making a h-drive image..size has to be same?

[CD32]

Might sound like a stupid question but I've decided to back up my hard drive by making an image to a second drive..will have to look into how...dunno if it's possible on win7 or have to use what I've heard of..acronis..don't know yet..never done it...(shame )

Anyway..to make an image of my hard drive..does the second drive have to be identical? share any qualities?? ie...size etc?? Or will any do as long as it's at least big enough...was gonna buy a second caviar black 500gb (as is installed) but can't seem to get hold of one now.

Windows has info about your hard drive in device manager etc therefore I would have thought booting up with a backed up image on a different drive would mean the system would end up with incorrect drive info...unless it would auto detect a different drive & update settings?

Also gonna have to look into what would be best...raid for constant backup..(I know there is risk here...virus's on both...power surge killing both drives etc..plus more power usage...Or backing up an image every month & storing the drive away..

Tnx for any info...Andy.

 

[skyripper]

Raid isnt a backup, its a way of staying more reliable. Its there to protect you against hardware failure, but will do nothing for viruses, user error, program crashing out etc.

Saying that, I regularly image my C: partition onto a some spare space on my raid array. If needed, I can image back to the C: from it. I use Partition Wizard, but Acronis will do the same.

To make an image copy using Acronis or Parition Wizard, your target drive just needs to have enough space.

I image the partition, not the drive, so the bootsector isnt copied over, so theres no issues with the PC trying to boot off the wrong thing.

If I ever lost my C: so bad I couldnt boot my recovery process would be as follows
- Install bare minimum of windows onto C:
- Install basic drivers to access the Raid.
- Install Partition Wizard.
- Clone the stored image back onto C: (overwriting it).

Or theres a bootable CD available for it which is probably even easier, but I havent used it.

If you're thinking of making a copy and storing it in a cupboard, you can get removable drive docks which you just slot a hard drive into. Or the traditional USB drive will work too.

 

[CD32]

Tnx Skyripper..that just about answered my queries...

I made a bootable recovery cd last night...I've heard of the drive docks & yeah it would save a lot of messing about...just need to order a 2nd drive now...(don't seem to be so cheap anymore!

So a drive with an imaged partition (instead of drive) & no boot sector would boot the pc as if everything was identical from the original? (apart from drive of course)

Tnx again...Andy.

 

[skyripper]

Er... not sure what you're asking there.

If you have copied your C: partition to somewhere else, and that doesnt have a boot sector - you can't boot off it.

If you want to do that, image the whole drive, not just the partition. This will let you clone your boot drive to another and you can just put it in the cupboard. You can boot off that.

If you want to backup your C: drive to your RAID array (because you have the spare space), image the partition. This is what I do because I often faff about with firmware and secure erase etc. on my SSD. You can't boot off that, just use if for recovery. But you can probably boot off a CD to get to it.

So depends on what you want - a bootable copy in the cupboard, or to use some spare RAID space for hold a backup.

HDD prices have gone mental in the last month or so due to major floods in Thailand.

 

[Essexraptor]

All I will say is ... keeping a back up image of your OS on a drive already installed on your PC is pure folly

Just check the how much space your present OS install is using.

If your going to use Acronis the resulting backup image file (.tib) will be approx half as much in size. Therefore the identical size drive would be money down the pan. Best bet is a portable USB drive (250Gb would be more than ample)

Make sure you clean out all the c~~p first. Temp files etc.

When making your image remember to check the box "sector by sector" (it makes a bigger file but is the better solution)

If your drive dies or gets so infected you want to revert, after selecting your image to restore remember to tick the box to restore the MBR as well

If you do not have Acronis to hand ... try Paragon B & R 2011 which a dead easy and has a free version

cnet.co/nZ2p0d

after install just click "Get Free Serial" button

 

[CD32]

Cheers Ripper & Raptor...If I remember rightly some people had probs with the power going on portable usb drives..or something like that...so kinda put me off em...plus I'd want to shove it in the pc anyway as a replacement should the main drive fail.

some useful info above which is appreciated.

If you have copied your C: partition to somewhere else, and that doesnt have a boot sector - you can't boot off it.

If you want to do that, image the whole drive, not just the partition. This will let you clone your boot drive to another and you can just put it in the cupboard. You can boot off that.

You got it in one..this is what I was a bit unsure about.

Tnx again for the posts & help....Andy.

 

[Essexraptor]

yw