Casper 5 - One for Anna

[Mickey Mouse]

Hi Anna,
You've got me interested in Casper 5. I'm on a pension so it's pretty
pricey for me in Australian dollars. Anyway I think you suggested offering
some assitance re Casper 5.
So I'll and take you up on it if you don't mind. I've downloaded but not
yet installed the trial version. Is there anything you can tell me about
it?
Does it backup a partitioned system drive? By that I mean if my drive is
partitioned C: and D:
will it backup my C:system drive together with the registry or only the
installed files? What does it backup exactly? I am interested in your advice
and what you might have to say.

Mickey

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna,
You've got me interested in Casper 5. I'm on a pension so it's pretty
pricey for me in Australian dollars. Anyway I think you suggested
offering some assitance re Casper 5.
So I'll and take you up on it if you don't mind. I've downloaded but not
yet installed the trial version. Is there anything you can tell me about
it?
Does it backup a partitioned system drive? By that I mean if my drive is
partitioned C: and D:
will it backup my C:system drive together with the registry or only the
installed files? What does it backup exactly? I am interested in your
advice and what you might have to say.

Mickey

Mickey:
First of all, the demo version of Casper 5 is slightly crippled but it
should give you a reasonably good idea as to how the program works and
whether it's suitable for your needs. Here's some information on the program
which I trust will be of some help to you as well as others who might be
contemplating purchasing a disk-cloning type of program for purposes of
establishing & maintaining a comprehensive backup program...

(The following is material that I've posted in the past- in one form or
another - and also provided to computer club members who requested this
info)...

For many, if not most, PC users it's important, perhaps even crucial, that
they establish & maintaining on a routine basis a comprehensive backup
system whereby *all* the data on their day-to-day working HDD would, in
effect, be copied to another HDD so as to create a precise copy of that
"source" HDD at a particular point in time.

To that end our preference is for a user to employ a disk-to-disk cloning
program or disk-imaging program and use such as a systematic backup tool.

What better backup system can a PC user have than having at hand a HDD that
is a precise copy of his or her day-to-day working HDD and, as such,
contains the complete contents of that latter HDD including the operating
system, all programs and applications, and all user-created data? So that
should the time come when the user has to resurrect his/her system because
their working HDD has failed or the system has become dysfunctional because
of a corrupted OS or other software problem, the user will have the means to
do so relatively simply & quickly.

The disk-to-disk cloning program we greatly prefer is the Casper 5 program -
see http://www.fssdev.com

The Casper program is extremely simple to use even for an inexperienced
user, reasonably quick in operation, and quite effective. There's virtually
no learning curve in undertaking the disk cloning process as one navigates
through the few easy-to-understand screens with a final mouse-click on the
button on the screen which will trigger the disk-cloning process. After
undertaking one or two disk-cloning operations it should take the user no
more than 15 - 20 seconds or so to get to that point.

But the truly significant advantage of the Casper 5.0 disk cloning program
compared with other disk cloning programs that we're familiar with, e.g.,
Acronis True Image, is its ability to create *incremental* disk clones
following the creation of the original (first) disk clone. Employing what
Casper calls its "SmartClone" technology the program can create subsequent
disk clones of the source HDD usually at a fraction of the time it takes to
create a "full" disk clone. This results in a decided incentive for the user
to undertake frequent complete backups of his or her system knowing that
they can create "incremental" disk clones in a relatively short period of
time. Understand that this "incremental disk clone" is a *complete* clone
(copy) of the "source" HDD.

Bear in mind that the recipient of the clone - the "destination" HDD
(internal or external) - would contain the *complete* contents of one's
internal HDD (presumably the boot drive). Since that destination drive would
be a precise copy of the source HDD, its contents would be immediately
accessible to the user and potentially bootable. Naturally its contents
could be cloned back to a internal HDD should a restoration of the system be
necessary. Again, what better backup system can one have? And again -
because the Casper disk-cloning operation takes a relatively short period of
time to complete its disk-cloning operations there's a strong incentive for
the user to more frequently keep their backups up-to-date than they might
otherwise do. As an example, last night I backed up one of my HDDs that
contained nearly 50 GB of data to another internal HDD in the system. That
"source" HDD has been previously backed up, i.e., cloned five days ago.
Naturally during that 5-day period changes had been made to the system -
programs & data added, deleted, modified, etc., etc., more or less the
typical type of changes one makes to their systems over a period of time. It
took me (or rather it took Casper!) just about four minutes to complete the
disk-cloning operation. And now I have a precise copy of my source disk, my
day-to-day working HDD. Completely bootable & functional in all respects.

