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#31
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
Anna wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message ... OK, I'm STILL confused about some of this, even after all the discussions we've had here before on this, including some with Anna. You say Casper has only ONE backup to restore from, but I thought with Casper you could also make multiple, partition type clone backups to the backup drive, storing several different partition copies over there, so that you could choose which one (somewhat analogous to which image) to restore from. IOW, if my intenal source drive has a 40 GB system and program partition, and that's the only thing I'm ever backing up and restoring, couldn't Casper save different dated partition type clones of that on the backup drive? I guess they'd all have to have different drive letters though, which may be a bit messy for me. Bill: I know we've have some detailed discussions about the issue you're now raising and I thought I had clarified this issue, but let me try once again. Thanks again, Anna. First of all - as I think we both recognize - Casper 5 has the capability of cloning on a partition-to-partition basis as well as on a disk-to-disk basis. The process for each is simple & direct. Usually this issue arises when a user is interested (for whatever reason) in maintaining "generational" backups of his or her system, i.e., individual comprehensive backups of the system at various points in time. So, for example, a user may be interested in a backup of his/her system as it existed on Jan. 15, and on Jan 20, and on Jan 25, and on Jan 30, etc., etc. So that at some later date the user has a precise copy of his/her system at some particular point-in-time. Now since Casper has this capability of cloning on a partition-by-partition basis a user could use this facility for maintaining a number of "generational" clones of his/her system at different points-in-time. Here's an example. 1. Let's say the user can make a reasonable assumption that his/her source HDD contains at most no more than 50 GB of total data at any given point in time between now and within the near future - perhaps over the next month or so. 2. The *total* disk-space capacity of the source HDD is unimportant. All that is relevant is the amount of data currently on the disk and what can be considered over the near future in terms of anticipated maximum amount of data - keeping in mind that when we speak of *total* data on the disk this includes the OS, all programs & applications, all personal data - in short, *everything* that's on the source HDD. Unless we are talking about cloning just ONE of the source drive's partitions, and not the whole drive, (assuming that there are other partitions on the source drive). 3. Assume that the user is using (or can use) a 500 GB USB external HDD as the "destination" drive, i.e., the recipient of the cloned contents of the source disk. 4. The user could first create as many 50 GB partitions that the destination drive could contain - in this example roughly 9 or 10 partitions. OK. 5. Thus the user could - at various points of time - clone the contents of his/her source HDD roughly 9 or 10 times, i.e, have available backed-up 9 or 10 "generations" of his/her system over that span of time. Obviously the larger the disk-capacity of the destination HDD (or conversely a smaller amount of data to be cloned) the more "generations" could be stored on the destination HDD should the number of partitions be increased. OK. Notwithstanding the above, by & large we have taken the position that if the user is primarily or exclusively concerned with maintaining generational copies of his/her system over a fair period of time, then a disk-imaging program such as the Acronis one is generally more practical in that situation. Right, which is where I am. But we have found that the overwhelming number of users are uninterested in keeping generational copies of their systems. The great majority of users simply want to have a backup that is an up-to-date clone of their system. So that if their system becomes dysfunctional for any reason it can be restored with a minimum of effort and expenditure of time. That is probably true. Setting aside this "generational" issue... Many users, yourself included I believe, multi-partition their source HDD for various reasons. There's no problem using the Casper 5 program to clone the contents of this or that partition from the source HDD to the destination drive. Naturally the user will have set up his or her destination HDD with sufficient partitions to receive the contents of the cloned partition. 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. A final note... Since (as I recall) this was a source of confusion re our previous exchange of posts, let me make it as clear as I can that it makes absolutely no difference what drive letters have been assigned to the *destination* HDD (the recipient of the clones) in terms of the recovery/restore process. An example... Let's say the user clones the contents of his/her source HDD to a specific partition of a USB external HDD. We'll designate that USBEHD partition as "E". Some days later another source HDD clone is created and those contents are cloned to partition "F" on the USBEHD. Still another clone created a few days later is created on the "G" partition of the USBEHD. Etc., Etc. Right. Although this can be a bit annoying. (For one thing, it can mess with some drive letter assignments for other devices, like when you plug in a flash stick (since it's bumped up a bit). So each of those partitions - E, F, & G - now contain the cloned contents (at various points-in-time) of the source HDD. There's no problem re drive letter assignments should *any* of the contents of those partitions be cloned back to the source HDD (including a brand-new source HDD). The source HDD will retain the C: drive letter assignment - period. I'm emphasizing all of this because I seem to recall we previously had some confusion over that issue. 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. |
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#32
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:20:39 -0700, "Bill in Co."
