True Image Drive Cloning

seekermeister · 05 Mar 2011

Tepid said:

robocopy

or

robocopy

x:\ = source drive letter
*.* = all files
y:\ = destination drive letter
/E = Copies subdirectories. Note that this option includes empty directories
/R:1 = number of retries, default (if not specified) = 1 million retires before failing (per file)
/W:1 = Specifies the wait time between retries, in seconds. The default value of N is 30 (wait time 30 seconds).

As for reliability, well, that depends on your system and drives.

You could also try Teracopy or even Toucan

I'm still pondering this option. My hesitation is due to your comment regarding system and drives. I'm not aware of any issue here that might effect the operation, but then there is a question mark. I'm less concerned that the copy might fail midstream than I am that something might cause corruption of the source drive's files before they are confirmed on the destination, or that some one or more destination files are corrupted, so that they become unusable, and isn't known until later, when the source is no longer available.

That brings into question the the parameters for retries and delay...is only 1 retry and 1 second delay adequate? Are the 2 programs you mentioned more reliable or just more convenient?

pparks1 · 05 Mar 2011

I've done backups at home and at work with robocopy for years. I don't get partial copies and corrupted files unless the job dies, the power goes out or the files were damaged on the source or the destination drive had a problem.

The nice thing with robocopy is that it only copies files that are new or have changed. So you can run the job and kill it after 20 minutes. Then start it again and it will skip the files it already copied and continued on it's merry way. So, you can run the job a few different times to make you feel that it has copied each and every single file.

I've never once used robocopy with the wait switch or the retry switch. If the file fails to copy, I see it on the screen and it's almost always due to something like Outlook being open and the PST file being in use. When I see that, I hit CTRL-C to stop the copy, close outlook...wait a few seconds and fire up robocopy again. It should blast through at lightning speeds until it hits the Outlook.pst file again and then start copying again like normal.

This is very, very safe. I'd trust these tools more than I would just about any 3rd party utility or backup utility. I don't know how I can better explain my confidence with using this command.

Mark Phelps · 05 Mar 2011

I've used TI disk clone personally under Win7 and can tell you, it's no faster than simply copying the files.

The value of cloning is when you want "hidden" files and directories included -- like when you're migrating an OS install to a new drive.

But for simply migrating data files, the robocopy method will work just as well -- maybe, even better.

Tepid · 05 Mar 2011

I completely forgot all about Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier
A must have in any tool box.

But, if you want verifications of things,, I think Teracopy and Toucan will do those checks.
Unstoppable Copier is a great tool for damaged files and drives.

TI Cloning should work, but that's a little beyond what you really need, i think.

I recommend skipping Robocopy and try Teracopy Portable.

seekermeister · 06 Mar 2011

I just got around to trying robocopy, but it balked, even though I copy/pasted the line from OldMX's post, except that I substituted the drive letter to fit my configuration. What is wrong?

ignatzatsonic · 06 Mar 2011

I can't see the exact command you entered and I don't know your drive letters, but:

Robocopy d:\music *.* e:\temp /e

the command above will copy everything in d:\music to e:\temp, including subdirectories.

There are 3 spaces in the command: after the word music, after the second asterisk, and after the word temp.