Again, I want to emphasize that the main advantage of the Casper 5 program
in comparison with other disk-cloning programs is its rather remarkable
ability to *routinely* clone the contents of one HDD to another HDD
(following the initial disk-cloning process) in a fraction of the time it
generally takes for other disk-cloning (as well as disk-imaging) programs to
complete the process. In my experience this is a strong incentive for the
user to back up their systems on a frequent basis - perhaps even once a day
or two or three times a week - knowing that the disk-cloning operation will
take only a few short minutes to complete the process. And at the end of
that process the user will have at hand a "perfect copy" of their day-to-day
working HDD. Again, what better backup system can one have?

The Casper 5.0 program is also capable of scheduling the disk-cloning
process on a daily, weekly, or other time period selected by the user so
that should the user prefer he or she could arrange for automatic backups at
pre-determined times.

There's a trial version available
at...http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/ and although it's somewhat
crippled it should give one a good idea as to how the program works.

Here's a more-or-less typical example of using the program to clone the
entire contents of one HDD to another HDD (internal or external)...
1. First of all, it always a wise idea to close all open programs, including
your anti-malware programs, before undertaking the disk-cloning operation.
If it's practical to do so it's also a good idea that except for the two
HDDs that will be involved in the disk-cloning operation, i.e., the "source"
and "destination" disks, all other storage devices, e.g., flash drives,
external USB HDDs that are not involved in the disk-cloning operation, etc.,
should be disconnected from the system.
2. Access the Casper 5.0 program.
3. Click on the opening screen's "Copy Drive" icon.
4. The next screen will have two options...
a. "Perform this copy again"
b. "Perform a different copy"
In most cases the user will select the "Perform this copy again" option
presuming he or she routinely uses the same hard drives as the source &
destination disks. Should the user be working with a different source and/or
destination HDD (as it involves the current disk-cloning operation) then
he/she would choose the "Perform a different copy" option.
5. On the next screen click the "Copy an entire hard disk" option. (There's
another option on that screen that allows the user to copy individual
partitions should he or she desire that capability).
6. The next screen will reflect the HDD to be copied, i.e., the "source"
HDD, presumably the user's boot drive in most cases. Click Next.
7. The next screen will list the "destination" HDD, i.e., the drive that
will be the recipient of the cloned contents of the drive you're copying.
Click Next. listing and Click Next.
8. A warning screen will appear indicating the destination HDD contains data
and that "all data on that disk may be lost" should you continue with the
disk cloning operation. It's just a cautionary note so click Next.
9. Since you're cloning the entire contents of your source HDD to the
destination HDD, just click Next on the next screen to accomplish that.
10. On the final screen requiring user input, click on the "Perform the copy
now" option.

The disk-cloning operation will proceed with the last screen indicating its
successful conclusion.

The downside to the Casper 5 program as compared with the Acronis and most
other disk-cloning programs is the cost of the program which comes to $49.95
for the program + $9.95 for the "Casper Startup Disk" (the program to create
the bootable CD containing the Casper program - needed to access the program
in the event of a failed HDD when the user is unable to access the installed
Casper program). This "Startup Disk" is really an essential piece of the
program; I can't imagine a Casper user not having this media. It's a pity
that this "Startup Disk" is an added-cost option; in our view it should be
provided as part of the overall program and included in the program's $49.95
cost. We have complained to the developer about this but alas that
additional cost for the "Startup Disk" is still present.

So the cost of the program is more expensive than the others. Be that as it
may, in our view it's still well worth the additional cost considering its
overall effectiveness and the fact that one will be using the program many,
many times over the weeks, months, and years ahead. We've introduced the
program to many users (including former ATI users) and I can't recall a
single person who regretted his/her purchase. AFAIK, the program is
available only through download from the developer.

Another possible downside to the Casper 5 program (depending upon one's
interests) is that it's really not designed to create "generational" copies
of one's system although it is possible to use the program that way
depending upon the size of one's data and the disk size of the "destination"
HDD (the recipient of the clones). Some users like to maintain complete
copies of their system as it existed at various points in time. In other
words, for example, a user might want to retain (for one reason or another)
a complete copy of his or her system as it existed on Jan 1 and another copy
as of Jan 3 and another copy as of Jan 5, etc., etc. To that end a
disk-imaging program (such as the Acronis one) is more practical, since to
accomplish that objective using a disk-cloning program such as Casper 5 the
user would obviously need either a fair number of HDDs to serve as the
recipients of the clones at those various points in time, or a very
large-capacity destination HDD to contain the individual clones (on a
partition-by-partition basis). But based on our experience I would say that
the vast number of users are simply interested in maintaining only a current
up-to-date copy of their system and have little or no interest in
maintaining "generational" copies of such. But that capability may be a
consideration for some users.

So I would recommend that you or any user who is interested in a
comprehensive backup program should try the Casper 5 program to determine if
that program meets their needs.

Let me say again as I have repeatedly stated in the past when referring to
my choice of the Casper 5 disk-cloning program in comparison with other
disk-cloning programs - that users of the Acronis True Image program (as
well as other disk-cloning/disk-imaging programs) may find the ATI program
or whatever other backup type program they're working with perfectly
suitable for their needs and see no reason to change. I've *always*
encouraged users to experiment with different types of comprehensive backup
programs especially when trial versions are available to determine for
themselves which one best serves their objectives.

