Back-up hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Willy
  • Start date Start date
W

Willy

Is there an easy way to back-up my hard drive than manually selecting about
700NB of Folder/Files then copying them to a CD-R?
My hard drive is about to crash and I'm putting a new one in but want to
backup all on this one the put on new one.
I'm running Win XP SP2.
 
Willy said:
Is there an easy way to back-up my hard drive than manually selecting
about 700NB of Folder/Files then copying them to a CD-R?
My hard drive is about to crash and I'm putting a new one in but want
to backup all on this one the put on new one.
I'm running Win XP SP2.
Click to expand...

A portable USB hard drive, a disk imaging program, a backup program. There
are many ways to backup.
 
Willy said:
I have no portable USB. Now what?
Click to expand...

Purchase one? There are many ways to back up including to CD/DVD. Most of
them involve purchasing something, either hardware or software. Using the
built in utilities you have a couple of options neither of which is easy to
use. One: manually copy the files to CD/DVD as you are now doing. Two: Use
the built in backup program (ntbackup.exe) to backup files to a file on your
hard drive. You have to do this in chunks so that the backup file size does
not exceed the size of the CD/DVD you are using. Copy each backup file to a
seperate CD/DVD. Or three: Purchase a backup solution :-) It is a worthwhile
investment.
 
If you are installing a new hard drive you could also clone the existing
drive to the new drive. Most new drives either come with software to do this
or you can download it from the manufacturer's web site.

--
Kerry
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Willy said:
Kerry,
Guess it'll be option 2 as I'm strapped financially now.
Click to expand...
 
Would I have to re-install the OS? Are you saying put new HD in vacant
slot, make drive D for instance then clone C to it?
--
Thanks.....Bill
Please reply to the Newsgroup ONLY

Kerry Brown said:
If you are installing a new hard drive you could also clone the existing
drive to the new drive. Most new drives either come with software to do
this or you can download it from the manufacturer's web site.
Click to expand...
 
Willy said:
Would I have to re-install the OS? Are you saying put new HD in
vacant slot, make drive D for instance then clone C to it?
Click to expand...

Most of the manufacturer's software will make a bootable CD. Install the new
drive as the master and your old drive as the slave or on a different
controller. Boot from the CD and clone the old drive to the new one. Remove
the old drive then boot from the new one. The software will have more
detailed instructions. I still recommend you get some sort of backup
solution. Without it you will lose data eventually.
 
Kerry,
The Maxtor HD I got has the CD & instructions for cloning but it says make
old drive master, new the slave, run clone program, shut PC down, make new
drive master, not connect old drive, restart to boot from new HD then shut
down, make old drive slave if I want, then restart.
How's all that sound?
 
Willy said:
Kerry,
The Maxtor HD I got has the CD & instructions for cloning but it says
make old drive master, new the slave, run clone program, shut PC
down, make new drive master, not connect old drive, restart to boot
from new HD then shut down, make old drive slave if I want, then
restart. How's all that sound?
Click to expand...

If they have step by step instructions and you are not 100% sure of what you
are doing then I recommend you follow the instructions. Their instructions
will work fine.

It doesn't really matter how they are set up for the cloning process as long
as both drives are recognised. If the cloning process runs from Windows then
you will have to leave the old drive as the master. I usually set the new
drive as the master because you have to set it this way eventually anyway.
The key is to not reboot the first time after cloning with both drives
installed. Occasionally this will cause Windows to write to both drives and
neither drive will boot after that. If this happens do not try to fix it.
Post back here for instructions first. This can be easily fixed but if done
wrong can cause more problems.
 
Willy said:
The Maxtor HD I got has the CD & instructions for cloning but it says
make old drive master, new the slave, run clone program,
shut PC down,
make new drive master, not connect old drive,
restart to boot from new HD then shut down,
make old drive slave if I want, then restart.
Click to expand...


That sounds fine - for copying all of the old drive to the new drive.
If you want to copy just one partition (the partition containing the OS),
that may not suffice. As I recall, Maxtor's MaxBlast utility copies the
entire drive. Is that what you want to do?

*TimDaniels*
 
Timothy wrote on Sun, 4 Jun 2006 11:14:21 -0700:

TD> "Willy" wrote:
??>> The Maxtor HD I got has the CD & instructions for cloning
??>> but it says make old drive master, new the slave, run
??>> clone program, shut PC down, make new drive master, not
??>> connect old drive, restart to boot from new HD then shut
??>> down, make old drive slave if I want, then restart.

TD> That sounds fine - for copying all of the old drive to
TD> the new drive. If you want to copy just one partition (the
TD> partition containing the OS), that may not suffice. As I
TD> recall, Maxtor's MaxBlast utility copies the entire drive.
TD> Is that what you want to do?

It's a little OT, but can anyone give a estimate of the time
needed to clone one disc to another? I'm thinking of about
5-10gigs or possibly a rate in megs/second. Simply copying "My
Pictures" from the hard disc to a USB disc takes rather a long
time.

James Silverton.
 
James Silverton said:
Timothy wrote wrote:
TD> "Willy" wrote:
??>> The Maxtor HD I got has the CD & instructions for cloning
??>> but it says make old drive master, new the slave, run
??>> clone program, shut PC down, make new drive master, not
??>> connect old drive, restart to boot from new HD then shut
??>> down, make old drive slave if I want, then restart.

TD> That sounds fine - for copying all of the old drive to
TD> the new drive. If you want to copy just one partition (the
TD> partition containing the OS), that may not suffice. As I
TD> recall, Maxtor's MaxBlast utility copies the entire drive.
TD> Is that what you want to do?

It's a little OT, but can anyone give a estimate of the time
needed to clone one disc to another? I'm thinking of about
5-10gigs or possibly a rate in megs/second. Simply copying "My
Pictures" from the hard disc to a USB disc takes rather a long
time.
Click to expand...


Some tests for error rates are made before the cloning begins,
and the transfer rate is based on the results of that test (as I understand
it). In my experience, it could take up to 20 minutes to clone 10GB.
Many people report much shorter times.

*TimDaniels*
 
Yes I do want to copy entire drive to new one as old one is giving signs of
imminent failure.
 
Willy said:
Kerry, Here is the Link to the instructions I spoke of earlier, take
a look & tell me what you think if you don't mind. I'm a bit
confused though about the new MaxBlast 4 it mentions. Should I use
it (it'll be on a floppy) or the CD that came with the HD (100GB)?
https://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1366
Click to expand...

The CD should also have Maxblast 4 on it if it's recent. Either the CD or
floppy version will work. The instructions should work fine if you follow
them step by step. Print them out and cross off each step as you do it.
 
Kerry,
I looked at CD & it is MaxBlast 4. I initially thought it was older
version. Will beat the heck out of DL the floppy version & using it.
I'll updated you once I get it done.
 
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