do essentially the same thing. It is more a question
of which interface you prefer. Along those lines, I prefer Acronis
TrueImage to either of the other two. It has the same windows-like
interface when run in windows (naturally) or when run from a bootable CD
(which it makes for you). It does not drop to DOS to save or recover
images. Its bootable CD is only required when restoring the partition with
the operating system, or in case of a new hard drive.

As for the WD utilities, they are probably distributed in the form of a
self-extracting self-installing type of program. If you double-click on the
*.EXE file, it should prompt you for a blank, formatted floppy, and then
proceed to fill it with low-level disk utilities. it will not try to put
more than 1.44 Meg on a single floppy. (It is possible, but unlikely, that
it may request a second floppy.)

 

[Joe Donaldson]

Great info gang.
Thanks again
Joe

As others have said, PM can copy an entire partition to another partition.
However, that is different than the function of GHOST or DriveImage which
create compressed images of a partition. The PM copy option is for
infrequent migration of partition form one disk to another, not for frequent
backups.

DriveImage and GHOST do essentially the same thing. It is more a question
of which interface you prefer. Along those lines, I prefer Acronis
TrueImage to either of the other two. It has the same windows-like
interface when run in windows (naturally) or when run from a bootable CD
(which it makes for you). It does not drop to DOS to save or recover
images. Its bootable CD is only required when restoring the partition with
the operating system, or in case of a new hard drive.

As for the WD utilities, they are probably distributed in the form of a
self-extracting self-installing type of program. If you double-click on the
*.EXE file, it should prompt you for a blank, formatted floppy, and then
proceed to fill it with low-level disk utilities. it will not try to put
more than 1.44 Meg on a single floppy. (It is possible, but unlikely, that
it may request a second floppy.)

 

[Richard Urban]

Having to put in a bootable CD to restore the system partition is the same
thing as "having to drop to DOS", in my book! It is no different than Drive
Image in that respect.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard