I've been playing with the downloadable free trial
version of Casper XP. For my purposes - making
bootable backup clones of my WinXP system -
it works quite well. Unlike Accronis True Image,
it can clone a single partition from one HD onto
unallocated space on another HD and keep the
clone the same size as the original (or some other
size if desired). With True Image, the entire original
HD is copied to the entire destination HD. And unlike
Partition Magic, it doesn't shift around the partitions
on the destination HD to compact them. And unlike
Ghost 9.0 (and Drive Image 7.x), it doesn't need
..NET Framework to be installed. The only drawback
that I've noticed is that it's not as fast as Ghost -
when Ghost worked on my machine. But since Ghost
causes my machine to freeze, Casper XP is the only
game in town. And it's not a bad game. Check it out:
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/

*TimDaniels*

I use ghost32.exe (8.0 or 8.2) with WinPE (UBCD4WIN).
Fast, flexible, no issues yet.
Non intrusive (no installation required).

Timothy Daniels a émis l'idée suivante :
Thanks for the info.

Does the product allow to create a bootable CD from which it can be run
as a stand alone backup/recovery tool ? I don't see any mention of
this in the specs.

How does the speed compare to True Image ?

Do you know how well it handles disks containing IO errors ?

"Michel S." wrote:

The User Guide makes no mention of a bootable CD. The
purpose of Casper XP is to make bootable system clones on
hard drives - either on the same hard drive or other hard drives.
This suits my purposes exactly, but I understand that most
people do things differently.



It seems about the same as True Image and much slower
than Ghost/Drive Image. This may be due to my anti-virus
or firewall software running at the same time, or it may be
due to my use of an IDE controller card for my hard drives.
The speed varied between 500MB/min and 1GB/min for an
average of about 700MB/min. Drive Image 7.x seemed to
do the job at a speed of about 3GB/min (when it worked at
all).



The documentation makes no mention of technology pertaining
to bad sectors. The documentation does say to run chkdsk or to
use the WinXP scan utility to correct errors.


For my purposes - making system clones on backup hard
drives - Casper XP is ideally suited. It's intuitive and simple and
it doesn't need .NET Framework, it can clone individual partitions,
it doesn't shift the partitions around on the destination drive, and
it's cheaper than Ghost. It will also do incremental backups to
existing clones to save time in maintaining a backup system
(a feature I don't need given the small size of my entire system).
But if you need to make image files for storage on CDs or DVDs,
or if you want to do "repairs", look to another utility.

*TimDaniels*

Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote
Urk.

Yeah, that approach has real downsides in most situations,
mainly that its a clone and so much bigger than an image
and the only real advantage is that its quicker if you need
to boot the clone, and very few need that except when
upgrading the hard drive, and its better to clone from a
bootable CD if you're upgrading the hard drive.

That doesnt make a lot of sense. True Image 8
can clone a physical drive a lot quicker than Ghost 9

Thats the main reason why cloning best done from a bootable
CD, so you can ensure that there is none of that involved.

Which basically means that it cant handle them itself.

So its useless for cloning a drive or partition for safety
before attempting to repair a stuffed drive or partition.

But that really doesnt make a lot of sense for backup.

Big deal.

So can ghost 2003.

Neither does any decent drive cloner.

Dont believe that. Ghost 2003 as part of
systemworks pro 2003 costs peanuts.

Then you also dont actually need to clone individual
partitions. You'd be much better off using images instead.

Or if you just want to use images on hard drives too.

"Rod Speed" wrote:

My True Image 8 took almost 2 hours to clone
what Drive Image 7.03 (virtually Ghost 9.0) used to
do (when it worked) in 4 minutes. For some reason,
True Image seems to abandon DMA when used in
my system.




Yup. I've also read that copying in Safe Mode can
be a help with that.




I don't know. Maybe it just copies the system, errors
and all, because it does sector copying, not file copying.




