The safest way to duplicate a harddisk partition

[MAMAFUFU]

My harddisk is almost full (130GB, 50 000 files). I need to duplicate the data to a new harddisk (250GB or 320GB). The data are all company documents or scanned images. They are either doc, pdf, bmp or jpeg files, archived over 5+ years.

I want to know what is the safest way(without error or losing any bit of data) to duplicate the partition, or just copy and paste in Windows XP is okay.

I have norton ghost2003 and partitionmagic 8.0 installed on my system, so the quickest way should be partition cloning in ghost2003.

Also is there any software (free/trial-ware preferred) that can check the integrity of the duplicated data (by comparing with the original data bit by bit)?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I've had good results with partition replication using Acronis True Image. That said, if the data is important, I would never have it in just one place. Copy the data (either just straight copy or partition image) to another hd, and then archive that stuff to an external hd. Just my $.02.

If you are looking to keep that first hd online, then there is no need to replicate / copy the partition using an imager--just put in another hd and copy the data over to it. Basically keeping all of the data on one hd. But make a backup of that hd as well.

 

[MAMAFUFU]

Yes, I backup the data to another 80GB (physical) harddisk monthly using norton ghost2003 <partition-to-image>. I also check the integrity of the backup image using ghost2003 after backing up.

But my current harddisk is almost full, I need to copy the data to a new harddisk. The original one will be formatted and served as a backup harddisk.

I need ABSOLUTE CERTAIN that the original data are copied error free to the new harddisk, because the old harddisk will be formatted, and the backup image copy are being overwritten monthly by a new image.

So I think my main concern should be whether there is a software to compare the original and copied data bit by bit. (or whether there is a software that are 100% certain to clone the harddisk error free). When the copied data is confirmed positive, I can format the old harddisk, make a image backup of the new one, then check the integrity of the image.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

In that case, what i would do is get another, larger hd in there. Use Acronis True Image to copy the partition from old hd to new hd. Get new hd running as boot, etc. You then have two copies of the original data. From there you can use a bit comparison tool (search download.com for something that would be good for your purposes). The good thing about doing it in this manner is that the "old" hd is never disturbed and all of the data on it remains intact. After a bit for bit comparison between new and old data is complete, do what is necessary to the old hard drive to setup it up for backups as you stated.

EDIT: I keep referring to Acronis True Image because it is what I use. Ghost does not like RAID arrays and so I haven't used it in quite some time. If Norton Ghost is the software you have implemented, by all means use it to accomplish the same task.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You should be able to use Norton Ghost 2003 to clone between the old HD and a new bigger HD. Or even if you backup your partition to an image file on a secordary drive, you could put in a new bigger primary HD, and then restore the image file back onto that drive.

I do the same as you; partition-to-image to a secondary HD using Ghost 2003 (using a DOS boot disk in my case). I only do it every few months because I'm lazy. I also then burn the image files to DVD, as a more permanent form of backup.

To compare your files, you can use WINDIFF.EXE, included free with various MS programming tools, and possibly available for download (PM me if not). It will do a recursive bit-by-bit compare between directories. It's slow but accurate.

 

[Pirotech]

You can use Migrate Easy trial. It is free and full functional. I used it for cloning my hd a new larger hd. It was fast and easy.