Ghost to a portable drive and then reinstall on new drive

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

I am planning on purchasing a new hard drive for my laptop (current 25 GB, upgrading to 250 GB) and I don't want to go out and repurchase software. I was hoping it could ghost (or some other program) to my portable drive (500 Gb limit, plenty of space) and then reinstall it on the new hard drive.

I can't find answers to my questions though...

1. When I ghost the current HD over, does it save it to a file?
2. Do I need to really pay for Ghost or is there something out there that works just as good?
3. When I go to re-ghost onto the new HD, how does that work? Since I don't have the Windows XP disks, I can't reinstall windows. I'm assuming I need drivers for the USB ports or can i just plug and play?

It seems like something is missing here.

Windows XP SP3
1.5 GHz
5 MB RAM (will be upgrading to 1 GB - max)

Scott

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Woody33 wrote:

I am planning on purchasing a new hard drive for my laptop (current 25 GB, upgrading to 250 GB) and I don't want to go out and repurchase software. I was hoping it could ghost (or some other program) to my portable drive (500 Gb limit, plenty of space) and then reinstall it on the new hard drive.

I can't find answers to my questions though...

1. When I ghost the current HD over, does it save it to a file?
2. Do I need to really pay for Ghost or is there something out there that works just as good?
3. When I go to re-ghost onto the new HD, how does that work? Since I don't have the Windows XP disks, I can't reinstall windows. I'm assuming I need drivers for the USB ports or can i just plug and play?

It seems like something is missing here.

Windows XP SP3
1.5 GHz
5 MB RAM (will be upgrading to 1 GB - max)

Scott

To directly answer your question as stated:

1) Depends on what you mean by "over" - if you are COPYING one to the other it is written bit by bit to the other HD - If you are making a BACKUP to store & use to redo your HD later then it writes it to a file. (this method is recommended for backups of your system)

2)I believe DOC knows how to get a free copy of GHOST but if all you are wanting to do (at this time) is get the image onto the bigger HD, most manufactures include a utility to COPY OVER the image.

3)When you run GHOST (or any imaging software) it will make a "snapshot" of what is on the HD (bit by bit) so when you put this on the new HD you are getting the SAME EXACT STUFF bit by bit that you had before - when you made the image. That is why this method makes for good backups.

Drivers, programs & such, so as long as you had it all on the machine to begin with, it WILL be there after running the image. BUT if your machine is "dead" & you need those USB drivers because the BIOS doesn't have them (such as an addon board) then you may need some additional boot method. If this is the case, that is a different topic to deal with. But on NEWER machines the BIOS should take care of things. (providing your machine info to us will help with this)

Now if you do a COPY you will need both HD hooked to the machine to copy directly from one to the other - in real time. If you make an image file, it will write the info into a file & store it where you tell it to. Then you can call up that file & put it on the new HD - or in the case of restoring a backup, to the DESTINATION HD - but you don't want to do it to the one the file is on - not sure if it will let you but I think you can. - you will also need to pay precise attention to your source & destination HD as you can wipe stuff out in a heartbeat if you don't.

Hope this gets it for you.

goretsky · Last edited by goretsky on Sat Aug 28, 2010 4:41 am; edited 3 times in total

[Message edited to correct a typo. AG]

Hello,

Typically, your hard disk drive manufacturer will have software you can download from their web site to image copy your old hard disk drive to the new one.

I typically have best results when I install the new hard disk drive into the computer, and connect the old hard disk drive in via an adapter on the USB ports.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

Thank You both for your responses. I really like the EIDE to USB option from goretsky. I never thought of that. I think that will help me the most. I can connect the new hard drive and Ghost over the one currently in the laptop and then swap them out. I do have one question though, is there a second power line in the laptop that I can use to power the new hard drive while Ghosting, or does it get it's power via the USB?

The reason I say Ghosting is that the laptop is from Dell and they did not send the Windows XP disks, so if I do not get an exact copy, there is a much bigger cost & effort to purchase an OS and then reinstall everything.....

I have a question for Baby_Tux also. Would this Utility to Ghost the information to the new drive come with the new drive on a disk or do I need to contact the HD manufacturer when I receive it (I'm buying it from Dell)? What other information do you need from my system?

Again, I really appreciate your prompt answers.... This will make my family very, very happy.

Scott

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2238 Location: Central FL, USA

Since I've been using Ghost since 1997, I'm probably as close to a resident expert on that program as you'll get. Wink

There are several ways to use Ghost (or other similar programs, like Acronis True Image) to back up your C: drive.
And that's what you must do....back up the entire C: partition.
Some programs like the latest issues of Ghost, run from within windows and that's maybe OK for making the backup, but what about a restore to a new hard drive? You need to be able to boot up the PC and run the restore program from DOS. Both Ghost and Acronis will make what they call a Recovery CD for you. That has to be used when doing a restore to a new hard drive.

