OS Cloning for Dummies

clone a drive

 Every once in a while we run across a how-to that, supposedly, was written by someone who knows what they're doing. We used the word "supposedly" because we long ago realized that the biographies some freelancers publish are as bogus as their advice. Take, for example, attorney and alleged holder of a "Bachelors' [sic] Degree in Information Systems" TS Jordan of ehow.com. Our nominee gifted the world with his eHow.com version of "How to Copy My Operating System to a CD," which now resides at Techwalla.com.

Jordan walked his readers through a procedure that we think was based on Windows XP (remember that version? Support ended in 2014). Whether or not we're correct, we're pretty certain that Jordan's instructions were at best, incomplete and more likely simply unworkable. 

We say that because TS told us to fire up the Windows backup utility and,

• "Click 'Back up files and folders'... "
• "Check the drive containing your operating system and select the desktop as the location to store your backup file."
• "Press 'Finish.'"
• "Insert a blank CD. Select 'Open Writable Folder.' Drag-and-drop the backup file to the CD folder and press 'Burn.'"

Ummm, we're not so sure that will work...

For one thing, that's simply making a copy of the files and doesn't include any of the relationships buried in the registry. For another thing, you don't want to "burn" a copy of the files, you want to make an image of the disk – a somewhat different procedure.

Suffice it to say that simply copying the drive that contains the OS – which, for most personal computers, also contains everything else on the computer – is not really "copying the OS." Instead, you need to clone the operating system and write it to bootable media (another fact Jordan omitted).

Go ahead and try it, though: We think you'll discover that our Dumbass of the Day had no idea what he was talking about.

SE - COMPUTERS