True Image Drive Cloning

[seekermeister]

This is one function of TI that I have never used before, and since a new hard drive just arrived, that I want to move ~ 800GBs of video files onto, so that I can RMA the drive that they are on, and I don't want to take any chances on those files being lost for any reason.

The new drive is twice the size of the old (2TB vs 1TB), and all of the files are in one partition on the old drive, and the same will be true of the new one. I have gone through the steps prior to committing the operation and it appears simple and easy, but appearances are too often deceptive, thus the reason for my post. Is there anything that I need to be aware of, that isn't obvious?

 

[pparks1]

If these are just video files and data files that you have stored, why not just copy and paste them?

 

[OldMX]

Install the second disk and partition / format it.

Then load a command prompt with admin rights:

robocopy x:\*.* y:\ /E /R:1 /W:1

that shoud copy all the files from one disk to another

 

[seekermeister]

If these are just video files and data files that you have stored, why not just copy and paste them?

I suppose that I could, but when I have done that with much smaller number of files, it was pretty slow. Maybe TI would be just as slow, but I was hoping otherwise. Yet, this may be the thing to do.

 

[seekermeister]

Install the second disk and partition / format it.

Then load a command prompt with admin rights:

robocopy x:\*.* y:\ /E /R:1 /W:1

that shoud copy all the files from one disk to another

About the last thing that you said, that I understand, is about partitioning and formatting. I'm really bad about understanding command lines. What does each of those switches mean? At first, I thought that they represented drive letters, just using arbitrary designations, but since that line includes four of them, it throws me. In my case, I'm going to be transferring from drive M:, which shall become M: also, but I suppose that I will need to use a different label, until after the switching is complete.

EDIT: I've been going over the help section for robocopy and I think that I have figured it out. x:\ = source, *.* = anything and everything, y:\ = destination, /E = copy all subfolders, including empty ones, R:1 = number of retries, W:1 = delay between retries (since the default is 30 seconds, what does 1 =?). Other than the space after robocopy, is there any other, or is it all continuous? Lastly, just how reliable is this if properly entered?

 

[Tepid]

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

 

[pparks1]

Reliability of a command line tool should be 100%...unless your computer or hard drive fails. I do tons of admin work with command lines. And robocopy is the primary tool that I use for my backups which really matter.

 

[Tepid]

Reliability of a command line tool should be 100%...unless your computer or hard drive fails. I do tons of admin work with command lines. And robocopy is the primary tool that I use for my backups which really matter.

I think they are referring to the reliability of the data integrity transfer itself.
akin to CRC checking, etc.

The command line will execute the command just fine, what it does after that,,,

 

[jcahow]

The main reason for using the Acronis True Image or Disk Director products to Clone a disk is because they give you more options than a straight copy.

You can Clone a disk so that the destination partitions are exactly the same size as originals (including empty space), expand them proportionally as per the destination drive size (i.e. all twice as big), or lastly configured size wise any way you want (i.e. C: same size D: twice as big, E: half size).

I have used their products to Clone a number of drives under XP and never had any problems but have not used their newer versions under Win 7.............

 

[seekermeister]

jcashow,

Thanks for the explanation. it good to know that there is a useful purpose for TI's Cloning feature.

 

[seekermeister]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.