I fully realize that many PC users prefer the disk-imaging approach for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system in preference to a disk-to-disk
(or partition-to-partition) cloning program such as the Casper program.
Should that be the case I have no problem with that approach.

However, based upon my experience with working with a few thousand PC users
over the years, it's my opinion that the vast majority of those users would
be better served by using a disk/partition-cloning program rather than a
disk imaging program in order to establish & maintain a comprehensive backup
system.

We have worked with a fair number of disk-cloning (and disk-imaging)
programs over the years and we find this Casper 5 program to be the best of
the bunch for a variety of reasons...
1. It has a simple & straightforward user interface. There's virtually no
"learning curve" for the user. From the time the user accesses the program
to begin the disk-cloning operation to the final mouse-click to start the
actual process, it takes about 15 to 20 seconds, if that.
2. The program is virtually problem-free. While not flawless, it does what
it's supposed to do, i.e., clone the contents of one disk (or partition) to
another disk (or partition), and does so effectively.
3. And because of what Casper refers to as its "SmartClone" technology, when
the program is used on a frequent basis (as it should be) to maintain a
current backup of one's system, the backup operation is extremely fast. The
importance of this cannot be overemphasized since the user is thus
encouraged to frequently backup his/her system knowing that the operation
will take a very short time and the result
will be the maintenance of a reasonably up-to-date system.

As previously indicated through the use of a disk-cloning program such as
the Casper 5 program, the user can easily create a precise copy of their
day-to-day working HDD. All the data on the "destination" HDD, i.e., the
recipient of the cloned contents of the "source" HDD, is immediately
accessible. Should the destination HDD be another internal HDD, that drive
is immediately bootable without further ado. There is no "restore" or
"recovery" operation that needs to be undertaken with the destination drive.
A clone is a clone is a clone. Should the destination drive be a USB
external HDD, then the contents of the latter can be cloned back to the
internal HDD and the system will be bootable & functional once again. And
should the externally-connected destination HDD be a SATA HDD (one having
SATA-to-SATA connectivity between the external enclosure and the PC) that
device would be *bootable* even while externally connected.

Over the 15 years or so that I've been associated with the PC industry and
dealt with thousands of PC users it's become abundantly clear to me that one
of the first priorities most PC users should confront is establishing &
maintaining a *comprehensive* backup strategy. One that allows 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. All one has to do is to peruse this and similar newsgroups for an
hour or a day dealing with users' problems. Do we not continually see these
type of plaintive complaints and 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?

In so many cases the problem would have been a non-problem had the user made
a precise copy of his or her 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 & quickly restored to its previous
functional state.

So work with the demo version of the Casper 5 program for a while and see
how you like it. At the same time try out other programs such as the Acronis
one which also has a trial version.
Anna

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Ritchie, I don't mean to sound rude but I must ask, have you and Anna ever
been married to each other at some time?
You sound a little aggressive towards her. Anna's replies are a little
longwinded making it a little difficult for me keeping up
with her but she is trying to help. Anna, comes across as intelligent and
knowledgable about this Casper program and appears to want
to assist in my much needed help. You suggest she may work for that company
and she may be pushing Casper. All I can say about
that is..... "all the better for me". Acronis in my limited knowledge is
probably a much better featured program but more to the point I'm
looking for ease of use. I'm not interested in incremental backups, all I
want is to install a initial fresh system and my applications, then
make a backup copy using say, casper and at some later time when/if my
system gets somewhat corrupted just reinstall the backup.

Notice it's a "cloning" program, not a "backup" program.

And the point is...... considering my needs?

Again: "cloning", not backup. She uses "cloning" multiple times
throughout the post.

Again, the point is.... considering my needs?

As a person with a medical condition which inhibits my shortterm learning
capacity I need Anna and her aparent willingness to help me
of which I'm very grateful.
My friends jokingly refer to me as grumpy, but I'm not really, I just come
across that way at times. In fact I consider myself a very nice
guy willing to go that extra bit for a friend, infact even for a stranger.
I say this because your attitude to Anna is a little less than friendly
and I'm sure you are probably a nice guy too. So give that a little thought
my friend and remember that my correspondance with Anna IS
Casper specific.

Kindest Regards,
Mickey

[only excerpts shown]

Notice it's a "cloning" program, not a "backup" program.

What better backup system can a PC user have than having at hand a HDD
that
is a precise copy of his or her day-to-day working HDD and, as such,
contains the complete contents of that latter HDD including the operating
system, all programs and applications, and all user-created data?

"precise copy": it takes the whole drive it uses.

The disk-to-disk cloning program we greatly prefer is the Casper 5
program -
see http://www.fssdev.com

Again: "cloning", not backup. She uses "cloning" multiple times
throughout the post.