wrote: Using BING, the backup drive is containing several partition clones of the source drive's system partition. So it is NOT really accurate to simply state "a clone is a duplicate of the source drive". THAT is much too ambiguous. You are the most thick-headed person I've seen in these groups in ages. I did NOT restrict "clone" to "source drive". I clearly included "source partition". Either way... the clone is a duplicate of the source, whether it be a drive or a partition. |
#33
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"BobN" wrote in message
... On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:16:57 -0500, Daave wrote: "Richie Hardwick" wrote in message ... On Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:59:25 -0700, "Bill in Co." wrote: Can't do that with Casper, because it only has ONE "backup" to restore from. OK, I'm STILL confused about some of this, even after all the discussions we've had here before on this, including some with Anna. You say Casper has only ONE backup to restore from, but I thought with Casper you could also make multiple, partition type clone backups to the backup drive, storing several different partition copies over there, so that you could choose which one (somewhat analogous to which image) to restore from. More... Your being "confused" seems to be a consistent element in your past discussions involving Casper and ATI. I think part of that confusion is related to your not properly differentiating between the terms "image" and "clone". It's very simple: an "image" is A FILE - a compressed snapshot of whatever has been "imaged". A "clone" is HARD DRIVE or a PARTITION that has been made to be an exact copy of a different hard drive or partition. One way for Bill to hopefully better grok this concept is to recall the replicator from Star Trek TNG. Just imagine replicating the hard drive. (For now, let's keep it simple: just one physical hard drive.) You start off with one hard drive. Now, after the replicating, you have two hard drives: the original and its clone, which is *an exact copy.* If you remove the orginal hard drive and replace it with the clone, for all intents and purposes, the system is exactly the same. Another way: You purchased a CD. You can make a "clone" of it. That is, you can create another CD, which is an exact copy. If someone else were to place the copy in your CD player, you wouldn't be able to tell if it was the original or the copy. You can also make an "image" of this CD. (Actually, you can; it's called an .iso file.) This is only a file. You cannot place the file into a CD player! But it still serves the purpose of completely backing up everything you need from this CD if you want to *eventually* create a CD with the same songs in the same order with the same spacing (or perhaps place certain tracks on an iPod or file-share, etc. -- with some manipulaiton). You can make images of many CDs and store all these files wherever you like. You may even store them all in the same location (e.g., an external hard drive). Getting back to hard drives... Unless you need to boot up from a cloned hard drive *immediately*, there is no advantage to using the cloning method. Imaging a hard drive (or partitions) -- if done regularly -- is fine to recover from a disaster. Just restore the image and all is well. Sure, if you decide to clone your hard drive to an eSATA drive (or to another hard drive in your PC), as long as it is physically connected and you configured your PC to easily boot off of the clone, you will be up and running much quicker than if you restore an image. But seriously, for the average user, we're just talking about recovering from a disaster, which is very rare. For people who frequently test programs or work with viruses, etc., I can see the appeal. Or for people who are day traders or for whatever reason *must* be up in running within seconds, yes it would make sense. But not for the average user. Except if your HD goes kaput. Then an image is of no value. Why not? If the image is still good, it has lots of value! In fact, one of the reasons to image a hard drive is if the hard drive *does* go kaput. Put in the new hard drive, restore the image, and you're back in business. |
#34
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"Bill in Co." wrote in message ... 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. 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. Bill: I'm not really familiar with the BING program so I can't speak to that program. Anna |
#35
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"BobN" wrote in message ... The question that I have is why are we talking about these programs at all? Free programs such as XXClone and HDClone (at least) will clone a system drive. Data recovery is a separate issue. There are a number of free programs which will allow you to back up and recover data. With a clone drive and backed up data you are good to go under any circumstance. I would rather put the $50 cost of these programs toward the purchase of a HDD. Bob... Tell me Bob, have you ever worked - really worked - with those free programs you mentioned? I'm referring to using a disk-to-disk cloning program that one would use *routinely* and *frequently* to comprehensively back up their system. So that the user would have at hand a reasonably up-to-date backup of his or her system and could easily & quickly restore their system to a bootable, functional state. There's simply no comparison between those programs and one such as Casper 5 (or Acronis True Image) in terms of effectiveness, ease of use, and most importantly, speed of operation. If all that matters to the user that he or she has the use of a free disk-cloning program and has no intention of using such a program on a routine, frequent basis to comprehensively backup their system, then those programs will probably have an appeal for them. Until they use them, of course... Anna |
