USB Voodoo?

[jim]

How can I make XP see an external USB drive as an internal hard drive.

There is an article posted at
http://www.msfn.org/board/A-Multiple-Partition-USB-Stick-with-Mult-t69211.html#entry474505
that claims to show how its done, but it has a link to a driver that no
longer exists.

I am still Googling, but haven't found an answer yet.

I need to have XP see my external USB drives as internal drive so that my
backup software will image the USB drives.

Thanks!

jim

 

[jim]

How can I make XP see an external USB drive as an internal hard drive.

There is an article posted at
http://www.msfn.org/board/A-Multiple-Partition-USB-Stick-with-Mult-t69211.html#entry474505
that claims to show how its done, but it has a link to a driver that no
longer exists.

I am still Googling, but haven't found an answer yet.

I need to have XP see my external USB drives as internal drive so that my
backup software will image the USB drives.

Thanks!

jim

nvmd - they are showing in explorer as local hard drives, but Acronis True
Image 11 Home won;t see any of my USB drives that are partitioned the way I
need them to be partitioned (with FAT32, Ext2 and LinuxSwap partitions to
run Linux from a USB drive).

I've spent so much time getting the USB drives the way that I want them, I
just want to be able to image them to protect myself from data (or USB)
loss.

Any ideas?

jim

 

[jim]

nvmd - they are showing in explorer as local hard drives, but Acronis True
Image 11 Home won;t see any of my USB drives that are partitioned the way
I need them to be partitioned (with FAT32, Ext2 and LinuxSwap partitions
to run Linux from a USB drive).

I've spent so much time getting the USB drives the way that I want them, I
just want to be able to image them to protect myself from data (or USB)
loss.

Any ideas?

jim

Just in case you are looking for that missing driver that I spoke of in the
original post, I found it at
http://xpefiles.com/cs/files/folders/hardware/entry616.aspx .

jim

 

[Bill in Co.]

Why don't you SIMPLY get another USB drive, and copy it to the other?
OR copy the entire drive to a directory on your hard disk? What's the big
deal? You're making too much out of this.

 

[jim]

Not really Billster. I want to make an image of a drive with multiple
partitions for easy restoration in case I screw up the first, lose it or
just want to give a copy to a friend.

I don't see why apps like Acronis True Image Home 11 refuse to see or image
drives with multiple partitions. They work on internal hard drives with
multiple partitions. It just doesn;t make sense, or make my life any
easier.

But, screw ease of use. I'll try ANY software that will make an image of my
USB drives.

Got bits?

jim

 

[Bill in Co.]

Not really Billster. I want to make an image of a drive with multiple
partitions for easy restoration in case I screw up the first, lose it or
just want to give a copy to a friend.

What's so difficult about what I suggested? If you copy the USB drive
(including all folders) to a folder on the hard drive (or another USB flash
drive), you can *easily* copy that back to another USB drive should the need
arise in windows explorer. I mean, like for USB flash drives, which are
often 4 GB or less, big deal!

I don't see why apps like Acronis True Image Home 11 refuse to see or
image
drives with multiple partitions. They work on internal hard drives with
multiple partitions.

Exactly - work on INTERNAL hard drives (which are HUGE) with multiple
partitions.
In contrast, the external USB flash drives are small and easily copied
(including their subdirectories) in windows explorer.

 

[jim]

What's so difficult about what I suggested? If you copy the USB drive
(including all folders) to a folder on the hard drive (or another USB
flash drive), you can *easily* copy that back to another USB drive should
the need arise in windows explorer. I mean, like for USB flash drives,
which are often 4 GB or less, big deal!

I really appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to contribute. But,
copying folders and copying partitioins are 2 different things. If you
don't beleive me, just make a copy of all your files on your hard drive and
use those to restore your hard drive if it fails.

I want to replicate the whole USB drive, including the Linux partitions.

Exactly - work on INTERNAL hard drives (which are HUGE) with multiple
partitions.
In contrast, the external USB flash drives are small and easily copied
(including their subdirectories) in windows explorer.

Subdirectories are not partitions Bill.

 

[Bill in Co.]

I really appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to contribute. But,
copying folders and copying partitioins are 2 different things.

I know that. Hello!

If you don't beleive me, just make a copy of all your files on your hard
drive and
use those to restore your hard drive if it fails.

