|
ManianFH
living in perverty


Registered: 07/06/04
Posts: 14,748
Last seen: 6 hours, 17 minutes
|
Complete working copy of a hard drive?
#13993017 - 02/19/11 11:00 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
I am about to buy a computer loaded with software programs that are very expensive. There are no CD's included, so if the hard drive fails, I am fucked.
Is there any way to make a copy of that hard drive onto another hard drive, so when the time comes that one fails, I can put the other one in and use it and its copied software as a replacement?
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
|
argg
Stranger


Registered: 07/20/09
Posts: 4,848
Loc: Nigeria
Last seen: 12 years, 7 months
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: ManianFH]
#13993098 - 02/19/11 11:17 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
can't you just get all the cd keys from the info then download the program again and register it with the key? I don't pay for software much so I don't know how the legit side works.
--------------------
|
ManianFH
living in perverty


Registered: 07/06/04
Posts: 14,748
Last seen: 6 hours, 17 minutes
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: argg]
#13994049 - 02/20/11 02:46 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
I can ask the guy about that. You're right, a key would be much more reliable.
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
|
ManianFH
living in perverty


Registered: 07/06/04
Posts: 14,748
Last seen: 6 hours, 17 minutes
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: ManianFH]
#13994053 - 02/20/11 02:49 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Ok apparently this system comes with this thing:
http://www.paceap.com/hkey.html
which means I can do essentially what argg suggested; have access to programs as long as I hold these keys.
Cool
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
|
CosmicJoke
happy mutant



Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: ManianFH]
#13994073 - 02/20/11 03:00 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
with os x you can use time machine, which is ok, but you need an install cd to do a time machine recovery... or you can get the app superduper, which makes a bootable clone....
believe with windows you can create a system image and bootable restore cd... go to control panel, system & security, back up & restore, and create system image...
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
|
koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: ManianFH]
#14005677 - 02/22/11 03:01 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
mick said: Is there any way to make a copy of that hard drive onto another hard drive, so when the time comes that one fails, I can put the other one in and use it and its copied software as a replacement?
Yes. It's called 'cloning' and back in the day, we used stuff like Norton Ghost. I suppose that still exists, but I assume by now there are a few freeware/open source alternatives that probably work better.
|
debianlinux
Myconerd - DBK




Registered: 12/09/02
Posts: 8,334
Loc: Over There
Last seen: 7 months, 2 days
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: koraks]
#14018694 - 02/24/11 08:17 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Keyword here is "drive imaging".
Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, PING and dd (disk dupe command in Unix) are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The ones I listed are platform agnostic. I strongly suggest you keep your options open only to software that doesn't require a working Windows install to run. All the ones I listed can be used from a bootable CD.
|
Doc_T
Random Dude




Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 42,395
Loc: Colorado
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: debianlinux]
#14018702 - 02/24/11 08:20 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Ghost.
-------------------- You make it all possible. Doesn't it feel good?
|
makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 21,636
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: Doc_T]
#14033993 - 02/27/11 12:42 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
ive used Acronis True Image, at first i was like ok how the hell does this thing work, why isn't it as simple as norton....but then i quickly figuered it out it was just the way they had things worded i guess i dunno
anyways whats cool about acronis is it can clone your hard drive to a single file, or span it across multiple ones that u can burn to a disc which you can prob do with ghost,however ontop of that....it can compress them on the fly so i think i ended up fitting like 20 gigs onto 1 discs or something like that, i just remember thinking...ok this file is way to fucking small to be holding all my stuff
i guess the real test is when i actually go to restore
--------------------
  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
|
debianlinux
Myconerd - DBK




Registered: 12/09/02
Posts: 8,334
Loc: Over There
Last seen: 7 months, 2 days
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: makaveli8x8]
#14037463 - 02/27/11 06:15 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
My best use of Acronis was imaging a drive to a networked drive, replacing the failing HDD and then restoring the image off the network all from a booted CD streamlined just for this sort of thing. This made replacing the drive in a laptop incapable of housing a 2nd drive a snap. The partition management subset had no qualms with the fact that the new drive was about 3X larger than the initial drive and that I wanted to institute a new partition scheme.
The restore from compressed works. It saved gobs of time over pushing the uncompressed data across the wire.
|
imachavel
I loved and lost but I loved-ftw



