How easy/hard is it to clone a hard drive?

[More Cowbell]

I have several computers with the same specs (PIII 733 mhz) that i would like to set up the same way. It takes hours to copy and configure everything that I put on one of these things including the operating system as I'm starting with blank hard drives. Is there a way or software or something that allows me to take one of the systems that I have set up correctly and simply clone the drive and drop it in another same-spec box?

[ChadTower]

dd

EDIT:  fixed link, the board choked on the parentheses

[FunWithFire]

Could you set the blank hd as a slave drive in a comp that is already set up, and then just copy and paste from the master drive to the slave drive?

[More Cowbell]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Dd (Unix in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings.

[ChadTower]

Could you set the blank hd as a slave drive in a comp that is already set up, and then just copy and paste from the master drive to the slave drive?

No.  Depending on the operating system there would be a lot of stuff that would not go over.  I'd use DD in a Linux box or I'd set up a Ghost image.

[fatfingers]

Here's your link (and yes, this is a great way to do it).

[2600]

If you had to click on a wikipedia link to see what Dd is then don't use it.

Try Acronis Trueimage.

If that doesn't work for you, I'd suggest an older copy of Norton's Ghost.

[More Cowbell]

Yeah, I'm not so sure I want to learn Unix to do this. I'm looking to save hours not weeks so if there's a way to do it in one step or in minutes it would be worth doing. Otherwise, I'll just have to bite the bullet and copy/paste and configure. I'll check out Trueimage and Norton Ghost.

[More Cowbell]

What about this?

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hdclonefree.html

[XyloSesame]

Don't forget about Free Open-source Ghost

[patrickl]

Won't you run into problems with serial numbers for Windows if you do this (and thus activation problems)?

[ChadTower]

You could, yes, if you tried to use the same serial for too many installs.  Of course, you don't actually have to register your copy of windows.  It works just fine without that.

[knave]

I've been using ghost for many years both profesionally and for home use.  I will never go back.  I find it so useful that I make a ghost images all the time.  It's nice to be able to revert to past configs, or before that virus hit, or before I was an idiot and installed that crappy demo.

You can usually find last years version of systemworks pro for cheap like $15 or so.

It's easy too. I use a boot disk or CD that I make for each PC. Run the Dos ghost app and image the PC over my home network.

[Samstag]

My instructions for easy clones using dd:

• Download Tom's Rescue/Boot Disk and put it on a floppy.
• Set the disk you want cloned as your IDE master, or in the first SATA port.
• Set the target disk up as secondary or in a higher SATA port.
• Boot from the floppy.
• Type "dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb" for IDE or dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb" for SATA.

You can do this without even knowing how to spell Linux.

[kelemvor]

I just use Ghost.

Hook up both drives
Boot from a ghost floppy or CD
Clone one to the other

Of course this has to be for identical hardware since it's all the drivers and such too.  Otherwise when ou're done you still have to go through and weed out things and fix drivers and such.

[ChadTower]

Of course this has to be for identical hardware since it's all the drivers and such too.  Otherwise when ou're done you still have to go through and weed out things and fix drivers and such.

Depending on how different the driver requirements are, relatively recent versions of Windows will do that itself.

[kelemvor]

Of course this has to be for identical hardware since it's all the drivers and such too.  Otherwise when ou're done you still have to go through and weed out things and fix drivers and such.

Depending on how different the driver requirements are, relatively recent versions of Windows will do that itself.

Yeah, Windows will probably have most of the drivers built in but you just have to sit for a while as it re-detects everything and such.

[MrMojoZ]

Depending on how different the driver requirements are, relatively recent versions of Windows will do that itself.

Oh lord, not this mess again....