Is It Possible to Make Multiple Drive Images on One External Hard Drive

[drstew]

I'd like to make image copies of the boot drive for several computers I own on one external hard drive if this is possible. Since each of these has a master boot record, is this possible? Is the only choice to make an image of each on a separate hard drive? Some of these computers did not come with the OS on a disc, so if the hard drive fails, I lose the OS as well as everything else.

[ZippyP.]

Yes, I use Norton Ghost.

[drstew]

Can you tell me in some detail how you do this? I have Norton Ghost 10 and it warned me that everything would be erase when I made an image copy (copy hard drive). What choices do I make to allow copying multiple images to one external hard drive? Do I need to make a partition on my external drive for each image I create? Can you refer me to a document that explains what I want to do? Thanks.

[ZippyP.]

Just make an image file, try here - http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_1b.htm

[TJohns]

On the Ghost menu, select LOCAL - DISK - TO IMAGE (not DISK - To DISK). This will save a FILE onto the destination location, not copy the source drive over the top of the destination.

[hech54]

Put the images in separate folders?

[AlanHK]

You could also put each in a separate partition -- as an exact copy, not an image file.

With some messing around with a bootloader you could have a menu that would let you select one to boot from.

There would be some trickery to make each one believe it was the "C:" drive.

[drstew]

I don't need to boot from these images, I just want a way to retore a new disc in case my orginial fails.

[Seeker47]

I'd like to make image copies of the boot drive for several computers I own on one external hard drive if this is possible. Since each of these has a master boot record, is this possible? Is the only choice to make an image of each on a separate hard drive? Some of these computers did not come with the OS on a disc, so if the hard drive fails, I lose the OS as well as everything else.

I expect that other programs like Acronis True Image can do this also. (Not sure, since I primarily use DFSEE for this.) There are likely options for either raw or compressed images. I see no reason why you couldn't have multiple boot drive images stored there, depending on your available storage capacity. I have long done this very thing, using DFSEE.

[Webster]

I'd like to make image copies of the boot drive for several computers I own on one external hard drive if this is possible. Since each of these has a master boot record, is this possible? Is the only choice to make an image of each on a separate hard drive? Some of these computers did not come with the OS on a disc, so if the hard drive fails, I lose the OS as well as everything else.

I expect that other programs like Acronis True Image can do this also. (Not sure, since I primarily use DFSEE for this.) There are likely options for either raw or compressed images. I see no reason why you couldn't have multiple boot drive images stored there, depending on your available storage capacity. I have long done this very thing, using DFSEE.

Acronis will definite do it. I have images from 8 different computers stored on the same drive for emergency restore. All you have to do is create a bootable CD, pop it in and load the backup image from the HD set to restore and you done. This save me a lot of time from not reinstalling the OS. drivers, programs etc....

Or you could have a computer running acronis with the images restore to an external HD and move that external HD to a internal boot drive of the "crashed computer" and you done.

[drstew]

How do you create a bootable CD?

[Webster]

How do you create a bootable CD?

it part of the acronis program.

And if you own a Seagate drive. They have a modified version of acronis specifically for Seagate drive (Discwizard) which you could download for free.

[jg0001]

With Acronis 9 and up, the original master disc (i.e. the install disc) also serves as a "boot disc". You no longer need to make one special. (it's a good idea to do so, or to copy the original Acronis 9 disc just in case). [Note: Acronis 11 HOME is $19.99 with no rebates at Newegg right now, if interested.]

Anyway, I love Acronis... a lot more than Ghost which I've also used, and yes, you can copy a ton of images to another drive, but a lot of it depends on how much space you are using. Acronis, set to HIGH compression (not max), will compress my OS+Programs drive from about 7 gigs to just under 4 gigs and do it in TWO MINUTES flat. It's amazing.

[sparky11]

Why not just give each image a different name??

[drstew]

Ghost 10 is wizard driven. It only lets me (as far as I know) copy one drive to another. As I proceed, it warns me that it will erase all data on the drive I am copying to. What I haven't tried is creating partions on the external drive. I'm wondering if it will allow me to make a differnt image on each partition of an external drive. It seems I need the MBR for each drive I am copying (correct me if I am wrong) since it will have the OS. I thought only one MBR is allowed per physical drive. Do you know if this is correct?

[sparky11]

Ghost only formats (overwrites) the drive or partition it puts back it doesnt touch the drive or partition it makes the image on that should be formatted anyway in fat 32 so you can access it in dos.
During the make image process it asks you to give a name for the image and put in some details if you want (what the image contains etc)
After the inage is made you just burn the image to a dvd/cdr as a backup which can be used in dos to restore the image back (using boot floppy and select boot with cd support) after the floppy boots your system select the drive which has the image and select ghost and the image you want and ghost back,the disc should have a copy of ghost dos on the root.
i have used ghost for a number of years now and have had up to 3 different images on 1 disc,you can also span across several discs if your image is too big.

[rkr1958]

I have Norton Ghost 2003 and I'm not familiar with v10. Ghost 2003 allows me to write an image to DVD. Does v10 not have this capability?

[jagabo]

Another nice thing about Acronis True Image is you can mount images as as if they are drives. This is useful when you need to copy data from the images.