Cloning my Hard Drive

leon · #1 15-10-2016, 07:04 AM

Good Morning to all,
Seeing the disaster i had with my PC, which however is now performing very well, I intend to Clone the Hard Drive.

Could anyone please suggest a good cloning tool/software.

Thank You in Advance.

Leon

multiweb (Marc) · #2 15-10-2016, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Good Morning to all,
Seeing the disaster i had with my PC, which however is now performing very well, I intend to Clone the Hard Drive.

Could anyone please suggest a good cloning tool/software.

Thank You in Advance.

Leon

Hi Leon, Acronis true image is very good. You have to realise that cloning or imaging a drive is different from backing up files.

Cloning will restore the disk signature, the MBR and any partitions from drive to drive. So you can take a cloned drive, replace it in your machine and boot. Your OS settings, everything is identical. It is the fastest and safest way to back up your data and OS.

silv (Annette) · #3 15-10-2016, 08:40 AM

I remember Acronis from the olden days. Good memories.
But no current knowledge about cloning Windows.
I felt I should explain why I'm not going to chip in on this new thread.
I'm not being obnoxious. I just don't know an answer

leon · #4 15-10-2016, 08:53 AM

Thanks indeed, yes Marc i do realise what you are saying, I want to do this so I don't have to go through what just happened to my PC.
Although I got it right and it is running very well I just need some decent back up in case it dies in the future.
I did actually look at that product, but really didn't know much about it hence the question.

Leon

Thank you

multiweb (Marc) · #5 15-10-2016, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Thanks indeed, yes Marc i do realise what you are saying, I want to do this so I don't have to go through what just happened to my PC.
Although I got it right and it is running very well I just need some decent back up in case it dies in the future.
I did actually look at that product, but really didn't know much about it hence the question.

Leon

Thank you

Hi leon, there are two types of situations

1_ one day your computer doesn't start at all.

2_ you've lost or deleted some files or photos by mistake or they are corrupted.

#2 happens but it's not a show stopper. Easily remedied by duplicating files on external drives or burn them on bluray disks.

#1 is the killer. In this case what matters most is how fast you can get back to a working computer in the exact same state (or close) as it was just before it crashed.

If you have a clone or image you can get back in business from a new empty unformatted drive in around 15-20min. The alternative is reinstalling all of your operating system then programs one by one then your files. That can take days.

The routine I use with acronis is to back up my boot drive (and others) every two weeks or when I feel the change warrants a backup. The longer you wait the bigger the difference.

The first backup is called a seed. It's a full back up. It can take 1h or more. The subsequent backups are called differential backups and they are small files that take only 5 or 10min to do. They contain the difference between the full backup and what your PC state is at when you do the differential back up.

To restore your machine you need 1xfull backup + 1xlatest differential backup you've done, and that's all.

The other system is called incremental backup. It is used because it can be faster. It saves small files again from the time you've done a full backup but each subsequent incremental back up depends on the previous incremental backup. So to restore your machine you need the full back up, then all the incremental backups you've done to get your PC back. If one of the incremental backups is corrupted in the chain of files then you're stuck again as they all rely on each other.

This is why I recommend differential backups. Only two points of failure. The seed and your latest differential backup.
When you do backups validate them. There is nothing worse than trying to restore your PC and be prompted that your backup is corrupted.

Hope this heps.

rally · #6 15-10-2016, 09:52 AM

Marc, as a system - differential and incremental backing up makes sense, but I think for Leon, Cloning is a good way to go.
Its a very simple thing to do and its even simpler to get back up and running.
Ghosting is also a good idea.
It doesnt take long and he will always be able to start from scratch
Nothing worse than getting all your incremental backup versions mixed up
At some point in the future you always need to do a new seed and in the event of a total failure you often dont have your tools or anything to start with (the PC is down) - so getting started can be a Catch22, although that can be the case with anything - but swapping out a cloned HDD should mean you are up and running in the time it takes to install the replacement hard drive.

Leon, Id buy yourself one of the external HDD drive adapters I put the link in your previous thread.
If you can try and buy the identical drive that is already in your PC, it actually isnt critical, but it does make life easier.

This way you just plug in a new OEM hard drive straight out of the packet, clone it and put it back in its packet (appropriately labelled of course)
Maybe have two of them and alternate backups every so often.

Getting a Time Capsule or some other sort of automated file backup system might also be worthwhile - just select all the data or folders you want to backup
The disadvantage is that if you rely on all the applications saving files to their favourite places - then you have data scattered all over the place, whereas if you name a new folder Data and then created some subfolders for each type of Data file you are likely to use and then backing up Data is simply a case of saving "Data" with subfolders.
But it requires diligence to and a few changes to default file settings to make this work best.

Happy to lisetn to other peoples ideas but this keeps it (relatively) simple, especially the recovery side of things.

