Question about system imaging in a home environment

E

erehwon6811

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
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I'm going to be doing a reformat and reinstall soon and I had a question about imaging. I'm basically wanting to make an image of just this one machine that I use. I'm planning on doing dual boot setup with XP and Debian. I might also have a gentoo install for tinkering with. I'm comfortable with Debian, so I want to have that to use and gentoo for something to learn on.

I'm wondering what is the best way to this? I do have access to a corporate copy of Ghost that I got from an instructor. I'm wondering if Ghost can image both linux and windows? I did try Ghost once, but I didn't really have much idea of what I was doing. I need to do some more research. I'm wanting an image setup with drivers and all my programs that can install itself. Should I look into Ghost or is there an open source alternative?
 
I did some research and it looks like I answered one of my own questions. Ghost can handle Linux ext3 partitions. I also found an implementation guide for the version I'm using, Symantec Ghost 8.0. Now I have to do a little reading to see if I want to mess with this or if I should look for an easier program. On the other hand, this could be a good thing to learn how to use.
 
You might want to take a look at Acronis True Image 11. I don't run Linux, but it does support it. I just used to to upgrade the hard drives on my main Vista rig and my Vista Tablet PC and it worked like a charm as it lets you clone drives directly. Very useful. But it also a full featured backup app. Tools like this are must haves.

http://www.acronis.com
 
heatlesssun said:
You might want to take a look at Acronis True Image 11. I don't run Linux, but it does support it. I just used to to upgrade the hard drives on my main Vista rig and my Vista Tablet PC and it worked like a charm as it lets you clone drives directly. Very useful. But it also a full featured backup app. Tools like this are must haves.

http://www.acronis.com
Click to expand...

I noticed True Image being mentioned a few times during my research. I wonder if there are any limitations on the trial version?
 
I'm gonna second the TrueImage Recomendation. Ghost will work and if you don't want to spend any money go for it. The ghost boot cd's emulate a floppy drive which makes some computers angry and you won't be able to use your ghost 8 image with ghost 11. If the cd boots on your PC it should all work fine, but don't loose that disk.
 
If you own a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive, the latest editions of Seagate's SeaTools include a stripped down - but still able to image and restore images - version of Acronis True Image, completely free.

Can't beat that, and True Image is my second most recommended application just behind NOD32.
 
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