Windows 11

[TheForce]

I highly recommend not messing with CDs at all. They are unnecessarily complicated and may fail if your BIOS settings get trashed.

In the referenced instructions for Clonezilla there are several warnings that concerned me. Like this:

"You shouldn’t use an external USB drive because it can’t be set as a boot device."

That's why I continue to work on using a CD to boot the computer in case of a C drive failure. With EZ Gig 4 they have a utility to create a boot CD as well.

In the computer's Bios, I didn't see an option to select a USB as a boot device but the CD / DVD drive was listed.

 

[harshness]

In the referenced instructions for Clonezilla there are several warnings that concerned me. Like this:

"You shouldn’t use an external USB drive because it can’t be set as a boot device."

They were speaking of USB hard drives as opposed to USB thumb drives. It isn't actually true as you can make an external USB hard drive boot.

That's why I continue to work on using a CD to boot the computer in case of a C drive failure. With EZ Gig 4 they have a utility to create a boot CD as well.

Since the supposition is wrong, the conclusion isn't entirely justified.

In the computer's Bios, I didn't see an option to select a USB as a boot device but the CD / DVD drive was listed.

If the USB device is present, it will show up. If it isn't, it won't.

Another advantage of Ventoy is if you have a CD (or DVD) that you want to boot from, you can create an ISO image of the drive and copy the file to the Ventoy drive. I have a large number of Linux distros and a bunch of repair discs loaded on a 128GB thumb drive. Much more practical than carrying around a bunch of CDs. I plan on making a USB of all of my tax software in this way.

 

[TheForce]

Couple things. In the Bios I saw that USB Boot was enabled.

RE Clonzilla.

Spent some time with it and got to the point of seeing the source 5 partitions, but was unsure as it seemed like I would need to do one of these at a time which could take a long time. I didn't see a way to select all of them for an automatic configuration of the Partitions and cloning of each one. Anyway, moving on it seemed like I needed to be connected to the internet for this to work and upload my C drive to some cloud server. Is this correct? I continued but I never saw a way to select the destination as the last comment said "waiting to connect to remote machine," so I aborted the process and rebooted.
I don't think this cloning process is meant for a novice even though there was a selection option for that purpose.

 

[TheForce]

I took a look at Ventoy and it probably is a nice product for anyone needing access to multiple boot files but it, too was more complicated than I want for a basic cloning system.

 

[arlo]

Highly possible cloning the active boot drive will do just that. I know Acronis will.
Usually using a bootable media to free the boot drive is how it's done.
Hirens BootCD PE has a lot of tasty tools.

https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Seriously. You paddlefeets think totem clone so funny.
It's beer thirty. I literally downloaded Hirens and Rufus. Burned a bootable USB and was into a Windows PE environment with all the utilities right there. It took a bit. Sammy Lager #2. From Baw-stun!

Some confusion me thinks.
Most every pc made after XP was the thing has boot options.
A good thing is use your best friend Google and query "how to boot <insert you pc model here> from USB".
Power it on. Tap the esc, F11, F1 key. Heck. Look quick on the screen and see if "Press the....key to select boot device". Don't forget if you have a UEFI to turn off Secure Boot first. A common oops.

If you have an HP, Dell, Lenovo with their magical factory bloatware restore partition. Sure. It will be hidden.
Perhaps Disc manager (right click My Computer and select manage) will show them. Or not.
Bootable software with disc tools does.
So. Unless you get a brand new drive and format and install a fresh, uncorrupted and fatware free copy of your favorite OS. Being Windows as per the title of this post pertains to. Yeah.

Anyway. Once Hirens was running I located Aronis. Some good options for backing up different things.
Click on Clone.
Plug in an external HDD before launching Acronis. Equal to or larger capacity than your boot drive in your pc.
Couldn't be easier. Select Source Disc. Select Destination Disk. Ba-da-bing.

Now. You will get an exact and bootable copy of your existing drive. Hidden partitions, everything.
That's is. If it's what you wish to do in the easiest way possible.
It's no-nonsense and is what my previous company and factory tech support companies used.
If you poke around a little bit in Acronis you can see different ways you can backup your stuff.