Rally

PS Stating the obvious here :
But . . . a caveat and Warning anyway
Cloning, copies a drives entire disc contents (effectively sector by sector) to another drive - if you accidentally mix up the source and destination then you will destroy your data drive forever !
Be very slow and very careful when selecting which drive is which in the software - keep you finger off the keyboard until you are sure you know what you are doing !!!
In this regard cloning is not fool proof !

multiweb (Marc) · #7 15-10-2016, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rally

but I think for Leon, Cloning is a good way to go.
Its a very simple thing to do and its even simpler to get back up and running.
Ghosting is also a good idea.

- but swapping out a cloned HDD should mean you are up and running in the time it takes to install the replacement hard drive.

Agreed.

I was more thinking on the line that my PC software is always updated and changing so need to keep up with backups. Also forgot to mention that eventually you have to make a new seed which I do probably every 3 months or so.

In Leon's case, if the PC doesn't change dramatically you're right. A clone is the way to go.

Leon, I second the external base. You need to be in a position to plug your backup in your PC and boot from a CD in most cases or USB stick to restore a drive. I skipped that bit and took it for granted as I do it all the time.

leon · #8 15-10-2016, 10:49 AM

Well you guys are really on the ball, I do understand the workings of computers and file back up etc, but that is probably as far as it goes.

I just need a simple peace of mind back up, so if the PC goes belly up for any reason it can still have all my filers and programs and everything that makes a PC work.

So I reckon as suggested a simple clone of the hard Drive is what would work for me.

This machine that i use, is pretty much dedicated to Photography with a few Photo programs and all my 140,00 images

, and an occasional look at IIS, so as you can see it just needs to be simple so that i can get back to Photography, as this is what i do.

I appreciate your responses and your suggestions, thank you very much.

Leon

PS I do have all these photos and general files backed to an external HD already so if it died they would not be lost.

multiweb (Marc) · #9 15-10-2016, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

So I reckon as suggested a simple clone of the hard Drive is what would work for me.

Yes. You make an exact copy of your HD then keep it as a spare. In case of failure you swap the drives. Same disc capacity or slightly bigger to hold the partitions, boot and others if needed.

What I proposed previously was a little more involved and probably an overkill. It allows to mirror multiple partitions and compress them on a smaller capacity backup drive.

Exfso (Peter) · #10 15-10-2016, 02:39 PM

Macrium reflect have both a free and paid version. The free version works very well.
Here is a youtube tutorial which I believe is quite informative..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0PyZIqecII

w0mbat (Ian) · #11 16-10-2016, 10:17 AM

Also check out XXClone and Clonezilla. I can vouch for XXClone saving me when a hard drive died. Installed the clone drive and running again in ten minutes.
Both have free versions.
Ian

leon · #12 16-10-2016, 03:58 PM

Thank You again for your constant support and suggestions.

Leon

hamiland (Anders) · #13 16-10-2016, 07:49 PM

Just in case you are unaware, Western Digital and Seagate have free copies of Acronis available to download, the only requirement is that you have one of their drives installed on launch.

leon · #14 16-10-2016, 08:39 PM

Thanks Anders, I was not aware of that.

Leon

OICURMT · #15 16-10-2016, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

#1 is the killer. In this case what matters most is how fast you can get back to a working computer in the exact same state (or close) as it was just before it crashed.

Only way to ensure an exact state duplicate is to use RAID0.

leon · #16 16-10-2016, 09:34 PM

Only way to ensure an exact state duplicate is to use RAID0.?

Not quite sure what you mean by RAIDO ?

Thanks, Leon

OICURMT · #17 17-10-2016, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Only way to ensure an exact state duplicate is to use RAID0.?

Not quite sure what you mean by RAIDO ?

Thanks, Leon

Running dual hard drives in parallel which automatically sync to one another in real-time.

It's a redundancy method, not a backup, most often used for NAS (Network attached storage).

Not often you would use RAID on a desktop, but I have in the past when I was doing numerical modelling and needed the redundancy in order to make sure all my generated data did not get lost (days of computational simulation).

OIC!

pmrid (Peter) · #18 17-10-2016, 11:13 AM

Wiring harness? Is there some special piece of kit for making a clone HD or do you install the target drive in your PC as a second drive?
peter

multiweb (Marc) · #19 17-10-2016, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OICURMT

Running dual hard drives in parallel which automatically sync to one another in real-time.

It's a redundancy method, not a backup, most often used for NAS (Network attached storage).

Not often you would use RAID on a desktop, but I have in the past when I was doing numerical modelling and needed the redundancy in order to make sure all my generated data did not get lost (days of computational simulation).

OIC!

Do you mean RAID1 which is mirrored? RAID0 is an old standard which used to be striped volumes spread over two separate HDs. No redundancy as if one HD failed you lost the lot.

OICURMT · #20 17-10-2016, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Do you mean RAID1 which is mirrored? RAID0 is an old standard which used to be striped volumes spread over two separate HDs. No redundancy as if one HD failed you lost the lot.

You are correct, I meant RAID1.

Don't know where my head was at...

I'm currently running two sets of RAID1 on my NAS, with a dock that clones each set.