CLONING HARD DRIVES for Back up Emergencies

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by M D Gourley, Dec 7, 2015.

  1. M D Gourley

    M D Gourley Well-Known Member

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    Hello everyone,
    I thought I would share a problem I have just recently had and the solution.
    Drive A with operating system Win7 and all my Sims got corrupted when downloading some purchased software, would not start, boot up. I already had another drive 'Drive B' with a total Clone of 'Drive A' on it done
    previously with 'Acronis True Image' which is not connected up (does not show up in 'My Computer').
    I removed the side cover on my pc case un-plugged corrupted Drive A, connected 'Drive B' to the same sata cable as Drive A, connected power, closed cover and started the PC...I was back up and running in 5 mins as if nothing had happened, all win7 settings, programes, Sims etc I still had to update some software and sims as Drive B was about 2 weeks old from the last Clone backup I had done.

    I then proceeded to re-clone with 'Acronis True Image' an up to date version of 'Drive B' back on to the
    corrupted 'Drive A' which was an SSD...about 300GB took approx 8 minutes from 'Drive B' (mechanical HHD) to 'Drive A' an SSD, then just swapped the sata connections again so my Drive A was back to where it was originally...disconnected 'Drive B' both sata and power to be ready again for another emergency...total time 20 minutes approx from catastrophe to bliss....Highly recommended :)
     
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  2. Skybird

    Skybird Well-Known Member

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    To save a complete image of your installation is my advise, too. However, with one change: You said that you had an image just two weeks old, so I assume you create these images regularly at short intervals.

    However, if you catch an infestation of any kind, and it does not become manifest immediately, but only with a time delay, or you just do not realise it, then you could create an image that already is infested in itself - and maybe overwrite older ones which still are healthy.

    The best way is to install Windows 7 from scratch, set it up (have an eye on the GWX desaster unfolding when updating, but that is a whole different thread), but keep it relatively basic, only install games that are more time consuming to install and tune in their options - then save this image to external HD and keep it physically disconnected form the rig at all times.

    If you then need to reinstall via an image, I would always pick the oldest available if I have created several ones, to make the time difference - and thus the likelihood to have an infested image - as small as possible.

    I used Acronis myself fin the past. I did not exchange the HD, but used to restore the image from the external HD on my main HD.

    When going with this strategy, you may want to still update your working files and savegames on USB stick more frequently. But keep in mind that the same security concerns apply. Reinstall not the latest but the oldest files you have, if needed.

    And as a general rule: if you catch an infestation of any kind, understand that it is a good advise
    indeed to not repair, but to reinstall, and format the HD 3 times minimum, with power interruptions between cycle. "Once a corrupted installation - always to be considered a corrupted installation". You never can be sure that you really have caught all them evil buggers.

    With something like Acronis, it is a breeze, you plug in the external HD, you boot from Acronis boot medium, start the process, and leave it alone for an hour or so. After that updating the older things, defrag - and you're done. It can cost some time, but you must not constantly sit at the desk overwatching things and clicking when being given choices, like when you install from Windows DVD.

    Windows 7 has an onboard function to do what Acronis does. I tested it twice - and it failed both times. :)

    ---

    Due to W10, maintaining W7 withoiut it being corrupted with adverts and W10 installation files is a pain. Microsoft has overstepped the red lines here and acts like a burglar. I can only warn to use W10, but it needs some background knowledge on how to install W7 and update it to a decent level - and at what time standard for patches to stop updating it, so that MS crap does not corrupt it again. Obviously that puts you at a risk for other, valid security risks, and thus I recommend to switch to another OS. If there would not be games' Windows-dependencies, I would not have anything Microsoft related on my system anymore by now, nothing, and certainly not the biggest bug out there: Windows.

    Its these things that finally, a month ago, after 20 years - have made me abandoning Windows, maintaining a fully isolated W7 for starting games EXCLUSIVELY, but keeping it isolated from the web as best as possible, and doing everything else under Linux now, including surfing and typing this text. The magical words are "dual boot" and "two HDs". If W10 is really the future, then I happily stay away. And no, I do not consider to buy any game depending on W10 installed. Not now. Not in the future. I'm done with Microsoft.

    Just another reason why I want an offline mode in Raceroom installed.
     
