Copying My C Drive To An External Drive

[billd766]

I would like to reformat my laptop and I have copied my D drive to an external hard drive using Partition Magic which was no problem but when I tried to copy the C drive it wouldn't copy it.

My D drive is my working drive and the C drive is where the operational stuff is carried such as the OS and windows xp etc.

Can anybody please help me?

:D

[regedit]

I would like to reformat my laptop and I have copied my D drive to an external hard drive using Partition Magic which was no problem but when I tried to copy the C drive it wouldn't copy it.

My D drive is my working drive and the C drive is where the operational stuff is carried such as the OS and windows xp etc.

Can anybody please help me?

:D

you can use backup softwRe to create an image of your c drive to another drive or set of disks. Then reformat and reinstall the image.

[JetsetBkk]

you can use backup software to create an image of your c drive to another drive or set of disks. Then reformat and reinstall the image.

I use a bootable CD copy of Acronis "True Image" v 11 to make an image of the C: drive and write it to an external USB drive. I also use it restore the image to another C: drive, after swapping the drive for a spare C: drive.

I make these images every week as part of my backups strategy.

[Tywais]

I use a bootable CD copy of Acronis "True Image" v 11 to make an image of the C: drive and write it to an external USB drive.

Same here, excellent backup software. Also, since the drive is effectively "off line" during the backup it guarantees an accurate snapshot of the disk.

[webfact]

you can use backup software to create an image of your c drive to another drive or set of disks. Then reformat and reinstall the image.

I use a bootable CD copy of Acronis "True Image" v 11 to make an image of the C: drive and write it to an external USB drive. I also use it restore the image to another C: drive, after swapping the drive for a spare C: drive.

I make these images every week as part of my backups strategy.

I do exactly the same as described above. I can only highly recommend to use "True Image", don't know any better at this time.

[j0hnga1t]

what about norton ghost?

[Guest Reimar]

True Image is excellent.

If you want to clone a HDD the best software I ever had is HD Clone. Runs from an bootable CD or from an bootable floppy. Doesn't matter the HDD is connected to SATA, IDE, IEEE1394 (Firewire) or USB or mix of it: it works and tyhat as fast as possible with the system.

You can even choose what you want: Clone or Image or copy just one partition pp. Beats Norton Ghost in all aspects!

Cheers.

[JimShortz]

Why would you want to copy the C: if it only contains the operating system and programs? Surely there is no point in formatting C: and then reinstalling your (presumably messed up) old installation?

[Rice_King]

Why would you want to copy the C: if it only contains the operating system and programs? Surely there is no point in formatting C: and then reinstalling your (presumably messed up) old installation?

I can't speak for the OP's reasons, but I backup my OS drive because I want to minimize my PC's "down time" should the hard drive(s) fail on a "presumably" healthy installation.

[Tywais]

I can't speak for the OP's reasons, but I backup my OS drive because I want to minimize my PC's "down time" should the hard drive(s) fail on a "presumably" healthy installation.

Also how I do it. After a clean OS install, all drivers and primary applications installed and system stable will image it to an internal and external drive. If a failure, then a half hours effort to re-install the OS and all drivers/applications rather then several hours to do manual installs of everything.

[Larryst]

I just bought a Sata external HD. I had it partioned into 4 parts. I want to get a complete copy of my computer including OS and everything. Because I have a Dell computer and it has the factory restore on the HD. I also got Acronis True Image 11. But, I'm not too swift or smart enough to use it. Or confused. Anyone using it, can they give instructions on how to use it? I did look at the instructions. But, I'm a bit confused on it. So a little help would be appreciated.

[Digitalbanana]

I use Farstones DriveClone Pro and it works easily from within the GUI of Vista or XP with partitioned HD's? Smaller and faster to download than Acronis True Image.

[0Mix1up]

After a clean OS install, all drivers and primary applications installed and system stable will image it to an internal and external drive. If a failure, then a half hours effort to re-install the OS and all drivers/applications rather then several hours to do manual installs of everything.

Ahhh yes must do that!!

[billd766]

Thanks for all the answers.

It seems as though True Image 11 is the way to go. I will see what happens at the weekend when I get some time.

[JetsetBkk]

I just bought a Sata external HD. I had it partioned into 4 parts. I want to get a complete copy of my computer including OS and everything. Because I have a Dell computer and it has the factory restore on the HD. I also got Acronis True Image 11. But, I'm not too swift or smart enough to use it. Or confused. Anyone using it, can they give instructions on how to use it? I did look at the instructions. But, I'm a bit confused on it. So a little help would be appreciated.