I want to replicate the whole USB drive, including the Linux partitions.

OH. OK, now that's a bit different. And I suppose you want bootable,
too.
Well, ok then! In such a case, you're right - you either need partition
copying, cloning, or imaging, capability.

Subdirectories are not partitions Bill.

Nope, and I never said they were.
But I must have missed your real "need" for a partition or image copy (and
not just a complete set of files, copy)

 

[bw]

http://xpefiles.com/cs/files/folders/hardware/entry616.aspx

 

[Anna]

How can I make XP see an external USB drive as an internal hard drive.

There is an article posted at
http://www.msfn.org/board/A-Multiple-Partition-USB-Stick-with-Mult-t69211.html#entry474505
that claims to show how its done, but it has a link to a driver that no
longer exists.

I am still Googling, but haven't found an answer yet.

I need to have XP see my external USB drives as internal drive so that my
backup software will image the USB drives.

Thanks!

jim

Jim:
Just so we have a clear idea of your situation and objective...

Re the USBEHD that will serve as the "source" disk of the disk image...
I take it from your query that for one reason or another you're unable to
boot to your internal HDD with the USBEHD connected. Is that it? But
assuming the system is bootable, is there any reason why that USBEHD would
not be connected as would be the usual case?

Obviously if you had a bootable system (re your internal HDD) there would be
no problem using your installed disk-imaging program in creating a disk
image of the connected USBEHD and storing that image on another drive (which
I'm assuming is your intent). But I'm sure you're aware of this so I'm
puzzled as to your situation and intent.

Now if for one reason or another you do *not* have a bootable system, you
could still create a disk image of the USBEHD and store it on another drive,
presumably another USBEHD?

If you were using a disk-imaging program such as Acronis True Image, you can
create what Acronis calls its "bootable rescue media" - in effect a bootable
CD containing the ATI program. (Other disk-imaging/disk-cloning programs
have similar media). And you could use that media to create the disk image
of one USBEHD and store it on another drive, again presumably another USBEHD
if that's what you want.

I'm pretty sure you can do this with the Acronis program - it's been a while
since I worked with that program re the disk-imaging process.

Of course I'm puzzled as to why you want or need to perform this kind of
operation (unless I'm misunderstanding your intent).

I know that you can do this (again, if I correctly understand what you're
trying to do) with the disk-cloning program we routinely use - the Casper 4
program. But this is a disk-to-disk cloning program not a disk-imaging
program. The Casper program also has a bootable "Startup Disk" which
contains the program so that by connecting the two USBEHDs and using that
Startup Disk a user could clone the contents of one USBEHD to another
USBEHD. Again, I'm hard-pressed to understand the purpose of this.

Now that I re:read your query I'm thinking that the USBEHD that will serve
as your "source" drive is not being used (in its usual role) as the
recipient of the disk-image of your internal day-to-day working HDD. Is that
it? Your USBEHD contains different data from your internal HDD of one sort
or another so you want to create a disk image of that data. Do I have this
right?
Anna

 

[jim]

Why did you ignore me when I told you in your first thread that the
flash drive had to be formatted NTFS to be imaged using ATI?

That came directly from the True Image support forum.

Because you ignored the formats that I said I was trying to image in the
original post.

If I had to format the drive to NTFS, it would destroy my Live Linux drive.

Now, how much good would that do, when I am trying to image the drives to
dafeguard the data and partitions.

That makes no sense at all.

jim

 

[jim]

Jim:
Just so we have a clear idea of your situation and objective...

Re the USBEHD that will serve as the "source" disk of the disk image...
I take it from your query that for one reason or another you're unable to
boot to your internal HDD with the USBEHD connected. Is that it? But
assuming the system is bootable, is there any reason why that USBEHD would
not be connected as would be the usual case?

Obviously if you had a bootable system (re your internal HDD) there would
be no problem using your installed disk-imaging program in creating a disk
image of the connected USBEHD and storing that image on another drive
(which I'm assuming is your intent). But I'm sure you're aware of this so
I'm puzzled as to your situation and intent.

I am sometimes called to recover failed hard drives at small businesses.
Usually, I remove the hdd, connect it to my laptop and do a recovery or I
use something like Hiren's Boot cd to fix simple issues.

