SCSI hard drive copy... 1:1

I would second the Ghost suggestion...also, many drive manufacturers offer utilities to assist you in migrating data from one disk to another.  That would be a free method.  Maxtor's util is "MaxBLAST III" I think, Seagate has Seatools, etc.

But Ghost is good to have around in any case.  Dunno much about DriveImage, but it does basically the same things.

-dog*

OK as far as the Free that is always better :) I have used the Maxtor and the Western Digital data lifeguard before was un aware that you could do this with a SCSI drive

If you're going to another hard drive in the same machine and all you want is the files and folder structure duplicated then either

xcopy - which comes with your O/S

or

xxcopy from http://www.xxcopy.com/

will do the trick.  Both are free.

xcopy /m /e
is more handy command,
it would do incremental copy, so in case its aborted in between ,next time when you run the same command, previously copied files are not copied.

it does this by copying files with archieve bit set so you should do
attrib -r -s -h *.* /s
in the root directory first...

I need to preserve the entire OS, and replace the drive with the copy... As I am unsure as to how much longer the current drive will run... I have a new drive comming overnight express current drive 9.1 GB new drive will be a 36.4 GB

Then use xxcopy and the clone switch

eg

xxcopy    c:\*.*    d:\*.*   /clone

I think that's the correct syntax.  Check it out on the page I referred to earlier.  You'll have to fdisk your disk first and format it as well.

dbrunton: Trouble is, if he runs XCOPY from inside Windows it won't be able to copy some of the OS files which are in use, and if he uses it OUTSIDE Windows then the long file names will disappear (assuming he CAN use it outside Windows--if he has NTFS then he obviously can't).

So what other options will I have to use... Drive manufacture software the best bet?

Probably...what is the drive vendor?  Since tihs is a SCSI drive, I'd guess Seagate.  They have updated tools on the website (in case they just ship you a "bare drive" in a static bag with no diskette or CD).
The Seagate DiscWizard should do the trick:
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html (Choose the middle option for DiscWizard 2003)
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/use_dw2002.html (more information)

If its an IBM/Hitachi drive:
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#Installation and get DiskManager2000.  I think it will work with SCSI drives as well as IDE...

-dog*

What OS are you running also as this can affect what route to take.  Ghost and DriveImage don't care what the OS is (and Ghost can auto-expand the C: partition to fill the entire drive, or whatever size you want it to be; DrvImg can probably do this too, but I don't know for sure).  Then you can add a D: partition for data storage and keep your OS/programs separate from your data files, etc.

-dog*

OS is WinNT 4.0 Server I will be picking up the unit this afternoon and was hoping to get everything in place before the transfer takes palce

Try this, free, simple.......

www.heidi.ie/eraser/ 

Try this, free, simple.......

www.heidi.ie/eraser/ 

While the suggestions posted by other experts here are good and useful information. I still recommend going with Norton Ghost. The cost isn't that bad, considering what you get for it. If your hard drive is failing, do you really want to work with the freebie software, and *hope* you get all of the information and OS off of your drive? With Norton Ghost, as long as the drive is still functional, you will be able to get everything. This is because Ghost will create a boot disk for you, which makes it OS indepenant., it doesn't care if you are running Linux, Windows (any OS) or other. Norton Ghost does a bit for bit copy of your drive..... while still allowing you to expand the partition into the whole area of the new drive, or portion of it, as you see fit. Doing a bit for bit transfer also allows it to capture the long filenames.

Having read up on DriveImage, I see it also claims to do the same things. Either of these options will ensure your data integrity.

In my experience with free software. (I've tried many, including xcopy, pkzip, etc) I've found that you often have to have the switches exactly correct, and the drive ideally should be in perfect functioning order, in case you need to re-attempt the transfer. With software designed for this purpose, it takes these headaches away.

~grins~ There's my two-bits worth of ranting for today.

Hope this helps!

:o)

Bartender_1

Ghost ROCKS! I was able to clone the image with no problem and the client is back in busniess. I have had a copy here for quite some time I never had time to work with it I think I will use it more often now I gave it a try :)

Thanks

Glad I could help.

:o)

Bartender_1