Hirens IS a Windows live environment with networking and enough tools to save the day or get you into deep trouble.
For the things I do. It's a must-have. The lin-ikus guys can eat your hearts out.

 

[harshness]

Spent some time with it and got to the point of seeing the source 5 partitions, but was unsure as it seemed like I would need to do one of these at a time which could take a long time.

You can back up a partition or the device (the whole drive including the partitioning and boot sectors). You restore in the same way.

I didn't see a way to select all of them for an automatic configuration of the Partitions and cloning of each one.

You either back up the partition or not. There is no configuration necessary. I suspect you haven't reached the stage where you select the drive to be backed up.

Anyway, moving on it seemed like I needed to be connected to the internet for this to work and upload my C drive to some cloud server. Is this correct?

Only if you want to do a cloud backup (as you must expect).

I continued but I never saw a way to select the destination as the last comment said "waiting to connect to remote machine," so I aborted the process and rebooted.

You select the destination before you choose which drive/partition(s) to back up. Make sure you read and understand the prompts and carefully distinguish between "source" and "destination" therein. DO NOT select to back up to a remote system if that isn't what you want to do. I get by with just the Device to Image or Device to Device options.

I don't think this cloning process is meant for a novice even though there was a selection option for that purpose.

If you've chosen "advanced" mode, back up and switch to novice mode. Advanced mode is not required unless you really know what you're doing (or want to complete a previously aborted session).

There are a number of YouTube videos that cover the usage of Clonezilla. The process hasn't much changed in the many years that I've been using it so don't be put off by videos that are two years old.

It is important to ignore what you know about using other tools when starting out with a new tool. That means not assuming that you know how the workflow should go.

 

[TheForce]

Finally I had success today. I discovered EaseUS Partition Master does exactly what I needed based on a preview that walked me through the process right up until I got to the part that starts the clone process. At that point I was asked to pay up $69 for a lifetime activation key. They have other payment plans but I liked what I saw so far so I went for the lifetime subscription, and if it didn't work they have a 30 day money back. But the cloning was even better, faster, than what I expected.

The installation was simple and installed a shortcut on my desktop to start the tool. There are several tools besides the full disk cloning in the menu. I did test one other which was change MBR to GPT of my M.2 stick in the USB 3.1 port. That worked well. Next I cloned the drive and all it's partitions in one simple step. As the cloning process progressed there were constant feedback letting me know progress. The entire drive was cloned in 12 minutes for 120GB on the C drive. The drive was made bootable and all I did was remove the source M.2 and replaced with the clone and it worked just the same.
It would have been nice to see the freeware working but not at the cost of such a time consuming process and me possibly messing something up creating an even bigger disaster.

In addition they have a chat button to get tech support. The one concern I had was if I needed to do the partitions separately or does the clone of the drive include all the partitions automatically? The tech support agent was on it in a few seconds and said all partitions are an exact clone of the source drive and I didn't need to do anything.

There may be other issues but I haven't seen any so far.

 

[harshness]

AOMEI Backupper is another tool that works pretty well but comes at a cost.

 

[arlo]

Finally I had success today. I discovered EaseUS Partition Master does exactly what I needed based on a preview that walked me through the process right up until I got to the part that starts the clone process. At that point I was asked to pay up $69 for a lifetime activation key. They have other payment plans but I liked what I saw so far so I went for the lifetime subscription, and if it didn't work they have a 30 day money back. But the cloning was even better, faster, than what I expected.

The installation was simple and installed a shortcut on my desktop to start the tool. There are several tools besides the full disk cloning in the menu. I did test one other which was change MBR to GPT of my M.2 stick in the USB 3.1 port. That worked well. Next I cloned the drive and all it's partitions in one simple step. As the cloning process progressed there were constant feedback letting me know progress. The entire drive was cloned in 12 minutes for 120GB on the C drive. The drive was made bootable and all I did was remove the source M.2 and replaced with the clone and it worked just the same.
It would have been nice to see the freeware working but not at the cost of such a time consuming process and me possibly messing something up creating an even bigger disaster.

