"John Russell" wrote in message
...

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
.. .

"Tony Morgan" wrote in message
...
In message , Tumbleweed
writes
Snipped....

but I'm
waiting for something that does what you say using a *physical*
image
backup/restore. Or are you simply trying to start an argument?
--
Norton Ghost or Drive Image (though I have never used the latter)
will
do this,

No they do NOT. They both image the directory/files and not the
physical
clusters/sectors. And that is the reason that you can restore to any
filesystem (within the constraints of the same OS)..

I've used NG several times to recover from a virus, from a few
software
screwups, and to xfer my C drive to a larger disk. Whatever is on the
disk being restored to is irrelevant, whether its empty or has a FAT,
FAT32 or EXT3 file system.

Exactly. But if you have an image based on cluster/sector then you can
be in deep trouble.

I'd perhaps remind you that this dispute was because I challenged
someone who suggested that a physical (aka cluster/sector) backup was
made in preference to a logical (aka directory/file) backup.


Dont they go down a bit deeper, in that they copy stuff such as boot
sectors
(maybe thats the only thing they copy that meets this criteria that isnt
a
'file'.
Here is a link for an old article on benefits of using imaging over file
backups.
http://www.m-support.co.uk/BEI.htm

Of course to a certain other gentleman this article is load of crap and
products such as Drive Image, Ghost and Acronis true image are really file
backup systems in disguise!



P.S. for those who can't be bothered to read it here is the crux quote:-

"Image backup is a process which completely backs up a physical hard drive
on a bit-by-bit basis. The image backup process typically does not care what
is on the hard drive or even what the hard drive is doing at time of backup!
The backup process simply starts at the first block and reads every
cylinder, track and sector until every bit on the drive has been backed up.
This method of backup does not see partitions, files or any other arbitrary
file system structures. A true "image" is captured on the output media."