disk clone vs disk image vs disk mirror

[chunkstyle]

hi guys

i'm hoping to do my first hd backup soon -- got a maxtor external usb hd recently -- but am unsure as to how to proceed. i did back up some folders with music files, and that was as easy as regular file copying. can i just create a folder on the external drive and then copy my entire c: drive into it, os & everything? then, if my c: drive goes bad, replace the drive, copy the stuff back into the new drive & have it work out ok? somehow, that seems too easy.

i've read a bunch about cloning, imaging & mirroring drives, and still don't completely understand them. can anyone please tell me if i've got these understood halfway decently (and correct me where i'm wrong)? i'd appreciate your input.

1. an image is actually a compressed file created by 3rd party software, like ghost, usually copied to a cd or dvd. it can be saved onto a disk or drive like any other file. if a drive crashes, this file needs to be "unpacked" or restored onto the new drive in order to function.
when restored, the new drive is exactly like the original at the time the image was made. is this pretty much right?

question: will the image, when restored, fill up the entirety of the new drive & overwrite whatever else may be present there? can you limit it to restoring just certain partitions?

2. a clone is an exact, uncompressed copy of the drive. when cloning, the process wipes out everything on the new destination drive & fills it with its own new files plus its own blank space. in other words, i couldn't clone my c: to this new external usb drive with the music file folders on it because the cloning will wipe out the music files. is this right?

question: can you clone just certain partitions on a physical hd, or do you have to do the entire drive?

does the software that creates images or clones also make them bootable, so that if the pc dies, you can get up & running just from the backup disc? are modern bios'es bootable from usb drives?

i have no idea at all what disk "mirroring" is -- i'm assuming it may just be a synonym for cloning or imaging. not sure,though.

sorry for the flurry of questions -- i'm pretty dumb about this stuff & want to understand it better before proceeding.

thanks!

drew j.

[glc]

No, you cannot just copy the C drive to the external. It will fail on all open and system files.

1. Yes. You will need 3rd party software to do this, and the software has to be able to restore an image to "bare metal" and have USB drivers. Acronis True Image should be able to accomplish this. You need to image each partition separately.

2. Correct. Again, you need 3rd party software to do this. A clone is an exact copy, you cannot be selective at all.

Images and clones *should* restore as bootable if you use the correct creation and restore process. You cannot boot from the external drive, you have to boot with the software's CD or rescue media.

Mirroring is like a clone, but is dynamic and real time using 2 hard drives set up as a RAID 1. You cannot mirror with an external drive.