Copy your hard drives and prevent it from being wiped out or overwrite.
CopyWipe is a free utility for copying or securely overwriting (wiping) entire hard drives. CopyWipe can ease and expedite the transition to a new hard drive as well as help prevent confidential or private data from being recovered. A number of options are provided for wiping, most of which exceed governmental standards (such as DoD 5220.22-M, NAVSO P-5239-26)
No hassle, well documented step by step instruction.
Does not need a second hard disk to run on (builds its own bootable CD)
Cons
You need to read the document before you know which version you need (probably DOS version, and that might seem confusing to some people)
Summary
Do you want to dump an old notebook and want to make sure that none of your data is left on the hard disk and cannot be got back by ruthless minded people? This is for you.
Document leads you through the production of a bootable DOS CD with the CopyWipe on it. Then all you have to do is boot it and follow the instructions in the enclosed document.
WARNING: Think carefully before using a 35 pass strong wipe that may take literally days. You may want to go for a smaller number of passes unless you have national secrets on the disk. Oh, and set up the machine out of the way because if the dog trips over the power cable you will have to start all over again.
Simple & Elegant! Download BOTH Versions
Sundazing
Pros
About the easiest solution possible for creating a bootable COPY not just a mere image of a drive. Lots of options. Download both versions then decide which one you need.
Cons
The PDF docs need to be on the Dos Console version (around 333mb), not just the Windows burn-a-cd-or-floppy version files. You MUST read the PDF first. Extremely easy and well thought out documentation for beginners.
Summary
I needed a disk to disk COPY of my ABSplus bootable backup drive to restore to my working harddrive. The software provided with the ABS drives is on CD and my Toshiba's isn't working and the bios allow no UBS devices. The software will only restore to C: drive not to my UBS enclosed hard drive on a friend's computer with working CD drive. BUT CopyWipe did it!
After 4 days of demos, I finally found what I needed. You will too. I couldn't get all the files on a CD burning using the Windows version, but the PDF mentioned the Windows Dos Console version and I tried that. Great and easy! The PDF goes into great detail of all the menu options you will see after you evoke your command prompt (cmd for Vista search field, right click for admin privs, then navigate to dir with copywipew.exe and run it). I'll be taking a serious look at purchasing software from this company as soon as I buy a new computer later this year.
This is "THE" WindowsXP Disk-to-Disk copy program
James Ammon
Pros
I wasted 2 days and over 12 hours trying 14 or 15 programs that claimed to make a disk-to-disk copy. CopyWipe successfully the first time. It easily copied my smaller old drive to a new larger drive. This program does EXACTLY what it says it will.
Cons
As others posts have stated, read the pdf file and on-screen prompts twice to avoid disaster.
Summary
This program should be in the top 5.
VERY nice free backup utility.
Pros
1. Simple
2. Works
3. Free
4. Does EXACTLY what it says....makes an "almost" perfect copy of one hard drie onto another.
5. Even copies files which are in use.
Cons
1. No scheduler.
2. Potentially dangerous for those who won't read before they click. (See below)
3. It completely overwrites the destination drive. But this is exactly what I want for my purposes....an identical & bootable copy of my main disk.
Summary
I'm surprised this thing isn't more popular than it is. It does exactly what it says it does & does it well....it makes an "almost" perfect, bootable mirror image of an entire hard drive onto another. Main drive blows up....not a problem....plug in other drive & keep on trucking. As stated in other reviews, it even copies files that are currently in use. Many of the bloated "pay for" backup programs falter on this step. I put "almost" in the above sentence because it did fail to copy about 4 shortcuts correctly. After booting from the new disk, I had it fixed in about a minute. If you can read about 5 lines of instructions, you can use this program.
Not really anything BAD, but as another reviewer stated, you have to be aware of which drive is "Drive 0", "Drive 1", etc.....it doesn't specify C,D,etc.....just look in your Disk Management console for this info. There's no scheduler that I'm aware of, but as simple as the program is, it's not needed. Since it works equally well when the computer is running, just start it up every few days & let it do it's thing while you continue surfing or playing. Two VERY important things to note however. This isn't for "set it & forget it" people. You have to spend about 2 minutes starting it up when you want to copy a disk. And it's not for those who can't read simple instructions about what the program is about to do when you tell it "Yes".....it COMPLETELY overwrites the destination disk. So you'll want a dedicated back up disk that is ONLY used for one thing.....a back-up. It can also be made to completely erase the source disk....just READ before you CLICK.
Simple..the way it should be.
proper85
Pros
Like others, I'm impressed that the product works while the system is running. I also liked that it was quicker than I expected - not lightning fast - but faster the the other hard driver copier I used, which only worked in DOS mode.
Cons
I would suggest more specification about the hard drive names in the command window. It reads "Hard Drive 0", "Hard Drive 1", and so on...Thank goodness I picked the right source and target, (I just assumed it was organized the same way as the drives were in "My Computer") but this potentially could lead to a big problem.
Summary
awesome
eldonstump
Pros
no problems. copied a 12 gig drive (while it was running xp) to a 20 gig drive. after the copy i switched the drives, now everything is on the 20 gig drive and xp is running like a charm. AWESOME!!!
Cons
none
Summary
Excellent. Worked better than Partition Magic 8
BrettMaverick1
Pros
I've been trying for weeks to copy the partitions from my old hard drive to a new, much bigger, one so I could remove the smaller drive. Partition Magic kept failing the job. This product worked first time, no problems at all. I was sceptical at first due to it's "basic" look but it was absolutely wonderful and all whilst I was still running WinXP !! Give it a go.
Cons
Summary
Easy to use - did the job flawlessly. Outstanding!
dwhitney
Pros
I am a TechAnanlyst for a large firm. I am impressed that terabyteinc.com managed to make this software at all. How did they make it possible to copy a Windows XP hard drive with all the services still running?
<p>In 10 minutes I booted to XP, and copied a 40 gig to a 45 gig. All I did was copy the copywipew.exe and files to the hard drive and it worked great. Two thumbs up! Thank you folks! This program will make you famous! Can't wait to tell the big wigs.
Cons
As happy as I am about this free product, any complaints would be silly.