Cloning OS drive to smaller drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter ahh
  • Start date Start date
A

ahh

Is there any program that will clone your C drive and copy it over to a
SMALLER DRIVE? I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do it
only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to. I've fiddled
with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because it seems like you need a
degree majoring in the product. I've never messed with a more user
unfriendly product. Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies the same size partition I believe.

Any suggestions?
 
ahh said:
Is there any program that will clone your C drive and copy it over to a
SMALLER DRIVE? I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do it
only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to. I've fiddled
with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because it seems like you need a
degree majoring in the product. I've never messed with a more user
unfriendly product. Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies the same size partition I believe.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

1) load a clean copy of XP onto the new drive (as drive C:) ie a clean
install with just one disk. That will sort out any boot probs.
2) reset the new disk as slave and your old disk as master re boot into your
old setup
3) use Drive Image browser to "mount" the backup image you wish to use
4) copy those files you need (all?) to the "slave disk" d: or what ever its
letter is
5) remove old disk and replace with new disk set to master, reboot
This would only work (I think!, if the hardware is staying them same ie no
change of PC/ hardware etc)

I assume that the total size of the files you need will fit on the small
disk!!

Or you could set up a multiboot XP system say C and D: . On the new disk
boot to the D: version of XP and with your old disk as a slave disk just
copy all files to the C: partition. Assumes that its on the same PC and you
are not moving system boxes, before you reboot use a copy of the boot.ini
file you saved under the clean multi boot setup to replace the "original
one" that you just copied back! then you should have an original C: setup
and a clean D: XP system to play with (if you have the space)


regards
ted

regards
ted
 
Is there any program that will clone your C
drive and copy it over to a SMALLER DRIVE?
Click to expand...

Both Drive Image and Ghost will do that.
I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do
it only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to.
Click to expand...

It is possible if you make an image file first.

Obviously the total space used has to fit on the smaller
drive but presumably you have allowed for that.
I've fiddled with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because
it seems like you need a degree majoring in the product. I've
never messed with a more user unfriendly product.
Click to expand...

True, hopeless user interface. Ghost Personal 2003 is a lot better there
and is only a little worse than Drive Image in the user interface area.
Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
Correct.

DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies
the same size partition I believe.
Click to expand...
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Just do it via an image file with Drive Image.
 
Here is one way to do it, which has worked for me before. It assumes
of course that you have empty space in your drive to make it small
enough to fit on the smaller drive. First, back up your existing
drive. Then defrag it, moving all the data to the front of the drive.
Then use Partition Magic to resize it to the size of the ultimate
destination, or probably better a little smaller to be safe. Then copy
it over. Then make your new partition the active boot partition. Hide
the first partition, reboot and confirm that it works, then you can
delete the original partition and keep your backup as long as you need
it. Done.

Irwin
 
Of course in XP there is no guarantee that all the data will be in front. I
have never actually defragged a drive before resizing the drive. Even if I
am going to a smaller size. Partition Magic will usually move any data that
would normally be cut off into the area where the new partition will be.
 
ahh said:
Is there any program that will clone your C drive and copy it over to a
SMALLER DRIVE? I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do it
only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to. I've fiddled
with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because it seems like you need a
degree majoring in the product. I've never messed with a more user
unfriendly product. Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies the same size partition I believe.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Both DriveImage and Ghost will clone to smaller disk partitions. However, it
is necessary that there be sufficient space to hold the clone, which might span
more space than the net amount of the data. For example, if you have a 20GB
source partition with 5GB of data, that 5GB may be fragmented and spread out
over, say, 12GB of disk space with lots of interspersed free space. Since a
true clone puts sectors in the same order as the original (including
interspersed free-space sectors), the target would need to be at least 12GB,
even though the net amount of data is only 5GB. The solution is rather obvious
-- defrag the source first to reorder the data into contiguous
sectors/clusters, and it won't be spread out over 12GB of disk space.

BTW, for safety, operations on your OS partition are best done from Ghost or DI
boot floppies, not shelling out from within Windows.
 
Both DriveImage and Ghost will clone to smaller disk partitions.
Click to expand...

They will indeed.
However, it is necessary that there be sufficient space to hold
the clone, which might span more space than the net amount
of the data. For example, if you have a 20GB source partition
with 5GB of data, that 5GB may be fragmented and spread
out over, say, 12GB of disk space with lots of interspersed
free space. Since a true clone puts sectors in the same order
as the original (including interspersed free-space sectors),
Click to expand...

Neither Ghost or Drive Image does it like that.
the target would need to be at least 12GB, even
though the net amount of data is only 5GB. The
solution is rather obvious -- defrag the source first
to reorder the data into contiguous sectors/clusters,
and it won't be spread out over 12GB of disk space.
Click to expand...

Neither ghost or drive image need that.
BTW, for safety, operations on your OS partition are best done from
Ghost or DI boot floppies, not shelling out from within Windows.
Click to expand...

Oh bullshit.
 
Rod Speed said:
Neither Ghost or Drive Image does it like that.


Neither ghost or drive image need that.


Oh bullshit.
Click to expand...

The OP can decide who to believe. Judging by your postings throughout this ng,
they'll need alternative opinions if they listen to you.
 
The OP can decide who to believe. Judging by your postings
throughout this ng, they'll need alternative opinions if they listen to you.
Click to expand...

Even you should be able to bullshit your way out
of your predicament better than that pathetic effort.

Even someone as stupid as you should be able
to PROVE whats happening by imaging a rather
fragged partition and restoring that and checking
how fragged the restored partition is.

Opinions are completely irrelevant. Its the proof that matters.
 
ahh said:
Is there any program that will clone your C drive and copy it over to a
SMALLER DRIVE? I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do it
only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to. I've fiddled
with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because it seems like you need a
degree majoring in the product. I've never messed with a more user
unfriendly product. Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies the same size partition I believe.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Try XXCLONE, a sister product of XXCOPY.
It's being beta tested.

http://www.xxclone.com

Unlike XXCOPY which refrains itself from accessing disk sectors
(purely by our design philosophy), this product accesses the
necessary sectors (MBR, boot sector, etc.) to create a bootable
system disk for Win NT/2K/XP. So far, the majority of users
who tried it were successful. As long as you have sufficient
room for all the files, XXCLONE does not care if the new volume
has a smaller capacity. It can also make a bootable clone from
FAT to NTFS or NTFS to FAT. Unlike Ghost, this product was
designed for simplicity. It is designed for the first time
transfer of a system disk (usualy to upgrade the disk for
more capacity), but it is suitable for daily backup for which
you can use incremental backup which often takees less than
10 minutes (without a reboot). It's almost too simple to use :-)
For non-standard system environments, we encourage the user
to create a batch file using both XXCOPY and XXCLONE.

Kan Yabumoto
 
Is there any program that will clone your C drive and copy it over to a
SMALLER DRIVE? I've messed with Drive Image and apparently I could do it
only if it was a larger drive that I was moving the info to. I've fiddled
with Ghost Corporate and I must be stupid because it seems like you need a
degree majoring in the product. I've never messed with a more user
unfriendly product. Xxcopy doesn't move the boot info on WinXP.
DrivecloneXP and DriveImagerXP copies the same size partition I believe.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Windows explorer.


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
 
Back
Top