In addition they have a chat button to get tech support. The one concern I had was if I needed to do the partitions separately or does the clone of the drive include all the partitions automatically? The tech support agent was on it in a few seconds and said all partitions are an exact clone of the source drive and I didn't need to do anything.

There may be other issues but I haven't seen any so far.

Why? Used almost all of them. Fraidy cat?

 

[TheForce]

AOMEI Backupper is another tool that works pretty well but comes at a cost.

At some point, I have to realize that the cost is less than what I am spending in time this past week trying to do a simple procedure AND assuming I can get the complex process down to a routine, what the process will cost in time in my future. I've spent days of experimenting with 5 different "free" convoluted multi applications to try to achieve my goal and none were successful. I'm sure the reason was that I am not a computer hacker or a trained service expert. I'm just a user of computers to do what I need to do. I do understand most of the hardware enough to build a computer from components My goal was never to save a few bucks, nor make believe I am an expert at this stuff. Rather, My goal is to do what I need to do with as few steps and as simple as I can for the least cost. Don't need a gazillion tools I will never use. Don't want to learn Linux ot other OS. Bad enough we have MacOS and windows under the same roof here.

In the past I had the clone process that worked just as easy but I could not use it to make an M.2 clone. Instead it only would work to make a 2.5" SATA drive clone. That old Apricorn / EZ GIG 4 would take a few seconds to launch. but making the SATA drive clone took between 60-90 minutes. This new system with EaseUS Partition Master takes just 12 minutes, from start to finish. Never even need to open the Bios and change anything.

 

[TheForce]

AOMEI Backupper is another tool that works pretty well but comes at a cost.

Took a look at it for curiosity. It seems about the same as EaseUS Partition Master. I didn't look at the price, but probably about the same. Many of these tools are similarly priced and just differ in features and procedure.

 

[harshness]

At some point, I have to realize that the cost is less than what I am spending in time this past week trying to do a simple procedure AND assuming I can get the complex process down to a routine, what the process will cost in time in my future.

You're perhaps making much too much of a process that you should be figuring out how to avoid in the first place. I manage to trash a computer about once every five years. I can't imagine how you can only go a few months without a catastrophic failure.

 

[TheForce]

You're perhaps making much too much of a process that you should be figuring out how to avoid in the first place. I manage to trash a computer about once every five years. I can't imagine how you can only go a few months without a catastrophic failure.

I wish, but I view these measures such as AV and malwarebytes and cloning of the OS as well as backups of my project files as the same as car and home owners insurance. The loss when the disaster strikes can be financially catastrophic in a small business. Missing a deadline was my biggest worry because of the way TV Broadcasting works. I even had backups for my production gear.

Now in retirement, I don't have the same risk but since I spend daily active trading stocks, it's more about a missed opportunity and convenience. I'm used to a trouble free work flow. Still the faster I can be back up and running the better. Until a better solution comes along, I'll continue to do what I know works. If I were stubborn I wouldn't have tried any of the suggestions in this thread. So I'm not stubborn and refuse to try something new but it has to be better than what I am used to. I can tell if something is way too complicated and convoluted to proceed.

I consider you an expert in this stuff but you admitted trashing a computer once every 5 years. I can't recall the last time I had a MB failure, where I decided to trash the entire system and took your advice to upgrade. Most of the time my computers needed to be upgraded to support new hardware that wouldn't run on the weaker hardware. Not until the past 15 years have I been concerned with hackers and the need to protect against these criminals. So when one of these attacks hits, I want a clone of my system to quickly switch off.

 

[harshness]

So when one of these attacks hits, I want a clone of my system to quickly switch off.

With the advent of bots that can be remotely activated (they've been with us for a while), I'm not sure cloning is the protection that you think it is. In these cases, nothing extraordinary shows up until the blackhats flip the switch.

 

[HipKat]

In the computer's Bios, I didn't see an option to select a USB as a boot device but the CD / DVD drive was listed.