#36
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"Anna" wrote... This limitation (re the demo version of Casper 5) is not present using the licensed version of Casper. The full disk space of the destination HDD would be utilized to contain the cloned contents of the source HDD so that there would be no "unallocated" disk space on the destination HDD (unless of course the user desired to have unallocated disk space on the destination drive). "Mickey Mouse" wrote in message ... *** So, if say I have a 500gb HD and partition it to C:200gb (system drive), D: 200gb and E: 100gb I can tell Casper to use E: for it's own use where it would create a dynamic partition on E: for say a 40gb backup and turn the rest of E: into unallocated. When it needed more space for the next backup, say 45gb it would allocate some of the unallocate space to accomodate the extra 5gb leaving C: and D: at there original size. In short, Casper here has only the E:100gb to play with. Mickey Mickey: Let me try to explain it more clearly using as an example that you have another 500 GB HDD that you will be using as the recipient drive for clones from your source HDD. If you want to clone *only* the 40 GB of data contained in your source drive's 100 GB partition you could do so quite easily and virtually automatically with the Casper 5 disk-cloning program by choosing the option to set up a partition on the destination drive *only* sufficient in size to contain that 40 GB of data. (You need not select a specific size for the partition). So I guess you can say the program has set up a partition "dynamically". So now you have a destination HDD with a 40 GB partition with the remaining disk-space of that 500 GB HDD "unallocated" disk space. Now, as in your example, when you make the next backup of that 100 GB partition, the contents of such has increased from the original 40 GB to 45 GB. At this stage you have two options... 1. You can delete (through the Disk Management utility) the 40 GB partition on the destination HDD and then, once again, select the option for the Casper program to create a minimally-sized partition on that drive to hold the 45 GB of data that you are cloning; or, 2. You can simply select the option (as you did originally) for the program to create a partition on the destination drive only sufficient in size to hold the cloned contents of 45 GB. However, in this case if you did not delete the 40 GB partition that was originally created, you will now have *two* partitions on the destination drive - one of 40 GB and one of 45 GB It's just your choice. Obviously if all you were interested in is that the destination HDD contain the latest contents of your source drive's 100 GB partition, then you would presumably have deleted the previously-created partition on the destination HDD. In any event, the option is yours to make. "Anna" wrote... 5. You say that you are not interested in "incremental backups". Let me tell you frankly if that is indeed the case, there is really no special need for you to purchase the Casper 5 program. If all you're interested in is some "one-shot deal" where you will clone the contents of your day-to-day working HDD to another HDD and nevermore use the program for routine systematic backups to keep your system reasonably up-to-date, then *any* disk-cloning (or disk-imaging) program would probably suffice for your needs. Anna "Mickey Mouse" wrote in message ... **** Please let me clarify my stand on incremental backups. Yes, I'm not in my situation concerned with incremental backups as I myself have no need for them. (SNIP) Having said that I do however acknowledge the need for incremental backups and their importance for certain situations. In my case however, my only concern is the integrety of my installed applications and the registry. The number of times my system has crashed for one reason or another you wouldn't believe. In my case each time I've only had to reinstall the OS, updates and applications. I'm just looking for a quicker way to do it. Mickey Mickey: I'm somewhat at a loss to understand your comment above. First you indicate you "have no need for (incremental) backups"; then you go on to say "The number of times my system has crashed for one reason or another you wouldn't believe. In my case each time I've only had to reinstall the OS, updates and applications. I'm just looking for a quicker way to do it." But is it not clear to you that the whole point of a disk-cloning program such as Casper (or for that matter, a disk-imaging program) is to do precisely that, i.e., to restore your system to a