If you hang on a while, the next time I do an image I'll make notes and post them here.

[Larryst]

Thanks I appreciate it.

I just bought a Sata external HD. I had it partioned into 4 parts. I want to get a complete copy of my computer including OS and everything. Because I have a Dell computer and it has the factory restore on the HD. I also got Acronis True Image 11. But, I'm not too swift or smart enough to use it. Or confused. Anyone using it, can they give instructions on how to use it? I did look at the instructions. But, I'm a bit confused on it. So a little help would be appreciated.

If you hang on a while, the next time I do an image I'll make notes and post them here.

[JetsetBkk]

Today was "Image" day:

1. Shutdown PC and turn off all external equipment apart from the USB drive that will be used to store the image.

2. Insert 'Acronis True Image Home v. 11' CD and boot. (The installed version of this s/w is probably identical, but I prefer to run from the CD. The installed version allows you to create the bootable CD - don't know where as I don't have it installed at the moment.)

3. The screen "Acronis True Image Home" is displayed. Use the up arrow key to select the option "Acronis True Image Home (Full Version)".

4. A few screens appear while it is "loading", "checking drives", etc.

5. The "Pick a Task" window appears. Use the mouse to select "Backup" (the first task listed).

6. The window "Welcome to the Create Backup Wizard" appears. Click "Next".

7. The window "Select Backup Type" appears. Select "My Computer", if not already selected. Click "Next".

8. A couple of small windows flash up while it is analysing partitions, etc.

9. The window "Partitions Selection" appears. Click "Disk 1" so that all the partitions listed on it are selected. Click "Next".

10. The window "Source Files Exclusion" appears. Do nothing. Click "Next".

11. The window "Information" appears. Do nothing. Click "OK".

12. The window "Backup Archive Location" appears. In the left pane, browse to the USB drive and folder to receive the backup image file. The right pane displays the amount of free space. My C: drive uses 20 GB and the backup image is 12 GB - make sure you have enough space for your C: drive image.

13. In the "File name:" entry field near the bottom, enter a file name, e.g. "ImC01.tib" (=Image, drive C, no. 1). Always enter the file type as ".tib". Click "Next".

14. The window "Select Backup Mode" appears. Select "Create a new full backup archive", if not already selected. Click "Next".

15. The window "Backup Creation Options" appears. Do nothing. Click "Next".

16. The window "Archive Comments" appears. Do nothing. Click "Next".

17. The window "Create Backup Wizard" appears. Do nothing. Click "Proceed".

18. The window "Operation Progress" appears. Do nothing. Wait. (30 - 45 minutes for 20 GB C: drive.)

19. The window "Information" appears. Hopefully it says "Backup archive creation has been completed successfully". Click "OK".

20. The window "Pick a Task" appears. I always validate the image at this point. So click on "Validate Backup Archive".

21. The window "Backup Archive Validation Wizard" appears. Click "Next".

22. The window "Backup Archive Selection" appears. Browse to the USB drive and click on the image file just created. Click "Next".

23. The window "Archive Verification" appears. Click "Proceed".

24. The window "Operation Progress" appears. Wait. (About 30 minutes).

25. The window "Information" appears. Hopefully it says "The archive was successfully checked". Click "OK".

26. The "Pick a Task" window appears. Eject the CD. Click on the "Operations" menu (top, left) and select "Exit". The message "Restarting system" appears and the C: drive is booted.

And that's all there is to it. Just a lot of waiting around, really.

I won't be doing a restore for a while (next month), but the restore operation is very similar to the backup - you select the image file and specify where it is to be restored to. There are lots of warnings about overwriting existing data but, provided you are sure the C: drive contains nothing you want, go ahead and restore to it.

[JSixpack]

If you're using Acronis, you can just install it on HD and run it from there, no need to boot from CD, which is much less convenient. With it installed, you can run it from its built-in scheduler, too. After you create your first image, you can subsequently create incremental images, with just the differences, a process which goes much faster, say, 10 minutes as opposed to 30. After you finish, you can "mount" the image from your installed Acronis (I suspect the CD doesn't allow mounting), and if it mounts, it's good, no need ever to restore unless the original fails. Mounting is also convenient for later retrieving something you've inadvertently erased from the original, etc.

