Re: Clone vs. image (I promise not the same ol ground)

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

"tcarp" wrote:
[......]
Deciding on whether to get cloning capabilities (in the tools
I ultimately select) is probably going to boil down to the
convenience of having a clone and the software cost (if it's
separate from imaging capabilities).

Let me ask a question about what to clone. I assume it's
obvious that for computers with relatively small internal HDs
(the machine I'm using right now is 30G) a full clone of the
entire HD is both impractical and (in my case) physically
impossible.

I have other computers on my home net (a Mac Mini, and
a couple other PCs) but all have internal HDs <40G or so.

I do have a couple externals (160G each).

So, if I have cloning as part of my backup strategy can/should
I put it on an external? If yes, it can be a little bit of an issue
with my laptops (we tend to go places together without the
external HDs).


Laptops present a problem for cloning because the average
laptop doesn't have a 2nd hard drive, and unless the laptop's
motherboard IO controller has an eSATA port like some desktop
PCs do, booting the clone from storage media is almost impossible.
I've tried using an eSATA ExpressCard adapter, but the external
hard drive isn't seen by the system until the OS is loaded - making
it impossible to use for booting the OS. My Dell laptop claims to
be bootable from "USB devices", and Dell Tech Support steadfastly
adhers to that claim, but they haven't told me how to boot a USB
hard drive, yet. The only "USB device" that I've been able to boot
from is a USB "thumb drive". So for a laptop, a failed hard drive
means physically replacing the internal hard drive with another
internal hard drive that contains the clone. If the failure is file
corruption due to a failing write head, it's likely to corrupt all the
partitions on the internal hard drive as well, so keeping a clone on
another partition doesn't make much sense. Even keeping a clone
on another internal hard drive doesn't make sense if virus recovery
is the purpose, as viruses can migrate to all partitions that the OS
can "see". One way around this is to disable the backup hard drive
during normal operation via the BIOS. Another way, that I use, is
to switch off the power connection to the backup hard drive with a
small toggle switch that is mounted in a chassis vent hole just under
the plastic fascia. As long as the backup hard drive is unpowered,
the BIOS and the OS can't "see" it. There are also 3rd-party software
utilities which can render a partition "hidden" - BootItNG being one
of them. But for laptops, unless you have a 2nd internal hard drive,
you're pretty much out of luck for a quick backup. In such a case,
the quickest recovery (assuming the internal hard drive hasn't failed)
is to have a clone or an image file on an external hard drive (eSATA,
USB or Firewire - eSATA being fastest), and copy it back to the
internal hard drive.

Up until Casper 4.0 came out, there was another problem with
putting a clone on the same hard drive as the original OS. That had
to do with the initial startup OF THE CLONE after it had been made.
Although the parent OS could view the clone without a problem,
the clone had to be kept from seeing its parent OS when the clone
started up for the first time. Otherwise, the clone got its own files
confused with those of its parent, and sometimes the confusion was
so subtle as not to be noticed until much later when the parent OS
was removed. Now, with Casper 4.0, the utility is smart enough to
prepare the clone for the First Startup situation, and putting the clone
on the same hard drive *may* not present a problem. Otherwise,
you'd have to "hide" the parent OS's partition before starting up the
clone for its first run.

All these problems make cloning less suitable for laptops. The
only advantage is that copying a clone back to an internal hard drive
may use slightly less time because no expansion is needed in copying
a compressed image file.

*TimDaniels*


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: dual-boot - how to make second hard drive on XP machine a separate XP bootable OS?
    ... First disconnect the source HD.... ... It's OK to start up the "PARENT" OS immediately after ... Just don't start up the CLONE for its first time ... throughout the cloning process. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Specific Cloning Question
    ... tried cloning the tree by cloning all the nodes in it. ... problem here is that when I try to clone Node A it has a reference to ... Node B as its parent so Node B gets cloned. ... Alternatively, you could wrap all your nodes in an actual Tree object, and put a clone method on the tree, and not on any of the nodes themselves, and have the tree orchestrating the cloning of the nodes. ...
    (comp.lang.java.help)
  • Re: Clone vs. image (I promise not the same ol ground)
    ... tcarp - Regarding clone vs image is similar to car vs ... Will use term "Backup" to mean either. ... Full Backup refers to entire HD or select partitions - ... Laptops present a problem for cloning because the average ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • need recommendation for cloning software
    ... I've been reading cloning software such as Clonn Max, Norton Ghost, Aconis, ... laptops, and two mini tower systems to it. ... I want to clone the systems right after all the drivers are updated, ... loads the usb drivers. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: need recommendation for cloning software
    ... I've been reading cloning software such as Clonn Max, Norton Ghost, Aconis, ... laptops, and two mini tower systems to it. ... I want to clone the systems right after all the drivers are updated, ... loads the usb drivers. ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)