2 hard drives 2 Windows XP

[matrixmainframe]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary drive.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows XP
on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could boot from
the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case, having to open the
computer and changing the jumpers so that the surviving secondary drive can
be made the primary and vice versa.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the failed
drive?

 

[Avi Greenbury]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on
internal or external) to back up all my music and other files from my
primary drive.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows
XP on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could
boot from the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case,
having to open the computer and changing the jumpers so that the
surviving secondary drive can be made the primary and vice versa.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question
but, if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and
running as the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and
files on the failed drive?

If the primary drive fails, it's likely to take the boot sector with it,
which makes it less simple to switch between them.
If you just installed 'as normal' on both, then as and when the primary
fails, you could use the boot menu in your bios to go with the secondary
one.
I'd suggest just waiting the day or two it takes to get a new hard drive,
myself.

 

[Bob I]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary drive.

Good idea.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows XP
on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could boot from
the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case, having to open the
computer and changing the jumpers so that the surviving secondary drive can
be made the primary and vice versa.

No it won't work the way you envision.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the failed
drive?

Not if the drive actually failed.

 

[Jim]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on
internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary
drive.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows
XP
on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could boot
from
the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case, having to open
the
computer and changing the jumpers so that the surviving secondary drive
can
be made the primary and vice versa.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question
but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running
as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the
failed
drive?

If your system uses "cable select", then the answer to your first question
is "highly likely". There is no licensing issue involved.
The answer to your second question is "Very unlikely".
It is time for you to make a backup of all of your files.
Jim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on
internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary
drive.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows
XP
on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could boot
from
the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case, having to open
the
computer and changing the jumpers so that the surviving secondary drive
can
be made the primary and vice versa.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question
but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running
as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the
failed
drive?

If your aim is to back up your data files then using an internal
drive is a pointless exercise. Here is a better approach:
- Get an external USB drive.
- Backup your data to that drive. Do it often!
- Buy a copy of an imaging program, e.g. Acronis TrueImage.
- Create an image file of drive C: and store it on the external disk.
- Update this image once or twice each year.
- Keep the external disk well away from your PC for most
of the time.
- Create a "Rescue CD" with your imaging program.

To restore data, copy it back from the external disk.
If you need to restore Windows, boot the machine with
the Rescue CD and restore Windows from the image
file.

P.S. When backing up your data, remember to back
up your EMail files. Many people overlook this little
detail, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.

 

[Anna]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on
internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary
drive.

All licensing issues aside (I've read the threads) can I install Windows
XP
on the secondary drive so that if the primary drive failed I could boot
from
the secondary drive without, as I suspect may be the case, having to open
the
computer and changing the jumpers so that the surviving secondary drive
can
be made the primary and vice versa.

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question
but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running
as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the
failed
drive?

matrix...
May I suggest that you really should be considering a comprehensive backup
system that you could employ on a routine basis? So that from time-to-time
depending upon how you use your PC you could systematically backup your
system in such a way as to have, in effect, a copy of your day-to-day
working HDD. A copy that would include your operating system (OS), all your
programs & applications, and all your user-created data. In short,
*everything* that's on your "source" HDD. So that in the event of a failure
of your HDD or the OS becoming so corrupt that it's unbootable you could use
the cloned HDD to restore your system to a functional state with a minimum
of effort.

You could accomplish this through the use of a disk-to-disk cloning (or disk
imaging) program by using another HDD (either internal or external) to be
the recipient of the clone (or disk image). If you used an internal HDD as
the recipient of the clone that drive would be bootable without the need of
opening your computer case, changing jumpers, & the like. There would be no
need to do so.

On the other hand, should you use an external HDD - say a USB external HDD -
as the recipient of the clone that HDD would not ordinarily be bootable
however, you could clone back the contents of that external HDD to a
non-defective internal HDD resulting in a bootable, functioning system once
again. The process is relatively simple & straightforward.

The advantage of using an external HDD is that it gives you somewhat more
security than another internal HDD since the external drive will ordinarily
be disconnected from the system when not in use.
Anna

 

[John]

It sounds like you want storage redundancy. Here are a couple choices:

1) Disk mirroring (RAID1) - needs a RAID controller card + 2 HDs
2) Disk cloning (Ghost, Acronis etc)

Also, having never had a drive fail on me this may be a stupid question
but,
if the primary drive failed and I got the secondary drive up and running
as
the primary, would I still be able to see all folders and files on the
failed
drive?

Depends. What kind of failure is it? Normally you can't read anything off of
a failed HD without the help of recovery software such as EasyRecovery.

 

[PD43]

- Create an image file of drive C: and store it on the external disk.
- Update this image once or twice each year.

Or be obsessive like me and update it every night.

And install a THIRD drive - this one internal - and clone your main
drive to it weekly. If you set the BIOS to boot to that drive AFTER
the system drive, if the system drive fails, it will boot to the
cloned drive.

Acronis TI does both simply.

 

[smlunatick]

It sounds like you want storage redundancy. Here are a couple choices:

1) Disk mirroring (RAID1) - needs a RAID controller card + 2 HDs
2) Disk cloning (Ghost, Acronis etc)



Depends. What kind of failure is it? Normally you can't read anything off of
a failed HD without the help of recovery software such as EasyRecovery.

RAID 1 can be done with software, although it will slow down.

Also, several "modern" (after 2006) come with RAID ports built-in.
These can do RAID 1.

Also, Microsoft has never designed, or patched, Windows XP to ever
work on an external USB / Firewire hard drive. Any hard drive based
on eSATA might be able to run XP since by it definition eSATA is seen
as an "internal" hard drive (same thing is possible with SCSI but only
to cost of the hard drive may prohibit the purchase (way more
expensive that reqular SATA / IDE drives.)

 

[John]

RAID 1 can be done with software, although it will slow down.
eeewww...

Also, several "modern" (after 2006) come with RAID ports built-in.
These can do RAID 1.

Yup. A few of them come with SATA RAID controller on the mobo.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I plan to add a second hard drive to my computer (not yet decided on internal
or external) to back up all my music and other files from my primary drive.

If you're planning on an internal drive, I urge you to reconsider that
backup plan.

I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because
it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and
backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,
nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept
in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the
life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple
generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be
stored off-site.

You can read my general advice on backup in this article I recently
wrote: http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314

 

[PD43]

You can read my general advice on backup in this article I recently
wrote: http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314

Good article.

I quote this line:

"I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives (also alternating between them)
for making more frequent backups of my most critical data (like
financial information). For that I just copy and paste using ordinary
Windows techniques."

I use a program called Second Copy to do that.

http://www.centered.com/

1) It keeps my cloned drive regularly updated between clones.
2) It backs up the same data to an external drive
3) It backs up the same data to a flash drive so I can keep my
notebook updated with the same info

All either manually or on a schedule.

 

[sgopus]

as an aside, depending on the age of your puter, ie reference to either USB
or SATA external drive, if you have USB 2.0 a clone of your system would go
much faster than USB1 I have an older pc and it took 36 hours to make a
clone, course it was a dual boot xp and W2k, in comparision to an external
SATA and only one OS, took me less than 30 minutes.

SO hopefully your pc supports SATA and or USB 2.0.

I always recommend making a clone and stashing it somewhere safe, and also
scheduling periodic backups of important data, on either CD or DVD RW.

and of course updating your clone often.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Good article.

Thanks very much.

I quote this line:

"I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives (also alternating between them)
for making more frequent backups of my most critical data (like
financial information). For that I just copy and paste using ordinary
Windows techniques."

I use a program called Second Copy to do that.

Sure, there's more than one way to do it.