Clone Copy

I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?



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"OldGuy" wrote in message
...
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable (not
an image) copy?



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

Not everything in this world is free ! ...and often, the best "free"
software that promises to do the task that you require, lets you down VERY
BADLY and/or COLLAPSES in the middle, (or towards the end), of the procedure
!!
Howz about BUYING, (with MONEY !!!!!! ), Acronis TrueImage OR Norton Ghost
? ,
....either of these will "clone" and/or restore your "working" XP drive" to
another hard disk. (So long as you read THOROUGHLY up on either, BEFORE
attempting the task !).

:-)

best regards,

Richard

....doubtless lots will pile in here and extol the virtues of various "free"
software that claims to do what the paid equivalents' claim to do !
....in the real world, IT's NOT worth the CHEAPSKATE risk ! :-)

On 1/12/2014 6:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable (not an image) copy?


I think what you're asking, is about the following scenario.

1) Your hard drive holding C: WinXP is going bad.
You decide it is time to replace the drive.
2) You decide that cloning the drive is the right answer.
3) Now, here it gets fuzzy. The drive is eventually going to
be physically installed in the computer. The only reason for
involving a USB adapter for the new drive, is the computer
happens to be a laptop, and no more than one hard drive can be
directly connected.

If this is the case, then I'm starting to catch on to what you're doing :-)

Both Seagate and Western Digital, carry copies of Acronis TIH (True
Image Home) for usage with your new hard drive purchase. It's free.
In each case, the software will check that you're using the
brand of drive in question.

Western Digital does more to preserve the branding of the original software.
Seagate calls the software "Discwizard", but the accompanying downloadable
user manual still mentions Acronis.

Acronis should be able to make an image of the hard drive.

*******

You can also use Macrium Reflect Free to do the job. It can
image a hard drive (store it as a .mrimg file on an external drive).
But it can also make exact clone copies, such that your WinXP C:
and the MBR of the disk are copied exactly. It can even clone
to a different sized disk, as far as I know.

The only trick with this form of cloning, is being careful when
booting for the first time. Once the internal is copied to the
external, now remove the external from the USB enclosure, and
install it in the laptop. Do not connect the old internal to the
computer right now. Boot the computer at least once, with the
fresh clone copy all by itself on the computer. Once it has booted
at least once via the new drive, then it will be safe to connect
the old drive housed in the USB enclosure. You're probably not
in that much of a rush to use the old drive (as the entire drive
got cloned), so this warning has more to do with desktop users
who keep many hard drives inside the computer. When you make
a fresh clone, the clone is to boot all by its lonesome, for
best results. Otherwise, the OS gets a wrong impression of
where the page file should go, and gets the OS drive letter wrong.
And I haven't figured out how to fix that :-) When it screws up,
I simply do the cloning step all over again.

You can get Macrium Reflect Free, from the lower left corner
of this table.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

When you install Macrium, it'll prompt whether you want the
WAIK kit as well. Macrium makes a rescue CD, which includes
the ability to do both backups and restore. I've been using
this CD recently, to do backups (without a running Windows OS).
Which is occasionally handy. I recommend making the CD, and
keeping it handy for emergencies. The WAIK version may have
slightly more functions added, than the Linux based version
of the rescue CD. And the WAIK file download, is an additional
100+ MB or so.

If you're on dialup, then using the Linux based rescue CD is
a smaller download (maybe 35MB for the base Macrium file).
Whereas, if your Internet connection is better than dialup,
downloading Macrium plus the WAIK kit option, is 35+100MB or so.
And the CD you end up with, is more useful.

Macrium can even work with file shares, but I haven't investigated
how to add network drivers to the WAIK CD. It prompts me for
drivers, but I don't know what kind of driver it wants (txtsetup.oem?).

Paul

On 1/12/14 4:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---


Both RJK in message
and Paul
in message have
valid points.

RJK's point about free software... Like you, I'm (mostly :-) )
retired, and when I bought this Mac, it pretty much busted my budget.
So I wanted to try out open source and/or free software.

What I've learned is, RJK is right on the money in his opinion. I've
gone back to looking at commercial software because many of the free
packages I tried did not live up to the hype. And often, they could
care less about fixing bugs, and providing features the users want.
Which, of course, has to hurt their donation intake. As of right now,
Firefox and Thunderbird are the only major packages I'm using on a
regular basis. And I'm looking for a Thunderbird replacement. I do
have some utilities that I use that seem to work, and a couple other
packages on both Windows and OS X I'm currently trying.

But there are no more rose colored sunglasses here regarding free software.

Paul is also correct that some free stuff is good. I think you can
trust the Seagate and Western Digital versions of Acronis Home. I don't
think they would want their name on a buggy and unreliable program.

Many people swear by Macrium Reflect Free. I've never used it.

XP also comes with it's own backup software, but I don't know if it will
clone a drive or do a system image. I retired from a major federal
agency, and we had XP Pro at the time. That backup software was the
approved program.

