OT! OT! Hard Drive Cloning

[Ralph Wade Phillips]

Howdy!

XCOPY does copy LFNs if you run it in a window rather than boot DOS. I
don't know about XXCOPY, but is there a problem with XCOPY's handling of
LFNs?

Not LFNs - but the SFN aliases.

Instead of copying them, it generates new ones.

Which can be VERY fatal to the registry keys ... sigh.

Example: Create a folder, and make the following three files:

This is a very long file name 1.txt
This is a very long file name 2.txt
This is a very long file name 3.txt

Delete "This is a very long file name 2.txt" and then copy all three
files to a new directory.

You'll find, with the DIR listing from a command prompt, that the
target is THISIS~1.TXT and THISIS~2.TXT from THISIS~1.TXT and THISIS~3.TXT
....

XXCOPY copies the SFN aliases also ..

RwP

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

In Ralph Wade Phillips typed:

XXCOPY copies the SFN aliases also ..

Apparently it tries to but doesn't always succeed, as explained here:

http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy08.htm


Now, what about various backup utilities?

 

[Mark J.]

In news:[email protected] (Jim Thompson):

I haven't done this in years, so could I have everyone's opinion for
best hard drive cloning software?

I have one that's starting to exhibit clunking noises and I'd like to
copy it *now* so that I don't have to do massive software re-installs
;-)

...Jim Thompson

Hey Jim, I saw this the other day and thought it about the best backup idea
I'd seen in ages:


http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/onetouch/onetouch_combo/index.htm

Regards,
Mark

 

[j.b. miller]

That Maxtor one touch unit is kinda pricey though!
The 160G unit is $250US, about $400 C.
I can a drive and 2 pullouts for less than $200 C AND if the C drive dies,
I can swap in the D drive in less than 5 minutes!
I can easily setup a 'one click' to backup C to D.......

gimmicks.......

jay in ontario

 

[Mark J.]

In news:[email protected] (j.b. miller):

That Maxtor one touch unit is kinda pricey though!
The 160G unit is $250US, about $400 C.
I can a drive and 2 pullouts for less than $200 C AND if the C drive
dies, I can swap in the D drive in less than 5 minutes!
I can easily setup a 'one click' to backup C to D.......

gimmicks.......

jay in ontario

Aaaha, but it has a USB 2.0 and/or firewire interface. No rebooting,
hot-swappable, lightning fast. That's what makes it cost more. No gimmicks
involved.

 

[Costas Vlachos]

In (Jim Thompson):


Hey Jim, I saw this the other day and thought it about the best backup idea
I'd seen in ages:
http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/onetouch/onetouch_combo/index.htm

Regards,
Mark

I have the above drive (just bought it last week!). £232 for the 300 GB
version. Connected to my PC via FireWire (IEEE 1394). Huge capacity, quiet,
and VERY fast - outperforms my ATA100 internal HD!

Costas

 

[[email protected]]

Use XXcopy. Blows Norton Ghost away. And it is free.

That's just plain silly!

As far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot archive an entire drive partition
(or hard drive) into a single, highly compressed image(s) to be stored
on a CD-ROM. Also, as far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot duplicate an
entire hard drive to another, re-size the partitions and still be
bootable for *any* operating system. And finally, I know that XXCopy
cannot duplicate an entire hard drive (say 20gb) in about 15 minutes
and without reading a manual to figure about the 200+ command line
options.

You can do all this with Ghost and Power Quest Drive Image. Although
I use Ghost, I'm not saying Drive Image is inferior BUT XXCopy is
definitely inferior for most applications as it's simply an enhanced
version of MS xcopy.

SDC

 

[clare @ snyder.on .ca]

That's just plain silly!

As far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot archive an entire drive partition
(or hard drive) into a single, highly compressed image(s) to be stored
on a CD-ROM. Also, as far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot duplicate an
entire hard drive to another, re-size the partitions and still be
bootable for *any* operating system. And finally, I know that XXCopy
cannot duplicate an entire hard drive (say 20gb) in about 15 minutes
and without reading a manual to figure about the 200+ command line
options.

If you are "cloning" a drive you don't need or want a compressed image
- all you want is a bootable hard drive with ALL the programs and data
there and useable. When trying to do this with an NTFS file system and
Ghost, (particularly going from an under 8gb drive to an over 8gb
drive) you very quickly find out what frustration is.
Fdisk and format the new drive, then XXcopy with the proper switches,
and it's done.
Now, when working with FAT16 or FAT32 drives, Ghost works pretty well
- just did one yesterday (3Gb Win98 to 40Gb).

 

[Ralph Wade Phillips]

Howdy!

That's just plain silly!

As far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot archive an entire drive partition
(or hard drive) into a single, highly compressed image(s) to be stored
on a CD-ROM. Also, as far as I can tell, XXcopy cannot duplicate an

Sure can't. But there IS BING (Boot It NG - at
http://www.bootitng.com ) that can do that. 30USD, but 30 day eval.

Well, actually, it's IMAGE - which is part of BING, but is available
separately, same site.

entire hard drive to another, re-size the partitions and still be
bootable for *any* operating system. And finally, I know that XXCopy

Any? Sure can't.

cannot duplicate an entire hard drive (say 20gb) in about 15 minutes
and without reading a manual to figure about the 200+ command line
options.

Dunno about the 15 minutes, but it doesn't take long to find /CLONE
....

You can do all this with Ghost and Power Quest Drive Image. Although
I use Ghost, I'm not saying Drive Image is inferior BUT XXCopy is
definitely inferior for most applications as it's simply an enhanced
version of MS xcopy.

It is if you plan to use it like Ghost can be used. HOWEVER - It is
worth having all by itself, for what it CAN do.

Such as copying the ACLs in NTFS partitions. Such as being able to
resume an interrupted transfer. Such as ... well, working, dammit!

RwP (who owns several copies of Ghost and five licenses of XXCOPY
.... )