|
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it, when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair, and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Hi Mike,? Check out the link below, may be something you can use. ? ?
73 de Pamela - N1ZKH
Sunday, October 30, 2022, 5:14:18 AM, you wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it, when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair, and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
?
|
?
I use a program called image for windows.? Go
to
???
?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2022 3:14 AM
Subject: [repeater-builder] Somewhat OT... imaging a hard
drive...
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I
could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or creating an image file of
one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another
drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of Ghost that they
called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field
service on CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb
drive had two drive volumes on it, when booted it came up as C (read-only) and
as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the
thumb drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in
the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair, and the company
seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the
company that created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going
to a web site and it was a commercial product.
If they are gone, then is
there a really good imaging program that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable with
"rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops
at each repeater site that can talk to the local controller, be it RLC or Scom
or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing but
the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a
very small image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I
like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at each of the
sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I
leave a site... just restart the laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done pull the thumb
drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I
can drop an image on a replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has
everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Download and image GParted to a USB
drive. It's the closest modern thing to Ghost.
Best,
?? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 5:14 AM, M M wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image hard
drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or creating
an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of
Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on
CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it, when
booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb
drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair,
and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that created
Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program
that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable with
"rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the local
controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing but
the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small image.
?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at each
of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the
laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done pull
the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a
replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Speaking of which, can anyone here copy files from 5-1/4"
floppies to a CD or thumb drive? There are expensive rescue
services, but the files are of old controller software solely for
archival purposes.? I'd be eternally grateful ('eternally' meaning
12.59 years per IRS actuarial table).
73,
Bob, WA9FBO
S-COM, LLC
On 10/30/2022 8:18 AM, WJ4X Adam wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Download and image GParted to a USB
drive. It's the closest modern thing to Ghost.
Best,
?? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 5:14 AM, M M wrote:
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image
hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or
creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of
Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on
CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it,
when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb
drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair,
and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that
created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial
product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program
that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable
with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the
local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing
but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small
image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at
each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the
laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done
pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a
replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
If you can find a 5.25 IDE drive, there
are external USB drive enclosures for them. The guy that runs the
LGR channel on youtube may be of assistance, his email is clint@...
Best, ? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 10:36 AM, Bob wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Speaking of which, can anyone here copy files from 5-1/4"
floppies to a CD or thumb drive? There are expensive rescue
services, but the files are of old controller software solely
for archival purposes.? I'd be eternally grateful ('eternally'
meaning 12.59 years per IRS actuarial table).
73,
Bob, WA9FBO
S-COM, LLC
On 10/30/2022 8:18 AM, WJ4X Adam
wrote:
Download and image GParted to a USB
drive. It's the closest modern thing to Ghost.
Best,
?? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 5:14 AM, M M wrote:
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image
hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked
elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or
creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation
of Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on
CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it,
when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D
(read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb
drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of
Mayfair, and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that
created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial
product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging
program that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable
with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the
local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing
but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small
image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at
each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the
laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done
pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on
a replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Clonezilla if you want something free but it's CLi driven, Acronis True Image (if it's still around) if you don't mind paying for it as it has a nice 'pointy-clickey' interface...
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/
ymmv
Doug
|
I miss Ghost for a lot of things.
One option is Clonezilla.? Free.? Text interface over the Linux-based code.
|
Vintage Computing Federation?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Oct 30, 2022, at 10:36 AM, Bob <wa9fbo@...> wrote:
?
Speaking of which, can anyone here copy files from 5-1/4"
floppies to a CD or thumb drive? There are expensive rescue
services, but the files are of old controller software solely for
archival purposes.? I'd be eternally grateful ('eternally' meaning
12.59 years per IRS actuarial table).
73,
Bob, WA9FBO
S-COM, LLC
On 10/30/2022 8:18 AM, WJ4X Adam wrote:
Download and image GParted to a USB
drive. It's the closest modern thing to Ghost.
Best,
?? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 5:14 AM, M M wrote:
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image
hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or
creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of
Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on
CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it,
when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb
drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair,
and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that
created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial
product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program
that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable
with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the
local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing
but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small
image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at
each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the
laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done
pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a
replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Bob, I have a 386SX PC with both 3.5 and 5.25" drives running DOS. It's in storage but I get it out with some effort,? to transfer from the 5" to 3", then put the 3" in my xp machine to copy to a thumb drive. You'll need to send me the program or file, I'll scan it for funny-stuff, too.? I have several boxes ranging from Win95 to 10 and Linux.? But I'm a "billware" clone right now. Linux is still ackward for me.
Remember to? read my signature, below.
--
-
Regards, Karl Shoemaker
To contact me, please visit SRG's web site at?
for the current email address.
|
Thanks to all for the suggestions! I've accepted a kind offer to
do the transfer.
73,
Bob
On 10/30/2022 9:42 AM, M Flynn wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Vintage Computing Federation?
?
Speaking of which, can anyone here copy files from 5-1/4"
floppies to a CD or thumb drive? There are expensive
rescue services, but the files are of old controller
software solely for archival purposes.? I'd be eternally
grateful ('eternally' meaning 12.59 years per IRS
actuarial table).
