Linux Format forums

Re: Image of hard drive

dandnsmith — Tue May 15, 2012 8:34 am

Author: dandnsmith

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 8:34 am

If the recovery disk you propose to copy is for the new Win7 - does that mean you want the possibility of restoring Win7 to the new netbook?
If that is so, then you need to be clear about things, as some manufacturers use a system involving recovery CDs (sometimes you have to create them when you have the new machine) and a recovery partition - the CDs are useless without the recovery partition.

What I try to do is to save an image of the Windows partition and then I can restore that if I corrupt or otherwise change the HDD content. You also need a note of partition sizes so you can restore the setup.

Re: Image of hard drive

splash — Mon May 14, 2012 6:03 pm

Author: splash

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 6:03 pm

I copied the WEP files yesterday to a USB drive the reason i wanted to clone them was the WEP didnt allow cut and paste last time i tried

Some of the WEP keys are to long.

My MAIN idea is to buy another netbook deleat win 7 basic and put on the drive XP and files from an old X40

If i use Nero on the new win 7 to copy a recovery disc.then format the drive,and install the OS and files from the old laptop??I hope

Re: Image of hard drive

Steogede — Mon May 14, 2012 12:30 am

Author: Steogede

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:30 am

splash wrote:

OH im not that advanced i though i would follow the instructions

The drive has C & D i suppose id have to copy D as that has XP?

where can i find the WAP WEP file id like to copy that at least

A. You really don't want to spend all the time involved copying a partition/disk just for a few WEP keys
B. You can't just copy a Windows system partition to another machine and expect that Windows install to work unless they are extremely similar hardware
C. You might be better off asking on a Windows forum about where Windows keeps it's WEP keys. Windows some times configures WEP using it's own utility and sometimes a manufacturer provided utility, whether any of these make the keys available to you is anyone's guess (Linux is much more straight forward about where it keeps it's config. - one of the reasons I prefer it)
D. If you can you should use WPA, it is more secure, plus the keys can be easier to remember and type.

Re: Image of hard drive

dandnsmith — Sun May 13, 2012 11:00 am

Author: dandnsmith

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 11:00 am

Just so, roseway,
I too have restored a backup of a failing drive to another, not identical - but I have a long career of systems work which provides answers to any problems.
I merely caution an inexperienced user, as I have had to sort out some of these messes.

Re: Image of hard drive

roseway — Sat May 12, 2012 1:43 pm

Author: roseway

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 1:43 pm

dandnsmith wrote:

splash wrote:

dose that mean i can copy my drive and use the copy to another drive on another laptop?

Yes BUT it is only safe if the drive you're copying to is identical model and size. If you clone the entire drive, then restoring it to a different model and size drive may give you quite a mess to sort out (could even mess the drive for other purposes).

You can, however just clone the partition(s) with your OS (linux) and establish them on a new, partitioned, drive - you then need to set up the booting again by installing Grub on the new drive.

Good luck

That's not entirely true. I recently used Clonezilla to clone a failing 160GB disk to a new 500GB disk, including the MBR, and it produced a perfectly functioning copy, with 300-odd GB of unpartitioned space on the disk.

Re: Image of hard drive

nelz — Sat May 12, 2012 1:17 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 1:17 pm

If you onlywant to copy files, Clonezilla is not the correct tool as it wipes the destination drive. It sounds like you are best off keeping your key files on a USB stick.

Re: Image of hard drive

splash — Sat May 12, 2012 1:10 pm

Author: splash

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 1:10 pm

OH im not that advanced i though i would follow the instructions

The drive has C & D i suppose id have to copy D as that has XP?

where can i find the WAP WEP file id like to copy that at least

Re: Image of hard drive

dandnsmith — Sat May 12, 2012 8:08 am

Author: dandnsmith

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 8:08 am

splash wrote:

dose that mean i can copy my drive and use the copy to another drive on another laptop?

Re: Image of hard drive

splash — Fri May 11, 2012 9:33 pm

Author: splash

Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:33 pm

dose that mean i can copy my drive and use the copy to another drive on another laptop?

I want to sync or copy my WEP/WAP files as i have about 20 and re typing them when i arrive with another laptop is a pain.

Also scrapbook in firefox is wonderful but the sync dosnt work nor dose transferring the files to another scrapbook work so an image of scrapbook and files would

Thanks for the clear advice really appreciate it

Re: Image of hard drive

Brian Hunter — Fri May 04, 2012 2:37 pm

Author: Brian Hunter

Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 2:37 pm

Here is some documentation on cloning your hard drive. Takes you through all the steps.

Good luck and have fun!

Re: Image of hard drive

Rich_b21 — Thu May 03, 2012 10:08 pm

Author: Rich_b21

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 10:08 pm

It is getting clearer........thanks

Richard

Re: Image of hard drive

Bruno — Thu May 03, 2012 5:01 pm

Author: Bruno

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:01 pm

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. Clonezilla isn't so much a programme but a whole Linux distribution that runs from a Live CD. This means that you boot your computer from the CD, not from an operating system installed on your hard drive. From Clonezilla you can then image your hard drive. This method is preferable to using a programme installed on an OS booted from the internal HD. This is because if you are imaging an OS partition (for example), the host OS is not running, therefore it cannot change during the imaging process or deny you permission to read any of its files.

Re: Image of hard drive

reklan — Thu May 03, 2012 3:09 pm

Author: reklan

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 3:09 pm

its downloadable from www.clonezilla.org.

get the latest ISO image burn it to a CD.

You can the image you machine to either another hard drive or any USB drive. (I use an external WD passport drive to save all images on) you can also use it to save /restore images from a network location with it.

Re: Image of hard drive

Rich_b21 — Thu May 03, 2012 2:41 pm

Author: Rich_b21

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 2:41 pm

Clonezilla is not on my distro (Ubuntu).

Please could you advise were it can be obtain from, or another programe

Re: Image of hard drive

Bruno — Thu May 03, 2012 12:43 pm

Author: Bruno

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:43 pm

Clonezilla is good for this. It's not terribly newbie friendly but not too hard either and the results are great.