It does for me. I just abandon the failed or corrupted
drive, and boot up a backup drive. If it's just a data file that
got corrupted, I can drag 'n drop it from a backup hard
drive in seconds.



Yup. Why keep an entire virtual machine and runtime
environment installed and running just to make partition
copies?



So is Drive Image 2002. But what's currently produced
and supported matters to some people.



The truth of that depends on whether you call
Partition Magic a "decent drive cloner".



Cheaper than Ghost 9.0, then.



I can't afford to wait an hour or more to copy an
image back to a hard drive. With a bootable clone,
it's virtually just a re-boot.




Agreed. Casper XP doesn't make image files that have to
undergo a "restoration" copy process to retrieve a working
system. It makes only bootable clones of a system that need
no "restoration" step in order to function. Drive Image 7.x (and
Ghost 9.0) used to do that for me, but now it (they) just freeze
my PC.

*TimDaniels*

Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote
You must have stuffed something up very comprehensively
when I got the opposite result, TI cloned the entire 120G
drive to a 160G, adjusting the partition sizes in the process,
much more quickly than Ghost 9 did just one of the partitions.

Then your general claim about TI and Ghost is clearly just plain wrong.

Not necessarily a bootable CD either, just a non OS boot too.

Sure.

Its obvious from the instruction to correct errors before using it.

If thats all it did, there is no need to correct errors first.

And sector copying has real downsides too, you
have to copy everything, not just the used sectors.

And there isnt just file or sector copying either, the other
approach is to just copy the sectors that have anything
useful in them, dont bother copying the free sectors.

Nope, you've always got that wrong.

And you dont need that instant switch, it makes
a lot more sense to use images instead.

You can move a file from an image in seconds
too with any decent modern imaging app.

Nup.

No need for that with a decent modern imager.

And most have enough of a clue to realise that
cloning partitions doesnt have any advantage.

It aint a drive cloner, its a partition ute.

That aint true either. You're using list
prices, they aint the only prices available.

Pity that if you actually need an instant recovery from a problem,
you dont get it when any failure in that PC will see you without
anything useable for much longer. You need a standby PC, not
just a clone of the boot partition which is one of the least likely failures.

So can all the other cloners.

Then you need to fix that problem, not desperately
hunt around for something that doesnt freeze.

Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote:
Bet its the stupid removable drive bays and round cables.

"Rod Speed" wagered:

I have two HDs for backup - one in a removable tray
and one permanently mounted internally. The freezes occur
when I try to clone the primary system partition to either of
them. The problem lies with the primary system which is
not in a removable tray. The PC also freezes if I double-click
on a wave file without first starting up Windows Media Player.
So the problem seems to be with software conflicts or timing.

*TimDaniels*

Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote
OK, then you need to try it with a standards compliant flat ribbon cable.

How long have you waited ? If its for a reasonable
time, you've just got the wav extension associated
with something that isnt properly installed etc.

Yeah, the last one likely is. That shouldnt be
the case with Drive Image 7.x (and Ghost 9.0)

Nope, that wont cause a freeze with a properly setup system.

Have you applied the live updates to Ghost 9 ?

"Rod Speed" wrote:

I don't have Ghost 9.0 . I have Drive Image 7.0
which was brought up to version 7.03 with updates
from the Symantec website.

*TimDaniels*

"Rod Speed" wrote:

It was simpler than that: I didn't have the .wmv file
type associated with Windows Media Player or with
Real Player. Sheesh. I figured that Windows Media
Player would be the default association.

*TimDaniels*

Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote
It should have asked you what you wanted to use for those.
Thats why I asked how long you waited, it can take a while
on a slower machine before it offers you the list of possibilitys.

Likely you had it associated with something else that
you deleted and thats why it hung. Whatever it was
didnt release the association with wmvs properly or
you manually deleted it instead of uninstalling it properly.

Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote
Then you shouldnt have said you get a hang
with Ghost 9, its not identical to DI 7.03