g4u works for me when using the copydisk command. I can boot from the cloned drive with no trouble. I don't pay attention to drive geometries -- I don't need to. It just works.
Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: David Balazic [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 08:34 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], '' > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [g4u-help] FAQ: Bogus info about Windows and NTFS support > > Hi! > > The first (and partly the second) issue is described here by Anton > Altaparmakov (_THE_ ntfs guru) here : > http://forum.linux-ntfs.org/viewtopic.php?p=545 > and here: > http://forum.linux-ntfs.org/viewtopic.php?t=76 > (I could not find the web page I mentioned in my first post). > > > Also it can be easily checked by anyone: > have a Windows system like this: > hda1 - windows boot&system > hda2 - ntfs data partition > hda3 - ntfs empty partition > > copy hda2 to hda3 (cp, cat, m4u, as you like) > boot windows, see it complaining about hda3 not being good. > > Second issue: > Clone a windows disk to another. > With _different_ geometry (that is sector and head count). > Try to boot it. > Again, this happens if the disks have different geometry. > Maybe you can simulate this in VMware with having one IDE and one SCSI disk. > > To conclude, those are documented facts*. That users encounter in practice. > You can of course ignore it. > I rest my case. > > Regards, > David > > * - I did not provide references for docs about the second issue, but the the > web is full of docs describing how boot loaders and NTLDR works > > > ________________________________ > > From: Robert L Cochran [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Mon 24-Sep-07 00:11 > To: David Balazic > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [g4u-help] FAQ: Bogus info about Windows and NTFS support > > > > Matt Smollinger just replied to this with greater precision than me. I > use the 'copydisk' command exclusively because that is what I want to > do, clone an entire disk to another disk. I don't copy partitions. So I > stand corrected on that (thanks Matt!) > > Bob > > Robert L Cochran wrote: > > Well you are wrong. I've cloned, and booted to the cloned versions, of > > NTFS systems (Windows XP et al) so many times that I know it works. I > > don't need to use purchased software to do my cloning. I can > > confidently clone any NTFS system from an existing hard drive, to a > > larger hard drive, swap the drives, and boot to that larger drive > > without the slightest problem. I've also cloned Linux systems and > > those too boot just fine. The trick is to make sure that the cloned > > drive is at least as big or bigger (in actual bytes) than the source > > drive. > > > > You can also clone any NTFS filesystem which has been created as a > > virtual machine, as in VMWare. You just copy the virual machine from > > disk A to disk B, all you need is enough space. You may have to do a > > bit of fine tuning and debugging but it works. when run under VMware. > > > > Bob Cochran > > > > > > > > David Balazic wrote: > >> Hi! > >> > >> At http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/#filesystems it says : > >> > >> 5.1 Supported filesystems > >> > >> One of the questions arising a lot is "what filesystems does g4u > >> support". The answer is: "all of them". g4u reads the disk bit by > >> bit, starting from byte #0 to the end. It includes any MBR, boot > >> record, partition table and the partitions themselves without further > >> investigating the structure of the data stored in these partitions. > >> > >> For NTFS and Windows, this contradicts itself ;-) > >> > >> Problem 1 : > >> If you copy a ntfs partition to another partition (let say on the > >> same disk) bit by bit, it wont work (at all, or will report errors; > >> in Windows). > >> Namely, ntfs stores some data related to its position on the disk. > >> After days of debugging this problem, I found a web site explaining > >> the background and also how to fix it. Unfortunately, I don't > >> remember the address of that site. Basically, the start postion of > >> the partition must be stored somewhere in the ntfs system data > >> sectors, expressed as bytes from the beginning of the disk (warning, > >> writing from memory). > >> > >> Problem 2: > >> If you clone bit by bit a disk to another and it contains Windows, > >> the clone will probably not work (fail right in the boot loader). > >> This is again, because the Windows boot system has a dependency on > >> certain crap that you surely know, called "geometry". Which can be > >> different for different disks. In this moment, I have no idea how to > >> fix this. > >> > >> I believe this info would clear up a few things for users cloning > >> Windows related disks and/or partitions. > >> > >> Regards, > >> David > >> > >> PS: I would be great if you propagate this info to other implementors > >> of free disk cloning programs, so they can inform they users. (and by > >> that reduce traffix on their mailing lists; this of course should > >> hold also for this list) > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > >> Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > >> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> g4u-help mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help > >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > g4u-help mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ g4u-help mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/g4u-help
