All I can say is that common usage conflates the two terms and every reference does the same. These terms tend to evolve as computing ages. I can appreciate the differences, but when you ask about cloning nowadays, imaging programs will be included. I imagine this is because the end result is the same: an exact duplicate of the drive. On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 2:40 AM, Peter Ekkerman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Yes ,I read the articles well before I posted my (previous) answer. > > First of all, wikipedia is not the be-all or end-all of definitions. It's a collection of contributions by many people who feel that have some knowledge to contribute. > I seems that the various authors have taken the liberty to lump cloning programs together with imaging programs. > They are NOT the same. > > A clone is directly "copied" , mostly sector by sector to a bootable hard drive (MBR has been written and different SID has been created) and can be booted from immediately. > > An image such as made by imaging programs and stored on a hard drive, are made in a proprietary format > and CANNOT be booted from. Nor is that hard drive bootable. > Only when the image is restored to the original- or a new hard drive ,can you boot up from that drive. > > To me that is a clear distinction. > Can't make it any clearer. > > Peter E. > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Hugh Vandervoort" > Sent: Wednesday, 14 September, 2011 10:12 PM > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Free Clone Program > > The definition of cloning seems to include imaging in most cases. > > "Disk cloning is the process of copying the contents of one computer > hard disk to another disk or to an "image" file. Often, the contents > of the first disk are written to an image file as an intermediate > step, and the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image. > This procedure is also useful when moving to a larger capacity disk or > to restore the disk to a previous state." > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_cloning > > What is disk cloning? > > "Disk cloning is the act of copying the contents of a computer's hard > drive. The contents are typically saved as a disk image file and > transferred to a storage medium, which could be another computer's > hard drive or removable media such as a DVD or a USB drive." > http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/disk-cloning.html > > > > The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website, > web based bulletinboard for questions and answers: > Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com > The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website, web based bulletinboard for questions and answers: Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com