Somewhat OT: cloning hard disks

[Tony Baechler]

Alex Snow wrote:
> What's the best way to make an image of this drive so it can be copied 
> to several other drives? I was thinking of just using DD, but is there 
> any faster way? partimage looked interesting, but it looked like a pain 
> to clone an entire disk (doing it one partition at a time, then losing 
> the MBR from the original drive).
>   


Hi,

Warning: The following are not free products.  If non-free software 
bothers you, stop reading now.

There is a suite from Terrabyte Unlimited called Image for DOS, Linux 
and Windows.  I can highly recommend IFD for accessibility.  It is best 
to make the initial image without speech, but it also has a command line 
interface.  It's possible to learn the keys to hit to start it with no 
speech.  I also recommend IFW.  I had problems getting a lock on C: 
because of Window-Eyes, but it's also totally accessible.  XP might not 
have that problem. I haven't used IFL but I know it's a console program 
and I wrote to the developers about integrating Speakup.  They said they 
were working on it but I don't know the status.  You have to burn a 
custom iso image with your product key and such, but you can run it 
directly from the server as well.  I'm not totally clear on that, maybe 
the iso image is optional.  You would need to read the install 
instructions.  Anyway, I would say that IFL or IFW are best.  Yes, they 
will image complete drives including all partitions and any OS.  They 
will restore to the same size drive that they were imaged from, so if 
you're restoring to a different size drive, keep this in mind.  All of 
them are purchase products with demos, but they are far cheaper than 
Ghost unless Ghost dropped in price recently.  Their web site it:

http://www.bootitng.com/

Look for the Image for DOS, Linux and Windows links.  If you try IFL, 
see if Speakup is included and let me know.  I am a happy user but 
otherwise have nothing to do with them.