However, I have found that using a USB drive as my boot drive, I may be able
to recover files from the damaged hdd and save them directly to the USB
drive. I have also found some tools in the Linux distro that I want to use
that there are no (or very expensive) options for in the DOS and XP bootable
CDs that I have been using.

To me, the obvious solution was to use a live, bootabel Linux USB drive with
the ability to save key files to the USB drive.

I have that USB drive created. It boots like it should and saves the files
like it should. Getting it "just right" took many hours (partially because
I have such little experience with Linux) and I now wnat to image the USB
drive (Linux partitions and all) to safeguard all the work that I have done
to get this far.

Now if for one reason or another you do *not* have a bootable system, you
could still create a disk image of the USBEHD and store it on another
drive, presumably another USBEHD?

Yes, you could. But, you'd be losing the ability to store files that you
may be trying to recover using the Live Linux USB drive.

If you were using a disk-imaging program such as Acronis True Image, you
can create what Acronis calls its "bootable rescue media" - in effect a
bootable CD containing the ATI program. (Other disk-imaging/disk-cloning
programs have similar media). And you could use that media to create the
disk image of one USBEHD and store it on another drive, again presumably
another USBEHD if that's what you want.

I'm pretty sure you can do this with the Acronis program - it's been a
while since I worked with that program re the disk-imaging process.

You can't. I tried it with Acronis TI Home 11. It doesn't see the Ext2 or
Linux swap partitions. It will only back up the FAT32 partition.

Of course I'm puzzled as to why you want or need to perform this kind of
operation (unless I'm misunderstanding your intent).

(see above)

I know that you can do this (again, if I correctly understand what you're
trying to do) with the disk-cloning program we routinely use - the Casper
4 program. But this is a disk-to-disk cloning program not a disk-imaging
program. The Casper program also has a bootable "Startup Disk" which
contains the program so that by connecting the two USBEHDs and using that
Startup Disk a user could clone the contents of one USBEHD to another
USBEHD. Again, I'm hard-pressed to understand the purpose of this.

That's better than nothing. Perhaps I'll try it tonight and see if it
works. First, there is another app that does images that says it reads
Linux partitions. I'll try it and let you know what it is if it works.

jim

 

[Bill in Co.]

I am sometimes called to recover failed hard drives at small businesses.
Usually, I remove the hdd, connect it to my laptop and do a recovery or I
use something like Hiren's Boot cd to fix simple issues.

However, I have found that using a USB drive as my boot drive, I may be
able
to recover files from the damaged hdd and save them directly to the USB
drive. I have also found some tools in the Linux distro that I want to
use
that there are no (or very expensive) options for in the DOS and XP
bootable
CDs that I have been using.

To me, the obvious solution was to use a live, bootable Linux USB drive
with
the ability to save key files to the USB drive.

You know, it *really* would have been helpful if you had stated this a bit
earlier.

At least I, for one, would have understood WHY you (allegedly) needed an
image, partition, or clone backup of the USB drive, and that a basic file
copy (including subdirectories) wasn't acceptable. (You'd be surprised at
what some people say they need, but what they really want).

I have that USB drive created. It boots like it should and saves the
files
like it should. Getting it "just right" took many hours (partially
because
I have such little experience with Linux) and I now wnat to image the USB
drive (Linux partitions and all) to safeguard all the work that I have
done
to get this far.


Yes, you could. But, you'd be losing the ability to store files that you
may be trying to recover using the Live Linux USB drive.


You can't. I tried it with Acronis TI Home 11. It doesn't see the Ext2
or
Linux swap partitions. It will only back up the FAT32 partition.

So was I, Anna. You're weren't the only one.

 

[jim]

I am sometimes called to recover failed hard drives at small businesses.
Usually, I remove the hdd, connect it to my laptop and do a recovery or I
use something like Hiren's Boot cd to fix simple issues.

However, I have found that using a USB drive as my boot drive, I may be
able to recover files from the damaged hdd and save them directly to the
USB drive. I have also found some tools in the Linux distro that I want
to use that there are no (or very expensive) options for in the DOS and XP
bootable CDs that I have been using.

To me, the obvious solution was to use a live, bootabel Linux USB drive
with the ability to save key files to the USB drive.

I have that USB drive created. It boots like it should and saves the
files like it should. Getting it "just right" took many hours (partially
because I have such little experience with Linux) and I now wnat to image
the USB drive (Linux partitions and all) to safeguard all the work that I
have done to get this far.


