Cloned My Boot Drive

[Sundowner]

I think it's the ULTIMATE backup method for your OS.

I made an EXACT copy of my C: drive.
Now, If my hard drive fails etc, all I have to do is unplug my current boot drive and plug in my backup drive. BOOM! I'm right back in business, no muss no fuss.

Here's a video from a guy that did exactly what I did.
(Actually, I followed HIS instructions on the video and it worked as advertised.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNROqKOFFAw

Here is the software I used. "Copy Commander 9.0"
Worked perfectly and simply, just like in the video.

http://www.avanquest.com/USA/pc-tools/disk-management-disk-partition/hard-disk-hard-drive/Copy_Commander_9.html

I'll probably make another clone of my drive and store it off-site for ultimate safety.

Losing my hard drive doesn't worry me anymore and I don't have to mess with backup disk images that can only be tested by extracting them to a new drive anyway.

By "cloning" my drive exactly I skip the disk image step and go directly to a ready to go, plug and play drive!

Have fun kids!
Sun

[Getback]

Nice Sundowner!

[Chalenge]

Not a bad price either!

Acronis by comparison is $50 and offers the same function as well as backing up the entire partition to an internal or external hard drive (I suggest an eSATA port but USB works also though slower) or just your data files to the same. You can also do some forms of system maintenance and my favorite feature 'Try & Decide' that allows you to make system changes (installing programs) and if things get buggered up you can return to the way things were before you started!

[BaldEagl]

Umm... I've done that dozens of times with the free Seatools (Seagate) and Data Lifeguard (WD) software that comes with a new retail hard drive.  They will make an exact bootable copy of your current hard drive on a new (or different) hard drive.  I hope you didn't have to pay for that software.  You could have just DL'd it from the Seagate or WD web-sites.

[Birddogg]

Since we're talking bout OS and HD, I've got a question..


Does anyone know if solid state drives are considerably faster then current 7200rpm dives? Toying with idea of having solid state drive run OS.

And, are 10K RPM drives really worth the cost?

[smokey23]

I used acronis when i did mine it worked real well to

[Chalenge]

Since we're talking bout OS and HD, I've got a question..


Does anyone know if solid state drives are considerably faster then current 7200rpm dives? Toying with idea of having solid state drive run OS.

And, are 10K RPM drives really worth the cost?

No and Yes.

[llama]

I use Norton Ghost 2003 (for DOS, of all things) for doing image backups of my partitions and drives either once a month, or just before installing some new software, either for a review or if I think there's any chance of something going south.

Drop-dead reliable and fast - less than 20 min for a whole drive clone, and when I restore, less than 10 minutes. SATA and ESATA really make it fast these days.

I am starting to use a free Linux distro for this work called Clonezilla. Its interface isn't as slick, being all text based, but it is just as fast and (so far) just as reliable. On the bonus side, it works with more hardware than Ghost and it works better for LAN backups. Just burn a CD, or make a bootable thumbdrive, and you're good to go with it.

Acronis is a solid product too, but you're really just paying for a slick interface. You'll master any interface after working with any of these programs a couple of times...

-Llama