But the truly significant advantage of the Casper 5.0 disk cloning program
compared with other disk cloning programs that we're familiar with, e.g.,
Acronis True Image, is its ability to create *incremental* disk clones

Notice she is only comparing "cloning" abilities between programs and
mentions nothing about the other abilities of the competing programs.

Bear in mind that the recipient of the clone - the "destination" HDD
(internal or external) - would contain the *complete* contents of one's
internal HDD (presumably the boot drive). Since that destination drive
would
be a precise copy of the source HDD, its contents would be immediately
accessible to the user and potentially bootable. Naturally its contents
could be cloned back to a internal HDD should a restoration of the system
be
necessary. Again, what better backup system can one have?

One that wouldn't consume the entire drive. One that allowed one to
browse and restore directories/files and restore at will to the
original location or to another. Just to name a couple.

The downside to the Casper 5 program as compared with the Acronis and
most
other disk-cloning programs is the cost of the program which comes to
$49.95
for the program + $9.95 for the "Casper Startup Disk" (the program to
create
the bootable CD containing the Casper program - needed to access the
program
in the event of a failed HDD when the user is unable to access the
installed
Casper program).

Quite true. ATI creates such a disk for free if you download the
program, and if you buy the boxed version, the install disc is already
bootable.

Notice again that she is only talking about Casper as a "cloning"
program. She says nothing about its lack of ability to make data-only
backups, or the ability to restore selected items at will.

Finally, she says:

Another possible downside to the Casper 5 program (depending upon one's
interests) is that it's really not designed to create "generational"
copies
of one's system although it is possible to use the program that way
depending upon the size of one's data and the disk size of the
"destination"
HDD (the recipient of the clones). Some users like to maintain complete
copies of their system as it existed at various points in time. In other
words, for example, a user might want to retain (for one reason or
another)
a complete copy of his or her system as it existed on Jan 1 and another
copy
as of Jan 3 and another copy as of Jan 5, etc., etc. To that end a
disk-imaging program (such as the Acronis one) is more practical, since to
accomplish that objective using a disk-cloning program such as Casper 5
the
user would obviously need either a fair number of HDDs to serve as the
recipients of the clones at those various points in time, or a very
large-capacity destination HDD to contain the individual clones (on a
partition-by-partition basis). But based on our experience I would say
that
the vast number of users are simply interested in maintaining only a
current
up-to-date copy of their system and have little or no interest in
maintaining "generational" copies of such. But that capability may be a
consideration for some users.

Once again, she overlooks ATI's ability to browse the backup(s) and to
restore selected items at will.

So I would recommend that you or any user who is interested in a
comprehensive backup program should try the Casper 5 program to determine
if
that program meets their needs.

"Comprehensive"???? Definition: covering completely or broadly. I'd
say it is rather restricted.

I think Anna works for the company. It's the only explanation I can
think of that would explain her lopsided discussion of Casper and ATI.

I am a daily user of both Casper AND Acronis True Image.

If I had to choose only ONE of them, I'd choose AT! and never look
back.

I fully realize that many PC users prefer the disk-imaging approach for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system in preference to a disk-to-disk
(or partition-to-partition) cloning program such as the Casper program.
Should that be the case I have no problem with that approach.

How sweet of her.

However, based upon my experience with working with a few thousand PC
users
over the years, it's my opinion that the vast majority of those users
would
be better served by using a disk/partition-cloning program rather than a
disk imaging program in order to establish & maintain a comprehensive
backup
system.

I think Anna's sample of PC users must've been unbelievably skewed.

In the hundreds of thousands of posts in these and the Vista groups
over the years, you will find very few references to Casper, and
thousands of references AND recommendations of Acronis True Image.

Apparently, Anna's PC user contacts don't participate in these groups.

Richie Hardwick

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Hey Anna,thanks for the reply

First of all may I ask you to keep your replies short and to the point. I'm
asking in the nicest possibly way.
I have have a slight handicap which inhibits my learning capacity
(shortterm) when given too much information. I hope you understand.
Also please excuse my spelling, I'm using Outlook Express and just
discovered the spell check facility is in French.. lol
so I'm going to need to try to spell correctly the first time... aslo lol!

I'm about to install Casper5 (trial) and from your writing I have a couple
of concerns also I need to snip some of what you've written.

First of all, the demo version of Casper 5 is slightly crippled

*** I read that the trial version was fully functional.
Crippled in what way?

$9.95 for the "Casper Startup Disk

*** Also, I'm surprised that I would need to purchase a $9.95 "Casper
Startup Disk.
Is this the disk needed to access and reinstall the backup?
Seems a bit silly having to purchase a startup disk to access the backup
Casper has created.

*** Will I need to create an unpartitioned space for casper to use?

*** I have data on my C: system drive and my D: drive, will I loose any of
this data when I use Casper for the first time?
My HHD is one physical drive partitioned C: & D:

As you see from the above, my questions are simple and basic, of which I'm
going to have many, are you going to have the patience?
Hope your like me, I don't care how many times a person asks the same
question. It's bound to get through sooner or later lol.

