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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Hardware / February 2008

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Clone Additonal Hard Drive for Back Up

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ColTom2 - 12 Feb 2008 23:46 GMT
Hi:

 I have a Sony VGC-RA716G desktop computer with a WD2500BB 250GB hard drive
and have purchased another exact WD hard drive. Windows MCE(2005) OS.

 I want to clone the new hard drive and keep it as a back up in case my
original hard drive ever fails.

 My question is what is the easiest method and recommended software to
clone this new hard drive?

 Also do I have to internally install the new drive or can it be done
though external means, i.e.USB etc?

 If I add it internally are there sufficient cables to add an additional
hard drive already available?

 As you can tell by my questions I am into an area that I know nothing
about and will be most appreciative for instructions on how to proceed.

Thanks
Ghostrider - 13 Feb 2008 01:00 GMT
> Hi:
>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Thanks

Acronis TrueImage is about one of the simplest and best to use for
cloning hard drives. Unless the new hard drive is planned to be used
immediately after the cloning, the better approach would be to put
it into an external USB/Firewire external drive housing or use one of
the better "bare" 3.5-inch adapter kits (e.g., Wiebe Tech, Bytecc,
etc.
ColTom2 - 13 Feb 2008 01:20 GMT
Hi:

 If I purchased a housing or kit can I clone the new hard drive through a
USB connection without having to install internally?

Thanks

ColTom2 wrote:

> Hi:
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Thanks

Acronis TrueImage is about one of the simplest and best to use for
cloning hard drives. Unless the new hard drive is planned to be used
immediately after the cloning, the better approach would be to put
it into an external USB/Firewire external drive housing or use one of
the better "bare" 3.5-inch adapter kits (e.g., Wiebe Tech, Bytecc,
etc.
Andrew E. - 13 Feb 2008 06:07 GMT
Youre new & existing hd has IDE+usb hookups....Youre present hd is internal
& runs thru an IDE cable,set new as slave on same cable (original at farthest
connection),in xp,format the new hd (run,type:diskmgmt.msc),once thru,close
msc,go to run,type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r  Agree to all in the DOS
window,
once its thru,youre finished,all of C: is now on D: & can/could be ran
solo....Also,
D: being the new hd,but if asigned diffrent letter,then use the other
letter....

> Hi:
>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Thanks
ColTom2 - 13 Feb 2008 14:53 GMT
Hi Andrew:

 Thanks so much for your most informative info and from what you have said
I now have an additional  question or two.

 First does my current computer have the cabling and connectors, as you
mentioned, without having to acquire additional IDE cables?

 Also if you could explain further about "original at farthest connection".
Farthest from where and how do I tell this?

Again thanks so much for your help.

ColTom2

 Youre new & existing hd has IDE+usb hookups....Youre present hd is
internal
& runs thru an IDE cable,set new as slave on same cable (original at
farthest
connection),in xp,format the new hd (run,type:diskmgmt.msc),once thru,close
msc,go to run,type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r  Agree to all in the DOS
window,
once its thru,youre finished,all of C: is now on D: & can/could be ran
solo....Also,
D: being the new hd,but if asigned diffrent letter,then use the other
letter....

"ColTom2" wrote:

> Hi:
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Thanks
DL - 13 Feb 2008 16:36 GMT
You purchase a housing / kit and simply plug in to your usb port, whether
the kit has a usb cable depends on the kit.
Your existing IDE cables will probably be ok, but you would have to eyeball
to confirm
If you are going to use internal, disconnect this drive as soon as clone is
complete & dont reconnect until you want to use this driva as your boot
drive, in that case you would need to disconnect the origonal first.
Acronis True Image is your best bet and not the xcopy as proposed by AndrewE

Whatever option you choose in a clone it is imperative you shutdown
immediately the operation has completed & remove your backup hd. Failure to
do so will mean your clone wont work as a boot disk when the occasion
arises.

> Hi Andrew:
>
[quoted text clipped - 49 lines]
>>
>> Thanks
Anna - 13 Feb 2008 17:39 GMT
>> "ColTom2" wrote:
>>> Hi:
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>>>
>>> Thanks

> You purchase a housing / kit and simply plug in to your usb port, whether
> the kit has a usb cable depends on the kit.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> to do so will mean your clone wont work as a boot disk when the occasion
> arises.

ColTom2...
I would agree with DL that you not consider the DOS XCOPY command to
routinely clone the contents of one HDD to another HDD in order to establish
& maintain a comprehensive backup system now & in the future. There are so
many downsides to using that DOS command for disk-cloning purposes that it's
hardly worth discussing.

The Acronis program mentioned by DL is a fine program and worthy of your
consideration. A free trial version is available from http://www.acronis.com 
so you should avail yourself of the opportunity to using that program and
see how you like it.

