How to image an hard drive?

CP30126

CP30126

Member
Hello. I'd like to make an exact copy of a hard drive and uhh..... It would be an image file that I could explore with the software that made it and also I could "burn" the image on a hard drive or flash drive and it would be bootable like the source hard drive... Is there a software that can do that? It has to be free.

Thanks?

Sorry if what I just wrote is hard to understand, English's not my forte....
 
CP30126 said:
Hello. I'd like to make an exact copy of a hard drive and uhh..... It would be an image file that I could explore with the software that made it and also I could "burn" the image on a hard drive or flash drive and it would be bootable like the source hard drive... Is there a software that can do that? It has to be free.

Thanks?

Sorry if what I just wrote is hard to understand, English's not my forte....
Click to expand...

I've found Macrium Reflect (free) easy to use. It is also non-brand (some software only work on a certain brand, e.g. Seagate Disc Wizard).

There is a difference between Image and Clone. If you image a drive, you'd need to create a "bootable device" (CD, or USB) to boot up to recover the image. If you clone the drive, the cloned drive can be installed to the computer and boot from it.
 
ssal said:
Macrium Reflect
Click to expand...
Nope, doesn't work. Both Macrium Reflect and WinImage give the same results, the computer get stuck at a black screen with a blinking cursor... Which means that Macrium Reflect and WinImage do write something to the boot sector of the hard drive (I think) but what they write doesn't actually load anything. DriveImage XML is different, the computer IS able to boot from the hard drive but Windows 98 encounters a lot of errors and fails to boot completely. Which is really weird because the image DriveImage XML writes to the hard drive comes from the hard drive that originally was in the same computer!

Why is it so easy to write a bootable floppy or a bootable CD but so damn hard to write a bootable hard drive?
 
Your still running windows 98? Thats just wrong in so many ways. I'm surprised most websites even still work.

If you are getting a black screen with blinking cursor then it could be a failing hard drive, especially since I'm sure you are trying to use a very old hard drive. And it could also be that your computer won't recognize hard drives over a certain size.
 
Oops, seems like you misunderstood me. Sorry for not being clear at all...

My main computer (the one I'm currently using) is an HP running Windows 7. I also have an old IBM Aptiva running Windows 98. What I'm trying to do is connect the Aptiva's hard drive in my main computer as a secondary hard drive, image it, replace the Aptiva's hard drive with different one, and write the image on that different drive and make it work with the Aptiva. The problem is, when I try the different hard drive in the Aptiva it gets stuck at a black screen with a blinking cursor when I write the image with WinImage and Macrium Reflect, and when I write the image with DriveImage XML it "works" but Windows 98 encounters a lot of errors and fails to boot. Which doesn't make any sense because the copy of Windows 98 on the different hard drive should be indentical to the copy on the Aptiva's original drive!
 
CP30126 said:
Why is it so easy to write a bootable floppy or a bootable CD but so damn hard to write a bootable hard drive?
Click to expand...

I had very few problems with Macrium. Yes, sometimes I had to re-do the clone when the clone failed. But it had always gone successfully, eventually.

Maybe, the problem is what John suspected. Your equipment may be just so dated that the software no longer support it. I had the same problem with MS Office 2003. MS even took down the registration/activation site, rending my copy of the CD unusable.
 
If all you want to do is clone the aptivia's hard drive to a different one, just keep drive in it and use clonezilla to clone it. I"m assuming you just want a bigger drive?

http://clonezilla.org/


Hopefully you aren't trying to use the copy of 98 on a different computer as it won't boot with different hardware.
 
ssal said:
I had very few problems with Macrium. Yes, sometimes I had to re-do the clone when the clone failed. But it had always gone successfully, eventually.

Maybe, the problem is what John suspected. Your equipment may be just so dated that the software no longer support it. I had the same problem with MS Office 2003. MS even took down the registration/activation site, rending my copy of the CD unusable.
Click to expand...

thats odd.im running office 2000 premium and have no trouble installing an d activating on a win 7 computer.when did you run across this issue?
 
The Aptiva's original hard drive is ehhh 514Mb and I'm trying to write the image of the drive to a.... 3.somethingGb drive.
 
aldan said:
thats odd.im running office 2000 premium and have no trouble installing an d activating on a win 7 computer.when did you run across this issue?
Click to expand...

About 4 months ago. I tried installing MS Office Professional 2003. When I clicked the link to activate, it couldn't find the url. Then I called the number in the dialog box and it was disconnected. I called MS regular number for support and was told, by a human, that MS no longer support that product. I did a bit of search in the internet and found another telephone number. It was an automatic system. I was able to get an activation code to complete the install.

Because of that, I purchased a 2007 version and moved on.
 
CP30126 said:
Hello. I'd like to make an exact copy of a hard drive and uhh..... It would be an image file that I could explore with the software that made it and also I could "burn" the image on a hard drive or flash drive and it would be bootable like the source hard drive... Is there a software that can do that? It has to be free.

Thanks?

Sorry if what I just wrote is hard to understand, English's not my forte....
Click to expand...

in order to create image for hard drive, you can try third party software AOMEI Backupper Standard. it is free and supports disk backup. with this software, you can make an exact copy of hard drive
detail guide refers to
http://www.backup-utility.com/features/disk-backup.html
hope can help you
 
Don't know how old it is. think they sold the Aptiva a few years. Could be a bios hard drive limit. Even could have the jumper set wrong on the drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top