HD cloning software wanted
 

I'm after some software that'll clone my old HD to my new one, so that I can do whatever I need to recover it without making changes to the original on the other drive.

In a nutshell - to copy the hard drive EXACTLY in situ to the new one.

All software solutions I've found are either crippled in some way, or require you to fork out money, which I don't want to, since it's already costing me quite a bit for a replacement disk. It's driving me up the wall!

Can anyone recommend some free solutions for doing this - it needs to run from a bootable CD, since Windows is corrupted on the other machine.

ADMIN EDIT (Russ) - I'm sure you know why I removed that last line.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Can you not just plug the HDD with the Corrupted Windows install into your working PC to recover the files?

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

The only problem. The old PC is, well, old and has no SATA slots.

Plus, the file system on the HD in question (the "busted" one) has some problems with it and not all the files are accessible. I'm going to run a "chkdsk" on it to see what happens, but I want to clone the disk to the new drive so that if anything does go tits-up (as with experience from last time when I did do a "chkdsk" on what appeared to be a dodgy drive), it chucked all the data it found into a found.000 folder and munged up the names.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

But your new PC should have standard IDE slots as well?

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Yes it does, but the drive which is "busted" is an SATA one. Hence the problem of me not being able to use it in the old computer.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

How about this free one? (linked from Wiki disk cloning page) Note - section 4.4 taks about local disk copy.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Bluddy hell! That looks a bit technical :disturbd: :dunce:

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

You're not wrong there!

So, if I wanted to copy my old disk to the new one, I'd type at the command line - copydisk wd0 wd1

And that'd do a 1:1 copy of the disk?

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

I don't know if this is worth a look, it seems to be like xcopy on steroids.

http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/clone_copy.htm

- it will copy a disk but doesn't touch the boot sector, so that has to be done seperately with fdisk.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Looks that way - not tried it myself yet, but certainly would do if I was going to clone my disk (something I should get around to while it still works!)

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

I would just use norton ghost not free not expensive but works a treat used it for an age

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

You can also use True Image from Acronis, Amazon sell version 8 for a tenner :D

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...213812-8382211

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

I'm currently acquiring a copy of Norton Ghost as I write so I'll try that first, since from a quick leaf through the docs on the website it appears to be quite easy to use, and reasonably foolproof.

If Ghost requires a floppy bootdisk, then I'll try G4U and see what happens. It's the dipping into the unknown that somewhat scares me, that's all.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Unfortunatly for me, neither ghost or true image work on 64bit xp :(

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

If you're reasonably good with Linux then there are a few ways using a Live Distro too

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

What about this http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm ;)

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Try Norton Ghost 7 or 8, they were pre- the windows Interface and the Windows Application basically just wrote a boot disk. Also Google for Hiren's Boot CD 6 (may be a newer version now) - try Filemirrors.com as this includes Norton Ghost as well as many other useful diagnostical programs. It runs off a CD and boots into a kind of DOS mode so is independant of your Windows version and System Architecture

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

So that'll be a torrent download then? :erm:

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

One of our lecturers at work swears by http://www.drive-image.com/

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

LoL no he's sitting there by the letter box like a dog waiting for it to pop through :erm: :)

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

No comment. :p:

This newer version of norton ghost is no good. It'll only image the current system and HDs loaded into this old computer.. *deletes*

I'll have a look for Hiren's Boot CD. Sounds like just the ticket.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

yep that's the best version of ghost I've got. Got me out of a few sticky situations with some older systems

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Ghost does what do you think I use????

The 2003 version I use does a full back up of the whole disk/partition
I also have a Ghost dos boot cd I made ages ago thats just copied the disk and doesnt need to be run in windows anyway

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

Bah, I missed out... what was the last line...? :confused:

Thank you!!!!!
 

Well, it looks like we're up and running again.

Norton Ghost v8 did the trick. Great piece of software it is too for imaging - one to keep for a rainy day I guess.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to all forum members who participated in the thread offering files and general help.

This might sound a bit schamaltzy, but it means a lot to me, since the data on this drive was important, and also I'm glad to be off this museum piece I've been using for the past 2 weeks. So please, have a drink on me. :tu: :)

---------- Post added at 22:53 ---------- Previous post was at 22:51 ----------

And as for what Russ said, I think I was a bit of a naughty boy. I'll leave it at that. :p

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

you can download a livecd and copy it drive to drive, that works for me.

I also use Acronis True Image for windows.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

I used the free HDClone at http://www.miray.de/download/sat.hdclone.html last time I need to do that - its also part of the Ultimate Boot CD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - which is something I recommend everyone to get a copy of as a 'just in case' set of utilities.

Re: HD cloning software wanted
 

I tried HDClone, but the free version was extremely fussy, and refused to detect my sata disks in any shape or form. Plus, I had to google for the free English version because their website kept on giving me the German download, even though I was on the English version of the site. I wasn't impressed!

The last time I did German was about 5 years ago - there was no way I was going to spend hours rummaging around in a phrasebook/dictionary to use the software. :rofl:

I shall be kepping all my emergency boot cds/ghosting utils in a useful place for a rainy day.