Hard drive cloning.

lttlejoe

lttlejoe

lttlejoe

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My hard drive will need replacing very soon as there are a few bad sectors and I want to catch it before it goes down completely ...can anyone point me in the right direction toward some cloning software or a method of mirroring the existing hard drive including all files and data to save all the faff of re-installing everything? I do have all the important files backed up already but it would be easier just to clone the whole drive to a new one before I replace it.

The OS is Windows 7 and I'd prefer to stick with that for the moment as I will be keeping this set up as a backup computer after my new build. There is currently one partition ( 128 Gb) on the 1 Tb hard drive.

Any advice appreciated.
 
There'll be people that will say not to clone it if it's already failing as it'll just clone any bad data along with it.

However, I'd say Macrium reflect is still the main choice for cloning these days.
 
UnworthyBean said:
There'll be people that will say not to clone it if it's already failing as it'll just clone any bad data along with it.

However, I'd say Macrium reflect is still the main choice for cloning these days.
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That was one thing I thought about....will the software clone the bad sectors? However, there must be some software which will recognise them as bad and not copy them but them maybe I'm just being lazy and expecting too much!:o
At the moment there are no conflicts or issues with the installed software and drivers so hopefully I could just copy the lot to a new hard drive then if it causes problems I'll have to re-install everything.
I see Macrium is actually free for the basic stuff...might be worth a punt!
 
It wont clone the bad sectors, but if anything is saved on to the bad sectors it'll clone the data over and therefore probably get corrupt data. If they're identified as bad sectors it should in theory just no save data to those and you should be fine.

My opinion is just go for it, if you encounter problems then go for a repair first, then reinstall.
 
UnworthyBean said:
It wont clone the bad sectors, but if anything is saved on to the bad sectors it'll clone the data over and therefore probably get corrupt data. If they're identified as bad sectors it should in theory just no save data to those and you should be fine.

My opinion is just go for it, if you encounter problems then go for a repair first, then reinstall.
Click to expand...

Touch wood at the moment, I don't have any data corruptions of files etc as far as I can make out that are in regular use as everything works fine but that is not to say that other files may not have been corrupted that I rarely use. The drive is automatically defragged every week which keeps things running smoothly but with bad sectors appearing it's only a matter of time before data gets corrupted or slows everything down while it searches for files etc.

I suppose the worst that can happen is that I will have to re-format the new drive and reinstall everything from scratch if there are problems with copying the drive which would be an absolute pain as I'm short of time just at the moment but not the end of the world.
However, once everything is running correctly on the new drive, when I have time of course, I will most likely still do a full reinstall of everything but only load the programs and drivers I use regularly as half of the installed software is rarely used if at all.
 
If you buy a WD or Samsung drive you can just download their cloning software. I am unfamiliar with other manufacturers software but they probably have some...
 
Pocah said:
If you buy a WD or Samsung drive you can just download their cloning software. I am unfamiliar with other manufacturers software but they probably have some...
Click to expand...

That's good to know as I will be buying either a WD or Samsung. Cheers!
 
lttlejoe said:
That's good to know as I will be buying either a WD or Samsung. Cheers!
Click to expand...

WD is Acronis True Image WD Edition, and Samsung is the Samsung Data Migration Software. BOth you can freely download from their sites. With the Samsung the target drive must be a Samsung with the WD you must have a WD drive in your system.
 
Pocah said:
WD is Acronis True Image WD Edition, and Samsung is the Samsung Data Migration Software. BOth you can freely download from their sites. With the Samsung the target drive must be a Samsung with the WD you must have a WD drive in your system.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that...I'll probably go for the WD. The existing HD is actually a Samsung which has been in constant use for over 7 years so its not done too badly considering it was relatively cheap back then. I was going to install dual hard drives in the case on the new/rebuild but I'll stick with one and use a new external drive for backup.

I actually have 3 older external backup drives ( c 350/500 mb) mostly full with my most important digitised film files and digital image files etc on at least 2 of them for good measure, not to mention my work diaries/accounts etc for the past 15 years ...( I'm a bit of a belt and braces fiend :)).

I am leaning toward fitting a 1 Tb Seagate 'Firecuda' for the internal hard drive. The Firecuda is about £21 dearer @ £59.99, than a cheap between one but Seagate give 5 years warranty and the drive is a bit faster than standard .
 
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