bootable, functional, up-to-date state so that you would *not* need to manually "reinstall the OS, updates and applications". And using a program such as Casper 5 the process to do just that would be simple, straightforward, and reasonably quick, with a minimum expenditure of time & effort on one's part. Isn't that a most desirable thing for most users? In any event, as I previously stated, if you have no intention of using a disk-cloning or disk imaging program for routine, systematic, frequent backups of your system, and you're only interested in a backup of your system that you might do, for example, once every few months or so, my advice would be to save your money and secure one of the free disk-copying programs available from a number of HDD manufacturers, e.g., Hitachi, Seagate, Western Digital and use one of those programs for your needs. Also, there are a number of free (or shareware) disk-cloning & disk-imaging programs available through the net - some of which have been mentioned by posters to this thread. And you can always do a Google search for these type of programs (or other backup programs) that might better serve your needs. Anna |
#37
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:56:23 -0500, Anna wrote:
"BobN" wrote in message ... The question that I have is why are we talking about these programs at all? Free programs such as XXClone and HDClone (at least) will clone a system drive. Data recovery is a separate issue. There are a number of free programs which will allow you to back up and recover data. With a clone drive and backed up data you are good to go under any circumstance. I would rather put the $50 cost of these programs toward the purchase of a HDD. Bob... Tell me Bob, have you ever worked - really worked - with those free programs you mentioned? I'm referring to using a disk-to-disk cloning program that one would use *routinely* and *frequently* to comprehensively back up their system. So that the user would have at hand a reasonably up-to-date backup of his or her system and could easily & quickly restore their system to a bootable, functional state. There's simply no comparison between those programs and one such as Casper 5 (or Acronis True Image) in terms of effectiveness, ease of use, and most importantly, speed of operation. If all that matters to the user that he or she has the use of a free disk-cloning program and has no intention of using such a program on a routine, frequent basis to comprehensively backup their system, then those programs will probably have an appeal for them. Until they use them, of course... Anna I have been using XXClone for several years on one computer. When My HDD crashed, I simply swapped and I was was up and running in minutes. My wife used HDClone to replace an OEM Dell HDD which could not be restored or repaired because of a faulty OEM disk. Just because a program costs $50 does not mean that it is any better than a free program. Again, you are talking apples and oranges. Backing up and restoring data is a separate operation from cloning. You clone to avoid having to do a complete system install and to avoid having to install all your programs. You do not use a clone disk to back up your data every day.. That is what a data recovery program is for, and you use some external media for such storage. I clone my system disk only when I install or uninstall a program. Data storage is on a flash drive and a CD. OK? |
#38
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"BobN" wrote in message ... The question that I have is why are we talking about these programs at all? Free programs such as XXClone and HDClone (at least) will clone a system drive. Data recovery is a separate issue. There are a number of free programs which will allow you to back up and recover data. With a clone drive and backed up data you are good to go under any circumstance. I would rather put the $50 cost of these programs toward the purchase of a HDD. On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:56:23 -0500, Anna wrote: Bob... Tell me Bob, have you ever worked - really worked - with those free programs you mentioned? I'm referring to using a disk-to-disk cloning program that one would use *routinely* and *frequently* to comprehensively back up their system. So that the user would have at hand a reasonably up-to-date backup of his or her system and could easily & quickly restore their system to a bootable, functional state. There's simply no comparison between those programs and one such as Casper 5 (or Acronis True Image) in terms of effectiveness, ease of use, and most importantly, speed of operation. If all that matters to the user that he or she has the use of a free disk-cloning program and has no intention of using such a program on a routine, frequent basis to comprehensively backup their system, then those programs will probably have an appeal for them. Until they use them, of course... Anna "BobN" wrote in message... I have been using XXClone for several years on one computer. When My HDD crashed, I simply swapped and I was was up and running in minutes. My wife used HDClone to replace an OEM Dell HDD which could not be restored or repaired because of a faulty OEM disk. Just because a program costs $50 does not mean that it