Power Quest and Drive Image 2002

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Any of you use this software?? I seem to recall Train posting about this software and Ghost. I was just reading something about Drive Image being able to copy drives. I was considering adding a second HDD to my machine but chickened out when I read about Ghost and discounted that but now that I have read about this Drive Image feature, I am interested again. If anyone can tell me about any experiences you have had using Drive Image to copy the contents of their present(old)Hard Drive, I would greatly appreciate reading your info. Using this software seems so much simpler than Ghost. Is it really as easy as what the read about it seems to lead me to believe??
I am going back to read some more!!

[Rapmaster]

It's easy to use-- it helps if you are somewhat familiar with managing partitions on a drive. Then again I find ghost fairly easy, at least the 'usual' options and features.


For the record, you don't need ghost or anything in order to add a second hdd... I guess it depends what you want to do.

[Limerick]

Hi Buf,

I'm not a Drive Image user, but I've used Ghost for years. Symantec's newest offering, Ghost 2003, sports a new Windows interface that makes it really easy to make your selections. Also, it is able to write an image to a local NTFS partition, which other versions of Ghost did not do. (Previously, Ghost required a FAT-based partition to store an image on.)

I did use an early version of Drive Image quite a while back. (Version 1, or maybe 2?) Both Ghost and Drive Image are able to image a single partition, or a drive consisting of multiple partitions. If what you have read about Drive Image seems to be what you've been looking for, then I'd encourage you to get it and to establish a regimen of backing up your data on a regular basis. It is indeed a wonderful feeling to be able to grab a recent image and pop it back on to your main drive if something happens that necessitates a restore. Conversely, having the proverbial wheels to come off, facing the prospect of losing valuable data and not having a current backup to rely on, is one of the most miserable feelings known to serious computer enthusiasts.

Limerick

[Gerdog]

This past week, due to a couple of bonehead mistakes by myself, I managed to wreck all three of my Windows partitions (XP, 2000, and Me). Luckily, I had saved backup images of all three on another partition, and I was able to restore them all to perfect working order. It was great! One thing that Drive Image might have an advantage over Ghost with is that it also has nondestructive partitioning abilities. For example, if you only have one large partition, it can create a new one without losing any of the existing data.
You might want to check the websites of whatever hard drive manufacturer you are interested in too. They usually include free software for transferring the data from an old drive to a new one. But it's the ability to backup and restore partitions that make Drive Image and Ghost such special and valuable programs.

[mawil]

I've been using Drive Image 2002 for several months now. It's VERY easy to use. I can restore an image of my C: drive in about 10 minutes.

If I install a new program and it messes up my system, no worries. Just restore everything to the way it was.

It also includes a very good user guide in PDF format.

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Rapmaster--Limerick--Gerdog--mawil:
All good info and I thank each of you. I am pretty sure I can install the second hard drive(never had 2 of 'em before and only 1 partition--the whole drive) but I was afraid I might lose that data presently on my hdd. I have Adaptec backups of my data but I would not want to have to go through all of the steps to
re-install if I should do something wrong!! If I have an option to simply copy my data to a new hard drive, I would prefer to do that, IF that option is simple!! As already indicated, never had a partition other than the full hdd and don't have any such software for making a partition but guess I could use the FDisk--never used that before either. I don't do much experimenting with my computer and as a result, I don't know a lot about your terminologies and your "know how" knowledge.
I tried a free trial of NTI Backup Now Deluxe, burned a backup image of my HDD and am curious to know if that backup will restore to a NEW hard drive. As I understand it, I can't attempt to use the images on my present drive because it isn't partitioned. I may be way off base on what I have read about such things and I may stand to be corrected. Correct me and I won't mind--I will be always be in a learning mode in the computer field.

[mawil]

Drive Image 2002 has a "copy drives" feature. (Though I've never used it, the documentation seems very thorough and easy to follow.)

