I am getting my feet wet in the world of XML.

http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp

One of the potential 'drawbacks' mentioned with XML is that it is supposedly not very good at handling very large files or amounts of data (defined as tens or hundreds of MB).

I read that DriveImageXML uses the XML language to make its 'images' (for lack of a better word).

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Supposedly databases are best for handling very large amounts of data, as that's what they're optimized for.

Anybody know how DriveImageXML gets around this? Or if it is in fact not good at handling images which can easily run into tens of gigs?

I don't know about the handling large files question, but I tried the program which resulted in a restored image failing to boot.  Actually it showed unformatted free space on the target drive after restore was run which means it not only failed to restore the image, but it wiped the drive.  I wish you better luck with it. 

Tator wrote on Jun 8^th, 2009 at 9:10am:

I wish you better luck with it.

Never tried it, myself. And after reading of your experience, I'm not apt to any time soon.

The ability to restore sucessfully and reliably sits at the top of my drive-imaging list of priorities.

Rad,

I've created and restored a few images with DriveImageXML. It runs at about a third of the speed of Ghost and is the slowest imaging app I've used.

From memory it creates two files. One is XML and I can't recall the other.

FYI – XML Notepad is a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to easily view the contents of an XML file.

Pleonasm wrote on Jun 8^th, 2009 at 4:23pm:

FYI – XML Notepad is a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to easily view the contents of an XML file.

Thanks Pleo. I have already downloaded and installed. Was looking for something better than Notepad, but not as intimidating as XMLSpy or Oxygen to learn XML. This will be perfect. I'm always impressed by the cool stuff you're able to uncover .. stuff I've not discovered myself.


Brian wrote on Jun 8^th, 2009 at 3:42pm:

I've created and restored a few images with DriveImageXML. It runs at about a third of the speed of Ghost and is the slowest imaging app I've used.

Okay, so it will restore. I've heard it mentioned here & there, and like to take imaging apps for a test run. Not crazy about the slow speed, as I'm already impatient with anything other than Ghost.

btw - the most feature-rich FREE XML editing software I know of is:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/

Takes quite a while however, to install everything that comes with it .. and then do all the updates.

And they make you register, too. Prolly the single biggest hassle of installing, updating & registering of any software I've ever installed.