drive copy software

[4play]

Is there any software that can copy an exact image of my primary hard drive which contains Windows xp (ntfs) and ubuntu 6.1 (reiser). and then place it onto another larger drive and boot like nothing happened.

I really should install them both from scratch again but it takes ages to install all the software and drivers again.

[Hairbautt]

Paragan Hard Disk Manager? Might wanna look that up as I asked something similar to this awhile ago - havn't quite used it very much yet tho', but pretty sure it'll do what you ask.

[Virtualbody1234]

You can use Linux for this. I've used Bootable Ubuntu live CD.

Connect the new larger drive as slave.

Open a terminal and type in:

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb

It copies everything! The larger drive leaves extra space that becomes available for new partition(s).

Note: It's a slow process. Takes many hours...

Note#2: The posted command is what I remember. I think it's right but I would have to check some of my notes and confirm later...

[Paint]

you can use linux or just use norton ghost

[4play]

That dd is a pretty clever way of doing it. I wonder if using a more stripped down version of linux might speed up the process or even from a terminal rather than from a x window.

The main problem im going to have is that there are 2 partitions on the drive what will happen to the extra space left will it be reisfer of ntfs or just empty space. will i be able to format it?

will give it a try over saturday night and see what happened sunday monring.

[Virtualbody1234]

I wonder if using a more stripped down version of linux might speed up the process or even from a terminal rather than from a x window.

Try it from a more stripped down terminal. It should work just the same. I only mentioned it the way I had done it.

The main problem im going to have is that there are 2 partitions on the drive what will happen to the extra space left will it be reisfer of ntfs or just empty space. will i be able to format it?...

It doesn't matter how many partitions you have. It doesn't care. It just copies EVERYTHING on the drive.

The new drive will have exactly the same partitions and will work just like the original drive. Connect it as Master when the copying is done and it will bootup just like the original.

The extra space will be available as free unpartitioned space and you can partition and format it.

[nSyder]

I would go for HDClone.

[zapjb]

Paragon Hard Disk Manager Pro (Recovery CD Image) V8.0

Think it'd do.