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Author Topic: Computing question for you experts :)  (Read 1194 times)

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Entwood

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Computing question for you experts :)
« on: 23 March 2010, 21:29:57 »
I have 2 harddrives, both partitioned, giving a total of 4 drives on the system: C - OS & Programmes, D - Data & Documents, E - Music, F - Movies.

I have one USB external hard drive, also partitioned into 4 to correspond with the system.

I back-up D, E, F, using SyncToy ... which is extremely simple.

I want to be able to back-up the OS & programmes as an image so I can easily re-install in the event of a problem.

The problem is ... the motherboard is oldish, and the USB drive is not "seen" until an OS is loaded, so my attempts to use Ghost (2002 version) fail.

I have a bootable CD of Ubuntu and the USB is seen from that, but attempting to put the saved image on to a windows partition from Ubuntu is just not happening.

Is there, to your knowledge, a way of booting to a windows type CD/floppy OS that will "see" the USB drive with an image I can then write to my "C" drive and then just boot straight to it ??

If that makes any sense to anyone !!!  ( I know what I want to do .. just hope I've explained it !!!  )

Thanks  :)
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Mr Skrunts

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #1 on: 23 March 2010, 21:38:06 »
Can you set the bios to boot from USB.  Not common on some boards but worth a mention.
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Mr Hagon

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #2 on: 23 March 2010, 21:51:39 »
If you're using Windows you should be able to use the native ntbackup tool to do a system state backup.

From the run command use "ntbackup" and choose the Advanced mode and select the Automated System Recovery Wizard...that's if you're using Windows XP...
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Entwood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #3 on: 23 March 2010, 22:05:02 »
Thanks to both ...  but as said .. the USB ports are NOT seen until the OS is loaded .. so neither option works ...

Skruntie - Boot to USB does not exist

Mr Hagon - ASR asks where the backup is .. then refuses to "see" the USB hard drive .. :(
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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #4 on: 23 March 2010, 22:13:10 »
Using the linux command line I have dumped the whole of a partition to an image file. It was a year or more ago though & I need to search for how I did it...

It was probably:
cp /dev/sda1 imagefilename

Moving the image back to a disk partition would presumably be:
cp imagefilename /dev/sda1
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #5 on: 23 March 2010, 22:50:38 »
Quote
Using the linux command line I have dumped the whole of a partition to an image file. It was a year or more ago though & I need to search for how I did it...

It was probably:
cp /dev/sda1 imagefilename

Moving the image back to a disk partition would presumably be:
cp imagefilename /dev/sda1

Even better, if it's an NTFS partition, use ntfsclone. This will generate an image excluding sparse areas of the disk so it's only as large as the data actually stored on the disk.

Something like the following will image an NTFS volume and zip it up:

Code: [Select]
ntfsclone --save-image -o - /dev/hda1 | gzip -c > backup.img.gz
It's also useful to save the MBR in case the disk becomes unbootable, although it can be recovered using a windows CD without too much trouble:

Code: [Select]
dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.img bs=512 count=1
If you are copying directly from block devices it's better to use dd which understands their structure as opposed to cp.

Kevin
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Chris_H

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #6 on: 23 March 2010, 22:55:03 »
Another possibility (I think) is to make the other HDD bootable and change the boot order to get off your C: drive to free it for backing up.
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Entwood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #7 on: 23 March 2010, 22:55:30 »
Kevin ... its a Genius you are ... I'll be trying that tomorrow  :)

many thanks

Nige
« Last Edit: 23 March 2010, 22:56:05 by entwood »
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #8 on: 23 March 2010, 23:03:12 »
Quote
Kevin ... its a Genius you are ... I'll be trying that tomorrow  :)

many thanks

Nige

No.  Just a geek. :-[

It's worth remembering that if the target file system has a limited file size, you might have to split the output file into (e.g.) 2G / 4G chunks.

Kevin
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cem_devecioglu

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #9 on: 23 March 2010, 23:04:52 »
Hi, hoping these links will help
some alternative solutions in them :y

http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm


this page may be useful later..

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
« Last Edit: 23 March 2010, 23:12:03 by cem_devecioglu »
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cem_devecioglu

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #10 on: 23 March 2010, 23:19:26 »
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dbug

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #11 on: 24 March 2010, 02:38:26 »
Use a BartPE boot disk - http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
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eddie

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #12 on: 24 March 2010, 05:48:42 »
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #13 on: 24 March 2010, 09:47:31 »
Quote
Another alternative...

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=systemrescue

eddie

I've used this in the past too and I think it has everything you'll be likely to need. Some nice GUIs so you don't have to resort to the command line too. :y

Kevin
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Entwood

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Re: Computing question for you experts :)
« Reply #14 on: 24 March 2010, 19:37:27 »
Many thanks for all the ideas .. been "playing" most of the day ... :)

Seems the ntfsclone programmes, and similar linux based CD bootable ones only work on the exact original hard disk, due to the "start point".

Others that allow the system to "see" the usb drive won't then alow you to write a "bootable" copy to the hard drive .. they will only copy files across.

The answer it seems was very simple ... although my version of Ghost (2002) would not see the USB drives .. it seems the latest version (15) does .. so acquired a copy of that and tried it..

Success ... using a Ghost image, and the bootable recovery CD, I was able to "restore" the c drive to another hard drive ..   :y :y

Might not be the fastest .. takes just under an hour to make the backup, and just over an hour to do a "recover" .. but it's a darn sight faster than a re-install then install, and then configure, all the programmes !!!

Thanks again for all the ideas ..  :y :y :y
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