Please recommend a "ghost" application that meets my need

C

Contriver

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Jan 11, 2008
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Hi, I need an application where I can plug in a notebook hard drive using one of those USB ide-to-usb kits, then capture that hard drive's image to a file, then write that mirror image to another hard drive. Will the latest version of Ghost all me to do this? Anyone have experience with Acronis True Image?
 
Ghost32.exe + BartPE = perfect solution. BartPE is free, and you don't even have to bother with installing the Ghost application, aside from once to grab that file. I combine this with an external USB drive, and it's my method for backing up/recovering data from pretty much any computer I can come across.
 
you don't have to buy (or pirate) anything - use DriveImageXML which is free - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

Sounds like you want to bring a laptop harddrive to your machine + create an image file of it, then hook up another laptop hard drive and restore that image to it... with driveimageXML you don't even have to reboot your machine... I don't know about the newest versions of Ghost, but every version i've seen requires you to go into DOS mode to image drives.... forget that... you can continue working (or browsing the web) while you clone.
 
Actually, I believe DriveImageXMl works with either BartPE or UBCD4WIN.
teststrips said:
I don't know about the newest versions of Ghost, but every version i've seen requires you to go into DOS mode to image drives.... forget that... you can continue working (or browsing the web) while you clone.
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Why would you want to, though? I guess I don't understand why you'd want or need to backup a computer while it's running. I have always done the imaging outside of the OS, so nothing is running, no files are open, etc. Why take a chance, when it works right the proper way?
 
Because you can image a system in operation nowadays, and do it with zero issues whatsoever, I guess. :)

It might not have been possible in days long past, but you can do it now, so it's a viable option for system backup. I'm always going to recommend Acronis True Image for this stuff, that's a given. I should just pad my sig with all the stuff I recommend I suppose. :)

If the OP has a Maxtor or Seagate drive (here I go repeating this again) the Seagate disc management software or the Maxtor software that works the same has a stripped down version of True Image in it - it's not the full blown Windows client that allows real-time imaging, however. That's the purview of the actual Acronis True Image software alone, but even so I'd recommend it anyday over Ghost... but that's just me.
 
Out of what suggested, can be used while windows is logged in? The reason I don't run as many backups as I should, is because it is a hassle to shutdown, pop in acronis, and let it take an hour or two to run its backup.

I'd like something that I can schedule to run at night, while windows is still logged in, and have that backup go to an external HD.
 
Acronis True Image, when you install the software in Windows, will do that, yes. It can do live imaging meaning it doesn't require you to reboot the PC just to make the image - but if you need to restore an image you'll have to reboot, and the software would handle all of that for you.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Acronis True Image, when you install the software in Windows, will do that, yes. It can do live imaging meaning it doesn't require you to reboot the PC just to make the image - but if you need to restore an image you'll have to reboot, and the software would handle all of that for you.
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Thanks. I was under the impression that you could only boot from it.
 
CasperXP

Contact me if you want some "info" on it tonight when i'm home.
 
Hey guys I'm in a little mess here maybe you can help... would appreciate it much.

I have never cloned or imaged a hard drive before but this is what I'm trying to accomplish.. I bought two new laptops one for myself and one for my brother, I have completely installed and setup everything on my laptop and now I want to clone my hard drive to my brothers laptop (both same models). This is how I am trying to do it...

1. Create image of my C: drive
2. Store image on my removable USB hard drive
3. Use image on brothers laptop to make it the same as mine

Are there any guides anywhere on how to do this? If not what are the tools I need to get this done? Thanks to everyone who can help me
 
I'm sure others will have other software recommendations, but something like BartPE along with DriveImageXML would do this, and for free. BartPE would let you boot to a Windows like environment, and have access to an external USB drive. DriveImageXML would make the image of the laptop's drive to a file on the USB drive. On your brother's laptop, you'd boot the BartPE disc with the USB drive connected, and then lay the image down onto his drive.
 
Contriver said:
Hi, I need an application where I can plug in a notebook hard drive using one of those USB ide-to-usb kits, then capture that hard drive's image to a file, then write that mirror image to another hard drive. Will the latest version of Ghost all me to do this? Anyone have experience with Acronis True Image?
Click to expand...

I have been doing something very much like this very thing for a while now. I use Gparted.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
 
antiflux said:
Hey guys I'm in a little mess here maybe you can help... would appreciate it much.

I have never cloned or imaged a hard drive before but this is what I'm trying to accomplish.. I bought two new laptops one for myself and one for my brother, I have completely installed and setup everything on my laptop and now I want to clone my hard drive to my brothers laptop (both same models). This is how I am trying to do it...

1. Create image of my C: drive
2. Store image on my removable USB hard drive
3. Use image on brothers laptop to make it the same as mine

Are there any guides anywhere on how to do this? If not what are the tools I need to get this done? Thanks to everyone who can help me
Click to expand...

Unless you're brother's laptop is the same model as your machine, this won't work. Also, you'd likely run into problems in XP or Vista due to license issues... unless your machine was registered under a volume licence, you'd have problems + one or both of your machine would wind up having to be re-validated through microsoft.
 
teststrips said:
Unless you're brother's laptop is the same model as your machine, this won't work. Also, you'd likely run into problems in XP or Vista due to license issues... unless your machine was registered under a volume licence, you'd have problems + one or both of your machine would wind up having to be re-validated through microsoft.
Click to expand...
That's where the sticky on upgrading your motherboard without re-installing Windows comes into play. If you use Sysprep in conjunction with any of the methods, his laptop can be a completely different model.
 
both machines are the same models.. so it shouldn't be a problem i think. I imaged my laptop using bartpe + driveimagexml and layed it on my brothers laptop, however when i tried to boot my brothers computer it said that no OS was found? I guess i'll try this gparted program. also what is a good (free) program for partitioning/formatting to ntfs from dos? disk management isnt working for me in bartpe
 
You may just need to run a repair install on his computer. The data should be there, but the boot sector might need to be set up.
 
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