I have an Acer One Netbook, with neither a floppy disk drive or CD/DVD drive so doing backups gets a little more complicated.
Like most laptops, my Netbook will boot from a bootable flash drive so that's how I boot up to run Ghost. Then when I do my backup, I let Ghost backup the entire C: drive to an external hard drive, as a compressed image file, NOT a clone.

When you're making Backup Image Files, you can store several of them on an external drive, but if you make a Clone of your C: drive, you can only have ONE copy. I don't like that, so I never do a clone, unless I'm transferring an OS from one drive to another.
I usually have six or more copies of my C: drive stored on my backup drive.
If one backup should fail to restore properly, I can always try another.
I let Ghost verify every backup image file I make so there should never be a problem doing a restore.

We've discussed all this in great detail right here in this very forum. A search would probably take you back to those threads where Ghost and other backup programs are discussed. There is also a complete forum dedicated to Ghost and other backup programs. This should get you close.
http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

If you are wanting to go from a small HD to a larger one, first make sure that your computer can address the larger drive. Some will and some WON'T !
Then just clone the smaller drive to the larger drive.

Good Luck,
The Doctor Cool

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

Thanks Doctor. I did search on Ghost but the results didn't seem to address what I was looking to do. I am ordering the HD from Dell after they verified my Service Tag #, so I'm pretty confident it is supported.

Based on your experience, do you think my thought of using the EIDE to USB and Ghosting (or copying) over will work? I am copying the OS because I don't have the original disks. I don't have a spare computer that I can hook the new drive up to. I'm pretty computer savy (first computer was a Commodore VIC20), but I'm starting to wonder if I can do this or if it would be easier to pay someone.

I am looking through the Ghost link you sent. Hopefully that will have more information. Thank You.

Scott

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

Thanks Baby_Tux (And Doc and goretsky)! You guys are the greatest. I'll let you know next week how it works out.

I tried the free Ghost software and it is only a demo version - you can't save your work, so that option is out - I didn't like how the demo works - actually, I couldn't figure it out at all. I am testing Drive Image now (having some issues with it). Worst case, I think I will have to shell out for Acronis True Image. I'm hoping Acronis is more like a Windows operating environment (it's been 20 years since I worked in DOS). I'm still doing research though! A little bit of knowledge is a terrible thing.

Again, I'll post after I get the drive and attempt it - hopefully it will be from this computer.

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Acronis True Image is what I use here just because it works better with LINUX (for ME anyway & it was a gift)

It & GHOST are pretty much alike as to there interfaces (IMO) & yes I would say they are of DOS like functionality.

If you HAVE to end up buying, whatever imaging program, you will find it money well spent. As I have yet to find a better solution for all around backups & repairs to ones systems. (just grab the image backup & restore)

BTW: I'm not sure but I THINK there MAY be some open source imaging software as well. (FREE) If I can squeeze it in, I'll look & see if I can find something... (I know there IS but what I recall runs on LINUX - need to see if there is a DOS / M$ version)

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

So far, I'm not finding any FREE that are DOS based. There are quite a few LINUX based that are good. The best (IMO) being CLONEZILLA. But I feel that you are confused enough w/o adding another OS into the mix. So, it may still be worth the money to get "whatever". Clonezilla is supposed to be a GHOST alternative so I doubt there is anything else. (but I just don't know that for sure)

goretsky

Hello,

I have used a USB to PATA (EIDE)-and-SATA adapter that worked by either taking its power from the USB port via a double-headed USB cable or via an included power supply that ended in the same type of 4-pin Molex connector used on a 3.5" and 5.25" PATA disk drives. The particular one I use is an Apricorn DriveWire, but there are many vendors who offer such devices. CoolDrives, who I've bought a number of enclosures and cables from in the past, has this entire page of adapters. I have never had a problem powering my Apricorn adapter solely from USB bus power when using it with a 2.5" hard disk drive. A 3.5" hard disk drive requires that an external power adapter be connected in order to provide the additional voltages and amperage required to spin up the larger hard disk drives.

My experience has primarily been with using Acronis True Image, so I cannot give any specific feedback about Symantec Norton Ghost. I'm certain DrWho07 can answer any questions you might have about that program.

