BobGipson
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I Need An Exact Clone of A 2003 Server C Drive. Will This Work?
I Need An Exact Clone of A 2003 Server. (As security against a disk failure only.) Can I simply remove the drive, mount it in an external USB case, attach the case to another machine running Norton Ghost, and Ghost the 2003 drive? Will this work?
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basically due to the nature of windows the hardware has to be very simlar you may be able to get away with different size drives if they are from the same make etc... i'm not 100% sure as our images go back onto the same server.... often with an image placed on, you can run a windows repair install to refresh drivers etc... careful with AD though...different size drives shouldnt give you to much grief and there is always work arounds like the repair i mentioned
i have heard Acronis is ok, but i didnt like the networkin imaging side of things, wasnt impressed and through away the disks, each to their own though
i have heard Acronis is ok, but i didnt like the networkin imaging side of things, wasnt impressed and through away the disks, each to their own though
ASKER
Netman66,
Thanks for the reply. If I'm not running Ghost from the server, but rather from another computer which reads the server C drive from a USB case, will Ghost not read the server C drive the same as it would any other drive on the computer running Ghost? What problems can I expect? I thought Ghost did a sector by sector image. Why should it care what software is on the drive configured as I describe? I'd rather use Ghost since I have it available. Thanks.
Thanks for the reply. If I'm not running Ghost from the server, but rather from another computer which reads the server C drive from a USB case, will Ghost not read the server C drive the same as it would any other drive on the computer running Ghost? What problems can I expect? I thought Ghost did a sector by sector image. Why should it care what software is on the drive configured as I describe? I'd rather use Ghost since I have it available. Thanks.
ASKER
Jay_Jay70,
Thanks. I'm going to try this approach this weekend. Ghost to USB and then restore to a new and larger HD. New HD back in the server box and boot it up and see what happens. Any horrendous pitfalls to this approach? Can I destroy my original installation in any way with Ghost? Any poltergeists in Ghost?
Thanks. I'm going to try this approach this weekend. Ghost to USB and then restore to a new and larger HD. New HD back in the server box and boot it up and see what happens. Any horrendous pitfalls to this approach? Can I destroy my original installation in any way with Ghost? Any poltergeists in Ghost?
only issue i have with ghost is that its made by symantec **grin**
your best option is to trial like you are going to, no big pitfalls that i have come across, USB drives and ghost i havent dealt with so cant comment, i liked the ghost 8 and above feature of where you could burn direct to a dvd, that was am improvement!
your best option is to trial like you are going to, no big pitfalls that i have come across, USB drives and ghost i havent dealt with so cant comment, i liked the ghost 8 and above feature of where you could burn direct to a dvd, that was am improvement!
ASKER
Jay_Jay70,
I expect my experiment will take a good bit of this Easter weekend. I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks.
I expect my experiment will take a good bit of this Easter weekend. I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks.
Ghost should work just fine. I was unclear of your process until your last post.
You don't need to do a disk clone, just create it as an image to a secondary drive.
You don't need to do a disk clone, just create it as an image to a secondary drive.
ASKER
Jay_Jay70,
When I Ghost 25 Gig of content from an XP Pro machine, telling Ghost to confirm the image, it takes about 9 hours. Not quite as long to restore. If I have any problem with the Ghost approach it is tiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeee
When I Ghost 25 Gig of content from an XP Pro machine, telling Ghost to confirm the image, it takes about 9 hours. Not quite as long to restore. If I have any problem with the Ghost approach it is tiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeee
true that! 25 GB of data would be a PITA few easter eggs and you'll be set....
ASKER
Netman66,
Thanks. I'm going to do the "experiment" as described above. I'll let you know the results. I'll put off awarding points for a couple of days. Thanks for your input.
Thanks. I'm going to do the "experiment" as described above. I'll let you know the results. I'll put off awarding points for a couple of days. Thanks for your input.
Sure thing. Don't forget about Jay!
All is good either way :)
Hope you have a good Easter Netman, You too Bob
Too late for me to be awake, 2am In Aus! I'm going to bed!
Hope you have a good Easter Netman, You too Bob
Too late for me to be awake, 2am In Aus! I'm going to bed!
Back at you!
ASKER
Thanks for the reply. When you say "identical hardware" do you mean the same box or exactly the same size drive? Some of my servers have small HD's, 40 Gig or so. If one fails, I'd probably need to restore the image to a considerably larger drive. I just don't want to lose any more sleep worrying that a drive will fail and I'll have to start from scratch to reinstall Server 2003.