Duplicating Files on Two Hard Drives to Make a Backup

[bryant]

Originally Posted by Beavis

hey bryant its simple, its just software that clones your original hard drive to a larger hard drive. it copies your original hard drive exactly to the new one without having to re-install windows.

Yes, Beav, I understand that part. I have Acronis and I clone the internal 40 GB HD onto an external 250 gB HD.

But was wondering what Billyo meant by this:"
been using acronis to cloned all my original hhd and replaced them with a bigger hhd ."

What did he mean by replacing them with a bigger HD.

Does he mean that he clones the original drive that comes with the machine onto an external one (say USB); then swaps out that original HD with a larger internal HD, then copies the usb cloned backup onto the newly installed larger internal HD????

When you install that new larger internal HD "C" he computer, it will have nothing on it. Will the computer automatically look for the USB HD with the cloned material.

[Beavis]

its mainly for backing up your OS. if you just want a program to back up your KMA's just use any copy program.


i think what you may want is a raid card. this will give you 2 hard drive running side by side in your computer sending all info to both drives. if one fails all you have to do is replace it.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by Beavis

its mainly for backing up your OS. if you just want a program to back up your KMA's just use any copy program.


i think what you may want is a raid card. this will give you 2 hard drive running side by side in your computer sending all info to both drives. if one fails all you have to do is replace it.

I see. I guess what I would like to do is to install a larger HD than 40 gB in my machine but have exactly what I have now. Will the Acronis Clone thing allow me to do this and how exactly do I go about it.

It seemed like Billy-O was doing this but not sure.

Billy-O, are you there to comment?

[ddouglass]

Bryant what Billyo did was Clone the drive to the larger one and then installed the larger one in place of the internal one. He didn't have to clone twice to get it.
Make sure your particular laptop is capable of using a larger drive and get the drive size that will work. Remember laptop drives are physically smaller than desktop drives.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Bryant what Billyo did was Clone the drive to the larger one and then installed the larger one in place of the internal one. He didn't have to clone twice to get it.
Make sure your particular laptop is capable of using a larger drive and get the drive size that will work. Remember laptop drives are physically smaller than desktop drives.

I see. I plan on doing it to this machine here. A desktop 40 gig HD. It is now cloned 32 of 40 gB onto a 250 external HD. Thatext. can't be used for anything else as when I clone it it says I have to delete everything off the drive first.

My question: Is how do I get that cloned material back on a newly installed HD(in the case of a failure or when I simply install a larger one)?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

I see. I plan on doing it to this machine here. A desktop 40 gig HD. It is now cloned 32 of 40 gB onto a 250 external HD. Thatext. can't be used for anything else as when I clone it it says I have to delete everything off the drive first.

My question: Is how do I get that cloned material back on a newly installed HD(in the case of a failure or when I simply install a larger one)?

If it is a desktop computer just install the new drive as there should be room for another drive in the case. Clone C: drive directly to that one. Shut down, remove the old drive and plug the cable that was in the old drive into the new one. If it is cable select you are done if not then set the drive jumpers to make it a Primary. Fire it up and it should come up.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

If it is a desktop computer just install the new drive as there should be room for another drive in the case. Clone C: drive directly to that one. Shut down, remove the old drive and plug the cable that was in the old drive into the new one. If it is cable select you are done if not then set the drive jumpers to make it a Primary. Fire it up and it should come up.

And what if there isn't enough room for another HD?

[bryant]

Originally Posted by bryant

And what if there isn't enough room for another HD?

Also, this question remains "When you install that new larger internal HD ", it will have nothing on it. Will the computer automatically look for the USB HD with the cloned material, in order to get the computer running."?

[billyo]

Originally Posted by bryant

Also, this question remains "When you install that new larger internal HD ", it will have nothing on it. Will the computer automatically look for the USB HD with the cloned material, in order to get the computer running."?

Bryant.. no it will not look for it, first of all it will not run if you have an empty drive,you have to cloned ( copy ) your old hardrive first, after cloning removed the old drive and install the new ( cloned ) bigger drive,

[bryant]

Originally Posted by billyo

Bryant.. no it will not look for it, first of all it will not run if you have an empty drive,you have to cloned ( copy ) your old hardrive first, after cloning removed the old drive and install the new ( cloned ) bigger drive,

Yes, but the new bigger HD is an external one. How do I get that copied to a new larger internal one that hasn't been installed yet?

[bryant]

Also, I thought it was mentioned here before that if an internal "C" drive fails, but you have it cloned to an ext. usb HD, all you need to do is to plug it (ext usb HD) in and your back in business.

There must be some way to get an ext. HD (with a clone in it) copied to an internal HD that has nothing on it yet?

Or what would be the purpose?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

Also, I thought it was mentioned here before that if an internal "C" drive fails, but you have it cloned to an ext. usb HD, all you need to do is to plug it (ext usb HD) in and your back in business.