I must say here that my only intention is to install a system from scratch,
that is
Insert my Windows disk, partition my hard drive, install the OS and drivers
and updates, install the hardware (printer,modem,etc)
Install fav applications and back that up. Incremental backups I'm not
concerned with and I'll tell you why.

I have a very good friend with a new pc I put together for her. After one
month she's having problems seemingly with the registry
or currupt applications.
Rather than playing around with the registry/troubleshooting or reinstalling
her system (you know how long that takes with updates and all)
I'd rather install something like Casper into her machine, make a backup and
quickly reinstall that when needed.

Mickey

 

[Anna]

First of all may I ask you to keep your replies short and to the point.
I'm asking in the nicest possibly way.
I have have a slight handicap which inhibits my learning capacity
(shortterm) when given too much information. I hope you understand.
Also please excuse my spelling, I'm using Outlook Express and just
discovered the spell check facility is in French.. lol
so I'm going to need to try to spell correctly the first time... aslo lol!

I'm about to install Casper5 (trial) and from your writing I have a couple
of concerns also I need to snip some of what you've written.


*** I read that the trial version was fully functional.
Crippled in what way?


*** Also, I'm surprised that I would need to purchase a $9.95 "Casper
Startup Disk.
Is this the disk needed to access and reinstall the backup?
Seems a bit silly having to purchase a startup disk to access the backup
Casper has created.

*** Will I need to create an unpartitioned space for casper to use?

*** I have data on my C: system drive and my D: drive, will I loose any of
this data when I use Casper for the first time?
My HHD is one physical drive partitioned C: & D:

As you see from the above, my questions are simple and basic, of which I'm
going to have many, are you going to have the patience?
Hope your like me, I don't care how many times a person asks the same
question. It's bound to get through sooner or later lol.

I must say here that my only intention is to install a system from
scratch, that is Insert my Windows disk, partition my hard drive, install
the OS and drivers and updates, install the hardware (printer,modem,etc)
Install fav applications and back that up. Incremental backups I'm not
concerned with and I'll tell you why.

I have a very good friend with a new pc I put together for her. After one
month she's having problems seemingly with the registry
or currupt applications.
Rather than playing around with the registry/troubleshooting or
reinstalling her system (you know how long that takes with updates and
all)
I'd rather install something like Casper into her machine, make a backup
and quickly reinstall that when needed.

Mickey

Mickey:
Let me try to answer your questions point-by-point...

As to my "long-windedness".

It is not the first-time (nor do I believe it will be the *last* time!) that
I have been accused of verbosity - particularly with respect to my technical
writing of one sort or another, including my posts to this and similar
newsgroups. While I do not resent your request to keep my replies "short and
to the point", I can only promise to *try* to be on-point, but I make no
promises now or in the future to keep them "short".

When I post a response to this or similar newsgroups - I attempt to write
with clarity and sufficient detail so as to be as responsive as I can to the
query or issue raised. I would much rather be accused of providing more
detail than is necessary than being accused of providing a cursory response
which does not fully address the poster's query or provide sufficient info
to (hopefully) resolve the problem raised. And if I am repetitive in my
remarks it's because I desire to emphasize a particular point or area. I
make no apology for all of this.

You say that "I have a slight handicap which inhibits my learning capacity
(shortterm) when given too much information." Judging from your previous
posts it's hard for me to believe you have any problem in that area. All I
can suggest, should you have the desire, interest, and inclination to do so,
is to read my posts on a "chunk-by-chunk" basis.

BTW, the likely reason your OE spell-check is in French is because you've
probably installed MS Office 2007. There's an absurd glitch in that program
that installs the spell checker in French and carries over to OE. (Some
English-speaking users have also reported the spell checker in German!). In
any event, the common workaround that many, if not most users have found is
to use a (free) third-party spell checking program (in English!) - Spell
Checker for OE 2.1. (There are others). It seems to work fine based on the
experience I & others have had with it. A fair number of websites carry the
program for download - one of them being...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2952 which seems to be a reliable
source.

1. As to my comment that the demo version of the Casper 5 program is
"slightly crippled"...

While the trial version is basically operational in that it will "clone" the
contents of one HDD to another HDD, the "destination" HDD, i.e., the
recipient of the clone, will be resized only to the extent of the disk size
of the "source" HDD, i.e., the HDD that is being cloned.

For example, say you're using the program to clone the contents of your 40
GB HDD to a 320 GB HDD. After the disk-cloning operation is completed the
320 GB HDD will contain the contents of the 40 GB HDD, however, only a 40 GB
partition will be created on the 320 GB HDD; the remaining disk space on
that "destination" drive will constitute "unallocated" disk space - disk
space that can later be partitioned/formatted.

This limitation 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).