If you check the web site of the hard disk drive manufacturer, it should have a bootable CD image available for download containing the disk imaging software. Typically, it will be an OEM copy of one of the disk imaging programs from Acronis, Symantec, Terabyte Unlimited and so forth which you then burn to a blank CD-R to create a bootable disc. If you have bought a hard disk drive kit from Dell, then it might actually come with the CD, in which case, you'll be able to skip the step of downloading it and burning it to a CD-R.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Raydeo · Joined: Jun 23, 2005 Posts: 55 Location: Boring, Oregon

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

Well, tried for 12 hours to use Drive Image and it didn't work - kept coming up with .dll issues, stating I needed to be running both oleaut.dll and oleaut32.dll. I have oleaut32.dll and it was working, couldn't find oleaut.dll. Lots of stress. I'm going to look into Acronis True Image, that seems to be the favorite from what I am seeing.

As for the power to the new HD, I can always just disconnect the CD drive and use that power cable..... With the EIDE to USB & power, I don't have to use the external HD, I can just hook up the new HD, format it and then image over.... I did make a boot disk yesterday, just in case..... I'll probably make another one when the new drive comes.

Again, thanks everyone!

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

zzron357 · Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 65

Hi Woody, Take a look at Easus todo backup -- seems to clone nicely.
Clonezilla and Ping are other good possibilities. My approach to this would
be to send "image" to external drive, then to partition new drive to have first
partition same as old drive, or just a little bigger. A second partition would be bigger. NTFS I presume. I then would use Gparted, either Partition Magic or
in Puppy Linux fot partitioning. And Puppy for sure to copy the "Disk image"
to the 2nd Partition in the new drive. Then use the imaging boot disk to
"restore" the image from, in effect, D: to C:. Most of the imaging disks restore
a same size partition. Later, Gparted can be used to enlarge C: and to create
other partitions. I always add at least a 10 Gb and a 1 Gb at end for Ubuntu and
Linux swap resp. Why not dual boot with the latest and greatest.
Best wishes, ZZron357

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

zzron357 · Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 65

Hi Woody and Baby_Tux, I must be missing something here.
My main point above is that a second partition permits creating disk images
direct within one drive. Can do w/o external drive. With laptop, new HDD can
be the external drive if usb adapter is available. I use one with both eide and
sata, so it is usable on old and new pc's, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inch.
I do not believe it makes any difference what operating system is used in a boot
cd to make an image. Most of the available ones do use linux. The new AVG
rescue cd uses linux. It boots, updates online, and runs full scan of windows
systems. Also, one need not "learn" linux to make a "live cd" disk and run it.
Puppy Linux is so basic and intuitive anyone can use it. Yes, you must learn how
to "burn an iso image". Good for us all. Also in Puppy, one needs to click only
once, so windows users need to unlearn double click. And, of course, in order
to copy files from one drive to another, the drives must be "Mounted" first.
I firmly believe everyone should try Puppy Linux -- just to have a handy rescue
tool, which can be used in coffee shops and airline terminals safely.
No installation required, but a frugal install can be handy. BW/zzron357

Woody33 · Joined: Jan 19, 2005 Posts: 18

Thanks everyone for your input. Right now I am not looking at learning another OS.

I ordered the drive over the weekend (WD1200BEVE - 2.5" PATA) and did some more research. goretsky hit the nail on the head - I went to Western Digital's website and looked up the drive I ordered. Guess what - Acronis True image Home 2009 (WD edition) is available for FREE! I downloaded it, but it won't allow me to run it until I have my WD HD installed. THANKS GORETSKY!

My plan is to disconnect my CD/DVD drive, hook up the new drive, format and copy over. Remove the old drive, replace w/ new and re-hook up the CD/DVD drive. If that doesn't work, I will use EIDE to USB solution, stealing the power cable from the CD/DVD drive. If that doesn't work, I'll be back asking more questions. I expect to receive the drive by 9/3, although it could be as late as 9/16, so this post may be idle for a little while.

Again - Thank You everyone for all of your input!

eric_s · Joined: Jul 16, 2003 Posts: 43 Location: Western Canada

I've been away from my computer for a while, and didn't see this thread 'till now. I can recommend two programs from EASEUS. The first is Todo backup 1.1 which is a free image backup/partition copy program. After that is EASEUS Partition Master 6.1.1 home addition. When using the Todo program remember to make the Recovery Media - to allow you to boot with your new drive installed. The only drawback is your external will be overwritten. Archive off any data you wish to preserve. I use it to take a "snapshot" every weekend - with daily incremental backups to Cover Your Actions.
http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Partition_Master_Home_Edition_d5967.html
for the partition software, and
http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Todo_Backup_d6195.html for the backup software.