Casper

Badger · Jan 1, 2023

Qubitus said:
Ok, still not sure I understand what you mean, but anyway :

1. According to the ref. I pointed to previously, you would have to buy a new Windows licence to be able to engrave a USB drive with an autonomous Windows version. That makes a mere validity test quite expansive.

2. The scenario you describe is so speculative and complicated that I would prefer to have someone who actually managed to perform a successful test of a Casper created system image (without having to first wipe out their how functional system) to chime in and describe the whole process in detail.

There might be a way to do it simply, but so far nobody has done and described it. And unfortunately (but maybe because it cannot be done), Future System Solution (Casper developpers) does not describe a way to do it in its literature and does not even address the testability issue.

The process is indeed very simple, why you see it as being so complex is baffling. The suggestion I gave you today doesn't wipe out your fully functional system and will test the integrity of your image backup completely. I don't know what else to tell you.

Qubitus · Jan 1, 2023

Badger said:
The process is indeed very simple, why you see it as being so complex is baffling. The suggestion I gave you today doesn't wipe out your fully functional system and will test the integrity of your image backup completely. I don't know what else to tell you.

1. It's not "simple" for the reason I just exposed in my previous message.
2. You did not actually try it, so it's all hypothetical. It baffles me that you can be so sure of something you actually never tried yourself.

But we can agree to disagree. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

Badger · Jan 1, 2023

Because all of these backup programs work the same! I suggest you look over a user manual for any of these backup programs to get a better grasp of the process.

Qubitus · Jan 1, 2023

Badger said:
Because all of these backup programs work the same! I suggest you look over a user manual for any of these backup programs to get a better grasp of the process.

Actually, they don't all work the same, by a long shot. Are you just trolling?

I also suggest you try to get a grasp of the subject of my question : is the system image created by Casper testable? The answer is apparently no, it's not. Until someone proves otherwise. And that's fine. Topic closed.

Now, it might very well be that none of their competitors offers a solution that is testable either. But that's another topic.

Cheers.

Badger · Jan 1, 2023

Now I'm a troll for trying to help you and explain to you how you can test and verify your backup. Sorry, I'm done here!

TechnoMage2021 · Jan 2, 2023

Casper? Never heard of it!
I've been using "Ghost" in one form or another since 1997 about the time it was first released. But never heard of "Casper".
I wonder if they are any relation? (just joking).
Since that 25 yr old program does indeed have an option to "Verify" it's backup Image file, I would think that most other Backup programs do as well. Or, at least they should!
I think it's hilarious, that Ghost still works as well today as it did 25 years ago. It doesn't care what OS it's backing up, whether it's DOS, or Win-11, or even a data disk, with no operating system on it at all. It just backs up what it sees, bit by bit. I still use it every few days, to back up my current OS....Windows 11/Pro/64.
On the old spinners, I used to do a Ghost Backup followed immediately by a Ghost Restore, for the perfect 'Defrag'. It never failed!
Years ago, I ran Ghost 11.5 from a bootable floppy disk. Today I run it from a bootable flash drive. It still runs the same.
Cheers Mates!
TM

cereberus · Jan 2, 2023

Casper backs up to a vhdx file. Just add a temporary boot entry and you can test the backup.

cereberus · Jan 2, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
Casper? Never heard of it!
I've been using "Ghost" in one form or another since 1997 about the time it was first released. But never heard of "Casper".
I wonder if they are any relation? (just joking).
Since that 25 yr old program does indeed have an option to "Verify" it's backup Image file, I would think that most other Backup programs do as well. Or, at least they should!
I think it's hilarious, that Ghost still works as well today as it did 25 years ago. It doesn't care what OS it's backing up, whether it's DOS, or Win-11, or even a data disk, with no operating system on it at all. It just backs up what it sees, bit by bit. I still use it every few days, to back up my current OS....Windows 11/Pro/64.
On the old spinners, I used to do a Ghost Backup followed immediately by a Ghost Restore, for the perfect 'Defrag'. It never failed!
Years ago, I ran Ghost 11.5 from a bootable floppy disk. Today I run it from a bootable flash drive. It still runs the same.
Cheers Mates!
TM

Why do you keep posting this about an old and no longer supported tool?

Winuser · Jan 2, 2023

Qubitus said:
I understand this is the standard way to proceed and so, as I concluded in my previous message and to reiterate it, it seems that there is no way to test the validity of a system image created by Casper on a USB drive... until you wipe out the present system on the defective machine and replace it with that image. To me, that's a major problem.

Technically, a complete Windows system can boot and run (slowly) from a USB drive, but it would have to be specifically prepared for that purpose. See here. It probably applies to Windows 11 by the way. I thought that was the case for Casper bootable system image. That's why I asked Badger if he did try to boot the image FROM the USB drive. He did not. My experience seems to indicate that Casper system images are not created in a way that make them directly bootable from the USB drive onto which they are written. So they cannot be tested without wiping out the perfectly functional system they are supposed to replace in case of disaster. Again, to me, that's a major design flaw. It's like if you create a back-up of your data but would not be able to check whether the backed up data are indeed accessible without first wiping out the original data!

Now I understand what you're asking. I think the only thing a user could do is, verifying the image if the program has that option. I don't recall anyone ever saying that they booted their computer from an image. I could be wrong but as far as I know, one can't.

Digital Life · Jan 2, 2023

Qubitus said:
I don't understand.
Why would you wipe out your system drive to test a bootable USB disk, when all you have to do is change your computer boot priority in your UFEI to test said external bootable drive?
Secondly, wiping out your own system is a pretty risky endeavour. With all due respect, doing it to just test a software does not sound believable, by a long shot.
Thirdly, AFAIK, reformatting your system drive would delete your restore point, so you wouldn't even be able to restore your system in case your Casper USB image did not work.
Conclusion : The test you claim to have performed does not make any sense to me, but I probably missed something. Could you please elaborate?

Seems to me you are arguing just for the sake of arguing

1 Who said you have to wipe your UEFI, You stick the USB drive in and change the boot order to the usb
2 who told you this, That is the way OP chose to do it you do not have to wipe your drive, Unplug it and use a different drive
3 Same as two who told you this, That is the way OP chose to do it you do not have to

If you want to use recovery software you can either trust what it say's it can do on the tin and wait till disaster strikes and hope everything works or you can test it before you actually need it.

I don't use recovery software but I did try macrium years and years ago and I did prove to myself that it would work, But I used a separate drive to test it.

In one post you said you have no way to test without wiping your drive, Instead of wiping your drive I would just test if the USB drive boots and gives you options to recover.

I also noticed you thought that the OP was full of BS (seems to have been deleted now)