Re: Casper 5 - One for Anna

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Anna wrote:
"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uwJeaU1dJHA.1336@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
One comment here. I thought the space on the destination drive would
first have to be unallocated to allow a partition copy from the source
drive to the destination drive. At least that's the way it works in
BING
(Boot It NG). (If space is already partitioned and formatted on the
destination drive, you can't use that space for a clone operation,
without
first deleting that partition so the space is available. Then BING
creates the partition as it makes the clone from the source drive
partition to the destination drive.


Anna wrote:
Bill:
There need not be "unallocated" disk space on the destination HDD in
order
for that drive to receive the cloned contents of the source HDD. With
Casper
5, the user has complete & absolute control as to whether he or she
desires
to use unallocated disk space if there is such on the destination HDD
*or*
desires instead to set up one or more partitions on the destination HDD.

All that is really necessary is that the HDD that is the recipient of
the
clone have sufficient disk space to receive the cloned contents from the
source HDD. As long as that condition is met the user can set up
whatever
number & size of partitions he or she desires or use unallocated disk
space
on the drive to contain the cloned contents.

A brief example...
Let's say the user desires to clone the contents of his/her source HDD
to
their destination HDD. The source HDD totals 320 GB in disk space, with
100 GB of total data. The destination drive is a 500 GB HDD. We'll even
assume
the destination HDD is brand-new out-of-the-box, obviously unpartitioned
&
unformatted.

1. If the user desires to create a disk-to-disk clone he or she can
simply
do so with the Casper program. There's no need for the user to
partition/format the destination drive. That will be done automatically
through the disk-to-disk cloning process. Naturally under that process
the
destination drive will be set up as a single partition holding the
contents of the 320 GB HDD (100 GB of data in our example).

2. Alternatively, let's say (for whatever reason) the user desires to
set
up two equal partitions on the destination HDD - 250 GB & 250 GB. The
user
would then have the option of cloning the 100 GB of data to either
partition. It's his or her choice.

3. Let's say, again, alternatively - that the user desires a partition
to
be created on the destination HDD *only* sufficient in size to hold the
100 GB of cloned contents. Again, this can be done easily &
automatically
through
the Casper disk-cloning process. There would be no need for the user to
"touch" the destination HDD through Disk Management or any other
utility.
The 100 GB partition would be automatically set up during the cloning
process should the user choose that option. The remaining disk space of
that 500 GB HDD would be unallocated. Again, the user could later
manipulate that unallocated disk space to whatever he or she wants.
Anna


Bill writes...
Thank you for that. And what you mentioned above was in part a source
of
confusion for me. This is what BING (BootIt NG) would also do - make
several partition copies on the backup drive (which would each be
assigned
a different drive letter).

However, BING doesn't have that smart cloning feature (at least as I
recall). And when I used it in Maintenance Mode, I had to boot up on
a
floppy disk or flash drive, and it operated completely outside of
Windows.


Anna wrote:
Bill:
I'm not really familiar with the BING program so I can't speak to that
program.
Anna


"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u0NILV5dJHA.2096@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The nice thing about BING (Boot It NG) is that it boots up on a boot
floppy (or flash drive), and can do the partition cloning without
windows.
Well, I guess I should qualify that statement. That feature CAN be nice
(if one can't boot up into windows for some reason). (I guess you might
be able to do the same thing with that startup disk, if you make one in
Casper).

But with BING, unlike Casper (apparently), you CANNOT copy a source drive
partition over to a destination drive existing partition - BING creates
that destination drive partition in unallocated space when it makes the
partition copy. (But to do this, it expects unallocated space - before
the operation)


Bill:
Well as you know there's no problem accessing the Casper program using its
"Startup Disk" Cd . True, (and unfortunately) it's a $9.95 "extra" but
it's
obviously vital for the user to have such media.

As I've indicated, Casper can utilize either unallocated disk space or a
created partition on the destination HDD to contain the cloned contents of
the source drive. It's simply the user's choice.
Anna

Right. Got that. :-)
And thanks for your time on writing that other post, when we discussed the
details of storing multiple partition type clones on the destination drive
(with each having a different drive letter associated with it, etc, etc).
That's kinda what I was thinking might happen, based on my experience with
BING.


.

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