73,
Bob, WA9FBO
S-COM, LLC
On 10/30/2022 8:18 AM, WJ4X
Adam wrote:
Download and image GParted to
a USB drive. It's the closest modern thing to Ghost.
Best,
?? -Adam WJ4X
On 10/30/2022 5:14 AM, M M
wrote:
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to
image hard drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked
elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger),
or creating an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another
drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant
derivation of Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field
service on CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on
it, when booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D
(read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the
thumb drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be
written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of
Mayfair, and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company
that created Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial
product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging
program that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive
bootable with "rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to
the local controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with
nothing but the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very
small image. ?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the
laptop at each of the sites.? I'd love to be able to
refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just
restart the laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's
done pull the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an
image on a replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Use clonezilla.
Not easy to use, but works perfectly. You must read all of the
prompts.
73, Jim W7RY
On 10/30/2022 4:14 AM, M M wrote:
Years ago (before Norton bought them) I used Ghost to image hard
drives
(I was doing field support for a bank).? it worked elegantly.
I could clone one drive to another (usually larger), or creating
an image file of one drive and
placing the entire image as a single file on another drive.
A company in the UK came up with a very elegant derivation of
Ghost that they called Mayfair.?
I learned about it from a friend that did field service on
CityBank ATMs about 5-10 years ago.?
His company issue thumb drive had two drive volumes on it, when
booted it came up as C (read-only) and as D (read-write).
The image file could be placed on the D: volume of the thumb
drive, on a second thumb drive, or could be written to a
blank DVD in the computer it was running on.
I am now in a situation where I could use a copy of Mayfair,
and the company seems to have evaporated.
Does anybody here have any knowledge of the company that created
Mayfair?? Or contact info??
I remember going to a web site and it was a commercial product.
If they are gone, then is there a really good imaging program
that works as well and as elegantly as
Ghost used to be??? I know how to make a USB drive bootable with
"rufus".
Yes, this request is repeater related.?
i have laptops at each repeater site that can talk to the local
controller, be it RLC or Scom or Arcom.
Teamviewer or VNC makes it easy... And a laptop with nothing but
the OS and a remote access
program and a controller manager would have a very small image.
?
But laptops die at inopportune times.?
I like having a "just in case" image file of the laptop at each
of the sites.? I'd love to be able to refresh
my image file just before I leave a site... just restart the
laptop from my bootable thumb drive, image
the laptop to a file on that thumb drive... when it 's done pull
the thumb drive and restart the laptop
in normal mode.? If the laptop croaks I can drop an image on a
replacement laptop and KNOW that
the new laptop has everything that the site needs...
Ideas??? Comments?
Mike WA6ILQ
--
Thanks and 73, Jim W7RY
|
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
|
When I was working for CenterPoint Energy doing IT and telecom work, I cloned several PCs using a software package that rewrote the system ID on the hard drives to a random number. Then I used Ghost and cloned a master drive with all the software onto 16 different machines at the same time. Never had a problem! Funny thing is the IT department screamed at me about using Ghost but they were the ones who gave it to me lol Chris WB5ITT?
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
|
Marcium is a good one, but won't run on below Windows XP.?
Marcium is what I use, and then for OS's older, I use Ghost 8.
For the OP, what was the issue with using Ghost 8 anyway?? It can boot into DOS and backup to any CD / DVD or flash.
Thanks
Andy WJ9J
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
|
This is how well engineered Enterprise systems and computer manufacturers do it.? A lot of details go into that.?
If you never had a problem cloning from that master drive to different machines, you wouldn't mind uploading
that image to the FILES section?? You did keep a copy after you left CenterPoint??
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sun, Oct 30, 2022 at 11:51 AM, Chris Boone wrote:
When I was working for CenterPoint Energy doing IT and telecom work, I cloned several PCs using a software package that rewrote the system ID on the hard drives to a random number. Then I used Ghost and cloned a master drive with all the software onto 16 different machines at the same time. Never had a problem!
Funny thing is the IT department screamed at me about using Ghost but they were the ones who gave it to me lol
Chris WB5ITT?
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
|
Yes on Macrium, it requires you to have a licensed windows so that it borrows the PE boot from that installation
to build the boot disk.? As long as the hardware in the computer will boot and be able to use the device drivers,
you are good to go (although it would likely be a Windows TOS violation).?
Also a few years ago, Win10 changed the way it builds partitions, and a new version was required or the recovery
would fail.? Ghost failed a couple of times with the changes to NTFS and the new win10 structures.? This is why I
found it necessary to make recovery CDs and DVDs for XPsp3 and W9x and older and included the software used
to make the image, so I wouldn't lose track of what made it work.?
Nothing prevents (most) DVD drives from working in an old machine and there is a DOS driver for it,? The CD
DOS boot section is the same for the CD as long as the machine can see it.? So you can build a recovery boot disk
that boots into DOS with Ghost with the proper drivers that will recognize the rest of the DVD and all other drives and
be ready to go.?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sun, Oct 30, 2022 at 01:58 PM, wj9jrg wrote:
Marcium is a good one, but won't run on below Windows XP.?
