What is the Fastest Hard Disk Cloning Software Tools - CloneZilla
System: Windows 7
HDD's: 500GB, 2TB, and 4TB (Non-Raid)
Tools: CloneZilla v1.2.2-26 (2009)
Required: Must Run From Bootable DVD and not write ANYTHING to the target drive other than bit-for-bit from the source. Must not write anything to the source.
BACKGROUND
I recently cloned my 2TB hard drive to a larger 4TB drive using a seven year old version of CloneZilla. It took over 4 hours at 5GB per Minute. I trust CZ because it has worked for me for over the years. However, the larger hard drives are taking too long. I switched to CZ after have major problems with the way Norton Ghost works. I tried Acronis many years ago as well and I don't remember what the problems with it were.
QUESTION
How FAST is the most recent version(s) of CloneZilla?
Which recent and fast version of CZ is the most reliable?
What other cloning tools boot from their own DVD and work as well as CZ, or better ?
HDD's: 500GB, 2TB, and 4TB (Non-Raid)
Tools: CloneZilla v1.2.2-26 (2009)
Required: Must Run From Bootable DVD and not write ANYTHING to the target drive other than bit-for-bit from the source. Must not write anything to the source.
BACKGROUND
I recently cloned my 2TB hard drive to a larger 4TB drive using a seven year old version of CloneZilla. It took over 4 hours at 5GB per Minute. I trust CZ because it has worked for me for over the years. However, the larger hard drives are taking too long. I switched to CZ after have major problems with the way Norton Ghost works. I tried Acronis many years ago as well and I don't remember what the problems with it were.
QUESTION
How FAST is the most recent version(s) of CloneZilla?
Which recent and fast version of CZ is the most reliable?
What other cloning tools boot from their own DVD and work as well as CZ, or better ?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
arnold
Cloning is neeed under certain circumstances getting data from one drive to the next does not necessarily require cloning.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Thanks to all of you for your input.
SUMMARY
1. HD Tune 2.55
Bad sectors are automatically replaced by sectors on a different part of the disk. That makes seek time a more important part of the transfer speed.
2. Casper by fssdev.com (and several other alternatives)
SmartClone copies only the necessary tracks.
3. Sector Size Matching between Drives is Helpful
Older versions of Clonezilla may be restricted to 512 byte sectors and newer drives use 4K sectors natively.
4. Clarification of Cloning issues provided by DLETHE.
- HDD cloning, by definition is copying 100% of the physical blocks from LBA #0 to the last LBA.
- From Linux, you can use the command dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1024K, and it would do a bit-level copy.
- File copy may not preserve the timestamp on a Windows system. Robocopy may help with this.
SUMMARY
1. HD Tune 2.55
Bad sectors are automatically replaced by sectors on a different part of the disk. That makes seek time a more important part of the transfer speed.
2. Casper by fssdev.com (and several other alternatives)
SmartClone copies only the necessary tracks.
3. Sector Size Matching between Drives is Helpful
Older versions of Clonezilla may be restricted to 512 byte sectors and newer drives use 4K sectors natively.
4. Clarification of Cloning issues provided by DLETHE.
- HDD cloning, by definition is copying 100% of the physical blocks from LBA #0 to the last LBA.
- From Linux, you can use the command dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=1024K, and it would do a bit-level copy.
- File copy may not preserve the timestamp on a Windows system. Robocopy may help with this.
FYI
Bad sectors are AUTOMATICALLY replaced by sectors on a different part of the disk no matter what software you use. This is a function of the HDD firmware. No credit should be given to HD Tune for something that it has nothing to do with.
Bad sectors are AUTOMATICALLY replaced by sectors on a different part of the disk no matter what software you use. This is a function of the HDD firmware. No credit should be given to HD Tune for something that it has nothing to do with.
The point about HD Tune is that it will show you where the speed drops because of replaced sectors on your hard drive. We're talking about going from 59 MBytes per second on good tracks down to 3 MBytes per second on the replaced tracks.