Duplicating Files on Two Hard Drives to Make a Backup

[billyo]

[quote=madjim;92516]Thanks Billy,
I see where this package includes a $50 disc cleaner. Do you use the disc cleaner and if so, does it work well...

no i havent used the disc cleaner, but the one i suggested work very well, my suggestion is to install the software in all your computers, so that way if something happens to your cloned drive, and you have to re-install your orig. drive the get you going the program will still be there ready to get cloned again..

[seawolf]

I found the answer to fase & efficent cloning...Folder Clone Pro. If it has changed, it will be copied. If not, it won't. You have the option of which direction you wish to clone. This permits me to have a clone external and my backup laptop ready at all times.

http://www.saltybrine.com/

DC

[billyo]

Originally Posted by seawolf

I found the answer to fase & efficent cloning...Folder Clone Pro. If it has changed, it will be copied. If not, it won't. You have the option of which direction you wish to clone. This permits me to have a clone external and my backup laptop ready at all times.

http://www.saltybrine.com/

DC

i been cloning my int. hhd. for awhile and i've been using acronis for a while and it was so easy to use...

[seawolf]

I tried Acronis & found it a bit cumbersome. In fact, I wound up cloning the entire drive, not just the files I had changed.

FolderClone Pro allows you to create "tasks" that will permit cloning individual folders (which is what I do with Hoster Songs folder and databases folder. That way, after a show, you can update the singers db and anything else you have changed during the show.

With adding new songs or editing the songs db, it will copy only the NEW or changed files. Very fast and efficient.

LapLInk will do it as well, but is a bit more complicated.

DC

[billyo]

the reason i opted to use acronis was so i can clone my entire int. hhd ( os and such ) that way if something happens to my hhd. i could just swap it in just a few minutes, so that i dont have to re-install everything, i have all my kma files on a separate ext. drive and also has a separate back-up drive..if i have to add new songs i import it to my ext. drive and then copy it to my back-up drive...and that is just my opinion but if you're happy doing it the other way, you should stick with it, btw acronis can also clone diff. folders..just a question, are you cloning your entire hhd, or just diff. folders? i just don't understand what you meant by updating your singers database, are you adding new singers or deleting some?

[seawolf]

I use Bounce Back for that. Always have a cloned HD in the bag. Use Folder Clone Pro for the files that I use ^=& UG.

DC

[rkk1]

I'm trying to figure out how I want to continue to back up my files. Again I know just enough about computers to make me dangerous. I've been reading this thread and trying to decide if i want to purchase Ghost or acronis. My computer has windows 7 so I need to make sure they are compatible. Right now I have a full system back up on my external hard drive and a local full system backup on dell datasafe. I don't like the datasafe and I just want to make sure I'm completely protected. I never want to have to download all this music ever again!

[seawolf]

There are a few things that need to be considered:

1. Are you running the Hoster program from an internal or external drive?
2. Do you want/need a spare internal and/or external drive?

If you are running everything from an internal drive, you would be well advised to have a CLONE of that drive so that you can swap it out and be back up and running in less than 10 minutes. This also holds true if you keep the songs on an external drive. If either drive fails, you need an exact copy to continue without undue delay.

I am redundancy poor---I have a main laptop with everything running from its hard drive and I have a clone of that drive. I have an external drive with the songs & database on it in case the internal songs/database becomes corrupted. Believe it or not, this has happened when we had a lightning strike. I took a break, attached the external drive, re-built the database and continued the show.

I also have a second laptop that is basically a clone of the first, giving me redundancy to the max. Both of these machines are running Windows 7 Ultimate.

I use Acronis 10 for cloning and Folder Clone Pro to keep all of the songs and database info identical. Acronis True Image Home 2010 is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/

Folder Clone Professional is available to try or buy at: http://www.folderclone.com/fcinfo.htm

I'm sure there are other solutions, perhaps some better, but these have saved my bacon several times and I have never had to cancel due to equipment failure.

DC

[rkk1]

I am running Hoster on an internal hdd on my laptop. I only have 10000 songs and no videos. I want to have a copy on my external hard drive incase the lap top crashes. I not only have my hoster on this computer but also my regular cd's. About another 15000 songs

[seawolf]

Then I would definitely clone the laptop hard drive, using Acronis or other suitable software program, being sure that the drive your cloning to is the same type (SATA or IDE) as the one in your laptop. After the clone, I would swap the two drives & test to ensure that the cloned drive will operate properly, then swap back.

Thereafter, I would use a folder cloning program to update only those files used by Hoster, namely the Songs.mdb and the KMA files directory. If you do this weekly or whenever you make changes in your laptop, you can be sure that both systems are identical and will work in case of an emergency.

DC

[rkk1]

Ok here's where I'm stupid. I didn't realize there is a difference in external hdd. Right now I have a western digital 1tb that all the interface says is USB 2.0. I wanted to get another smaller one just for the hoster and other music. Everything I look at says USB 2.0. The drive on the comptuer is SATA.

