help with cloning to external HD

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2MEKEE

33 posts

Geek

#29654 14-Jan-2009 11:18

hi

im wanting to make a back up of my pc to a external hard drive
in the advent i have to format my pc i have a complete snapshot to reinstall by.theres a couple of programs norton ghost,acronis for example that i think do what im wanting.
has anyone done this before using a free program? and what was it called?
can i simply copy /paste my computer to the external drive?

thx

"There is the known and the unknown. In between are the doors" - Jim Morrison

MallAudio

95 posts

Master Geek

#191474 23-Jan-2009 10:11

Hi...

It's not quite as easy as copying and pasting, but it is a relativly simple process...
Would definitely recommend using something like GHOST, but since you are looking for a free one; Try going to your Hard Drive Manufacturer's website and looking for a downloadable diagnostic/toolkit

eg Western Digital uses a program called DATA Lifeguard Tools (only for WD drives?) which i am sure you can use to create backups and clone HD's/partitions... whatever you want..
(should be able to find something similar at your respective manufacturers site)

Just make sure that when you are doing it, that you select the correct Source/Destination drives, as you wouldnt be the first person to Clone the wrong way and lose everything...

Good Luck

CYaBro

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#191505 23-Jan-2009 11:45

DriveImage XML FTW!

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Reon

69 posts

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#191530 23-Jan-2009 12:53

I used to use DriveImage XML which was good but in Vista you had to turn off UAC and reboot whenever you wanted to create an image.

Now I use Macrium Reflect free edition which doesn't require this, it also has a much easier to create Rescue disk than DriveImage.

Dawg

233 posts

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#191539 23-Jan-2009 13:11

We use Nortons Ghost here at work. Works great - Cloned closte to a hundred machines.
But have not done any Vista machines yet. Don't have any Vista machine ethier.

Cheers

gehenna

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#191543 23-Jan-2009 13:17

I used Acronis True Image 2009 for cloning Vista to external drives. Works very well, very fast, and has a benefit of being able to restore individual file and folders if required, instead of restoring a full backup. Lets you create boot media as well so you can boot off a CD or USB stick to access your Image in a disaster.

2MEKEE

33 posts

Geek

#193152 1-Feb-2009 00:46

howz it
thanks for the replys so far

sorry i should have said in my post that im using XP as my OS

"There is the known and the unknown. In between are the doors" - Jim Morrison