Image Drive (clone) of 160 GB HDD

URGENT HELP NEEDED - critically important...!

[sunandoghosh]

URGENT HELP NEEDED - critically important...!

Respected geeks,

Coming straight, here goes the problem:

Background:

Hardware: HDD SATA SEAGATE 160 GB
RAM: DDR RAM 1.5 GB Dual
Processor P4 3.2 Ghz

Operating System: Windows Advanced server 2000

Application: SAP (an ERP PACKAGE)

Database: Oracle 9i

Note: Same single desktop computer with configuration stated above is used as server as well as client. It is NOT on any network. No second computer is networked to it.

PROBLEM:

The SAP application along with oracle database occupies around 60 GB out of 160 GB but the HDD is partitioned as follows:

C: 60 GB having SAP installed of 30 GB
D: 60 GB having oracle installed of 25 GB
E: 40 GB having documents 5 GB

WHAT I WANT:

I want to make an IMAGE DRIVE (CLONE) of the above 160 HDD....? on to another new 160 GB HDD...?

QUESTIONS:

Q1. Which software should i use...ACronis True Image or Norton Ghost or any one (please name it) most suitable for above situation.....?

Q2. Also there are many versions of cloning software (like server version; enterprise version etc etc)...which version should i use to clone of the software used above...?

Q3. Is it really going to be exact replica...?

Q4. Any special precautions or caution...?

Note that I am a finance guy and that this would be the first time that I would be cloning...therefore please please explain and reply in as simple words as possible without assuming much prior knowledge but only basic familiarity with computers...

I also dont know DOS....! (but ready to learn if required)....

For normal work; I use windows xp professional which is installed on another 80 GB HDD; which has got NO relation with 160 GB HDD referredd above...

Thanks so much for having the patience and putting time in reading my long story and possibly coming forward for most simple practicable optimized solution....?

I am anxiously waiting for ur replies and would clone based on what is suggested / replied....

Thanks again so much....

Your help is truly genuinely appreciated...

Thanks again for anticipated help and cooperation.

Best warmest regards,

sunando

p.s. if u want to add anything or suggest something please feel free to do so...

[edited by: jatar_k at 4:28 am (utc) on July 27, 2005]
[edit reason] removed url [/edit]

[bill]

With a Server OS you will need an Enterprise level product on the Symantec side. Norton Ghost 9 will only work on a Windows desktop OS. Take a look at their LiveState Recovery Standard Server for this case.

[lammert]

With a Server OS you will need an Enterprise level product on the Symantec side.

Not in all cases. When the drive is formatted as plain NTFS or FAT you can clone it with Norton Ghost after you start your computer with an MS-DOS boot disk. However when the disk was converted from basic to dynamic with the Windows 2000 logical Disk management MMC snap in you are lost.

More information about basic vs. dynamic partitioning can be found on the Microsoft support website [support.microsoft.com].

[bill]

Ghost 9 doesn't work that way anymore. If you have the old DriveImage product from PowerQuest, before Symantec bought them (Which is essentially what Ghost 9 is) then you might be able to do it. You might also be able to do this with older versions of Ghost.

However, the OS restrictions are pretty hard to work around with the current Ghost product. The OS restrictions are coded in.

[lammert]

Ghost 9 doesn't work that way anymore.

It was some years ago that I cloned server harddisks. I used Ghost in that time to upgrade Windows servers from single disk to RAID configurations without altering the Windows setup. I only had to load the RAID driver already on the single disk configuration, otherwise the upgraded system refused to boot.

The Ghost version I used by then didn't know the difference between server and workstation disks. As long as it were plain NTFS or FAT partitions the cloning could be done without problems. Newer software is not always better as this case proofs :(

I have cloned configurations with Microsoft SQL server without problems but I have no experience with SAP and Oracle. Should be possible without problems though.

[bill]

In this case I agree the older versions are better. However, there are still products out there that work in a similar fashion.

BootIt NG has a good buzz about it and from the product description it seems to support server OSs as well. That might be a cost effective alternative to the current Symantec offering which could end up costing more than a low end server all by itself.

[mat]

BootIt NG has a good buzz about it and from the product description it seems to support server OSs as well.

I use it on 2000, XP and SBS2003 - works fine. Not the cuddliest install routine, but does the job. Also handles partition creation, resizing and moving.