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Sid_Vicious
03-26-2012, 11:47 AM
I want to find a free software to download to make an exact mirror copy of a primary C: drive to another exact drive of the same size and capacity. Looking for freeware.

requirement is only that once the copy is made, that the physical hard drive can be replaced with the new mirror/clone and it boots exactly as if it was the old primary. I have that function myself with Acronys, and can hot swap the mirrored drive at will.

So what do you suggest, FREE, that does a full bit by bit mirror, and requires no boot disks or anything? I am looking for someone with actual real world experience. Each of my research efforts seem to lead to a catch22 at a point.

Thanks,
sid
DiabloViejo
03-26-2012, 12:46 PM
I passed your request on to my techie friends, and as soon as I get a response I will post it here for you.
eg8r
03-26-2012, 01:33 PM
The big hiccup here is the "free" requirement. I wish I could help but I don't have much experience with "free" software.

eg8r
DiabloViejo
03-26-2012, 02:22 PM
Check this out, it might just be exactly what you're looking for...
Easus Disk Copy (http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/)
Sid_Vicious
03-27-2012, 12:48 AM
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DiabloViejo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Check this out, it might just be exactly what you're looking for...
Easus Disk Copy (http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/) </div></div>


Do you hear that this will mirror the OS to the target drive? if you have friends giving advice, tell them I want to have a drive that I can simply, physically install in place of the existing primary drive after the clone, and have it seamlessly boot and run. That means it will have to copy the boot sector and the OS, which in my case is XP. It worries me when I read 100% sector by sector of DATA. My test for this would be to overwrite my Acronys backup, which is a solid backup. I exchanged the primary with the mirror drive today and it ran like a top.

Thanks. I just want to be as careful as possible since I really have to keep a working system here through, UGGG! tax season. sid
Qtec
03-27-2012, 01:35 AM
I do have some real world experience but I am by no means an expert. It might help if you told us what the catch 22 was? Won't boot?

Q