Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (
More info?)
Terry,
Whenever I used Drive Image 7.01, and now Ghost 9, to create/verify an
image - I have never failed to be able to restore that image. The important
step is the "VERIFY" as part of the create process. Believe me, if the
program didn't do what it was stated to be able to do, it would have been
yanked off the market years ago.
The only times I have seen problems is when there are drive errors. This
will cause the imaging program to error out during the creation process.
Easy fix! Run chkdsk with the /f switch before you create the image. The
imaging program is not going to allow you to create an image of a partition
that it "knows" is logically corrupt to begin with.
--
Regards,
Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"
"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news
b3oh1l6lfit4ki2827h3538qf6mjj0o7r@4ax.com...
> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote:
>
>>Okay, you already have an image. Why can't you just restore that instead
>>of
>>copying????????????????
>>
>>P.S. Ghost 9.0 and the former DI 7.0 are alot faster because 1. you don't
>>have to reboot, 2. Windows access to another partition or hard drive is
>>not
>>limited to slower disk access in dos like DI 6.0 relies on when imaging
>>the
>>boot partition. 3. If enabled, DMA can provide almost dual like access
>>during reads/writes, not available in dos.
>>
>>"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
>>news:spjgh1ho2udu22l4d1d91l8h50sp0dvufj@4ax.com...
>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> >Just keep doing what you're doing.
>>> >Assuming you have the space, save an image of C: to G:.
>>> >When C: fails, put in the DI boot diskettes and restore the image to
>>> >F:.
>>> >Pull the first hard drive out of the system and replace it with the 2nd
>>hard
>>> >drive. Course all this drive lettering will change when booting from
>>> >the
>>DI
>>> >diskettes, even before restoring.
>>> >
>>> >Copying takes forever. Don't waste your time on this for regular
>>> >backups
>>of
>>> >C: Imaging is faster and more likely to boot properly when restored.
>>>
>>> Thanks, appreciate your advice. However, I have already also made an
>>> image of C on G:. (Took a fair while, containing all the data as it
>>> does.) So I do have that restore option if necessary, if C: is still
>>> accessible.
>>>
>>> But the attractions of making a *copy* are
>>> - I can immediately test it, at no risk, unlike restoring a set of PQI
>>> image files.
>>> - We can use the PC even if C: is inaccessible, whether due to
>>> hardware or OS, etc.
>>>
>>> So I just want to know if I can temporarily resize C: safely, so that
>>> DI will let me copy it to E: Then I can resize C: back up to 40GB
>>> again. From my subsequent study, it looks as if I *can* do this. But
>>> it would be reassuring to hear from more experienced DI users before I
>>> press on!
>>>
>>> Note that I don't intend to do this copy as a regular backup. After
>>> much effort, we now have all the programs my wife uses on a regular
>>> basis. Not much will change form now on. If, heaven forbid, we had
>>> another disaster in a year from now, I reckon she would be able to
>>> boot into E: and be instantly familiar with the environment.
>>>
>>> Maybe this should have been a separate post but... it hasn't increased
>>> my confidence that DI just failed on *my* PC! While doing that long
>>> image creation on my wife's PC, I decided I'd do a run on my own
>>> system. My setup is:
>>>
>>> HD1
>>> ---
>>> C 12GB: Win XP Home SP1
>>> D 44GB: All programs and data
>>>
>>> HD2
>>> ---
>>> E 12GB: Copy of WinXP made years ago
>>> F 44GB: Backups
>>>
>>> It started OK, rebooted itself to 'Caldera DOS', and after half an
>>> hour I left it chuntering away at a slow 47MB/min. (The wife's image
>>> was going at 145MB/min.) But while having lunch, about an hour into
>>> the run, I heard sound of my PC rebooting prematurely. On returning, I
>>> found E: had vanished. I recreated it with XP Disk Manage, but of
>>> course it's now empty ;-(
>>>
>>> I had run chkdsk /f on both C: and E: befoe running DI. And no
>>> messages were displayed by DI before it crashed. So I'm at a loss to
>>> know what might have caused this failure. Any ideas anyone please?
>>>
>>> Terry, UK
>>
>
> I don't think you can have read my post! As I said:
> "But the attractions of making a *copy* are
> - I can immediately test it, at no risk, unlike restoring a set of PQI
> image files."
>
> The reason for making the image (first) was to provide *additional*
> backup. But it's *untested*. You're seriously suggesting I wipe out an
> existing well-running OS just to test whether, if I ever need to do so
> in earnest in the future, it will work?! Get serious <g>.
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
>