* *** BIBM_COMMENTS TXT - 10 Nov 2012  18:50:04 - JKNAUTH

I'm a long-time user of BING.  I finally got a little breathing space to
replace BING with BIBM on one of my PCs.  Generally things went well,
with one peculiarity noted.  Below are my comments.

1) I partition my hard drive into a WIN7, TEST1, TEST2, and DATA
   (extended) partitions; these are the partition names.  As a test I
   imaged WIN7 to an external SATA hard drive and then restored that
   image to the TEST2 partition.  In contrast to the way I think BING
   worked, BIBM changed the target TEST2 partition name to WIN7, the
   name of the original imaged partition.  I had to rename the target
   partition back to TEST2 via Properties.

   I had previously set the VolumeLabels option to 0 and doublechecked
   the setting, in case that option might have been involved.  If
   anything I would have thought that VolumeLabels = 1 would have caused
   the partition name to be changed on restore to match the
   volume/partition name in the image.

   The boot menu item boot field and the various BCD partition names
   faithfully reflected the currect partition name, whatever it was, so
   nothing blew up and the partition booted as expected even when it was
   the second partition named WIN7 on the hard drive.  However, I really
   wanted to have the partition name remain unchanged (TEST2) unless I
   explicitly renamed it via Properties.

   Anyway, I have a workaround (do a manual rename).  It was just sort
   of confusing.


2) Documentation

   a) For those upgrading from BING to BIBM, state that all BING
      settings and boot menu items get carried over.

   b) Clarify in the BIBM manual that there is no need to install IFD if
      you have installed BIBM.

   c) Near the beginning of the IFD manual, state that BIBM users can
      skip to "xxxx" (somewhere well into the manual, bypassing all the
      installation, etc., text).  The IFD manual is a lot to wade thru
      in addition to the BIBM manual (that was one thing that delayed my
      BIBM look for so long).  Make it as easy as you can.

   d) Specify the steps to switch from a trial to a registered copy.  I
      see there is no longer a Register icon displayed on the desktop.
      I finally figured out that I just had to reinstall using a CD
      containing the name/key. Maybe that is made clear in an e-mail
      when a license is purchased.  I got my BIBM license by an upgrade
      from a BING license via your website; I got no e-mail.

   e) Note that there are two ways to do a partition copy and contrast
      them.  I assume the main difference is that the IFD Copy offers
      more options vs. the BIBM desktop Copy.  The corresponding
      defaults should be documented for those people who use the simpler
      BIBM desktop method.

   f) Compare BIBM manual page 9 vs. page 88 for the number of licenses
      a home user requires.  Page 88 (1.c.ii) allows three home PCs for
      a license.  Page 9 (Step A) seems to restrict it to one.  The
      home user 3-PC deal is great.

   g) I wasn't really certain about whether BIOS or BIOS (Direct) was
      the recommended setting.  Is BIOS (Direct) preferred because it
      bypasses BIOS (and may be faster, more reliabble, or whatever)?
      Or is BIOS what should normally be used unless it doesn't work,
      then try BIOS (Direct)?  I tried both for my external SATA drive.
      BIOS seemed to work fine; BIOS (Direct) caused a hang.

   x) The website should state that Win8 is supported (I assume it is).


3) Partition size for Copy.

   I have struggled in the past with BING to set up a uniform size for
   three partitions so I could Copy from any one to any of the others
   without incident.  I want the copy to fit exactly in the target with
   no free space created at the end and no error saying the copy would
   not fit.

   When I try to create three partitions with exactly the same size,
   BING would create the first, but then round things off for the
   others, giving those partitions more or less space than I had
   requested.  I assume this was aligning the ends on some boundary and
   the size was off what I expected because the preceding Dell
   partitions had started me at some sector that made this alignment
   difficult.  Anyway, I finally got things to work via trial and error
   on the specified partition size.  Is there some writeup that spells
   out how to do this sort of thing easily?  I see BIBM has more
   "alignment" options, but I couldn't figure out if any were really
   relevant to this problem.


Thanks for creating and maintaining such good products.  I have tried to
get others to use them and have written some documents to help in that
regard, now updated to include BIBM.  See
http://jgkhome.name/PC_Info/PC_Info_TOC.htm.

Jeff Knauth