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Number   :  1703
Date     :  2002-02-28
Author   :  bobrayx
Subject  :  Re: Full Copy of NTFS XP with XXCopy
Size(KB) :  2


One issue (the main one) for me is the cost of VMWare. The other is
that I don't really know if I can trust it in case of crash of my
primary drive. I know that second copy of XP on the first partition of
my second drive is a plain vanilla copy of XP that is bootable. I made
it bigger than it needs to be so that I can quickly install programs
on it and access any data on the G: drive if I need access in a hurry.
Any changes to the data will eventually be written to C: when I
restore it. Even a full restore or C: after a crash shouldn't cause
more than an hour or two of down time and much less if the repair
function in the Recovery Console works. I've got plenty of drive space
to spare so that's not an issue for me.

As to making my cloned version of C: bootable, it might be possible
but BootItNG says that it is not because of its position on the drive.
I suspect that someone will soon write a DOS program that will clone
an XP NTFS drive or an XP program that bypass XP's security features
and copy the system files. Since total drive failures are somewhat
rare, I figure I'll just wait for one of these to show up.




--- In xxcopy@y..., rotaiv  wrote:
> 
> Your method is similar to the one I just described in my email
regarding 
> cloning XP Pro. The only difference is that your "cloned" copy is not 
> bootable. My question to you is why not make it bootable? I think
you are 
> almost there and would probably only need to set the active
partition and 
> use recovery console to "fixboot" and "fixmbr" as described in my
previous 
> email.
> 
> "Successfully cloned XP Professional using VMWare"
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xxcopy/message/1657
> 
> The end result is that you would not be taking up any extra drive
space and 
> you can still use the same method to backup the system. The main 
> difference is that in the event of failure, you can boot the cloned
OS and 
> be totally operation without touching your original install. This
gives 
> you the opportunity to repair and/or reinstall the original OS while
your 
> system is still 100% operational.
> 
> For myself, when a system fails, it is not so much the "recovery" that 
> pains me but the "down time" during recovery. With the method I
described, 
> there is no down time so the recovery can take as long as you want.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> rotaiv.