Clone a hard drive with Windows XP OS on it?

[neilsanner]

Ghost for Linux (g4l), hey? That sounds good. I'll give it a try next time I need to clone a drive.

Thanks!

[WFD]

When you use DD or partimage to clone (or backup and restore) an XP hard drive or partition, will you have any issues because you are writing to an XP NTFS disk with linux? Or, does the fact that you are doing a bit-for-bit restore bypass the entire NTFS problem?

My apologies in advance if it is too simple a question, but I'm new to linux and can't seem to find the answer anywhere else, at least not with enough authority that I'm willing to risk trying it.

Thanks,

[nad]

A bit copy is just that. You will be copying bits, not files, therefore the source and target filesystem type is immaterial. This information will also be duplicated in a partition or disk cloning. For this reason, be prepared to resize your partition and/or filesystem to completely fill the space you have made for it.

Whether you will have issues because of your ntfs, I do not know. When you reboot to exPee, it will probably automatically perform a filesystem check. What else it may do ...

[chmac]

One small point on cloning the WinXP OS, assuming you're running a legit, activated copy (that's another whole debate!) you will have problems when you boot the drive because of Windows piracy protection. If you try to change too much hardware (like the hard drive) it crashes on load. There is a workaround, I remember finding in on Google a few months back, but alas I don't have it bookmarked. It was something to do with Windows 98 boot disks and recreating the MBR with the Recovery Console CD or something of that ilk.

Having said all that, perhaps neilsanner got it to work?

Cheers - Callum.