Good luck.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 24.0
Thunderbird 17.0.8

Paul wrote :
On 1/12/2014 6:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable (not
an image) copy?


I think what you're asking, is about the following scenario.

1) Your hard drive holding C: WinXP is going bad.
You decide it is time to replace the drive.
2) You decide that cloning the drive is the right answer.
3) Now, here it gets fuzzy. The drive is eventually going to
be physically installed in the computer. The only reason for
involving a USB adapter for the new drive, is the computer
happens to be a laptop, and no more than one hard drive can be
directly connected.

If this is the case, then I'm starting to catch on to what you're doing :-)

Both Seagate and Western Digital, carry copies of Acronis TIH (True
Image Home) for usage with your new hard drive purchase. It's free.
In each case, the software will check that you're using the
brand of drive in question.

Western Digital does more to preserve the branding of the original software.
Seagate calls the software "Discwizard", but the accompanying downloadable
user manual still mentions Acronis.

Acronis should be able to make an image of the hard drive.

*******

You can also use Macrium Reflect Free to do the job. It can
image a hard drive (store it as a .mrimg file on an external drive).
But it can also make exact clone copies, such that your WinXP C:
and the MBR of the disk are copied exactly. It can even clone
to a different sized disk, as far as I know.

The only trick with this form of cloning, is being careful when
booting for the first time. Once the internal is copied to the
external, now remove the external from the USB enclosure, and
install it in the laptop. Do not connect the old internal to the
computer right now. Boot the computer at least once, with the
fresh clone copy all by itself on the computer. Once it has booted
at least once via the new drive, then it will be safe to connect
the old drive housed in the USB enclosure. You're probably not
in that much of a rush to use the old drive (as the entire drive
got cloned), so this warning has more to do with desktop users
who keep many hard drives inside the computer. When you make
a fresh clone, the clone is to boot all by its lonesome, for
best results. Otherwise, the OS gets a wrong impression of
where the page file should go, and gets the OS drive letter wrong.
And I haven't figured out how to fix that :-) When it screws up,
I simply do the cloning step all over again.

You can get Macrium Reflect Free, from the lower left corner
of this table.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

When you install Macrium, it'll prompt whether you want the
WAIK kit as well. Macrium makes a rescue CD, which includes
the ability to do both backups and restore. I've been using
this CD recently, to do backups (without a running Windows OS).
Which is occasionally handy. I recommend making the CD, and
keeping it handy for emergencies. The WAIK version may have
slightly more functions added, than the Linux based version
of the rescue CD. And the WAIK file download, is an additional
100+ MB or so.

If you're on dialup, then using the Linux based rescue CD is
a smaller download (maybe 35MB for the base Macrium file).
Whereas, if your Internet connection is better than dialup,
downloading Macrium plus the WAIK kit option, is 35+100MB or so.
And the CD you end up with, is more useful.

Macrium can even work with file shares, but I haven't investigated
how to add network drivers to the WAIK CD. It prompts me for
drivers, but I don't know what kind of driver it wants (txtsetup.oem?).

Paul

Close.
It is a laptop. But even if not I would like to work it as a laptop.
I was working the most general case.

My HD is not failing.
I want to try using a SSD (to replace the HDD).

Clone not Image since Image will copy bad sectors.

Macrium Reflect Free I have used to backup.
Do not know that Macrium Reflect Free can do the one step process I
would like. Attach the SSD to a USB adapter. Clone the laptop HDD in
the laptop thru the USB port to the USB adapter and SSD. Then pop out
the HDD and plug in the SSD. Store the HDD.

Do not care it is fast or slow will just let it run.



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

Also, SW like CloneZilla requires that the destination be equal to or
larger than the source. That mean adjusting partitions on the HDD
since the SSD will be a little smaller than the HDD.
Not sure about doing a clone with Macrium Reflect Free.



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On 1/12/2014 10:13 PM, OldGuy wrote:
Paul wrote :
On 1/12/2014 6:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable (not an image) copy?


I think what you're asking, is about the following scenario.

1) Your hard drive holding C: WinXP is going bad.
You decide it is time to replace the drive.
2) You decide that cloning the drive is the right answer.
3) Now, here it gets fuzzy. The drive is eventually going to
be physically installed in the computer. The only reason for
involving a USB adapter for the new drive, is the computer
happens to be a laptop, and no more than one hard drive can be
directly connected.

If this is the case, then I'm starting to catch on to what you're doing :-)

Both Seagate and Western Digital, carry copies of Acronis TIH (True
Image Home) for usage with your new hard drive purchase. It's free.
In each case, the software will check that you're using the
brand of drive in question.

Western Digital does more to preserve the branding of the original software.
Seagate calls the software "Discwizard", but the accompanying downloadable
user manual still mentions Acronis.

Acronis should be able to make an image of the hard drive.

*******

You can also use Macrium Reflect Free to do the job. It can
image a hard drive (store it as a .mrimg file on an external drive).
But it can also make exact clone copies, such that your WinXP C:
and the MBR of the disk are copied exactly. It can even clone
to a different sized disk, as far as I know.

