[SWLUG] FW: Taking a disk image

[Bradley, Peter]

Sorry for top posting - B*@@!^y Outlook!

Yes, I dual boot, too.  So I need a solution that will do the entire
disk.

<excusemode>
I need to have a Windows installation for if I bring any work home.  Yes
I know about virtualisation.  No, I haven't tried it.
</excusemode>

I'll buy some sort of external storage medium (as well as the disk
imaging system) that will hold the entire contents of the disk.  Can't
see me ever being organised enough to keep everything tidy on DVDs.  One
DVD for data is OK: >1 is too large a number.

I'm prepared to spend the necessary money as this could save me huge
chunks of time and do wonders for my mental equilibrium, which is
delicately poised at the best of times, should the worst happen.

Thanks, Julian and to all the others who've replied (and I'm still open
to other suggestions: of a printable type).

:)


Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Hall [mailto:lists at kaotic.co.uk] 
Sent: 26 January 2007 14:06
To: Bradley, Peter
Subject: Re: [SWLUG] Taking a disk image

Bradley, Peter wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I had a bit of a shock yesterday, when for a ghastly hour I thought I 
> was going to lose my entire installation. OK, I have my data backed 
> up, but the thought of having to go back and install all the tools 
> I've installed and configured over the years was not making me happy 
> (I'm talking about things like Netbeans, Eclipse, subversion (no, it 
> doesn't work out of the box on a SUSE install), CASE tools, Zend and 
> the Zend Server that took me weeks to get working, Crossover Office 
> and all the various Windows bits I've installed with it under WINE, 
> the OU VLE, browser extensions, etc etc).
>
> Does anyone know of a tool that will take an image of all my disk 
> partitions (Linux and Windows), and the MBR, so that I could - if I 
> wanted - just slap in a new HDD and write the image to it such that it

> would then boot up and I'd be back to normal?
>
> Fortunately, yesterday's problem seems to have settled down at least. 
> I'm not sure it's actually solved: at least I'm not leaving my box on 
> and unattended at the moment. However, it worked OK for the last four 
> hours or so of yesterday.
>
> All advice gratefully received.
>
> Peter
>
Norton Ghost.

Yes it IS a Windows program, but all you really need is a DOS/Win98 boot

disk and the executable on a floppy or CD.

I haven't tried any of the Linux options people have mentioned because 
a) I dual boot and I would need to back up both Windows *and* Linux, and

b) Nobody has mentioned if either of the options will compress images - 
vital if it's to be saved to CD or DVD.

Ghost creates a bit for bit image of partitions or whole disks. All you 
need do for recovery then is slap in the media you saved the image to, 
boot from the floppy or CD and target the partition/disk to be
overwritten.

Kind regards,

Julian