There must be some way to get an ext. HD (with a clone in it) copied to an internal HD that has nothing on it yet?

Or what would be the purpose?

Do you understand that an external drive is nothing more than an internal drive in a case that has a power source and a USB controler? If you don't have room for a second drive in the desktop (I can't imagine a case not big enough for at least 2 drives) then Clone to the External drive. Then physically remove that drive from its external case and install it in the desktop in place of the C: drive. And your done.
Now you can put a new drive into the external case and still have that too.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by bryant

Also, I thought it was mentioned here before that if an internal "C" drive fails, but you have it cloned to an ext. usb HD, all you need to do is to plug it (ext usb HD) in and your back in business.

There must be some way to get an ext. HD (with a clone in it) copied to an internal HD that has nothing on it yet?

Or what would be the purpose?

if your cloned hhd. is bigger than the int. drive it wont work, it has to be the other way around, i haven't tried plugging in a cloned drive into a usb so i dont have an answer for that, are you asking about what the purpose of cloning? my purpose was to have a bigger space and also to have back-up just incase..

[bryant]

Originally Posted by billyo

if your cloned hhd. is bigger than the int. drive it wont work, it has to be the other way around, i haven't tried plugging in a cloned drive into a usb so i dont have an answer for that, are you asking about what the purpose of cloning? my purpose was to have a bigger space and also to have back-up just incase..

The cloned HD (250 gB) is bigger than the internal (40 gB), but only 32 gB are used up for copying the internal. Are you saying the only way to back up an internal HD is to clone it to an external HD that is exactly the same size. That doesn't seem to make sense, does it?

Shouldn't I be able to still use that as a backup in case the internal dies at some point?

Let me explain exactly what I have again so we can be on the same page?

Internal HD "C" is only 40 gB with 32 being used.

I have cloned that 32 gB onto a usb HD (250 gB) as a backup in case the internal HD fails one day?

Why would that not work?

And how do I get the USB backup recognized in case of a failure of the internal HD.

Or; how can I transfer all that cloned information to a newly installed larger HD in place of the 40 gB that is in there now? (Dale answered this question on his assumption there is another space for another HD there now, but there may not be).

I know I am appearing a little thick on this subject, but I just really really want to make sure I don't go ahead and replace things that won't work later in to it.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Do you understand that an external drive is nothing more than an internal drive in a case that has a power source and a USB controler? If you don't have room for a second drive in the desktop (I can't imagine a case not big enough for at least 2 drives) then Clone to the External drive. Then physically remove that drive from its external case and install it in the desktop in place of the C: drive. And your done.
Now you can put a new drive into the external case and still have that too.

Oh, I finally read this after writing the post below. Thanx Dale. However, I thought that in the event of a failure I could just plug in the USB and be off and running as a backup at that point. But I guess not???

[madjim- with the Lord]

I'm getting ready to clone the hard drive in my backup computer. It's my wife's computer that she had before we met and she does not have the original Winodws disc. Also the drive is relativly small.

I have Norton Ghost but have never had success cloning with it. The help files are little help and I can't find much help on the web. From what I have read on the forum, everybody that uses Acronis is very happy with it. I also looked on YouTube and found many good videos for Acronis and few for Ghost and the few I found were no help to me

Which one of these version of Acronis do you reccomend I buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-NA-_-NA-_-NA

Thanks for everybodies help!

Jim

[Beavis]

bryant you have to take the cloned hard drive and put in place of the 40gb hard drive. that means physically take it out of the usb case.

you also have to change he jumpers to master if it has them.


what you really want to do is set up a raid with 2 drives. if one fails the other takes over. then you run to the store and get a replacement drive to replace the bad drive.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by madjim

I'm getting ready to clone the hard drive in my backup computer. It's my wife's computer that she had before we met and she does not have the original Winodws disc. Also the drive is relativly small.

I have Norton Ghost but have never had success cloning with it. The help files are little help and I can't find much help on the web. From what I have read on the forum, everybody that uses Acronis is very happy with it. I also looked on YouTube and found many good videos for Acronis and few for Ghost and the few I found were no help to me

Which one of these version of Acronis do you reccomend I buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc..._-NA-_-NA-_-NA

Thanks for everybodies help!

Jim

i would suggest the acronis true image retail ( 8 )

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by billyo

i would suggest the acronis true image retail ( 8 )

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?

Jim

[bryant]

Originally Posted by Beavis

bryant you have to take the cloned hard drive and put in place of the 40gb hard drive. that means physically take it out of the usb case.

you also have to change he jumpers to master if it has them.
(If the only drive in there now is the 40 gB HD and it IS the master, then I would simply put the usb drive in its place and would NOT have to mess with the jumpers, right, because the 40 gB was already defined as the master). Am I correct here?


what you really want to do is set up a raid with 2 drives. if one fails the other takes over. then you run to the store and get a replacement drive to replace the bad drive.

.