Re: Backing up entire system partition : image or clone ?
- From: "Jim" <j.n@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:09:33 GMT
"sai.an" <saian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5B2BDAF5-221D-4836-A039-80860E4C64EB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes.
"Jim" wrote:
"sai.an" <saian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5E2C8687-CF02-4924-844C-F19296690CA9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am operating a small home-office network, consisting of 2 almost
identical
PC's, both having work environments (XP + umpteen applications) that
are
identical at this moment, but are likely to drift apart in the future.
In addition, I have an external HDD of 400 GByte capacity, just for
safety
(it connects to anyone of the PC's via Firewire and for the moment
hosts
only
data).
My goal is now to be protected against the failure of anyone of my 2
built-in HDD's : one of them has been running for 4 years...
I wish I could organize in such a way that -should one of these HDD's
break
down- I could rapidly configure a replacement HDD by plugging it as
slave
into the healthy computer and loading it with the needed complete
system,
which I would obtain from a backup in the external unit.
So, my question is : should I backup my "C" partitions into the
external
unit by using an "image" process (with which software ? I have
Datakeeper),
which means having to do later a "restore" operation, or should I do a
cloning operation (I have Casper) and be ready for "cloning the clone"
?
And, last but not least, which type of ad-hoc partitions should I
create
in
my external unit for receiving the backups ?
Many thanks to those who will have the patience to read me and to give
me
advice.
--
From Claude, with greetings from Paris.
I usually associate "clone" with "make an identical disk". This is the
quickest way to replace
an entire disk. Quite a few programs can clone disks; the one that I use
is
Acronis. It does
take a long time to clone one disk to another.
Another way to accomplish what I understand that you wish to do is to use
a
backup program
to create a full backup file of the system partition. Such a file can be
placed almost anywhere
you wish. I do make a system backup, but the file resides on another
disk.
My reason for not
using a partition on the system disk is that there can be no assurance
that
such a partition can
be read on a disk with another partition failure.
Acronis contains a method for creating a CD which can recover Acronis
backup
files. In addition,
Acronis (and perhaps others) provides a plugin for BartPE.
What I would do, and you may not be willing to do such, is to buy
replacement disks for each computer.
I would then clone the system disk for a given computer onto its
replacement
disk.
Jim
Thanks, Jim.
I understand your explanations and I would say that your answer to my
questions (or my "dilemma") is "you can do it both ways, image or clone" ;
am
I right ?
However I would like to pick your brains a little more :Image + restore "should" work, but I would make a trial run. I haven't done
- is an "image" of a complete system (OS plus...) reliable once it has
been
"restored" into a new HDD ? I am afraid that the image+restore process
might
introduce some errors that would defeat my purpose (not having to populate
the system partition of a replacement HDD with Windows XP and Office and
apps
and recreate all personalized settings etc).
that yet
because I need to buy some more disks. I would advise buying a product
which has
a verify option. That is, as it inserts a file into the backup file, it
verifies that the
copy operation completed successfully. I don't know if Acronis does that,
and
I need to determine it for my system.
- if I clone my existing system into the external unit, cloning meansNo, clone of a disk is a bit by bit copy of everything on the disk.
making
an exact copy, bit for bit ; therefore, it seems to me that -when it
becomes
necessary- I could clone from the clone into my replacement disk. Is this
baby talk or can it work that way ? If it is workable, do I have to place
the
interim clone into a partition of the external HDD that would be
configured
like a system partition (i.e. "primary") or can it be hosted by an
ordinary
"logical" partition ?
Acronis does
not have the ability to clone a disk to a partition elsewhere. It might get
all mixed up
anyway because all disks have at least two partitions; OEM systems have at
least three.
I would not trust a clone of a disk to a partition on another disk; you may
feel differently.
You could do as you suggest clone from one removable disk to another.
Acronis presents you
with a list of disks which are connected to the computer. You then
determine which disk goes where.
I suspect Ghost does that also, but as I am not a fan of Symantec, I will
never know.
In addition, in the case of a system disk, you could boot the disk to
determine if the clone succeeded or not.
A way is to remove the cloned disk from its enclosure and install it into
your system box.
If it boots OK, then all is well. If it doesn't, then it is time to contact
the vendor.
Jim
Best greetings,
Claude
.
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