If you hit F8 during Post, you'll see all available devices, including USB. This is how Live USB Drives are accessed to install dual boot OS's or separate OS's on other drives (How I run Linux on the same Machine as Windows)

 

[TheForce]

If you hit F8 during Post, you'll see all available devices, including USB. This is how Live USB Drives are accessed to install dual boot OS's or separate OS's on other drives (How I run Linux on the same Machine as Windows)

This computer uses F2 to get into Bios where you can select boot priority. F8 does nothing and reverts to normal boot. It uses F12 to select one time boot option. Mine is set for 3 available options. the onboard M.2 NVME windows drive is at the top; the CD/DVD optical drive; and I forget what the third one says but it isn't any USB. Something like UEFI Boot....

My older ASUS MB did use the DEL key to get into Bios and the F8 key to see all the options for boot.

When I tested my clone I just swapped the M.2 to my new clone M.2 and it booted normally. I then switched it back to the original.

I have the regular windows scheduled C drive backups once per week and plan to update the m.2 clone now once a month. We'll see how that works out.

 

[HipKat]

This computer uses F2 to get into Bios where you can select boot priority. F8 does nothing and reverts to normal boot. It uses F12 to select one time boot option. Mine is set for 3 available options. the onboard M.2 NVME windows drive is at the top; the CD/DVD optical drive; and I forget what the third one says but it isn't any USB. Something like UEFI Boot....

My older ASUS MB did use the DEL key to get into Bios and the F8 key to see all the options for boot.

When I tested my clone I just swapped the M.2 to my new clone M.2 and it booted normally. I then switched it back to the original.

I have the regular windows scheduled C drive backups once per week and plan to update the m.2 clone now once a month. We'll see how that works out.

That must be manufacturer specified. I built my system with an ASUS MB, and it's F8 that takes you to the Boot Menu

 

[harshness]

This computer uses F2 to get into Bios where you can select boot priority.

Most motherboards have a different key for the "BBS menu" that doesn't require you to go into the bios/boot heirarchy. It saves some fuss.

 

[arlo]

No need to have a controversy of what, and if there is, a key to press to get into boot options. 99.9% of the time on any motherboard there is. Deal with it every day because that's what I do. FOPS. Fix other peoples <add your own expletive here>.
A Kasperskey boot cd does a great job of cleansing your pc offline. And Hirens has tools also.
People shun partitioned drives. Cloning an OS. Especially a fresh install with correct drivers and your applications configured to your liking is a great idea. All your stuff can be in a partition and your OS and programs in the boot partition. Like in my browsers. Downloads don't fly into the normal place, pictures,....my profile folder. They are directed to the storage partition. If the day goes to crap, I still have my stuff.

Your clone. On the day it was done. Use a backup utility that does full or incremental backups.
Cloning a corrupted or tired OS makes absolutely no sense at all. Although since Windows 10 realizing it being tired and BSOD is just simply almost a thing of the past. XP would boot in 15-30 seconds and 6 months later hit the power button and go make coffee.

I do like my router. It has virus and malware protection built in before data ever passes out to wifi or Ethernet.
But still when doing technical searches and I click a page or 2 in a search. Those .it, .fr, .pl sites that are full of tidbit info I'm looking for. Takes me to a click to win a million dollars and crap sites. Hit the previous icon 57 times to get out of it, close the browser, 3-finger salute to task manager. Yeah.

Never imagined suggesting Google searching for the key to choose boot options would get into a peeing in a fan contest. But I am glad force's pay-per-clone is working to his liking.

 

[HipKat]

No need to have a controversy of what, and if there is, a key to press to get into boot options. 99.9% of the time on any motherboard there is. Deal with it every day because that's what I do. FOPS. Fix other peoples <add your own expletive here>.
A Kasperskey boot cd does a great job of cleansing your pc offline. And Hirens has tools also.
People shun partitioned drives. Cloning an OS. Especially a fresh install with correct drivers and your applications configured to your liking is a great idea. All your stuff can be in a partition and your OS and programs in the boot partition. Like in my browsers. Downloads don't fly into the normal place, pictures,....my profile folder. They are directed to the storage partition. If the day goes to crap, I still have my stuff.

I do the same with my Windows install but on separate drives. My OS is on a 500GB SSD and my installs and storage are on partitions on a 4TB HDD. I also have my downloads, etc pointed to the EHD