Clone Hard Disk

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden recovery
partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the recovery
partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk and
restore the image without the need to install any software first on the net
book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on the
external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk to
boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

 

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

"nic" wrote in message
Op 15-1-2011 22:21, R.Giskard Reventlov schreef:

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Think of buying an external CD/DVD drive?
or try Easus Partition manager and give the hidden partition a drive
letter,so it's no longer hidden.

Got one but don't want to carry it around with me on holiday - an external
USB drive is much smaller.

However thanks for pointing me towards Easus as the Free Easus Todo Backup
prog looks as if it is worth a look

 

[Mcwm]

Den 15-01-2011 22:21, R.Giskard Reventlov skrev:

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

If the hard disk is a western digital harddisk, you can get Acronis for
free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

Kindly
Mcwm

 

[Tester]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Acronis or Norton Ghost will do exactly what you want to do but they are
not free. However, as these software are essential for your existence
you should consider investing few dollars on either of them by going to
Amazon and buy one.

For certain things, always avoid free software because you don't know
when they stop working for you when that critical time comes! I suggest
look up on Murphy's Law or Sod's Law.

hth

 

[Mcwm]

Den 15-01-2011 23:56, Tester skrev:

Acronis or Norton Ghost will do exactly what you want to do but they are
not free.

If the hard disk is a western digital harddisk, you can get Acronis for
free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

Most hard disk vendors have a free program.

Kindly
Mcwm

 

[LSMFT]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Go to the CLonezilla web site and for the instructions for creating a
bootable USB version. Then you can clone your drives with Clonezilla; FREE.

 

[ray]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive) so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the
external hard disk and restore the image without the need to install any
software first on the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Piece of cake with Linux. When I swapped out the 40gb drive on a laptop a
couple of years ago for a 120, I simply used 'partimage' to make a backup
of all the partitions. Then swapped drives, booted a Live CD and did a
restore to the new drive. Can also do that over the network.

 

[Ken]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

First off, I do NOT own a Netbook with Windows 7 Starter, but I have a
friend that does. He ran into a problem accessing a large drive and I
found this:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...on-windows-7-starter-and-home-basic-in-china/

If I read it correctly, you cannot access a drive larger than 250GB.
Like I said, I do not have one.

 

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

"LSMFT" wrote in message

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Go to the CLonezilla web site and for the instructions for creating a
bootable USB version. Then you can clone your drives with Clonezilla; FREE.

Many thanx - this is the one I will try
http://clonezilla.org/liveusb.php

 

[Flint]

Op 15-1-2011 22:21, R.Giskard Reventlov schreef:

Think of buying an external CD/DVD drive?
or try Easus Partition manager and give the hidden partition a drive
letter,so it's no longer hidden.

I'll second EasUS Partition Manager and EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0.

Another good one is Minitool Partition Wizard. They offer a free home
user version at: www.partitionwizard.com but for those who's hard
drive may be set up as a dynamic disk instead of Window's older basic
disk structuring, you might want to try their professional pay version
as it can convert from dynamic disk to basic disk quickly and easily
from within Windows, and from the system disk one is currently booted
up from. They also offer a free bootable CD image you can download
from their web site and create a bootable CD with. The pay-version is
very inexpensive too. Its only $29.00 as opposed to Acronis Disk
Director Home 11 @ $49.00, and Partition Wizard looks virtually
identical to Acronis's slightly older version (Disk Director 10), so
to anyone familiar with Acronis, Partition Wizard is pretty
self-explanatory and easy to figure out how to use.

Between EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0 and Partition Wizard, one has (for only
$29) a complete tool set rivaling the tandem of of Acronis disk
director and True Image products which costs around $100 total IIRC.

Don't get me wrong, I think Acronis products are good too. I switched
to Acronis about 5 years ago after I decided to finally dump the last
bit of Symantec software I was using (an older 2003 version of Norton
Ghost). I've been using Acronis products for years, but I recently
ran into a dynamic disk hell situation that Acronis' software was a
lot more expensive and the company kind of left a bad taste in my
mouth by not providing a discounted upgrade path for me, and I had
some issues with their online backup service.

I've been meaning to update my suite of system tools for use on
Windows 7, particularly 64 bit versions, and discovered EaseUS
products and Partition Wizard (and a few others). Unlike another
poster in this thread, I've found some of the better system tools ARE
the FREE tools. For example, Auslogics Disk Defrag works rather
nicely on both 32 and 64 bit versions of Win7. CCleaner is yet
another handy utility.

 

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

"nic" wrote in message
Op 15-1-2011 22:21, R.Giskard Reventlov schreef:

recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb

Think of buying an external CD/DVD drive?
or try Easus Partition manager and give the hidden partition a drive
letter,so it's no longer hidden.

EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0 was the one I went for - it backed up the entire
internal hard disk including the hidden partition to the external hard disk
without altering its format - I can still access it to read and write files.
It also created a boot disk on an SD card so if I want to restore the entire
disk I boot from the SD card and restore from the external HD

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden
recovery partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the
recovery partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb
external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk
and restore the image without the need to install any software first on
the net book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on
the external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk
to boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

Also try XXClone and BootIt Next Generation (BING). Both are shareware,
but the trial version is all you really need for what you are doing.

