Looking for advice on PC Cloning?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kelvin
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Kelvin

I finally have enough of the same model computers where I can start to think
about cloning...

I found this review and wanted to see if anyone has any advice on what I
should use.
http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com

I've used "Norton Ghost" a few years back, it worked well and I suspect it's
been updated since I used it...

The Paragon and Norton Ghost both have a Change SID option.
When I used Ghost before I used a Microsoft utility SysPrep, I believe it
wiped the SID and then I would make a copy of the disk\partition...

Any real world advice for todays world?
Any considerations for Windows 7? I'm currently running XP Pro but will soon
add some 7 machines.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Kelvin
 
I would continue using Norton Ghost and the latest version is Norton Ghost
15. This is a fantastic product and one feature I like most is cold cloning
of HD and backups of files without installing Ghost on your system. Ideal
if you have a dead hard disk which you can't boot up with Windows.

You can download a trial version from Symantec website but you don't get the
recovery CD for it. You should know their website because you have used
Ghost already.

hth
 
In
Kelvin said:
I finally have enough of the same model computers where I can start
to think about cloning...

I found this review and wanted to see if anyone has any advice on
what I should use.
http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com

I've used "Norton Ghost" a few years back, it worked well and I
suspect it's been updated since I used it...

The Paragon and Norton Ghost both have a Change SID option.
When I used Ghost before I used a Microsoft utility SysPrep, I
believe it wiped the SID and then I would make a copy of the
disk\partition...
Any real world advice for todays world?
Any considerations for Windows 7? I'm currently running XP Pro but
will soon add some 7 machines.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Kelvin
Click to expand...

If all you want is cloning and not imaging, Casper is a decent little app.

Just to clarify, you DO know that cloning a hard disk doesn't make it usable
for any other machine unless it has identical hardware, right?

If you meant Backup or disk imaging, then Ghost and Acronis True Image seem
to be the top two. Personally I find Ghost a little easier to use and better
bells & whistels, but ymmv. There are one or two free disk imaging progs
too but I don't use them so don't have links handy. If you're tech minded,
BootItNG is decent too and might still have a free version; haven't looked
in ages.

As for win 7 I'm avoiding it although my machine is win7 capable. I had them
preinstall XP SP3 instead though. Win 7 is just Vista with a few default
changes and a couple minor fixes; not very impressed with it. Ymmv of
course.

HTH,

Twayne
 
I like Casper 6.0

http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

I've used Casper for a year and have found it to be easy to use, dead-on
reliable and very fast. It is a cloner only, not an imager and if cloning
is your requirement, it's hard to beat. It operates completely within
Windows -- no boot CDs required -- and can be scheduled to turn on your
computer while you sleep and make a bootable clone to either a second
internal HD or to an external HD using a USB or eSATA connection. It has a
free trial version.

I know that Norton Ghost and Acronis are very popular as is Macrium. I've
tried the latter two and much prefer Casper.

Just MHO. As always, YMMV.

=======================================================
I finally have enough of the same model computers where I can start to think
about cloning...

I found this review and wanted to see if anyone has any advice on what I
should use.
http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com

I've used "Norton Ghost" a few years back, it worked well and I suspect it's
been updated since I used it...

The Paragon and Norton Ghost both have a Change SID option.
When I used Ghost before I used a Microsoft utility SysPrep, I believe it
wiped the SID and then I would make a copy of the disk\partition...

Any real world advice for todays world?
Any considerations for Windows 7? I'm currently running XP Pro but will soon
add some 7 machines.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Kelvin
 
I've used Sysprep in the past to remove the SID so I could apply the image
to other hardware...
I suspect that woul still be the case...

Kelvin
 
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