@ Christer

I've tested the lot in UEFI system and only two or three don't work when restoring an entire drive image to a new, empty HD. My preference is for the TeraByte Unlimited software and as you are an offline backup guy I think Image for Linux would suit. But don't buy it until you have tested as I think The TeraByte Bundle is the best valued software around.

You can test with your current computer.


Making an IFL UFD...

Download the free 30-day trial of Image for Linux (GUI) (FTP) from....  (be careful you don't download the CUI)

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-image-for-linux.htm

unzip
double click makedisk.exe, next
Traditional- You have control over options. (Custom)
next
dot in I accept the agreement, next
Global Geometry----tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries
next
ignore Miscellaneous Global, next
ignore Additional ifl.ini Options, next
Normal Boot, next
another Normal Boot, next
select the drive letter of the UFD
USB Layout... Partition - FAT/FAT32 partition
Geometry Calculation Method... Use Device
Finish



Backup a single partition

Backup
Full Backup
Linux
sda (should be your first internal HD)
choose partition to backup
File (Direct)
Linux
sdb (should be your USB external HD) (it could be sdc if you have 2 internal drives)
choose destination partition or volume
accept the Name
in Options, accept the three choices already with ticks
Start




Restore a single partition

Restore
Normal
File (Direct)
Linux
sdb (should be your USB external HD)
choose partition or volume containing the backup (use double clicks)
select the backup image
on the Select Item to Process window you will have ticks in Partial and the Partition
Linux
sda (should be your first internal HD)
select the partition to over-write
Yes
in Options, leave the one choice selected. Nothing else should be needed when over-writing the partition. If restoring to an empty non partitioned drive I'd recommend..
Set Active, Restore First Track
Start

@ Brian

I think that I'll split Your last post from this topic and start a new one with a proper title. Next, I'll do as I've been told to ... :o ... !

@ Brian

Now ... :-[ ... You are the thread starter and I'll follow your suggestions ... ;) ... but I have an initial question:


Quote:

You can test with your current computer. >>> Global Geometry----tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries

My current system is cylinder aligned to work with Ghost 2003. Am I missing the obvious?

@ Christer

You will see TeraByte Unlimited has 3 imaging apps.

Image for Windows
Image for DOS
Image for Linux

They all create and restore the same images. IFL is the fastest (in most computers).

@ Christer



Christer wrote on Mar 25^th, 2016 at 3:55pm:

My current system is cylinder aligned to work with Ghost 2003. Am I missing the obvious?

Then don't "tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries". Sorry.

@ Brian

Thanks, I''ll look into it later. Right now, I'm tired and it's bedtime in a while.

@ Christer

Don't be intimidated by UEFI. It's not so hard to master. Image/Restore is only marginally different from a MBR system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn640535%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Regarding  "tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries". By all means don't use a tick but even if you do use a tick your Cylinder Aligned partitions will still be Cylinder Aligned when restored. If you do "tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries" then you have to select "Align to Target" to really restore a Cylinder Aligned partition as 1MiB aligned. Confusing. Basically, if you have a Cylinder Aligned partition imaged then it will restore as Cylinder aligned and if you have a 1MiB aligned partition then it will restore as 1 MiB aligned. "Align to Target" is rarely used as it changes alignment. "Align to Target" is for Entire Drive restores, not partition restores. If you wanted to transfer a cylinder aligned system on a HD to a SSD then you would use "Align to Target" as you would want 1MiB alignment.

@ Christer

IFL (version 2) has been upgraded about 100 times since being released 8 years ago. All upgrades were free.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/upgradehist-image-for-linux.htm

IFL is licensed for three home computers.

The Special Bundle I referred to above is a combination of all TereaByte Unlimited software. But I realize that even waterboarding won't make you use Image for Windows. You can use a BootIt Bare Metal license in IFL to do Partitioning Work in UEFI and MBR systems. Unfortunately there is no Boot Manager for a UEFI system.

@ Brian


Quote:

"Align to Target" is for Entire Drive restores, not partition restores. If you wanted to transfer a cylinder aligned system on a HD to a SSD then you would use "Align to Target" as you would want 1MiB alignment.

Good to know. This issue is the reason (cylinder alignment detrimental to performance on SSD) I have held off buying a SSD for my desktop. Now, with Image for Linux there's no need for cylinder alignment.

@ Christer

If you wanted to do a partition restore of a cylinder aligned partition on a HD to a SSD and have a 1MiB aligned partition...

Create a 1MiB aligned partition on the SSD and restore your image into that partition.

@ Brian


Quote:

The Special Bundle I referred to above is a combination of all TereaByte Unlimited software. But I realize that even waterboarding won't make you use Image for Windows.

Well, I tested both IFL and IFW, no waterboarding ... ;D ... just a few beers.