A great product, Acronis.

Edited September 8, 2008 by JSixpack

[JetsetBkk]

If you're using Acronis, you can just install it on HD and run it from there, no need to boot from CD, which is much less convenient. With it installed, you can run it from its built-in scheduler, too. After you create your first image, you can subsequently create incremental images, with just the differences, a process which goes much faster, say, 10 minutes as opposed to 30. After you finish, you can "mount" the image from your installed Acronis (I suspect the CD doesn't allow mounting), and if it mounts, it's good, no need ever to restore unless the original fails. Mounting is also convenient for later retrieving something you've inadvertently erased from the original, etc.

A great product, Acronis.

Agreed. I used to have it installed, but after creating the CD I find I have no real need for it on my hard disk and do only weekly images with it on Sundays. For the rest of the week I make backups of specific data every time I start the PC using a command file that uses "xxcopy", a free file management utility.

[zzdocxx]

I've never done a "ghost" type backup, only finally used my external HD to back up files the other day. I had to customize the menu to get all the file extension types I wanted it to backup, eg. pdf, rtf, weren't in the default. Its a "SimpleTech" HD with its own "OneTouch" backup software.

Anyway, I keep my OS and programs on my C: partition and data on my D: partition.

So, about Acronis, I take it the main purpose is to do the OS/programs backup? When I backed up my data I think it said it would take a few DVDs if I did it that way. So the Acronis will ghost the OS onto a single disk, right?

It'd be kind of interesting if the Acronis could ghost it onto the external HD. I'm using the term ghost in a generic sense since I don't know that much about this stuff. This is a great thread though! ! !

(edit: Re-reading the posts above, I think I'm understanding that in fact the Acronis can easily back up my OS on C: to the external HD?)

Thanks!

Edited September 8, 2008 by zzdocxx

[JetsetBkk]

I've never done a "ghost" type backup, only finally used my external HD to back up files the other day. I had to customize the menu to get all the file extension types I wanted it to backup, eg. pdf, rtf, weren't in the default. Its a "SimpleTech" HD with its own "OneTouch" backup software.

I don't like using "special" backup utilities - prefer more popular vendors, like Acronis.

Anyway, I keep my OS and programs on my C: partition and data on my D: partition.

Same here, but my D: is empty. I have all my data on external USB HDDs.

So, about Acronis, I take it the main purpose is to do the OS/programs backup?

According to the Acronis web site, it does just about everything you can think of! - incrementals, differentials, and complete system backups, with automatic scheduling. It doesn't have to be just the O/S - you can backup your data too.

When I backed up my data I think it said it would take a few DVDs if I did it that way. So the Acronis will ghost the OS onto a single disk, right?

Yes, it'll burn to DVDs, but I don't do it. I used to burn CDs many years ago with Norton Ghost, and write to about 12 CDs. That was a real time waster, especially when the last CD gave an error and you had to start again!

I don't know if you could reduce your O/S so that the image would fit on a single DVD - you'd probably have to get it down to about 7 GB to fit it on a 4.7 GB DVD. You can specify which files NOT to copy in order to get the image size down.

My O/S is 20 GB and the image is 12 GB, so I would need 3 DVDs to store the image. But I don't trust DVDs so I write the image to an external HDD. Hard disk space is reliable, fast and cheap.

It'd be kind of interesting if the Acronis could ghost it onto the external HD. I'm using the term ghost in a generic sense since I don't know that much about this stuff. This is a great thread though! ! !

(edit: Re-reading the posts above, I think I'm understanding that in fact the Acronis can easily back up my OS on C: to the external HD?)

Exactly - easy peasy.

[Rice_King]

I used to use Acronis, and I agree it is a great application. Then about 2 years ago someone in this forum recommended Drive Snapshot and I have been a DS convert since. As for the cloning disks duty, Drive Snapshot does most, if not everything Acronis can do but does it from a 2mb executable file. No need to even install it.

Edited September 9, 2008 by Rice_King

[JSixpack]

So the Acronis will ghost the OS onto a single disk, right?

It can create a compressed image of a partition and write it to one or more DVDs. You could reduce the size of XP by cleaning up, deleting old update install files, and using xplite to remove stuff. And then you might be able to get an image onto one DVD, more likely if you use a dual-layer DVD with nearly twice the space. A lot of shops don't sell dual-layer DVDs, so you might have to look around.

I wouldn't rely on DVD exclusively however.