Thinkpads Forum

Hallo all,

I've read through the hard drive cloning sticky post in the FAQ section, but I'm not really sure if this does what I want.

Basically, I just want to backup the whole drive in my T61p, including the hidden partition(!), into a disk image on an external USB hard disk drive from where I could restore the hard disk in the T61p back to its initial state.
It is not the goal to produce a clone 2.5'' drive which could then physically be popped into the T61p as a replacement drive.
I just want to have an image on any external drive which could then be reapplied to the drive in the T61p.

Can TrueImage accomplish this? Any other tools (freebies preferred) which can probably do this on a live-CD basis without having to install anything?

I'm experimenting a lot with different operating systems (Linux, FreeBSD etc) and I plan on getting rid of the hidden partition to free up space on the drive, so I need a good and quick way to restore the factory state of the disk.

Yes, Trueimage can do that and more. I haven't tried any free solutions.

Thanks.
Will Acronis® True Image 11 Home ($50) be enough or does it take a more advanced version to do that?

Wait, mein freund!

Before you invest $50 in Acronis True Image, have a look at the free version of, yes, Acronis True Image (taa-daa!), released by Seagate for use with their drives. If you have a Seagate drive, I believe you may use the free version, but check this for yourself - a starting point is found in the thread set up new 160g seagate hard drive for T40 (see the post of Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:15 pm) which eventually should point to Seagate DiscWizard.

Please report back here if you take that route - and if it is successful?

Johan

Quagmyre wrote:Thanks.
Will Acronis® True Image 11 Home ($50) be enough or does it take a more advanced version to do that?

Yes True Image Home can do that. The other versions is more customized for companies.

There is a comparison and you can read about it here:
http://eu.acronis.com/enterprise/produc ... rison.html

Johan wrote:Wait, mein freund!

Before you invest $50 in Acronis True Image, have a look at the free version of, yes, Acronis True Image (taa-daa!), released by Seagate for use with their drives. If you have a Seagate drive, I believe you may use the free version, but check this for yourself - a starting point is found in the thread set up new 160g seagate hard drive for T40 (see the post of Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:15 pm) which eventually should point to Seagate DiscWizard.

Please report back here if you take that route - and if it is successful?

Johan

Nice idea. Thanks for the hint.
However, I've got a Hitachi drive in my T61p.
The Seagate tool will probably choke on that one?

Swallowed the toad and got myself the Acronis TrueImage 11 Home edition.
I've always wanted a disk imaging solution, so .. finally I'll get one.

Quagmyre wrote:Swallowed the toad and got myself the Acronis TrueImage 11 Home edition.
I've always wanted a disk imaging solution, so .. finally I'll get one.

Just wondering why wouldnt you just use thinkvantage rapid restore?

puma wrote:

Quagmyre wrote:Swallowed the toad and got myself the Acronis TrueImage 11 Home edition.
I've always wanted a disk imaging solution, so .. finally I'll get one.

Just wondering why wouldnt you just use thinkvantage rapid restore?

Yes, I could have used that one. AFAIK, this allows only for creation of CDs or DVDs, but not mirroring to an external drive. I might be wrong on that though.

Secondly, I've always looked for an imaging solution, not just in the Thinkpad context. This context, however, finally got me rolling on TrueImage.

Anyway, thanks for the hint.

Very quick responses, polite and helpful people around here. Guess I like this forum. Hopefully, at some point of time, I'll also be able to share my acquired wisdom and give something back to the community.

Quagmyre wrote:

puma wrote: Just wondering why wouldnt you just use thinkvantage rapid restore?

Yes, I could have used that one. AFAIK, this allows only for creation of CDs or DVDs, but not mirroring to an external drive. I might be wrong on that though.

Secondly, I've always looked for an imaging solution, not just in the Thinkpad context. This context, however, finally got me rolling on TrueImage.

Anyway, thanks for the hint.

Very quick responses, polite and helpful people around here. Guess I like this forum. Hopefully, at some point of time, I'll also be able to share my acquired wisdom and give something back to the community.

No you can create an image onto USB or even on the hard drive your using. I also use True Image but have my own issues with that software right now like imaging secondary disks.

I gotta do this too