In any event, the demo version should give one a good idea of the program's
capability and ease of use.

2. As to the additional cost of the "Startup Disk" download to create that
bootable CD, I agree with your comment that the developer should not charge
an additional $9.95 for that program. As I stated in my previous post, we
have complained to the developer about that charge, but (at least till now)
to no avail.

3. As to your question "Will I need to create an unpartitioned space for
casper to use?" I'm not entirely sure I understand the question so let me
answer it this way...
If you're cloning the *entire* contents of one HDD to another HDD there is
no need to create a partition on the "destination" HDD, i.e., the recipient
of the clone. Nor is there any need to create "unallocated" disk space.

The only time it would be necessary to create a partition on the destination
HDD is where you desired to clone the contents of the source HDD to a
particular partition on the destination drive. For example, let's say that
you were cloning the contents of a 320 GB HDD to a 500 GB HDD, but you did
not want to use the entire disk space of the latter HDD to hold those cloned
contents. You could create a partition of whatever size you desired on the
destination HDD as long as it was large enough to hold the *actual* data
contents of the source HDD. (The partition need not be formatted. The
cloning process will take care of that). The remaining disk space on the
destination HDD could be used for whatever other purpose you had in mind.

As I believe I indicated in my previous post. Casper 5 has the capability of
partition-to-partition cloning in addition to (complete) disk-to-disk
cloning. The process is simple using either approach.

4. You will not lose any data on your present HDD - the one with two
partitions. Neither the first time you use Casper or the one-thousandth time
you use the program. Only the destination's HDD data will be (obviously)
deleted assuming a disk-to-disk cloning operation.

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.

I thought I had made it clear in my previous post that the *real* value of
the Casper 5 program is that it is a comprehensive backup program that's
simple to use and quick in operation and which is designed to be
*frequently* used to maintain this up-to-date backup of your system. You
might want to re:read my previous post if you're so inclined.

Let me finally say - hopefully for the last time - that I have no
connection, either personal or commercial, with the developer of the Casper
program.
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

You want to make a backup to use in case your installation fails at
some time, in case it gets fried, or in case you want to start over.

Cloning makes an exact copy of your drive on another drive, and it
uses the entire drive because the intent of cloning is to create
another bootable drive the same as your system drive. If you use
Casper to do that, and your original Windows installation gets fried
(but the hard drive is still OK), you will have to use Casper on a CD
(remember, that will cost extra with Casper) to "reverse clone" from
your cloned drive to your system drive.

But what from Anna pointed out, and I quote:
"Casper 5 has the capability of partition-to-partition cloning in addition
to (complete) disk-to-disk cloning."

So apparently Casper CAN also just clone a partition, and not JUST clone the
WHOLE drive.

 

[Bill in Co.]

You and she are correct. Pardon my oversight/error.

That said... MOST (read: average home) users want to backup the entire
drive. Agreed?

Probably. (I don't know for sure what they want).

And from all this discussion - including many of the past discussions
- wouldn't you ALSO agree that the Acronis product is the best for the
average home user?

You don't have to answer: I know you decided to use it after much
back and forth here about Casper with Anna.

Yes, I use Acronis True Image. It has seemed more convenient for my usage,
because I do some of the things you already mentioned with it.

ONE MORE TIME: I think Casper is a FINE program, and no other program
does what it does better than it does. I LOVE IT. But I ONLY use it
to cover me in case a very specific situation arises: if my system
drive completely dies and I want to get back up and running in mere
seconds.

Which (admitedly) is not my principal use for it, and so I'm using ATI.

My principal use for it is some of the stuff you already enumerated, chief
of which is all the software tests, and messing around with the software
that I do. And I need several complete system image backups for that. (I
have often restored a specific image to get back to where I was before I
tried something out that didn't pan out so well)

And - I want to have readily available several different, dated, backups
with ready file access if I want to copy or just look at those files for
some comparisons, etc. So my backup hard drive has one large partition it
it, with multiple backup images of my system in it.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Same here. I have no fewer than a dozen "old" backups covering the
past 30 days or so. Those "old" backups include 4 complete backups
along with their incremental backups (which can also be used to
restore to the date of the incremental backup).

Those different, dated backups are ALSO very nice to have on hand in
case you've inadvertently backed up a hosed system where you haven't
discovered that it is hosed until after your most recent backup has
been made.

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.

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 in Co.]

NO. A clone is a clone is a clone and is only ONE backup.

First operation is to clone the source drive... i.e., make another
drive an exact copy of the source drive.

One can then make at-will "incremental" clones or updates of the
original clone, resulting each time in the other drive being an exact
copy of the source drive once again. Incremental clones take far less
time to complete, and that's the beauty of them.

There is only ONE clone, no matter how many "incremental" clone
operations are performed.

I hope you understand it now. You have certainly not had a shortage
of help trying to bring you up to speed on this.

