Clone HDD to new HDD?

[darkstarsinner]

Hey guys I'm hoping you could help me. I built some computers for the local Verizon stores a while back and the guys have pretty much destroyed them. I would like to set up one system and clone the drive so that all four systems are identical. Each system is completely identical to the next as far as hardware goes. Can anyone suggest a high quality program to duplicate the first drive that is simple and quick? Time is very important as the systems cannot be down for to long. Thanks in advance.

 

[strollin]

Free: Macrium Reflect

Paid: Acronis True Image

 

[OldMX]

I'd go with CloneZilla on this...

 

[darkstarsinner]

Do any of them have any advantages over the other?

 

[rvbfan]

Buy your HHD from WD and
get a copy of Acronis for free.

 

[darkstarsinner]

Their actually all WD HDD's

 

[rvbfan]

There you go

 

[darkstarsinner]

I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[darkstarsinner]

unfortunately I can't use the WD Acronis as no matter what Do it says I do not have WD drives installed. I don't understand why as EVERY single HDD I have is WD (all 8) and yet not one is recognized by this program, not even the week old 2TB Caviar Green I just installed on my HTPC will pick up. I think I'll try clonezilla.

 

[karlsnooks]

Are the four systems hardware-identical?

Do you have four licenses?

 

[F5ing]

Can't go wrong with Clonezilla. It's been a long time since I've messed with Acronis so can't say much about it. I've used Clonezilla for years and have never had a restore attempt fail.

 

[darkstarsinner]

Are the four systems hardware-identical?

Do you have four licenses?

Yes all four systems have been built using exactly the same components. And yes again as all four OS's are licensed legit.

Can't go wrong with Clonezilla. It's been a long time since I've messed with Acronis so can't say much about it. I've used Clonezilla for years and have never had a restore attempt fail.

Can you give any tips to using Clonezilla. I'll be heading out of town tomorrow to manage the four systems and would greatly appreciate any early input.

 

[F5ing]

Can you give any tips to using Clonezilla. I'll be heading out of town tomorrow to manage the four systems and would greatly appreciate any early input.

Well, one tip. I use the preselected defaults except:

• when making the clone (copying) I always use expert mode, but on healthy hard drives I only change the selection to remove the paging and hibernation files (I remove them) and at times change the compression mode (gzip, bzip2, and "no compression" all work).

When applying the image to a new drive I just select beginner mode and go with all the defaults.

You can clone an HD directly to another HD or simply make a clone to save wherever you want to use later.

Some good info here: The new and definite CloneZilla tutorial

 

[darkstarsinner]

Well I just ran it on a fresh install and cloned it to an external HDD. Rebooted to the External and everything started right up. I just used beginner mode and didn't edit any settings. I'm thinking this may be best for now until I have time to dive in some more. Many thanks to you sir.

 

[F5ing]

You're quite welcome. Glad it worked out well for you!