"Bob" wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 11:04:28 -0700, "Timothy Daniels"
> <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:
>
>> Try cloning instead of imaging. A clone can be booted, an image
>>must be "restored", involving a another copy operation. I have what
>>is variously called a "removeable tray", "mobile rack", "disk caddy",
>>and I periodically clone the entire operating system partition to
>>preserve its state and the data on it to one of 4 partitions on the HD
>>in the removeable tray. I also have other trays which slide into the rack,
>>and I can keep up to 12 archived versions of the O.S. partition. Ghost
>>and Casper XP are able to clone a specific partition from one HD to
>>a HD that may already contain other partitions, but True Image just
>>clones the *entire* source HD to an *entire* destination HD. And with
>>Casper XP, Windows never goes away. If the HD for the currently-
>>running O.S. fails, or if the currently-running O.S. gets corrupted, I just
>>slide in the tray containing the HD with the archived O.S. of my choice,
>>and I boot it up, and I'm back in business. If it's just a single file that I
>>need, the archived O.S. partitions just appear as "Local Disks" (i.e.
>>partitions with a file structure), and I can simply drag 'n drop the
>>archived file to the running O.S.'s partition.
>>Post if you want more details.
>
> That's what I used to do. I used Drive Image Pro. But the problem is
> you have to stop Windows.
>
> By using a RAID 1 scheme, you don't have to stop anything. RAID 1
> clones the disk on the fly. To create a backup all you have to do is
> stop the RAID 1 process.
>
> If I could find a controller that will do that on a scheduled basis, I
> would have what I want.


I'm not quite sure what the symptoms and consequences of
"stopping windows" are, but give Casper XP a try. It doesn't
drop out of Windows or necessitate a restart at all as far as I
can see. Try the free downloadable version (good for 30 days)
at www.FSSDev.com/products/CasperXP/ . Unattended
scheduled operation isn't part of its répertoire, though.

*TimDaniels*