Richie Hardwick

Well, I'm a tad old, so please give me some more allowance here.

You are saying then that the backup drive can ONLY store ONE copy of the
source partition (or drive), period. One, and only one backup can be
stored, no matter what. If you want another, you'll have to delete the
first one.

IOW, it is impossible to save multiple partition-based clones on ONE backup
hard drive (that is, can't save more than ONE of anything on the backup
drive, if one uses Casper).

But there is another option that some programs like BING (BootIT NG) will
allow, however. With BING, you CAN store multiple (different dated) backup
partition copies (of the source partition) on ONE single backup drive.
These are NOT image backups, they are *partition* backups (I'd almost call
them cloned partition backups). So it gets a bit confusing (at least to
me).

 

[Bill in Co.]

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.

It is important to use the terms "image" and "clone" properly, and to
not use them as interchangeable terms for "copy".

I'm not sure I was. Did you see my last post (the one mentioning BING)?

 

[Mickey Mouse]

What is this, pick on Anna week?

And by the way, my name is Mickey not Merlin
In anycase, ABRAKADABRA to you to!

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Mickey:
Let me try to answer your questions point-by-point...

As to my "long-windedness".

It is not the first-time (nor do I believe it will be the *last* time!)
that I have been accused of verbosity - particularly with respect to my
technical writing of one sort or another, including my posts to this and
similar newsgroups. While I do not resent your request to keep my replies
"short and to the point", I can only promise to *try* to be on-point, but
I make no promises now or in the future to keep them "short".

*** Hey Anna,
They sure are picking on you, but what the hey, they even think I'm some
kind of magician.
I couldn't pull a rabbit out of my hat even if bulwinckles life depended on
it!
I have though mastered the 3x3 and 4x4 Rubiks cube. Beat that one guys!

You say that "I have a slight handicap which inhibits my learning capacity
(shortterm) when given too much information." Judging from your previous
posts it's hard for me to believe you have any problem in that area. All I
can suggest, should you have the desire, interest, and inclination to do
so, is to read my posts on a "chunk-by-chunk" basis.

*** Unfortunately I'm out of the next Olympics. Two strokes and a heart
attack will do that everytime. I am though considering taking some magician
classes, how do thay do that
rabbit in a hat trick? Enough of that, there's plenty little kids worse off
than me.

BTW, the likely reason your OE spell-check is in French is because you've
probably installed MS Office 2007. There's an absurd glitch in that
program that installs the spell checker in French and carries over to OE.
(Some English-speaking users have also reported the spell checker in
German!). In any event, the common workaround that many, if not most users
have found is to use a (free) third-party spell checking program (in
English!) - Spell Checker for OE 2.1. (There are others). It seems to work
fine based on the experience I & others have had with it. A fair number of
websites carry the program for download - one of them being...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2952 which seems to be a
reliable source.

*** MS Office 2007, yep you've nailed it on the head there. At least I'll
be able to look up the
French words for hat, magician and rabbit.

1. As to my comment that the demo version of the Casper 5 program is
"slightly crippled"...

While the trial version is basically operational in that it will "clone"
the contents of one HDD to another HDD, the "destination" HDD, i.e., the
recipient of the clone, will be resized only to the extent of the disk
size of the "source" HDD, i.e., the HDD that is being cloned.

*** So what your saying is the the recipient HDD is created by Casper and is
also dynamic?

For example, say you're using the program to clone the contents of your 40
GB HDD to a 320 GB HDD. After the disk-cloning operation is completed the
320 GB HDD will contain the contents of the 40 GB HDD, however, only a 40
GB partition will be created on the 320 GB HDD; the remaining disk space
on that "destination" drive will constitute "unallocated" disk space -
disk space that can later be partitioned/formatted.

*** Yes, I understand. In fact it sounds exactly like what XR2 does.
The difference here is that you've previouly created the 320gb hd and you
have told Casper to put the Clone there.
Further, if I understand correctly and using the above analogy. It created a
40gb dynamic partition on that 320gb drive
and converted the remaining part of the 320gb drive to unallocated space
which would be aquired if the next backup was larger
than 40gb.

This limitation 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).

*** 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.

2. As to the additional cost of the "Startup Disk" download to create that
bootable CD, I agree with your comment that the developer should not
charge an additional $9.95 for that program. As I stated in my previous
post, we have complained to the developer about that charge, but (at least
till now) to no avail.

*** Sounds like trying to make the illusion that Casper cheaper than it
really is.
By the way, the french word for rabbit is Lapin! Not at all cool sounding.
But then, a rabbit by any other name............

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.

**** 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.
Having said that I do however acknowledge the need for incremental backups
and their importance for certain situations.
For example;

A clerk, updating his/her system with daily sales figures with perhaps a
view to forcasting monthly, yearly
company forcasts.
A taxation accountant keep up to date yearly records of his/her clients
In both of these cases and cases similar important data is added to
important data, an incremental backup would be essential.

