easiest way to copy the partition from HDD to CF Card?

**mattress** · 08-21-2006, 07:54 AM

I'm in the process of getting everything setup on my HDD. Once finished, I want to copy the partition over to the CF card, and I'm looking for suggestions on an easy/effective way of doing it.

I've read booting into BartPE and just copying the files over will work, but I don't feel comfortable doing that. Don't you have to copy over the MBR (Master Boot Record) and other information as well in order to boot?

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

**darkseid** · 08-21-2006, 08:01 AM

The easiest way would be to go to a computer fair or look on ebay and by a version of norton ghost 8 and just ghost the partition and then install the image on the CF card

**oeri** · 08-21-2006, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by mattress

I'm in the process of getting everything setup on my HDD. Once finished, I want to copy the partition over to the CF card, and I'm looking for suggestions on an easy/effective way of doing it.

Are you planning on making your CF card read-only? And, do you have a CF->IDE adapter or are you planning on using a USB card reader? There are many different situations you have to account for before doing this. And you did make your Windows partition size (the actual partition, not just the used space) equal to or less than the size of your CF card, right?

I've read booting into BartPE and just copying the files over will work, but I don't feel comfortable doing that. Don't you have to copy over the MBR (Master Boot Record) and other information as well in order to boot?

You need the Windows partition, plus the MBR, but don't waste your money on Ghost. There are plenty of free alternatives.

**mattress** · 08-21-2006, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by oeri

Are you planning on making your CF card read-only? and, do you have a CF->IDE adapter

yes and yes

And you did make your Windows partition size (the actual partition, not just the used space) equal to or less than the size of your CF card, right?

oops nope. gotta do that

You need the Windows partition, plus the MBR, but don't waste your money on Ghost. There are plenty of free alternatives.

Thanks for all of the information here, I didn't think about a few of these things. Also, could you list some options for me to try out? I have a copy of ghost here somewhere actually, I'll have to install that on another computer and play with it some.

**oeri** · 08-21-2006, 10:07 PM

To use XP on a read-only card, you need to enable EWF. http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/...PCHacks_Chap1/

As for a free alternative for Ghost, use ntfsclone.