[<<]Message[>>]    [<<]Author[>>]    [<<]Subject[>>]    [<<]Thread[>>]

Number   :  5506
Date     :  2003-09-10
Author   :  Dan Anderson
Subject  :  Re: XXCLONE - basic question
Size(KB) :  7


Kan, you are correct that I was not anticipating that the XXCLONE version
would be preferable to the original system volume for purposes of restoring
a functional o/s from CDR backup, but it was more of an all-inclusive test
(if it worked for the xxclone version then it would most likely also work
for the original source but not necessarily vice versa depending whether
XXCLONE misses).

To clarify further (and embarrass myself), I had actually lost my original
volume due to one of my slip-ups in not altering the target volume that
XXCLONE selected as a default target (I had been testing with 3-4 xp
partitions). My carelessness was complicated by not having already
established a more effective backup for xp on CDR and I had hard-drive space
limitations (my ongoing use of W95 limits my drives to 32GB each and with
multi-boots I archive W95 and W98 as well as data partitions).

Fortunately, corrupting my source volume occurred after I had established a
fully xxcloned version. The corruption of the original volume occurred when
I was using an older clone as the source for testing purposes (e.g. trying
to xxclone-activate an older partition archive using a more recent
xxclone-activated xp clone partitions as the source volume).

I'll send a separate note (basic question #2) with regard to xxclone option
#4 and its role in making an archived xp partition independently functional.


Dan

=================================


----- Original Message -----
From: Kan Yabumoto 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 5:26 AM
Subject: Re: [xxcopy] XXCLONE - basic question


Dan wrote:

> A primary objective would be to be able to put a backup
> XP clone onto CDR so that if the hard drive crashes,
> the clone can be re-installed. I tried to do that with
> a bootable clone created by XXCLONE (copied to CDR using
> Norton GHOST 2001).

I'm not sure if I understand it correctly. If you
have verified that XXCLONE works as advertised (that
the newly cloned volume is indeed bootable), it is
logically quite similar to the original volume.
I'm not familiar enough with Ghost to see any
advantage (or motivation) of Ghosting to CDR using
the cloned volume rather than the original volume.

(Were you running this simply to learn if this is
feasible for mostly academic interest?)

> The GHOST recovery ran okay, but the resulting
> partition was again not operational until XXCLONE
> was run from a pre-existing partition and option 4
> was used to make the GHOST-recovered partition bootable.

I'm not familiar with a Ghost recovery. Are you saying
Ghost-recovered volume is not bootable by itself unless
further adjustments are made (like using XXCLONE)?
If this is true, is it true only with the use of
XXCLONed volume as the source? That is, if you Ghosted
to make the CDR from the original (source) volume,
Ghost will successfully restore a disk volume from the
CDR and the resultant volume is always bootable?

Please remember that Option 4 allows only a partial
backup. It is intended to be used typically with
other backup tools. That is, if you compare the
degree of versatility between XXCLONE and XXCOPY,
the purpose of Option 4 (backup Windows essential files
only) become clear. Instead of making XXCLONE
include everything that XXCOPY offers, we want the
user to use XXCOPY instead for more customized
backup operations.

For example, XXCLONE does not have the exclusion feature. Therefore, for a
sophisticated user who are comfortable
with XXCOPY, a combination of XXCOPY (for main backup)
and XXCLONE (for rebootability and registry transfer)
for periodic backup makes more sense.

My hunch is that if Option 4 works well on Ghost-
restored volume, what about Option 5 which performs
the critical disk initialization in order to make
the volume bootable.

BTW, eventually we will make XXCLONE suitable for
batch file operation (eliminating all the user prompts).
(It already offers the /start switch that effectively
eliminates the need for clicking the start button.
but we forgot to add the dismissal of the XXCLONE
program ---- auto exit when /start is present).

> But if XXCLONE is doing its work by copying all
> the registry files from an existing partition,
> then there does not seem to be a stand-alone
> recovery capability.

XXCLONE's primary objective is not an extensive
repair operation. It can only re-initialize
the boot-related sectors and files. (As the
product name implies, it's main goal is a versatile
easy-to-use disk cloning utility with the new
emphasis of rebootability (lacking in XXCOPY).

I think making a robust and useful Windows repair
operation without using the Windows itself is out
of the scope of XXCLONE. Frankly, only Microsoft
(or Symantec) can tackle the daunting task.

> Can that be established only by having the backup
> partition on another harddrive. If GHOST clones
> the full drive image to CDR, does anyone know what
> is missing? Is some sort of preparation in addition
> to the XXCLONE step needed? Throughout the backup
> and restore process I had the "system recovery"
> option turned off so that there was hopefully less
> XP-interdependence between the various drives.

As I said in my previous post, CDR-based Windows
system backup is not my favorite procedure and
therefore, I remain ignorant on this issue.
(My opinion and observation here on this subject
may miss the point, but let me continue...)

First of all, I do not understand why it is so
important that the CDR-based backup to be complete
with the capability to restore the bootability.
When you already have a rebootable volume on another
hard disk is quite good. CDR-based backup has
one distinct advantage over the disk-based. That is,
you can keep it at off-site. But, when your office
burn down with your computer, you will most likely
buy a new computer (with a different motherboard).
Microsoft makes your life very miserable by not
letting you restore your backup set from your CDRs.

As a matter of fact, with the XP, even a fully
working, self-bootable hard disk cannot be plugged
into a system with a new motherboard. Microsoft
deliberately worked hard to prevent this. From
anti-piracy point of view, this is "somewhat"
understandable. But, in this case, it is not just
the requirement for a new "Product Activation"
chore. Microsoft went much further than that.
I think you really have to re-install a fresh XP
system into the hard disk from scratch *AND* then,
go though "Product Activation" on top of that.

So, even though I'm quite ignorant about the nature
of the CDR that Ghost creates (I can't imagine
the CDRs created from the original disk (or from
XXCLONE'd disk) cannot be better than the disk
itself), I bet the backup CDR set will not be
more useful than just an isolated archived directory
(say, the entire \Program Files\ section on CDR).




---------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe eMail to: 
Or to post a message, send eMail to 
---------------------------------------------------------------

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/



This message if part of XXCOPY's message Archive.
The archive contains all the messages posted at Yahoo!Groups: XXCOPY.