Get yourself some Disk Imaging software....

[vbap]

I use Acronis TrueImage, but others (Ghost) will do too I'm sure...

Just had a torrid weekend trying to install a Dvico FusionHDTV Lite card (I think I got a dud card, but that is for another thread).

Long story short: my disk images (Fresh XPProSP2, fresh MCE2005 and latest working MediaPortal setup) saved me A LOT of time and hassle. Frantically mucking around with hardware and software with just an hour to go before a weekly program is due to be recorded, I simply restored my latest working MP image and everything works it's as if nothing happened all weekend (actually, nothing DID happen all weekend!!!).

[LastMar]

Originally Posted by vbap

I use Acronis TrueImage, but others (Ghost) will do too I'm sure...

Just had a torrid weekend trying to install a Dvico FusionHDTV Lite card (I think I got a dud card, but that is for another thread).

Long story short: my disk images (Fresh XPProSP2, fresh MCE2005 and latest working MediaPortal setup) saved me A LOT of time and hassle. Frantically mucking around with hardware and software with just an hour to go before a weekly program is due to be recorded, I simply restored my latest working MP image and everything works it's as if nothing happened all weekend (actually, nothing DID happen all weekend!!!).

I do the same thing, it is extremely useful.

[Aquarius]

... or use a LINUX ( esp. a live LINUX like KNOPPIX) and save some money for the extra program.

use 'dd' or 'ntfsclone' for saving/ cloning even via network.

Very fast and efficient.

If somebody is interested, I might post a small HOW-TO.
Promised : no UNIX know-how needed.

Regards
Aquarius

[LastMar]

Originally Posted by Aquarius

... or use a LINUX ( esp. a live LINUX like KNOPPIX) and save some money for the extra program.

use 'dd' or 'ntfsclone' for saving/ cloning even via network.

Very fast and efficient.

If somebody is interested, I might post a small HOW-TO.
Promised : no UNIX know-how needed.

Regards
Aquarius

I am interested, because the last I knew the Linux folks hadn't figured out how to write to an NTFS partition.

[Lyxalig]

Linux? How? Why? Has this enything to with Windows and Cloning image?

Dont get it. Please explain. :shock:

[LastMar]

Originally Posted by Lyxalig

Linux? How? Why? Has this enything to with Windows and Cloning image?

Dont get it. Please explain. :shock:

He's saying there's a Linux tool that performs the function of one of those disk cloning programs, where I assume you would boot into the Linux distro of your choice (preferably one that can run from a CD), then run the utility and backup/restore as needed. What I don't get is how it can write to NTFS.

[Lyxalig]

That sounds interesting. *Dreaming* Putting in my DVD-RW wth this linux thingy preconfigured. It does its thing, and writes a backupimage of everything..... Ahh- <That would be fine>

[Aquarius]

True,
there is a restriction: you CANNOT write the clone to an NTFS- filesystem into a file on some local disk which is also NTFS – formatted.

I guess this would destroy the integrity of the file system cause you write to a file system without being logged in. This is for sure the domain of the commercial programs. They write as „SYSTEM"- user and to access this file you must explicitly set the user rights for this file. I never managed to get this done with XP-Home.

But what you CAN do :
- clone the NTFS- file system into a another local partition. You have access to the saved image files directly afterwards.
- use a FAT32- partition as target ( no comment …)
- send the clone directly via network to a 2nd machine, which may run any OS with any filesystem and dump it there into a file. You may also restore it from there over the network.

If this isn’t a too hard restriction, I still may post a HOWTO.
Looking forward for feedback.

[vbap]

Aquarius,

I would find the HOWTO interesting. I already clone my images to a USB drive, which has 2 partitions (1xNTFS, 1xFAT32). Would the Linux option recognise attached USB drives? A problem with Acronis is that it only recognises the first partition (the NTFS one on my USB disk). I haven't really spent time working out why, since it makes not too much difference. But if for Linux I can only use a FAT32, then it's important...

[LastMar]

Originally Posted by Aquarius

True,
there is a restriction: you CANNOT write the clone to an NTFS- filesystem into a file on some local disk which is also NTFS – formatted.

I guess this would destroy the integrity of the file system cause you write to a file system without being logged in. This is for sure the domain of the commercial programs. They write as „SYSTEM"- user and to access this file you must explicitly set the user rights for this file. I never managed to get this done with XP-Home.

But what you CAN do :
- clone the NTFS- file system into a another local partition. You have access to the saved image files directly afterwards.
- use a FAT32- partition as target ( no comment …)
- send the clone directly via network to a 2nd machine, which may run any OS with any filesystem and dump it there into a file. You may also restore it from there over the network.

If this isn’t a too hard restriction, I still may post a HOWTO.
Looking forward for feedback.

So what you're saying is, you can create a backup of an NTFS partition as an image file, and you can then restore that image as NTFS, but you can't save the image file on an NTFS partition in the meantime? Correct me if I misunderstood what you're saying.