Cloning or Imaging?


  1. Posts : 233
    W7 Home Premium 32bit
       #1

    Cloning or Imaging?


    When would one choose to clone a drive for backup, rather than an image?

    I have always done images which have always been perfect on restorations.
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  2. Posts : 3,960
    W7 x64
       #2

    When you want to back up non OS data :)
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  3. Posts : 388
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OS
       #3

    I think cloning is the preferred option if you were going to
    to move your system to new hardware.
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  4. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #4

    pscowboy said:
    When would one choose to clone a drive for backup, rather than an image?

    I have always done images which have always been perfect on restorations.
    Cloning is normally not used for backup.

    Cloning does not make a file that can later be restored. Instead, it transfers a working system from one hard drive to another in real time.

    The most common use for cloning would be to move to a larger hard drive after you have run out of space on a smaller one---when the system on the smaller hard drive is still working well.

    Imaging, on the other hand, is most often used to recover from a disaster of some type, using a previously saved image file that represents one or more partitions. Imaging can be used in some situations where cloning could also be used--such as moving to a new larger drive.
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  5. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #5

    pscowboy said:
    When would one choose to clone a drive for backup, rather than an image?

    I have always done images which have always been perfect on restorations.
    Virtually never. Can be a "simple" way of making a physical HDD copy but this can be done with images. Certainly useful for forensic work.
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  6. Posts : 388
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OS
       #6

    Just an additional note - the cloning option in the latest versions
    of VM Ware (Virtual Box) comes in quite handy for fast implementation
    of a system installation to other hardware should the currently
    running system become unusable.

    That is where you will see the value in cloning either by way of
    Virtual Box clone options or for example with a proprietry third
    party software such as Acronis True Image
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  7. Posts : 1,653
    Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
       #7

    I used to be a OS cloner but have seen the light and am now an imager.

    Cloning can be useful if you are replacing a HDD or SSD with a new one, but imaging works just as well. Cloning can be quicker for this.

    Cloning can retain your restore points for an OS clone. You loose restore points with imaging.
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  8. Posts : 5,795
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #8

    The two are not the same process. I'll explain:

    Cloning is the process of taking the data from one drive and copying it to another drive, such as when you upgrade form a small SSD to a larger one.

    Imaging is the process of taking the data on the drive and creating an actual file that can be stored to use later down the road, or used multiple times, such as when rolling out new company computers.

    So, if you create a file, you are imaging. If you go from drive to drive, you are cloning.
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  9. Posts : 8,398
    ultimate 64 sp1
       #9

    another difference is that images are usually compressed, so they take up less storage space, but take longer to build and unpack.
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