It says:

"You can use the Copy Drives feature when you want to copy your hard disk without making an image. Copying drives is useful when you are upgrading to a new hard disk. The Copy Drives feature makes an exact copy of a drive or an entire hard disk and makes use of any additional space available on the new hard disk."

It then gives VERY detailed instructions on installing the new drive, etc.

[Gerdog]

If you copy everything to a new drive, it's best if you then disconnect the old drive before trying to boot the first time, and connect the new drive as master. Then if everything works right and you're happy with it, you can reconnect the old drive as slave and use it for storage or whatever. If for some reason the new drive doesn't work right, everything on your old drive will still be there, and you can reconnect it as master and start over.

[buf]

Gerdog:
I was just re-reading these threads and I became more interested in this part of your first post:

One thing that Drive Image might have an advantage over Ghost with is that it also has nondestructive partitioning abilities. For example, if you only have one large partition, it can create a new one without losing any of the existing data.

Because my present HDD has only one large partition, is what you have said means that I could ADD a partition to my existing HDD without disturbing my present data on the HDD?? Never read or heard of that before and it could just be the ticket that I am looking for Would I need partitioning software to do that? Would Fdisk do it? At present, I haven't any partitioning software.
If I can create a partition, ie. 5GIGS, then I could try the images I have saved on CD-R disks and try to put them on the new partition. I must be misinterpreting this cause it sounds too easy!!

[Gerdog]

I've been reading through the help files and getting confusing information. On the one hand, it states that the initial backup wizard can resize your C partition if that is all you have, and then create a new partition for storing backups.
In another help section, it states that you need unpartitioned space to create a new partition, or one of the existing partitions needs to be deleted in order to create new partitions of different sizes.
I haven't been able to find the answer at their website either. I used Partition Magic to set up my hard drives, so I never really got to check out that feature of Drive Image. Wish I could give you a better answer, but if I ever find out for sure, I'll post back.

[Limerick]

Hi Friends,

I haven't seen the new version of Drive Image that is being discussed here, so I have no definitive answer to offer as to what it can or cannot do. However, I do have an observation.

Since the good folks at Powerquest make Drive Image, and also make Partition Magic, I would think it very plausible for them to put some of the partitioning power of Partition Magic into the Drive Image product. Given the huge popularity that Partition Magic has gained among hordes of computer enthusiasts for several years, I would be surprised to hear that Drive Image 2002 could not create a partition on-the-fly, and then write an image to it.

Limerick

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Limerick:
You just might be right about your observations and good feelings about PQ. This is an area that I have been mulling over since last night when I first read it. A c/p is here for all to see:
(This comes from a part of some info about the software that someone sent to me.)

Setup Wizard
Drive Image images must be saved in a partition that is not included in the image. For
example, if you are saving everything from your C: drive in an image, you must save the
image to a partition other than the C: drive. If you only have a C: drive on your computer,
that means you only have one partition on the hard disk.
The setup wizard walks you through the process of creating or selecting a backup partition
to save your images. If you do not have a local drive where you can save images, Drive
Image will create one for you by creating a new partition on your hard disk.

This scenario pretty well describes my situation exactly. The 5th sentence leads me to believe that a partition would be created on my ONE hard drive by the software. Comments anyone??

[Gerdog]

What you could do is download their trial version and run through the Setup Wizard and see how it looks. PowerQuest's "demos" are a little unusual in that they let you see exactly how the program works, but it won't really perform the final operation.
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/direq.cfm

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Gerdog:
Thanks for that link to PQ. Here is an excerpt from the "white papers" and Drive Image 2002. I have c/p one page of the write-up and then below it, I have re-copied the part about the software creating a backup location if I don't have one. I really think that my present HDD--though NOT partitioned--would be able to store the image of my HDD through Drive Image!! I am 'almost' persuaded to try it---almost!!

[Report_2]

On a side note:
When you purchase a new hard drive they come with software that is made to copy one drive to the other at no additional cost.