[seawolf]

There are many sources for laptop hard drives available on the web. The one I have used frequently is http://www.drivesolutions.com/

They are reasonably priced and stand behind their products. However, if you know if your internal drive is a SATA or IDE, you can find bargains all over. I would suggest purchasing a USB Universal Data Transfer Kit (see http://www.drivesolutions.com/cgi-bi...id&itemid=a8.1) so that you can easily create a clone of your internal drive and/or use it as an external, should you so desire. Most laptops will support internal drives up to 500 GB and many have two bays and will support 2-500 GB (HP, for example)

I think your next step is to research what you have in your laptop already. Most hard drives can be removed with two screws. Simply looking at the drive will indicate if it is a SATA or IDE. Some laptops, such as early HP's, use an IDE drive with a SATA adapter. If you are still having difficulty, RSVP with your laptop info & I'll try to help.

DC

[rkk1]

I have a Dell Studio 15 500gb sata hd (7200rpm). I really don't want to mess with an internal drive. The external is about all I can handle. I'm scared to death that I'll mess everything up when it's working perfect for me now. This computer replaced another dell that was only 1 year old. When it updated a service pack the computer would not come back up and I had to take it in to have as much as possible saved off the hard drive then they wiped it clean. I only had to re download about 50 cd's. That's when I decided to buy the new computer and get windows 7 because I hated vista. When I got the new computer windows 7 is not compatible with the version of Traktor that played my regular DJ music. I figured if I was going to spend money on new software I was finally going to put my karaoke on the computer. Big step for me because my son always helped me with my computers but I was tired of depending on him. I was determined to do this on my own. That's what brought me to Hoster. I have set up everything on my own and boy have I learned alot along the way. I got everything downloaded and set up by myself. Fixed the "hum" and fading problem I was having. Now I just want to make sure I don't go through this again. The old computer is back up and running, but I use that as my everyday computer so I don't want to use it as a backup. I use the studio only for my dj business and I only go on line for updates and occasional Itune downloads. I hope I can do what I need to with external harddrives. Sorry to go on and on. I hope to make what a have last for 2 more years than I can retire after 20 yrs.

[rkk1]

Seawolf I've been doing some research. See if I understand this. My computer has a USB/eSata port on the side. So if I get an external hdd that is usb/eSATA does this basically mean my transfer will be faster?

[seawolf]

Well, sounds like you're almost there. As I mentioned, it is really simple to replace the internal hard drive in most laptops, Dell included. It takes 2 screws to remove the cover, two fingers to lift out the old drive, remove the 4 mounting screws, remove & replace the drive and reverse the procedure. The whole operation takes less than 10 minutes, more like 5. There are certain truths in life...

1. Equipment will fail at the most inopportune time.
2. There are two types of data---lost and backed up
3. Occasionally backed up data becomes lost data.

I have 2 laptops, 2 cloned internal hard drives and 2 data only external drives. Bring on the hurricanes, I'm prepared. The 12k karaoke songs plus the 14k DJ songs eat up a lot of space, but I'll hopefully never have to download them again.

DC

[billyo]

most laptops hhd are sata"2".5 and pc's are "3".5 it's not that hard to replaced them, i've cloned my laptops and pc's hhd a few times, i just got than cloning both of my show, back-up laptops and my pc's from 80g to 250g to 500g a month ago. all my kma files are on a 500g ext. hhd on both of my laptops, with another 500g ext. hhd as a back-up,all my dj tunes/softwares are on my int. hhd ( 6,218 tunes ea. laptops and pc's) ( 4 laptops/3 pc's total )

[seawolf]

With eSATA/USB, the eSATA provides the data path and the USB provides the power.

Yes, you will generally see improved performance over a straight USB external. The only caveat---don't overload the USB ports or you might possibly run out of power. I had that happen when I was running 2-USB external drives (cloning), a GPS transciever & a cordless mouse on an old HP laptop. POOF! Maybe it was a weak power supply, maybe I overloaded it.

DC

[billyo]

in my opinion the only reason that most of the usb port won't work was that if you keep plugging and uplugging whatever you have connected on those ports, and using a usb hub,. my adviced was to keep them plugged in if you gonna keep using those hardware,( ext. hhd, mouse, keyboard etc. ) i never unplugged mine.

[rkk1]

Thanks for your help. As you can tell I'm a work in progress. I've learned so much just reading these forums. I'm going to do a little more research on the hard drives. Hopefully I'll have everything I need next week and let the cloning begin!

[billyo]

Originally Posted by rkk1

Thanks for your help. As you can tell I'm a work in progress. I've learned so much just reading these forums. I'm going to do a little more research on the hard drives. Hopefully I'll have everything I need next week and let the cloning begin!

this is just my suggestion , i've been using Acronis to cloned my hhd, and it was so easy to use, if i can do it, i'm pretty sure you can too