Yes, you could. But, you'd be losing the ability to store files that you
may be trying to recover using the Live Linux USB drive.


You can't. I tried it with Acronis TI Home 11. It doesn't see the Ext2
or Linux swap partitions. It will only back up the FAT32 partition.


(see above)


That's better than nothing. Perhaps I'll try it tonight and see if it
works. First, there is another app that does images that says it reads
Linux partitions. I'll try it and let you know what it is if it works.

jim

Thanks to another poster I tried Terabyte's Win Image software
(http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/products.htm).

You have to make a bootable CD and boot into DOS to use it to image your USB
drives. I'm not really sure why this isn't possiblke directly from Windows.

And, it is really slow. It took almost 20 minutes to image a USB 2.0 8GB
drive with FAT32, Ext2 and Linux swap partitions. It took 58 minute to
restore it.

Although it does require rebooting into DOs and it is slow, it is better
than losing your data.

jim

 

[jim]

Did you ever try booting to an Acronis CD? The CD is Linux-based.

Yes. I booted the Acronis True Image Home 11 recovery cd (full version) and
it cannot see the Linux partitions (Ext2 and Linux Swap) -- or at least they
didn't show in the gui.

That's really disappointing. I really like Acronis. I recommend it all the
time to my Windows friends and clients.

jim

 

[Bill in Co.]

Yes. I booted the Acronis True Image Home 11 recovery cd (full version)
and
it cannot see the Linux partitions (Ext2 and Linux Swap) -- or at least
they
didn't show in the gui.

That's really disappointing. I really like Acronis. I recommend it all
the
time to my Windows friends and clients.

jim

Why don't you try out BING?

 

[jim]

Yes. I booted the Acronis True Image Home 11 recovery cd (full version)
and it cannot see the Linux partitions (Ext2 and Linux Swap) -- or at
least they didn't show in the gui.

That's really disappointing. I really like Acronis. I recommend it all
the time to my Windows friends and clients.

jim

I kept searching and found another software product that handles backing up
my USB Linux drives, and has no problems with the Linux partition formats.

The good thing about this new software (new to me anyway) is that is does
it's backup and restore from within windows. It runs just like any other
Windows software - no booting to a DOS or Linux based CD to backup my USB
drives.

The great thing is the speed! Whereas Win Image took almost 20 minutes from
a DOS bootable CD to make an image All Image 1.3.1 made an uncompressed
image in 6 minutes 40 seconds. And, where Win Image took 58 monutes to
restore the image to my USB drive, All Image 1.3.1 took exactly 20 minutes.

Check out the 14 day trial version at
http://www.towodo.com/products/allimage/. And, it's a reasonably priced $25
to purchase.

Just thought you may like to know....

jim

 

[Bill in Co.]

I kept searching and found another software product that handles backing
up
my USB Linux drives, and has no problems with the Linux partition formats.

The good thing about this new software (new to me anyway) is that is does
it's backup and restore from within windows. It runs just like any other
Windows software - no booting to a DOS or Linux based CD to backup my USB
drives.

The great thing is the speed! Whereas Win Image took almost 20 minutes
from
a DOS bootable CD to make an image All Image 1.3.1 made an uncompressed
image in 6 minutes 40 seconds. And, where Win Image took 58 monutes to
restore the image to my USB drive, All Image 1.3.1 took exactly 20
minutes.

Check out the 14 day trial version at
http://www.towodo.com/products/allimage/. And, it's a reasonably priced
$25
to purchase.

Just thought you may like to know....

jim

Well, that beats BING, for sure. Besides which, in case you didn't know,
BING operates down at the DOS level, too. (BING = BootItNG) Just
curious - did you ever consider trying it out?

 

[Telstar]

I am just throwing this in ... in frustation.

I love ATI 11 too...except that the ';tryanddecide' service prohibits
hibernation or sleep and sometimes is 'a very long process is running' errpr
in shutting down XP.

Acronis acknowledged. this problem almost 9 months ago....IT HAS NOT BEEN
FIXED.

 

[Telstar]

BFD.

I've never even looked into "Try and Decide". Whatever it is, I don't
need it.

You cannot get rid of it or deactivate it in Acronis 11. So it is a BFD!

You strike me as stupid.