Drive Imaging Joe Cicero Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

What is drive imaging? Also called a disk clone, an exact copy of a computer’s hard drive. The copy includes all the partition information, boot sectors, the file allocation table, operating system installation and application software. The process of creating a disk image is called disk imagine or disk cloning. Typically, special disk imaging software is required to copy the hard drive data.

Why image a hard drive? How long does it take to build (1) pc’s OS including application software? – How about 10? 50? 100? What is required to do a typical restore from backup media? How long will it take to do a typical restore from backup media? Disk images are used to transfer a hard drive’s contents during a hardware upgrade, to restore a hard drive’s contents during disaster recovery or when a hard drive is erased, and to transfer the contents of a hard drive from one computer to another.

Who would want to image a drive? Companies who sell pre-configured systems. Small businesses who sell pre-configured systems. System Administrators who have to build multiple systems. Computer Technicians who need to restore corrupted systems. Tech savvy home users who want quick restoration of their home system.

What are the pro’s and cons? Pro’s Fast Fast Easy Easy Reliable Reliable Flexible (media writeable) Flexible (media writeable)Con’s Partial Restore? Partial Restore? Some newer additions of this type of software will allow for restore points.

Disk image products? Pay Products Norton Ghost Norton Ghost R-Drive Image 3.0 R-Drive Image 3.0 WinImage WinImage Free Products Dd (Any Linux Distro Has Disk Dupe) Dd (Any Linux Distro Has Disk Dupe) EaseUs Disk Copy (snap files) EaseUs Disk Copy (snap files) PC Inspector Clone Maxx PC Inspector Clone Maxx

What are some requirements? You’ll need a place to put your “image”. This can be: Second Partition (large enough) Second Partition (large enough) Second Hard Drive Second Hard Drive External Hard Drive External Hard Drive CD-R / DVD-R CD-R / DVD-R Of a readable format for your program Of a readable format for your program FAT, NTFS, EXT3

Norton Ghost (7.5) Install For purposes of this class we will discuss local image creation only… to create a ghost diskette using Norton Ghost 7.5 follow these directions: Install Symantic Ghost Corporate Edition Install Symantic Ghost Corporate Edition Accept the terms Accept the terms Check “read and understood” Check “read and understood” Select Standard Tools Only Select Standard Tools Only Next, Next, Next, Install, Finish Next, Next, Next, Install, Finish

Norton Ghost Boot Disk Creation Run the Ghost Boot Wizard Select Boot Disk with CD-R/RW LPT and USB Support Select Boot Disk with CD-R/RW LPT and USB Support Click Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Start, OK, OK, Close, (Wait until files are written to disk), Click Finish. Click Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Start, OK, OK, Close, (Wait until files are written to disk), Click Finish.

Creating the Image. Boot of the diskette you created. Click OK Click OK Select Local Partition… To Image… Ok… Select Part 1… Ok… Select C: Local Drive: Type some file name “Backup.gho” etc. Select Local Partition… To Image… Ok… Select Part 1… Ok… Select C: Local Drive: Type some file name “Backup.gho” etc. Click Save… High… Yes Click Save… High… Yes

Restoring from image… Boot of the diskette you created. Click OK Click OK Select Local Partition… From Image… Select C: Local Drive: Some file name “Backup.gho” etc. Select Local Partition… From Image… Select C: Local Drive: Some file name “Backup.gho” etc. Select Part 1… OK, OK, OK, Yes Select Part 1… OK, OK, OK, Yes

Using Disk Dupe (dd) Creating the backup partition. Boot from your Knoppix CD Select “K”... “System”… “QTParted” Maximize this screen Maximize this screen Select “/dev/hda1” Located on left side pane of window Located on left side pane of window Select “/dev/hda-1 free” Located on right side pane of window Located on right side pane of window Right Click “/dev/hda-1 free” and Select “Create” Create As Primary Partition Create As Primary Partition No Label No Label Size Size (2 times the size of the partition you are backing up if possible) (must be at least the same size of the partition you’re backing up) Click “OK”” Click “OK”” Select “Device” from the menu bar… then Select “Commit” Click “Yes” Click “OK” Close the window Select “K”…”Logout”…”Turn off computer” Verify your system boots normally

Creating your image with dd Boot from the Auditor CD Open a “Root” terminal window Black window icon on task bar Black window icon on task bar Mount the partition you created above At terminal window type the following command At terminal window type the following command mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 Create the backup image using disk dupe dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/mnt/hda2/image.dd dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/mnt/hda2/image.dd

Restoring from an Image with dd Boot from the Auditor CD Open a “Root” terminal window Black window icon on task bar Black window icon on task bar Mount the partition you created above At terminal window type the following command At terminal window type the following command mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 Create the backup image using disk dupe dd if=/mnt/hda2/image.dd of=/dev/hda1 dd if=/mnt/hda2/image.dd of=/dev/hda1