[Disaster]

[quote="PHiZ"]Thanks for the suggestions. It looks like Acronis is commercial software. I was hoping for a free/Open Source solution.

There is a beta version of Acronis available here.
http://download.acronis.com/download/ATI2009Home.zip

[PHiZ]

I was successful, using CloneZilla to backup and the restore the WinXP Home installation on my Mini9. I used the tutorial here to build a bootable USB thumbdrive. I think used an external IDE enclosure with USB interface as the target for my backed up SSD. I want to try this also with linux and OSX. I will continue to update results. If anyone tries this and has problems, I would be happy to try and provide troubleshooting advice.

Tutorial: http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/liveusb.php

[zrtom]

I've used Acronis True Image for years and, although it sometimes has its moments, it is truly good imaging software. When I got my first Mini I booted from a bootable Acronis key and cloned the factory hdd to a Runcore using the microUSB plug on the Runcore. Cloned the Ubuntu hdd in about 5 minutes and booted perfectly. True Image has worked very well for me in XP, Vista and Windows 7.

[holmes4]

I agree, with one caveat. I have not yet been able to get True Image to work or even install on Windows 7 x64. 32-bit is fine.

[zrtom]

Originally Posted by holmes4

I agree, with one caveat. I have not yet been able to get True Image to work or even install on Windows 7 x64. 32-bit is fine.

Guess what? You're right...kinda. I was able to install Acronis True Image 11 back a month ago in Windows 7 x64 but never used it on this computer. Read your post, tried a backup and it wouldn't backup (got an error that redirected to an empty error log). So I uninstalled, tried to install the trial version of True Image 2009 and, like you said, it wouldn't install. No way, now how. Disabled AV and Firewall, ran Compatibility Modes, etc., etc., and it just wouldn't install. So I reinstalled TI 11 and I'm about half way through a backup running now. We'll see what happens. :?

[holmes4]

I was going to try TI11 next. I tried Norton Ghost 14 - it installs but fails to run backups and triggers bluescreens.

[rareed0219]

Out of curiosity, does anybody know if you can net boot a netbook? I would like to image my SSD and I could do a bootable USB key or a CD but I have ready access to netboot at work. I haven't bothered to look at boot options when actually booting. I was just curious if anybody had tried it, if it was possible and did it work OK?

[holmes4]

There would have to be BIOS support for such a thing, and I don't see that the Mini 9 has it.

True Image 11 did appear to install and work on my Windows 7 x64 system, but I was getting bluescreen errors any time there was heavy net activity so I dumped it and went back to 32-bit.