Clone/Ghost Windows XP

Glen

Glen

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Glen
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Can anyone help me with this..

My PC went bellyup a few weeks ago, I've stripped it down, wiped the drives, replaced the motherboard and CPU. Then I reinstalled XP including SP3. I've 2 x 160gb drives the first one partitioned for the 'C' drive @ 80gb the other partition @ 80gb.

I would now like to clone/ghost this now 'fresh' setup, so that if I have any problems in the future I can go back to it.

I do have a spare 'new' 80gb drive that I would like to clone/ghost to and store it away in a cupboard for safe keeping.

What are the options available to allow me to do this, ie software and/or the way to perform this task.

I know the enough to get me around PC's but unfortunately I've never down this before, so I know jack.

Thanks Glen. :thumbs:
 
Norton Ghost is best I used on PC but there are likely some free equivalents.
 
Subscribes to this thread. :)

I'm fairly computer literate but Acronis and Paragon scare me and I need to bite the bullet!
 
I've deployed Acronis to approx 3000 user's at work we have used it for approx 4 Years without issue - we use it as a backup tool for laptop users with an external drive.
 
Norton Ghost works great but if you look on your hdd mfgrs webby they sometimes give a free hdd copy programme?

Mike
 
mikeyp said:
Norton Ghost works great but if you look on your hdd mfgrs webby they sometimes give a free hdd copy programme?

Mike
Click to expand...

I'll check on Maxtors website, thanks!
 
Look to use Norton Ghost. The clone produced is a mirror of your C drive at that moment in time any subsequent application addition/removal would not be reflected in that clone. It would be quite cumbersome to have to refit the spare 80 Gb hard drive to do a new clone each time a application was installed or removed.

From your post it would suggest that 1 of the 160Gb is partitioned at 2 * 80Gb with 1 partion configured as your C drive the other partition as what? and how is the 2nd 160 Gb drive being used?

A Windows XP installation with applications should not exceed 40 Gb - you should consider partitioning the 2nd 160 Gb HD to 120Gb & 40 GB and use the 120 GB portion JUST for your data/image files and on the 40 Gb partition have your clone of the C drive
 
well for me what iv found was to partition 20 gig or so just for the OP so when you need to do a reinstall, you only use this partition and the rest is safe.I only did this because i found using a program just took for ever...hours....but this was some time ago and programs may have improved ?

Del.
 
I keep a ghost image of my C drive on a spare HDD.
By that I mean an image of C rather than it already installed on the spare HDD.
If Windows or the HDD's goes tits up, then it's just a case of ghosting the image back to the new HDD.
I tend to do my images with all the main applications I use and then reinstall any new apps I use since the install.
Although I run a mirrored RAID array as well for my C drive so my image is ready to install as a RAID array.
I've used Ghost and Acronis for many years and also at work on a daily basis as well.
Both tend to work well so I don't favour one over the other.
 
erding said:
Look to use Norton Ghost. The clone produced is a mirror of your C drive at that moment in time any subsequent application addition/removal would not be reflected in that clone. It would be quite cumbersome to have to refit the spare 80 Gb hard drive to do a new clone each time a application was installed or removed.

From your post it would suggest that 1 of the 160Gb is partitioned at 2 * 80Gb with 1 partion configured as your C drive the other partition as what? and how is the 2nd 160 Gb drive being used?

A Windows XP installation with applications should not exceed 40 Gb - you should consider partitioning the 2nd 160 Gb HD to 120Gb & 40 GB and use the 120 GB portion JUST for your data/image files and on the 40 Gb partition have your clone of the C drive
Click to expand...


I'm not bothered about any applications as I'm only now going to use my PC for video editing, so its the only program I will load, as a new Mac is on the horizon for photoshop etc. At the moment I have 1x160gb split into 2x80gb partitions, one is the 'C' drive the other is the 'D' drive. My second 160gb drive is a whole 160gb single partition and is the 'G' drive I think, this will/was used for actual files i.e. images, video etc. As of now there are no files anywhere on any drives, just a fresh install of XP, drivers and 1 new application for video editing, I may put my itunes library back on as this is saved to an external at the moment.

I see where you are coming from with my second 160gb drive, but I just wanted to use the spare 80gb for the clone only, then take it out of my machine, and keep the others as they are? Would this not work?
 
Glen said:
I see where you are coming from with my second 160gb drive, but I just wanted to use the spare 80gb for the clone only, then take it out of my machine, and keep the others as they are? Would this not work?
Click to expand...

Yes it would work.
When we are doing a run of PC builds at work that are all the same specification, we clone 1 hard drive from a ghost image (we keep multiple images for various specification PC's on one or two hard drives), once the first drive is cloned, we then clone the rest of the hard drives for the batch, fit them to the PC's and bobs your uncle.
 
Glen said:
I'm not bothered about any applications as I'm only now going to use my PC for video editing, so its the only program I will load, as a new Mac is on the horizon for photoshop etc. At the moment I have 1x160gb split into 2x80gb partitions, one is the 'C' drive the other is the 'D' drive. My second 160gb drive is a whole 160gb single partition and is the 'G' drive I think, this will/was used for actual files i.e. images, video etc. As of now there are no files anywhere on any drives, just a fresh install of XP, drivers and 1 new application for video editing, I may put my itunes library back on as this is saved to an external at the moment.

I see where you are coming from with my second 160gb drive, but I just wanted to use the spare 80gb for the clone only, then take it out of my machine, and keep the others as they are? Would this not work?
Click to expand...

Yes that would work but it is not the most efficient use of space. A XP installation plus Video edition, Clone and iTunes applications would not require 80Gb space and you have another 80 Gb free on your D drive - a good location for the iTunes library.

I would be inclined to have the cloned 'C' drive mounted in the pc case but left unconnected - that way if you need to physically use it, to restore a clone, you only have to re-connect the power and data cables to have a live drive. This way you are minimizing the any handling of that drive and keeping that drive in a safe place away from any accidental mishaps.
 
Ok, see what you mean about the waste space :bonk: But I don't want to mess around changing it now, or can I without too much effort?

Yes, regarding the spare drive, my intention was to just leave in in my case for ease, not to chuck it in the cupboard :lol: I've got no room in there anyway :D
 
Glen said:
Can anyone help me with this..

My PC went bellyup a few weeks ago, I've stripped it down, wiped the drives, replaced the motherboard and CPU. Then I reinstalled XP including SP3. I've 2 x 160gb drives the first one partitioned for the 'C' drive @ 80gb the other partition @ 80gb.

I would now like to clone/ghost this now 'fresh' setup, so that if I have any problems in the future I can go back to it.

I do have a spare 'new' 80gb drive that I would like to clone/ghost to and store it away in a cupboard for safe keeping.

What are the options available to allow me to do this, ie software and/or the way to perform this task.

I know the enough to get me around PC's but unfortunately I've never down this before, so I know jack.

Thanks Glen. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

For the same reason as you, I choose this option:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=54787

Awesome, its in a permanent state of frozen, and all your "output" goes to a 2nd hard drive, or a "thawed" folder on your first drive.

Gary.
 
Glen said:
Ok, see what you mean about the waste space :bonk: But I don't want to mess around changing it now, or can I without too much effort?
Click to expand...

You could use Partion Magic which will resize existing partitions but as you have only got Windows & 1 application installed [for video editing] it would be simpler and cheaper just to do a new Windows installation whereby you can delete existing partitions and then size new partitions and the start of the new install.
 
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