is any better than a free program. Again, you are talking apples and oranges. Backing up and restoring data is a separate operation from cloning. You clone to avoid having to do a complete system install and to avoid having to install all your programs. You do not use a clone disk to back up your data every day.. That is what a data recovery program is for, and you use some external media for such storage. I clone my system disk only when I install or uninstall a program. Data storage is on a flash drive and a CD. OK? BobN: If you've found one or both of those disk-cloning programs effective & useful for both your needs and that of your wife's, then more power to you and, of course, your wife! All I can say is that we've worked with both of those programs in the past, and along with a number of users with whom I'm familiar, all of us - virtually without exception (as I recall) - found those programs (as well as a number of other free & shareware-type disk cloning programs) wanting for a variety of reasons, but chiefly because they were ill-suited in our experience to serve as a comprehensive backup system that a user could employ on a reasonably frequent & routine basis. AFAIK, all of us gave them up. Admittedly it's been at least two or three years since I've worked with those programs so my comments are based on my experience during that period of time. In any event, what counts is that you have concluded that they work for you & yours. And if you're both satisfied with those programs, so be it. Now as to the issue of using a disk-cloning program such as the one I consistently recommend - Casper 5 - for the purposes of establishing & maintaining a comprehensive backup system for the user... Is there not value for the user if he or she can easily & reasonably quickly create a precise copy of their day-to-day working HDD? A backup not merely of their personal data, but a backup that includes the operating system, all programs & applications, their mail program, their registry settings, their system configuration settings, and of course their personal data? In short, *everything* that's on their boot drive. So when the day comes (as it most surely will for a substantial number of users) when their system becomes unbootable and/or dysfunctional for *any* reason, they will have at hand a "good" copy of their HDD - one that is bootable & functional. What better backup system can one have? Bob, how many times a day do we see when perusing this newsgroup and similar ones dealing with users' problems, these types of plaintive pleas for help... "Helllllp! My hard drive apparently died. How do I get my data back?", or, "I just installed SP3 and now my computer doesn't even boot", or, "I made that registry change XYZ suggested and now I'm getting weird messages from Windows", or, "I installed the latest update from Microsoft and now my anti-spyware program has been trashed", or, "I installed that new Super-Duper Anti-Malware program and now all I get a black screen", or, "All of a sudden I'm getting that dreaded BSOD. How can I save my precious photos?", or... The list goes on & on, does it not? Does an hour, a day, a week pass where we don't see the above "cries of distress" and similar pleas for help? In so many cases the problem would have been a non-problem had the user made a precise copy of his or her then-functional system *prior* to installing a major program on their machine or making some major configuration change in their otherwise perfectly-working system. This can be relatively easily achieved through the use of a disk-cloning program such as the Casper 5 program which we prefer. So that in the event of a catastrophe - minor or major - the system can be easily restored to its previous functional state. Simply stated, a *desirable* disk-cloning program will allow the user to restore his or her system easily & quickly when their system fails because of a defective HDD or the system has become unbootable & dysfunctional because of data corruption from malware, unwise configurations, or other causes. The chief reason we prefer the Casper 5 disk-cloning program (aside from its simplicity of operation and general effectiveness in carrying out the disk-cloning operation) is because of its rather extroardinary ability to *speedily* clone the contents of one drive (or partition) to another drive (or partition) when the program is used on a frequent basis. Casper incorporates what it calls its "SmartClone" feature. Simply stated, the program has the happy capability of detecting *incremental* changes in the source drive's data since the *previous* disk-cloning operation. By so doing and then taking only those incremental data changes into account, the amount of time the program needs to complete subsequent disk-cloning operations is significantly shortened (as compared with other disk-cloning programs). Keep in mind that the resultant clone is a complete clone of the contents of the source HDD - not merely an incremental "file". As a result of this feature there is an enormous incentive for users to backup their systems on a more-or-less current basis knowing that the expenditure of time in doing so will be relatively slight. Heretofore this has been a major problem with disk-cloning programs (in terms of *routinely* using the program as a comprehensive backup system) because each time the disk-cloning operation was undertaken it was a "fresh" operation and took a considerable amount of time. So many, if not most, users would balk at using the disk-cloning program on a frequent basis because of that expenditure of time to undertake the disk-cloning operation. Anyway, I'd like to encourage you to try out the demo version of Casper 5 available at...http://www.fssdev.com/products/free/ The trial version is slightly crippled but it should give you a good idea of how the program works. Give it a whirl and see how you like it. Anna |