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  3. M D Gourley

    M D Gourley Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for taking the time to reply Skybird,
    I was very confident that my Drive B clone was bug free when it was done and do not do a 'Clone' back up if I think there is a problem, but then how do you really know...so far I have been lucky :)

    Thanks for your explanation, seems technical to me and I did use the windows 'Restore' function but it failed on me as well...but I have also read in threads online that you should not format an SSD....correct me if I am wrong :)

    Although I am still on Win7 and are resisting the move to Win 10 upgrade, I found this video in one of my subscribers which explains in great detail how to TURN OFF Win 10 SPYING'...an entertaining watch and listen
     
  4. Not Lifting Off

    Not Lifting Off Well-Known Member

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    Thought i would add my take on this also as im up n bored.
    I do a fresh install of win 7 probably once a year i will tweak and edit it to suit my needs\usage then do a back up using acronis.
    Some things that i do before the back up.
    The first one is permanent regardless.
    Move all of my documents folders to another drive, all the folders in my user account are permanantly on another drive, if windows crashes or i lose a backup and reinstall for whatever reason i still have my history on the other drive, downloads music video its allways there no matter what, i install steam and my steam library firefox and whatever else i use often. Its easy to do, right click on the folder in your account select location point to where you want it to go.

    Install latest windows updates.
    Disable page file, i have 12gb ram and have no issues and havnt noticed anything negative.
    Diasble restore and delete backups.
    Turn off hibernate, command prompt powercfg -h off
    Turn off\disable the services im never going to use.
    Install all my relevant drivers.
    Setup firewall.
    Tweak and edit windows to how i want it, all the little things, start menu, themes, speed tweaks, another update check then do a back up with acronis.

    From here if it goes tits up its a 10 minute job restoring the backup, i have everything as i want it plus i havnt lost my downloads or important software and tools or game saves.
     
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  5. M D Gourley

    M D Gourley Well-Known Member

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    Sound logic there 'Not Lifting Off'...looks like you know you stuff, but a little complex for my old brain matter...lol...thanks for taking the time to reply
     
  6. Insaneozzy

    Insaneozzy Well-Known Member

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    I have a similar setup as "Not Lifting Off" I run a 500SSD as my main drive and a terabyte HD partitioned. Partition A is all my SimRacing associated games & mods, partition B is home for all my downloads, documents, music, pictures, vids etc etc. I have the same configuration on my wife's PC just to protect against those nasty surprises. Ive lost gigs of data in the past, learnt the hard way about backing up what ya don't want to lose.

    I actually gave up on doing clones or image backups when PC's started to move into the Quad core & 8+ gig of DDR3 ram era, although more time consuming to do a clean install and start from scratch, this enabled me to install the latest essential drivers without the need for updates to old imaged/cloned drivers that had become outdated.
    It also gave me the luxury of NOT installing unwanted or out dated software, or uninstalling the same from a clone.

    I rarely have drama's that warrant formatting these days, took ages to educate the family about safe surfing and PC protection, lol, but I succeeded :)

    Cheers
     
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    Last edited: Jan 6, 2016
  7. M D Gourley

    M D Gourley Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info Insaneozzy,
    I had a set up like yours for my business PC's a lot of years ago, having the OP system installed on Drive C and installed all the Programes necessary on a totally separate Drive...the problem I had was, even though most of the programe installed on Drive D and you can start that programe up from Drive D, some parts of the programes core installation still went into Drive C where the OP system was located, so if there was a failure on Drive C with the OP system and I re-installed, the Business programes that were safe would not start up because they were missing some of the core programe files and I ended up having to re-install everything.....Is this not the case for Games or a Steam Games software install if installed on a completely different Drive?
     
  8. Insaneozzy

    Insaneozzy Well-Known Member

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    Yeah Steam is a pain in that respect, I overcome that issue by making backups of the larger steam titles using Steams own backup facility, which are kept on an external drive :).
    But as you pointed out, some installs put functional data on "C" even if you nominate a different drive, so in these cases data loss is inevitable in the event of hard drive failure or corruption, and unfortunately a reinstall is unavoidable.

    As I said, my system does take more time than the process you employ with live HDD cloning, but not as long as a full reinstall of all games, software & apps etc etc, which Ive done my share of over the past 18yrs :eek:.
    My process is more to safeguard against data loss than save time, and I don't tend to format the families 3 desktops and 4 laptops that often, probably because I know regardless of the quicker processors and plenty of ram on offer, it's still 3 to 4 hrs just to get the O/S and basic software running again :rolleyes:.

    Live cloning is definitely the way to go though for time saving instant backup and piece of mind, and especially for businesses.

    Cheers
     
  9. M D Gourley

    M D Gourley Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for sharing :D