The only trick with this form of cloning, is being careful when
booting for the first time. Once the internal is copied to the
external, now remove the external from the USB enclosure, and
install it in the laptop. Do not connect the old internal to the
computer right now. Boot the computer at least once, with the
fresh clone copy all by itself on the computer. Once it has booted
at least once via the new drive, then it will be safe to connect
the old drive housed in the USB enclosure. You're probably not
in that much of a rush to use the old drive (as the entire drive
got cloned), so this warning has more to do with desktop users
who keep many hard drives inside the computer. When you make
a fresh clone, the clone is to boot all by its lonesome, for
best results. Otherwise, the OS gets a wrong impression of
where the page file should go, and gets the OS drive letter wrong.
And I haven't figured out how to fix that :-) When it screws up,
I simply do the cloning step all over again.

You can get Macrium Reflect Free, from the lower left corner
of this table.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

When you install Macrium, it'll prompt whether you want the
WAIK kit as well. Macrium makes a rescue CD, which includes
the ability to do both backups and restore. I've been using
this CD recently, to do backups (without a running Windows OS).
Which is occasionally handy. I recommend making the CD, and
keeping it handy for emergencies. The WAIK version may have
slightly more functions added, than the Linux based version
of the rescue CD. And the WAIK file download, is an additional
100+ MB or so.

If you're on dialup, then using the Linux based rescue CD is
a smaller download (maybe 35MB for the base Macrium file).
Whereas, if your Internet connection is better than dialup,
downloading Macrium plus the WAIK kit option, is 35+100MB or so.
And the CD you end up with, is more useful.

Macrium can even work with file shares, but I haven't investigated
how to add network drivers to the WAIK CD. It prompts me for
drivers, but I don't know what kind of driver it wants (txtsetup.oem?).

Paul

Close.
It is a laptop. But even if not I would like to work it as a laptop.
I was working the most general case.

My HD is not failing.
I want to try using a SSD (to replace the HDD).

Clone not Image since Image will copy bad sectors.

Macrium Reflect Free I have used to backup.
Do not know that Macrium Reflect Free can do the one step process I would like. Attach the SSD to a USB adapter. Clone the laptop HDD in the laptop thru the USB port to the USB adapter and SSD. Then pop out the HDD and plug in the SSD. Store the HDD.

Do not care it is fast or slow will just let it run.


Here's a short tutorial on cloning with Macrium.

http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50081.aspx

There's an alignment control at the bottom of the bottom picture here.
It sets 63 sector or 1 megabyte alignment. WinXP uses the former,
Windows 7 the latter (as the respective defaults for those two OSes).

http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/Partition_Alignment.htm

For free software, it's pretty full-featured.

Paul

On 01/12/2014 05:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?


X

Most hard drive manufacturers have FREE cloning software.
If it did not come to your drive get it from the mfg's website.

Note: The drive will of course need to be installed internally when you
are done. XP is not designed to boot from a USB drive.

On 1/12/2014 5:34 PM, OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?

This is right up my alley! I clone constantly and rotate drives as
backups. Many will tell you that you need something commercial like
Ghost, Acronis, Paragon, etc. And I have them all. And all of them has
flaws that can restore the clone in an unusable condition.

What never failed in all of my tests and is foolproof is XXClone
freeware. It isn't the fastest program (not the slowest either), but it
is the most reliable.

--
Bill
Dell Latitude Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM - Windows 8 Pro

In OldGuy
wrote:

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?

Unless policy has changed, Acronis software is fully operational during
the free "evaluation" period.

--
St. Paul, MN

OldGuy wrote:
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?

If either drive is from Seagate, Seagate DiskWizard A version of Acronis) would
do the job. Otherwise, try checking the manufacturers of the drives for their
own free version of similar software.

"OldGuy" wrote in message ...
I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable (not an image) copy?


Need to know who make the Hard Drive and Model

like this:
Seagate ST34323A
or
TriGem SV1022D/IGE


Some we can send you to the right place
for a Free Clone Software for the HHD

On Sun, 12 Jan 2014 15:34:00 -0800, OldGuy wrote:

I have a working XP drive.
I have a replacement drive attached through a USB adapter.

What is the recommended free software to make a direct clone bootable
(not an image) copy?


You can use XXCLONE.

The free version is free (duh) but won't make incremental or that other
kind of intermediate copy. But it will do what you asked about.

Later you can buy it, and it will do all 3 kinds of backup. And you
only need to buy one copy to use on all your pc's, and, not sure of
this, your friends' pc's too, if you're the one using it. .

It has its own discussion mailing list on google lists or someplace like
that (not Yahoo lists) in which the author probably participates, though
with the free version, there isn't much room for questions.

It doesn't work like all the other disk clones do, because it goes file
by file, not track by track, but it still works. If the other clone
programs have special requirements for the destination drive, this one
still doesn't.