Musings of a sysadmin
right tool for the right job
Open Source Disk Cloning
1887 days
Clonezilla
So I was looking around at open source stuff the other day, specially to see if there was anything like norton ghost around and I stumbled upon clonezilla. I was not quite sure what to expect and it was with some degree of nervousness that I let it loose on a computer. I need not have worried though clonezilla is fantastic simple and very fast. It is very much like ghost used to be, no frills no faff disk cloning. I must admit that when ghost moved to mostly being a desktop app thats when I lost my respect for it.
It runs as a live cd and walks you through all the options etc and give you hints on what options do so even a novice would be able to use it I would imagine. the most difficult bit is selecting the right source and destination disks as both of them were the same make model and size, so I had to just boot the live cd with the source disk in and take down the displayed serial number (I think its a serial number), and use that. Took under 5 minutes to clone an 80GB disk with about 4.5GB of used space.
Tools
01452 days
Reading through my usual forum haunts the other day I came across several posts asking about what tools to get to start with and to study for the a+. This got me thinking about what I bought when I was starting out how it progressed over the years to what I’ve got now.
Initially the computer tool kits you see for about a tenner on various websites seem like a good idea (I'm sure you know the kits I mean ones with a plastic zipped case with yellow handeled tools). And yes I suppose initally they do what they are ment for, but they soon start to wear out with normal use. 
One thing that I always adhere to is a comment made by scotty in star trek "How many times do I have to tell you the right tools for the right job". The sooner you come round to this the quicker you spend less time fiddling about and the quality or your work shoots up.
Take the afforementioned tool kit as an example I have seen people try to use the x head driver from it to undo a screw that someone has wedged into a motherboard mounting at an almost unbelivable angle. The result is a screwed screw driver, as they generally do not allow you to add any form of force to them before the x head starts shredding itself.
Ultimatley my tools reflect my personality and will to do things as quickly as possible with the least amount of blood and sweat. Rather than trying to bodge it with a tool that doesn't quite fit the bill I'll buy a decent tool that is designed to do the job. Which is why my main screwdriver is a stanley ratchet as its long shaft (oi no sniggering) and handle allows me to do all the delicate stuff and then also apply a great deal of pressure when some numptys wedged something in at an impossible angle.
Anyway I love looking around tool shops.
The short moral of the story is you get what you pay for. Buy decent kit and it will save you loads of time and cut fingers.
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