Hard drive clone program

[Fred_G]

I do a little computer building and repair, but this is one aspect that I have had no luck with. I have my OS and programs on one drive. I would like to copy that drive to another, then create a RAID0 on my computer, and just copy it. I have heard Acronis(sp) is good. Just asking because maybe some of you have used a program like this.

Drive space is not a problem, I have 2 320GB SATA drives, and 250GB IDE drive. And to be honest, I only have 60GB of stuff. I want to clone my current drive to the EIDE drive, create a RAID, then transfer the stuff from the EIDE drive so it boots off the RAID.

Google is great, but sometimes I like to know what works from people who have used the programs.

Thanks for your time.

E

[TechPro]

I have used hard drive clone professional, I have a technician license for use at work.

It is easy to use and copies the whole hardrive, it doesnt do images tho.

http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html

For a tech license its 99 euros, which is very good because you can use it legally on as many computer as you like.

If you want to create images of disks I use drive image xml its free:

http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

Hope that helps

[Fred_G]

Thanks for the info TechPro.

E

I found this: http://majorgeeks.com/XXCLONE_d5534.html

Exactly what I needed, and it is freeware! I tried it today, took about 10 mins to clone C: to an IDE drive. I can boot off either drive now, and it is a true clone, all my bookmarks, programs and everything. Word of caution in case you do not read all the warning screens, it formats the target drive, so keep that in mind if you use it.

E

[TechPro]

Nice find, gald to be of help.

It would be nice to have a sticky thread in one of the forums with all the freeware software recommendations in.

I found this a while ago the orginal website seems down heres the link if it comes up again:

http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-freeware-utilities/

I just viewed the cached version in google and made it into a wordpad doc.

see attached.

[tkrabec]

the ultimatebootcd.com has a Hard drive image utility on it. There are several listed. Just scroll down.

-- Tim Krabec

[Alden]

Everyone needs a USB of tools. MSN did a contest to comprise the best USB tool belt. Here's their results (really should have it's own thread): http://tech.msn.com/downloads/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=4594338

[john_pc]

I used HDClone 3.6.2 Basic, today to clone a hard drive. I cloned a 80GB drive to a 250GB drive

One thing I didn't like is that the 'auto-resize' feature didn't work. So the makers of HDClone had me use "gparted" to resize the partition.

Kinda of a disappointment. I was hoping HDClone would have automatically upsized the 80gb clone so it was 250gb on the new 250gb drive.

[AdvancedComputerGroupInc]

Acronis Products. They work well www.acronis.com

[Simmy]

Acronis Products. They work well www.acronis.com

Yep, acronis is hands down the best program for the job.

[mindbug]

does acronis offer a technician license for their backup tools?

[Graystar]

This week I was on site installing a 320gb hard drive for a customer who filled their 160gb drive up with huge picture files.
My plan was to clone the existing drive to the new one and keep the older drive as a picture depository.

Anyway I had forgotten my Acronis disk in the shop and decided to use the software disk that came with the Western Digital drive, (note to self make a couple of extra flash drives with Acronis on it) So I popped in the disk and followed the instructions and set the program on clone.
I had a new computer to set up in the family room for their three boys so I was not wasting time waiting for the copy to complete.

TWO HOURS! I could not believe how long it took.
I spent extra time teaching the parents how to use the parental settings in Vista so it didn't appear that I was doing noting waiting for the copy to finish.

Then the fun began,
1.Quick books had to be re-registered to be used
2.Desktop shortcuts were not working correctly
3.PDF icons were generic and I had to reinstall acrobat reader
4.Printer settings were not correct
5.Excel needed the install disk to work
This was terrible!
Fortunately I was close to home base and I took their CPU back to the shop and performed the same task with the Acronis disk.
I had the desk top back in their home and working flawlessly in less than two hours including travel time and a roast beef sandwich.

Lesson learned
THROW AWAY THE DISK THAT COME WITH HARD DRIVES!

Graystar

[abe]

This week I was on site installing a 320gb hard drive for a customer who filled their 160gb drive up with huge picture files.
My plan was to clone the existing drive to the new one and keep the older drive as a picture depository.

Anyway I had forgotten my Acronis disk in the shop and decided to use the software disk that came with the Western Digital drive, (note to self make a couple of extra flash drives with Acronis on it) So I popped in the disk and followed the instructions and set the program on clone.
I had a new computer to set up in the family room for their three boys so I was not wasting time waiting for the copy to complete.

TWO HOURS! I could not believe how long it took.
I spent extra time teaching the parents how to use the parental settings in Vista so it didn't appear that I was doing noting waiting for the copy to finish.

Then the fun began,
1.Quick books had to be re-registered to be used
2.Desktop shortcuts were not working correctly
3.PDF icons were generic and I had to reinstall acrobat reader
4.Printer settings were not correct
5.Excel needed the install disk to work
This was terrible!
Fortunately I was close to home base and I took their CPU back to the shop and performed the same task with the Acronis disk.
I had the desk top back in their home and working flawlessly in less than two hours including travel time and a roast beef sandwich.

Lesson learned
THROW AWAY THE DISK THAT COME WITH HARD DRIVES!

Graystar

not so quick don't throw it away, sell it on ebay, I was amazed I just saw a xp sp3 for $66 not the whole operating system just the service pack, I was shocked that people can get away with that, not to mention all the "recovery boot disks" on ebay for $10 and up which are just free downloads from sites.

[Graystar]

Hmmm...
Good idea as I have seen it with my own eyes, some people will buy anything on Ebay.

Thanks for the idea.

Graystar

[Jhow]

I spoke with Acronis about their products and found that they do have a reseller program for their backup tools however it was not much of a mark up. Also each PC has to have it own license, I did not asked if they had a technician license.