?
Marcium is what I use, and then for OS's older, I use Ghost 8.
?
For the OP, what was the issue with using Ghost 8 anyway?? It can boot into DOS and backup to any CD / DVD or flash.
?
Thanks
?
Andy
WJ9J
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
?
?
|
I'll have to see if I still have a copy saved on my portable drives or on the server HD?
This is how well engineered Enterprise systems and computer manufacturers do it.? A lot of details go into that.?
If you never had a problem cloning from that master drive to different machines, you wouldn't mind uploading
that image to the FILES section?? You did keep a copy after you left CenterPoint??
On Sun, Oct 30, 2022 at 11:51 AM, Chris Boone wrote:
When I was working for CenterPoint Energy doing IT and telecom work, I cloned several PCs using a software package that rewrote the system ID on the hard drives to a random number. Then I used Ghost and cloned a master drive with all the software onto 16 different machines at the same time. Never had a problem!
Funny thing is the IT department screamed at me about using Ghost but they were the ones who gave it to me lol
Chris WB5ITT?
The part about moving the installation from a croaked laptop to a new laptop is not a trivial thing.
Different machines even identical models will have different serial numbers on hardware unless the
whole thing is DOS or Win 3.1,?? It may be an even chance that it is only the hard drive that
died or lost boot info.? A lot of the DOS software can be run simply by saving the installation and
running the executable from a bat file, but some won't work that way.?
NOTE - All installation floppies for OS and software of interest and drivers must be backed up to CDs
and DVDs in such a way that either native installation media could be replicated or installed from
the CD or DVD.? This is important because magnetism and media will fail over time, Thumb drives
will fail when they get wet from sweat in your pocket or when they break in the USB port in the laptop.?
I sometimes find old floppies that are too degraded to be used or recovered.
If it is a Windows installation, Activation will probably be blown as well as licenses on some of the
software that actually cares.? There will also be device drivers that will fail requiring reinstalls in
order to build a working OS, then good device driver installations, then the rest of the packages
will have to be reinstalled so they can rebuild working relationships.?
If it is the case of the hard drive only -- Put the drive into a good machine along with a destination
drive for images and pull its boot drive, then boot from a rescue disk with your favorite image software
and get what you can before doing anything else.?
In addition to image software mentioned, there is Macrium Reflect Rescue image.? In an emergency?
the Direct Cable Connection in DOS or windows can be used with a null-modem cable to transfer on a machine
with only an RS232 port.? It is slow and won't image, but you can transfer files.? Bear in mind that
disk structures changed over the years, so you have to make a note what software package was used
so that you can be sure of being able to recover the image that was made.? Various earlier versions
of the Hirens Boot disk from 10 to 15 had versions of Macrium Reflect, Acronis, Ghost and DD and other
imaging software, and some even had Knoppix boot selections.? Knoppix versions 4 and 5 were very
versitile for booting into a GUI session on a lot of machines and is easy to use for partition copy and
building even for NTFS.
Good luck with it all, people have always wished for an easy way to move their whole installation from
a dead computer to a new one, but there is no one answer and few of the answers are simple and
usually require very different strategies depending on what you have to work with and where you want
to move it to.? You will want to study it all in detail before something crashes because you need to
plan ahead so you can do it in 15mins and not hit a wall.
|
Yup - CloneZilla is not persnickety about which OS is on which drive. Its partition to partition function may be a bit tricky, but drive to drive is excellent and fast.? Just saved my Server 2016 system getting off it's temporary USB boot drive to an internal SSD - whew.
IT has been my paying alter-ego for decades... almost nothing I can't make a PC or OS do.? Just made up two legacy dual-boot DOS and XP laptops for a regional radio shop to keep up service for legacy rigs.? Then ask me about USB-RS-232 adapters...
?
|
Andy WJ9J wrote:
> For the OP, what was the issue with using Ghost 8 anyway?? It can boot into DOS and backup to any CD / DVD or flash.
Nothing - except that I can't find a copy of Ghost 8.
Jim Aspinwall wrote:
?
>? Just made up two legacy dual-boot DOS and XP laptops for a regional radio shop to keep up service for legacy rigs.?
Which laptop did you use?
I've been using two CF-series Toughbooks for radio programming just because they have a hardware serial port.?
Solves a lot of USB to serial issues.?? I have a CF-27 (288mhz) that boots to MS-DOS (or Win98SE), and a CF30 with 32 bit Win7,
There's a CF29 on the shelf to back up the CF-30.
> Then ask me about USB-RS-232 adapters...
I've had friends that don't have hardware serial ports switch to Mark Dunkle's FTDI cables...
that one step solved a LOT of their radio programming issues.? ()
And for USB debugging situations I pull out a serial adapter with an FTDI chip and individual LEDs for TX and RX ...
Something like this:? https://www.ebay.com/itm/394119149646
Mike WA6ILQ
|
Karl Shoemaker
Chris Boone WB5ITT