Hard Drive Image or Copy

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J

JamesJ

I'm a bit confused about imaging a hard drive.
I recently purchased a 500 gb external hdd. My internal hdd has
only 39 gb used. Why would I create an image of the drive as opposed to
simply
copying the drive contents when a copy would fit on the external hdd? And if
I copy
the drive contents to the external drive and I want to restore it how does
that work?
Does data only get replaced or can I remove what's on the internal hdd and
then
copy the backup to the internal hdd??

Any help will be appreciated,
James
 
JamesJ said:
I'm a bit confused about imaging a hard drive.
I recently purchased a 500 gb external hdd. My internal hdd has
only 39 gb used. Why would I create an image of the drive as opposed to
simply
copying the drive contents when a copy would fit on the external hdd? And
if I copy
the drive contents to the external drive and I want to restore it how does
that work?
Does data only get replaced or can I remove what's on the internal hdd and
then
copy the backup to the internal hdd??
Click to expand...

Copying the data files is fine but if your original hard drive dies or
Windows gets messed up, you have to completely reinstall Windows, all your
programs, redo all your settings, transfer your data back, etc. If you
*image* your system then if disaster strikes all you have to do is boot
with the rescue CD you made from the imaging software's utility and restore
the image from the external hard drive to whatever drive you want. And
things will be just as they were.

For more information on imaging, you should spend some time looking at the
various imaging software companies' websites. Each one of them will have
plenty of information, FAQs, etc. about what imaging is, how to use it,
answers about incremental backups, and all that. This really isn't a Vista
question per se.

I prefer Acronis True Image but there are quite a few other imaging
programs. Google for them.

Malke
 
You don't use copy for restoration work. You use image.

When you copy from one drive to the next you create a bootable partition on
the second drive. You have 1 copy on the 500 gig drive. If you had 1
partition on the original drive you will have 1 partition on the copy drive.
If you have 3 partitions on the original drive you will have 3 partitions on
the copy drive. You do this so you can physically replace the old drive with
the new.

An image is stored as a "file". You can have many, many images on a 500 gig
hard drive. You can image 1 of the partitions (say the system partition) or
you can image all of the partitions at once. You then restore the image file
to the original disk drive as 1 partition or all 3 if you so desire.

Personally, I see no reason to image other than the system partition. The
data in my other partitions is just copied over to the 500 gig drive and
placed in a folder. No compression is used and what you need is supplied
with the operating system.
 
I was what software to use for my backup. I'm currently using a trial
of Active@ Disk Image and have made an image of the system partition
which is the only partition on my internal.
And I do backup my data to the external.

Thanks,
James
 
Thanks much for the info. I'm using a trial imaging software (Active@ Disk
Image) and have made
an image of my hard drive. I wasn't quite sure whether I should just back it
up or image it -
image of my drive and backup my data

Thanks again,
James
 
JamesJ said:
Thanks much for the info. I'm using a trial imaging software (Active@
Disk Image) and have made
an image of my hard drive. I wasn't quite sure whether I should just
back it up or image it -
image of my drive and backup my data

Thanks again,
James
Click to expand...

Depending on the imaging software, you may want to do both. Most imaging
software like Acronis and Ghost will allow you to find and restore a
single file/folder or multiple files/folders. If your imaging software
doesn't do this, you definitely want to copy critical files to an
external hard drive. I do it even though Acronis works as described
above. It's just easier to file and restore file(s) from that backup
than from an image....

--

Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://mypcassistant.blogspot.com/
 
Sure is.

James

Hank Arnold said:
Depending on the imaging software, you may want to do both. Most imaging
software like Acronis and Ghost will allow you to find and restore a
single file/folder or multiple files/folders. If your imaging software
doesn't do this, you definitely want to copy critical files to an external
hard drive. I do it even though Acronis works as described above. It's
just easier to file and restore file(s) from that backup than from an
image....

--

Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://mypcassistant.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...
 
JamesJ said:
I'm a bit confused about imaging a hard drive.
I recently purchased a 500 gb external hdd. My internal hdd has
only 39 gb used. Why would I create an image of the drive as opposed to
simply
copying the drive contents when a copy would fit on the external hdd? And
if I copy
the drive contents to the external drive and I want to restore it how does
that work?
Does data only get replaced or can I remove what's on the internal hdd and
then
copy the backup to the internal hdd??

Any help will be appreciated,
James
Click to expand...

Something to think about when it comes to imaging.

The standard Acronis package (which I have) will indeed make an image and
restore an entire image of files -- even individual files. Finding
individual files using its Explorer-like interface is, however, is
definitely not easy. That's the least of what may be a potential problem
when and if you have hardware problems.

The worst may be restoring your stored image to a replacement drive. Their
"fine print" indicates that Restore must be done to identical hardware.
Well, now, if you go to replace your 5 year old hard drive, good luck on
duplicating it. I couldn't on my system. How about the motherboard? You'd
be hard pressed to find one to match that as well.

To solve all that potential hardware obsolescence, Acronis offers their
Professional version. If you buy that -- PLUS, their Bare Metal Restore
package, then you can truly restore to different hardware. I never went
that far because I wasn't that impressed with their regular package.

I certainly wasn't impressed with their lack of disclosure (the Bare Metal
etc) when buying their regular package enough to pursue another product with
them.

Len
 
Len said:
Something to think about when it comes to imaging.

The standard Acronis package (which I have) will indeed make an image and
restore an entire image of files -- even individual files. Finding
individual files using its Explorer-like interface is, however, is
definitely not easy.
Click to expand...

It's quite easy. I've done it.
That's the least of what may be a potential problem
when and if you have hardware problems.

The worst may be restoring your stored image to a replacement drive. Their
"fine print" indicates that Restore must be done to identical hardware.
Click to expand...

You are SO full of crap! I've been using Acronis True Image since
version 8 and have NEVER encountered what you are saying.

Never.
 
I restore images to new and larger hard drives from a different manufacturer
**ALL THE TIME**.

Bad information is worse than no information - every time!
 
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