The reason I have kept on using Ghost 2003 is the possibility to do imaging and restoring booted from a floppy or as of lately, UFD. The system that is being imaged or restored is not booted. I can do that with IFL and it works fine.

However, on my dual boot system, I can install IFW on both WinXP and Win7. I can image and restore the Win7 partition booted from WinXP and the Win XP partition booted from Win7. Et voilà ... ;) ... imaging and restoring a system that is not booted.

I created an Image of my XP-partition booted from IFL: size 10893 MB, time to create 3min51sec, time to verify 3min58sec, file size (tbi) 8090 MB.

I created an Image of my XP-partition booted from Win7, using IFW: size 10879 MB, time to create 4min56sec and another 18sec to write "cache" or whatever it said, time to verify 4min14sec, file size (TBI) 8089 MB.

IFL was a bit quicker than IFW but You had already told me that.

About sizes, my notes from the most recent Ghost 2003 Image: 16582 MB used - 6144 MB (minimum size of the pagefile) = 10438 MB which is the approximate combined gho/ghs file sizes (10480 MB).

Currently, used space on that drive is 17101 MB - 6144 = 10957 MB which is approximately the same as stated by IFL and IFW but I was under the impression that the Image would not be compressed by IFL/IFW or is it? Why is the file size (tbi/TBI) so much smaller?

Both Images verified OK but I have yet to test a restore.

Edited: verified the combined gho/ghs file sizes

@ Christer

Maybe I misunderstood your post but on the Backup Options screen there is a Compression field. I use Enhanced Speed - A and that is the default. There is a None setting if you want to experiment.

@ Brian

I don't think you misunderstood, I just didn't recall that option or what it actually meant. I'll do another test w/o compression.

A side note, today, we change from standard time to summer time, + 1 hour. Do you Aussies set the time backwards today or you don't mess with it?

@ Christer

We are just completing six months of Summer time. UTC+11. Standard time starts in a week. UTC+10.

@ Brian

Wonderful ... :) ... we're both in the summer time!

@ Christer

I'm in NSW but...


Quote:

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of advancing clocks one hour during the warmer months of the year. In Australia, Daylight saving is observed in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory. Daylight saving is not observed in Queensland, the Northern Territory or Western Australia. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2am on the first Sunday in October, when clocks are put forward one hour. It ends at 2am (which is 3am Daylight Saving Time) on the first Sunday in April, when clocks are put back one hour.

When your laptop arrives can you post a screenshot of Disk Management? This should give us an idea of which partitions to backup. Typically Win10 has 4 partitions when you do your own install. The MSR doesn't show in Disk Management. Your laptop will probably have extra OEM partitions. The typical partitions are...

Recovery 450 MiB
EFI System 99 MiB
Microsoft System Reserved 16 MiB
Win10

@ Brian

When the laptop arrives, I'll start a new thread with the screenshot in the first post.

@ Brian

I have created Images without compression to compare with the first ones. To recapitulate:


Quote:

I created an Image of my XP-partition booted from IFL: size 10893 MB, time to create 3min51sec, time to verify 3min58sec, file size (tbi) 8090 MB. I created an Image of my XP-partition booted from Win7, using IFW: size 10879 MB, time to create 4min56sec and another 18sec to write "cache" or whatever it said, time to verify 4min14sec, file size (TBI) 8089 MB.

The second run without compression:

IFL: size 10838 MB, time to create 5min11sec, time to verify 5min20sec, file size (tbi) 10839 MB.

IFW: size 10824 MB, time to create 6min31sec and another 15sec to write "cache", time to verify 6min15sec, file size (TBI) 10825 MB.

The difference, approximately 25% in time to create, corresponds to the difference in file size.

I have always run Ghost 2003 without compression. The reason is that it was said to reduce the risk of errors, compression and/or decompression. I assume that today, those risks are reduced ... :-X ... or maybe not?

@ Christer

TBOSDT Pro (Free) provides useful information too.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/tbosdt.htm

Unzip and open the win folder. Right click tbosdtw.exe and run as Admin. Enter..

LIST HD 0 /f /u

Here is my new SSD, bought last week. Multi-boot.

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Also, from an Admin Command Prompt enter...

winver

If it's not Version 1511 you can do a manual update rather than waiting for a Windows Update. Similar to what you have already done.

@ Brian

Thanks for that. I've been at TeraBytes before, 5-10 years ago and downloaded some free stuff. I tested some of it and still have it stashed away:

From 2005:
diskinfo.zip
DOSDROP.ZIP
editbini.zip
imgflpyd.zip
makedisk.zip
MBRWORK.ZIP
PARTINFO.ZIP

From 2010:
bootitng.zip
copywipe.zip
copywipew.zip
copywipew_plugin.zip

Could probably get rid of it!

@ Christer

Typical UEFI/GPT...

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