XXClone has the advantage that it can transfer your contents from your
existing partition to a totally different partition with different
characteristics (it could be totally different filesystem, and the
destination partition can even be smaller than the source as long as
there is enough free space). XXClone also runs under Windows so you can
continue to use your Windows while it clones. Others usually have you
leave Windows and boot to a mini-OS.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Ken]

"nic" wrote in message
Op 15-1-2011 22:21, R.Giskard Reventlov schreef:


EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0 was the one I went for - it backed up the entire
internal hard disk including the hidden partition to the external hard
disk without altering its format - I can still access it to read and
write files. It also created a boot disk on an SD card so if I want to
restore the entire disk I boot from the SD card and restore from the
external HD

So you WERE able to access a drive larger than 250GB on this Netbook
with Windows 7 Starter?? I posted a comment based upon a friend who
claimed to not be able to do that and found comments that implied it was
not possible. I would like to know what model of Netbook you have and
how you accessed it. I assume you used the USB with an adapter of sorts??

Like I said, I do not have such a device, but people often ask me for
help and I would like to know if this is possible. Thanks.

 

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

"Ken" wrote in message

So you WERE able to access a drive larger than 250GB on this Netbook with
Windows 7 Starter?? I posted a comment based upon a friend who claimed to
not be able to do that and found comments that implied it was not possible.
I would like to know what model of Netbook you have and how you accessed
it. I assume you used the USB with an adapter of sorts??

Like I said, I do not have such a device, but people often ask me for help
and I would like to know if this is possible. Thanks.

I have the ASUS EEE PC 1001PX.

The drive is an Iomega 500 gb USB drive and it connects directly to one of
the USB ports on the netbook. No problems
reading/writing/formatting at all. It is formatted to NTFS.

 

[Ken]

I have the ASUS EEE PC 1001PX.

The drive is an Iomega 500 gb USB drive and it connects directly to one
of the USB ports on the netbook. No problems
reading/writing/formatting at all. It is formatted to NTFS.

I think my friend was trying to use a 500GB SATA drive attached to
rockfish device, and the Netbook would not see the drive. He tried a
boot CD of BING with the same method of attachment, and he could see the
partition on the SATA drive. I wonder if this limitation was due to the
OS only??

When you made your copy were you in Windows or did you boot from a boot
CD? Computers are strange, and one is constantly learning new things
about them.

 

[R.Giskard Reventlov]

"Ken" wrote in message

When you made your copy were you in Windows or did you boot from a boot
CD? Computers are strange, and one is constantly learning new things
about them.

I used the EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0 from within Windows.
I can read/write/format the USB Drive from within Windows as well

 

[Ken]

I used the EaseUS ToDo Backup 2.0 from within Windows.
I can read/write/format the USB Drive from within Windows as well

Well that really makes me wonder just what is taking place on my
friends computer. Obviously the link I posted saying that Windows 7
Starter could not use a large drive is not correct. Thanks for the
information about your task.

 

[Thor]

I use Disk Copy 2.3 (free) and have used it on Windows 7, Vista, and XP
without a hitch.
I use Killdisk (also free) on the target disk before the cloning.


"R.Giskard Reventlov" wrote in message

Recommendations please. I have Googled but its difficult to be sure what
software would be best so asking for opinions!

I have a net book running Windows 7 Starter with the usual hidden recovery
partition.

I would like to clone the entire 250 gb hard disk (including the recovery
partition) to an external hard disk (I have a 500 gb usb external drive)
so that in the case of disaster I could boot from the external hard disk and
restore the image without the need to install any software first on the net
book.

I would also still like to be able to use the remaining disk space on the
external files for normal access.

The netbook has no floppy or DVD drive so I can't create a system disk to
boot from although it will boot from a USB pen drive.

Any (free!) software that will do this?

 

[Joe Morris]

[...]
So you WERE able to access a drive larger than 250GB on this Netbook with
Windows 7 Starter?? I posted a comment based upon a friend who claimed to
not be able to do that and found comments that implied it was not
possible. I would like to know what model of Netbook you have and how you
accessed it. I assume you used the USB with an adapter of sorts??

A data point: although I don't have a netbook at hand (and thus the test
isn't as solid as one might hope) as an experiment in response to this
thread I just now built a Win7 Starter system (using the MSDN RTM
distribution image) under VMWare with a 300 GB (virtual) hard disk for C:\
and another 300 GB disk for D.

I have no problems booting to the 300 GB C-disk, nor accessing the 300 GB
second (virtual) hard disk.

One possibility is that your friend's Netbook was deliberately crippled by
the designer to block any use of large disks; if so the blame goes to the
manufacturer and not Starter, and the OP's NetBook might not have been
crippled.

Joe Morris

 

[Doum]

Den 15-01-2011 23:56, Tester skrev:
If the hard disk is a western digital harddisk, you can get Acronis for
free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119

Most hard disk vendors have a free program.

Kindly
Mcwm

If it's a Seagate, Seagate DiscWizard is also a limited edition of Acronis.

But I have a laptop and a netbook (Acer and Asus) and they both originally
came with Hitachi hard drives, so the OP might not have either WD or
Seagate HD. But there are other free solutions.