#39
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
Anna wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message ... 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. 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. Bill: I'm not really familiar with the BING program so I can't speak to that program. Anna 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) |
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:24:22 -0500, "Anna" wrote:
Is there not value for the user if he or she can easily & reasonably quickly create a precise copy of their day-to-day working HDD? A backup not merely of their personal data, but a backup that includes the operating system, all programs & applications, their mail program, their registry settings, their system configuration settings, and of course their personal data? In short, *everything* that's on their boot drive. So when the day comes (as it most surely will for a substantial number of users) when their system becomes unbootable and/or dysfunctional for *any* reason, they will have at hand a "good" copy of their HDD - one that is bootable & functional. What better backup system can one have? One that doesn't require an extra internal hard drive to be useful. Try booting from a USB hard drive that has been cloned using Casper. Acronis can backup ALL of what you listed and it can do it on a simple external USB hard drive that can then be easily accessed via it's FREE bootable CD to restore one's system drive. IF one finds the need to clone a disk, Acronis can do that too. Richie Hardwick |
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
I'm somewhat at a loss to understand your comment above. First you indicate you "have no need for (incremental) backups"; then you go on to say "The number of times my system has crashed for one reason or another you wouldn't believe. In my case each time I've only had to reinstall the OS, updates and applications. I'm just looking for a quicker way to do it." Thanks Anna, after all this discussion it appears that as you suggest, one of the free disk imaging applications would be more suited to my needs. I'm not comfortable purchasing Casper out of principle. (The startup disk). Like buying a car less the spare tyre. Drive Image has been suggested, perhaps that's all I need. If I get a reasonble answer from Gigabyte re Xpress Recovery2 I'll post it. Mickey |
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
I wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:24:22 -0500, "Anna" wrote: Is there not value for the user if he or she can easily & reasonably quickly create a precise copy of their day-to-day working HDD? A backup not merely of their personal data, but a backup that includes the operating system, all programs & applications, their mail program, their registry settings, their system configuration settings, and of course their personal data? In short, *everything* that's on their boot drive. So when the day comes (as it most surely will for a substantial number of users) when their system becomes unbootable and/or dysfunctional for *any* reason, they will have at hand a "good" copy of their HDD - one that is bootable & functional. What better backup system can one have? One that doesn't require an extra internal hard drive to be useful. Try booting from a USB hard drive that has been cloned using Casper. Acronis can backup ALL of what you listed and it can do it on a simple external USB hard drive that can then be easily accessed via it's FREE bootable CD to restore one's system drive. IF one finds the need to clone a disk, Acronis can do that too. OH... and what about cost? Casper, including the bootable CD that they CHARGE $10 FOR: $60. It only makes clones. Acronis True Image 11 (former version, works great) at Newegg.com: $32, bootable CD is free (you burn your own). It makes clones AND images. Acronis True Image 2009 (fancier, more functions): at Newegg.com: $43, bootable CD is free (you burn your own). It makes clones AND images. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nis+true+image Richie Hardwick |
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
"Bill in Co." wrote in message ... 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." wrote in message ... 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 |
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Casper 5 - One for Anna
Anna wrote:
"Bill in Co." wrote in message ... 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." wrote in message ... 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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