We have worked with a fairly large number of disk-cloning programs over the
years. By far our favorite one is the Casper 4.0 program. It is quite simple
to use, relatively quick in operation and very effective. A trial version
(slightly crippled) is also available from its developer at
http://www.fssdev.com so you might want to take a look at that program as
well. And if you need more details about using that program I could furnish
such in a subsequent post.

A couple of other things...
1. Western Digital has a disk-copying utility freely available from its
website. Its main, if not exclusive, use is generally for a one-shot copy of
the contents of an old HDD to a new HDD. It's really not designed as a
routine, systematic disk-cloning type of program, although we know more than
one person who uses it for such.

2. You mention that you've already purchased another HDD that is "another
exact WD hard drive". Bear in mind (for the future if need be) that it is
unnecessary to use the same make/model for both your "source" drive and your
"destination" drive for disk-cloning operations. All that's really necessary
is that the disk capacity of the "destination" drive be sufficient to hold
the contents of your "source" drive. There's no reason why you couldn't use
a Hitachi, or Seagate, or Maxtor HDD as the "destination" drive.

3. As DL mentions you should consider a USB external enclosure to house your
new (destination) HDD. There's obviously an add'l safety factor when using
such an external device since it can be disconnected from the system
following the disk-cloning operation. While the USBEHD will not be bootable
under those circumstances, you can clone back its contents to an internal
HDD.

On the other hand we know of many users who use another internal HDD as the
recipient of the clone and rarely run into any problems simply because the
system contains two internal HDDs. But if the data is important or vital to
you it's best to use an external device as the recipient of the clone.

Incidentally, one of the very major advantages of the Casper program we've
mentioned is that should you use another internal HDD as the recipient of
the clone it is unnecessary to disconnect the cloned HDD following the
disk-cloning operation. Heretofore with other disk-cloning programs this has
been a real booting problem involving the cloned HDD when that drive was not
disconnected from the system following the disk-cloning operation. Naturally
there's no problem along these lines with any disk-cloning program when
using a USBEHD as the recipient of the clone.
Anna
JohnO - 13 Feb 2008 20:20 GMT
> On the other hand we know of many users who use another internal HDD as
> the recipient of the clone and rarely run into any problems simply because
> the system contains two internal HDDs. But if the data is important or
> vital to you it's best to use an external device as the recipient of the
> clone.

To expand on this idea, if your power supply goes nuts or a major surge
hits, it's likely to take out all the drives if it takes out one. Also, the
advantage of having the drive external is that it can be in a different
place. If the backup is sitting on a nearby desk and the place burns
down...any legitimate backup plan requires an offsite copy.

> Incidentally, one of the very major advantages of the Casper program we've
> mentioned is that should you use another internal HDD as the recipient of
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Naturally there's no problem along these lines with any disk-cloning
> program when using a USBEHD as the recipient of the clone.

Sata makes this a little easier because the cable is easy to remove, but you
still have to open the case to pull the cable out of the backup drive or
mobo. eSATA is an option, but not many mobos have this and it would require
a PCI or PCIe card if you don't have it. Actually, IMO when eSATA becomes
standard on mobos this will be the best way to attach external drives...you
get internal speeds on an external drive, at no real cost. USB....hah! :-)

-John O
Anna - 13 Feb 2008 21:06 GMT
Anna wrote...
>> Incidentally, one of the very major advantages of the Casper >> program
>> we've mentioned is that should you use another internal HDD as the
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>> with any disk-cloning program when >> using a USBEHD as the recipient of
>> the clone.

(SNIP)
> Sata makes this a little easier because the cable is easy to remove, but
> you still have to open the case to pull the cable out of the backup drive
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> -John O

I would agree that as a backup device an external SATA HDD having
SATA-to-SATA capability is a most desirable hardware arrangement even aside
from the ease of eliminating the potential of a boot problem following the
disk-cloning operation as John points out.

Another important advantage of SATA-to-SATA connectivity is the high speed
of data transfer using such a device as compared with USB devices (at least
until USB 3.0!).

More & more motherboards are coming equipped with eSATA ports which makes
this type of connectivity easily available and a number of desktop PC cases
also come equipped with SATA or eSATA ports as well - the SATA data cable
permanently attached to the port is simply connected to one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors.

In addition, there are many adapters on the market having an eSATA port that
is fitted to the backplane (slot) of a desktop's PC case - again, its SATA
data cable simply connected to one of the motherboard's available SATA
connectors.

And where laptop/notebooks are concerned it now appears that the eSATA
ExpressCard device can provide this SATA-to-SATA connectivity together with
external SATA HDD "bootability".
Anna
 
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