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.

Let me finally say - hopefully for the last time - that I have no
connection, either personal or commercial, with the developer of the
Casper program.
Anna

Anna, I couldn't care less who you work for be it Casper, Snow White or even
Shrek! I do care and hope you are happy in your work.
Thanks for the correspondance and I'll certainly ask if I have anymore
questions.
By me at least, you are appreciated.

Mickey

 

[Daave]

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.

 

[Daave]

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.

The let's cut to the chase.

If you're not concerned with backing up data (you might want to
reconsider that, you know!) and just want an easy way of getting back to
a pristine operating system plus programs, all you need to do is make an
image one time. So, after you perform the clean install, install the
drivers, install the updates, install the programs, configure all the
settings to your preference, make your image. That way, if disaster
strikes, all you need to do is restore the image and you will have your
system the exact way it was at the time you made the image.

You can do this for free. Just use DriveImageXML:

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

The advantage of using a program like Acronis True Image is you can make
incremental images, which is useful if you don't regularly independently
back up your data. It also comes in handy when you install new programs
over time.

But if we're just talking a one-shot deal, incremental imaging isn't
what you're looking for, so at the very least, just give DriveImageXML a
shot. It sounds like that's all you need.

 

[Anna]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

I'm a tad old myself: I've been retired for over a year.


Stop thinking "backup" when talking about cloning. A CLONE is a HARD
DRIVE OR A PARTITION. It is an exact duplicate of another hard drive
or partition. Got that so far????

That was never in doubt Richie. The point you seem to be confusing is
thinking that I think that a backup is simply copying a bunch of files. I
never said that. I use the term creating a backup much more broadly - to me
it includes cloning and imaging. I do NOT mean just the copying of files
over to a destination drive.

When you "clone a drive" or "clone a partition" you make a different
drive or partition an exact copy of the source drive/partition. If
your source drive/partition changes, then you have to clone it again,
or with Casper you do an incremental clone.


Stop thinking "backup" when talking about Casper and start thinking
"duplicate drive/partition". You can have as many cloned drives as
you have spare hard drives. You can have as many cloned partitions as
you have spare partitions.

OK. I gather you don't like my choice of the word backup in this context.
I call it a backup.

You are responsible for your own confusion here because you won't nail
down the proper terms for what you're talking about. You are bouncing
around/combining the terms "backup", "image" and "clone".

An "image" is a file. A "clone" is a hard drive or a partition. Both
can be a "backup".

Exactly!! (that was never in dispute!)

Use the word "clone" ONLY when you are talking about making a drive or
partition an exact copy of another drive or partition. Do NOT
continue to use it interchangeably with "image" or "copy", and don't
even use it WITH either of those terms.

A disk can be imaged or cloned. ATI can do both. Casper can only
clone a disk.

A partition can be imaged or cloned. ATI can image a partition, but
not clone one. Casper cannot image a partition, but it can clone one.
Right.

From your description of BING, it is apparent that it images
partitions. BECAUSE if it CLONED the partitions, a BUNCH OF
PARTITIONS would be the end result, not a bunch of files.

THAT is exactly what happens, Richie (and I *have* used BING). That's my
point, and in part why this whole discussion has been somewhat confusing.
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.

 

[Leonard Grey]

<see below>
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

That was never in doubt Richie. The point you seem to be confusing is
thinking that I think that a backup is simply copying a bunch of files. I
never said that. I use the term creating a backup much more broadly - to me
it includes cloning and imaging. I do NOT mean just the copying of files
over to a destination drive.


OK. I gather you don't like my choice of the word backup in this context.
I call it a backup.


Exactly!! (that was never in dispute!)


THAT is exactly what happens, Richie (and I *have* used BING). That's my
point, and in part why this whole discussion has been somewhat confusing.
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.

I'll stick my unwanted nose in here:

Not that it matters a whole lot, but there is a small difference between
a clone and an image, as these terms are commonly used.

An image excludes unused space on the disk, and most imaging
applications also exclude certain files that don't need backing up, such
as the page file and the hibernation file. A clone, on the other hand,
is an exact duplicate, including everything.

If backing up is your goal, all you need is an image. Clones are used
for forensic purposes, as in a criminal investigation.

"Ghosting" and variations of that term were coined by Binary Research
for their disk imaging program (later purchased by Symantec) called
Ghost. In other words, it's a marketing term.

Strictly speaking, you image or clone an entire disk. But since a disk
partition is the functional equivalent of a complete disk, it's easy to
confuse disk imaging and partition imaging. It would be better to use
the generic term "volume".

Some imaging programs can backup multiple partitions into one image
file, while others put only one partition into an image file, so if your
physical hard disk is partitioned you will make several image files to
backup the complete disk. There's no practical difference, but many
people find it conceptually easier to deal with one image file for a
partitioned disk.

 

[Bill in Co.]

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.

 

[Daave]

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.

 

[Anna]

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