Registered: 06/06/07
Posts: 31,375
Loc: You get banned for saying that
Last seen: 13 hours, 25 minutes
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: debianlinux]
#14045813 - 02/28/11 10:23 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
debianlinux said: My best use of Acronis was imaging a drive to a networked drive, replacing the failing HDD and then restoring the image off the network all from a booted CD streamlined just for this sort of thing. This made replacing the drive in a laptop incapable of housing a 2nd drive a snap. The partition management subset had no qualms with the fact that the new drive was about 3X larger than the initial drive and that I wanted to institute a new partition scheme.
The restore from compressed works. It saved gobs of time over pushing the uncompressed data across the wire.
you always get loads of these super high techy tech guys with really nice answers to these questions. backing up files to a network drive is GREAT, IF YOU ARE CONNECTED TO A SERVER AND ARE PART OF THE DOMAIN, OR HAVE ACCESS TO THE SERVER OTHER WISE.
if you DON'T have a server in your house, then yes system image sounds great. OR, you could buy a backup drive and just back everything up every day. creating a system image isn't so bad, neither is burning it to a disk, but then what if you have new data/updated data? I guess you can always make a new disk. first thing is first, simplify what you want, do you want a image backed up to cd? or every day back up to external hard drive?
THEN figure out what you will use/how you will do it. also, don't forget, there is an actual difference between a ghost image, and just an image. make you sure you know what you are doing.
not saying hire someone, but at least get a friend to help you. if worst comes to worst then yeah, I guess hiring someone would be pretty cheap compared to how much you'll save in the long run by not losing all your data. and whoever helps you, just mention everything to him that was posted here. acronis, bootable cd, live cd, backup drive, cd image, whatever you want. to use time machine OBVIOUSLY you need mac os. and to use a mac os, you obviously need a mac.
good luck
sorry, I should say, those are all probably the best answers out there. I'm just always seeing it from my point of view. if I was the original poster, and I knew how to backup data to a drive, or use an iso burner and burn an image of the hard drive to a cd, or backup data to a network drive, lol I probably wouldn't have asked the question, and just would have asked if I knew the best way TO burn an iso image of the hard drive to a disk, or backup drive. You can't beat those answers though, but yeah, just know what you are getting into.
I really hate booting from a usb or disk btw, as an emergency it's necessary, but I find booting from a usb or disk is a disaster waiting to happen. and despite what people say it's NEVER as reliable as booting from a hard drive. the simplest thing I think would just be to buy a backup disk, and configure it to backup all the data every day, and keep your operating system disk around, to make sure you can reinstall all the data. make sure you know how to get the product key also, as that will be a pain in the ass upon reinstalling. it's usually written on the sticker on the side of your computer. but if your computer is custom, then you will need to either read it off the disk case, or if the disk doesn't come with said case, you will have to know how to look up the product key code at the boot menu before installing the operating system. some disks give you the option to look up the product key, BUT a lot won't. in which case if you can't find it you are better off just buying a new operating system disk. UNLESS you just want to skip the install, and skip activating your operating system copy online, in which case windows MIGHT detect it.
now if you aren't using windows, but linux, that is a different ball game. but of course most windows programs aren't compatible with linux, it's said you can use wine. but wine is really a pain in the ass.
and sorry about what I said about a network drive. sure you can back everything up to a network drive if you aren't part of a domain or connected to a server, but only if you have an at&t modem. otherwise comcast won't let you connect from one computer to another, UNLESS you have a router or switch connected.
ok, sorry to shoot all of that down. just trying to find out what the original poster knows, before you jump into the fine tuned polished answer, that he will obviously need in the end.
--------------------
I did not say to edit my signature soulidarity! Now forever I will never remember what I said about understanding the secrets of the universe by paying attention to subtleties!
I'm never giving you the password again. Jerk
Edited by imachavel (02/28/11 10:54 PM)
|
bioBot

Registered: 05/02/09
Posts: 293
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
|
Re: Complete working copy of a hard drive? [Re: ManianFH]
#14058248 - 03/03/11 02:34 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
|
|
MiniTool Partition Wizard
Works great, no problems using it yet.
|
|