Independant HDD's?

[cool blue]

If I disconnect my PC HDD and install a new [identical] HDD, will they both [independently] work? I would like to have a 'peace of mind' second drive in case of another 'meltdown' situation.
Thanks
CB

[lfalconer]

Yes they will. If the replacement HDD is identical to the original, it'll work fine.. as long as it's cabled correctly.

I've performed this many times.. using GHOST to create a copy of the original HDD to a new HDD.. then disconnecting the old (original) HDD, connecting up the new HDD..

Obviously minor problems may arise. Make sure the replacement HDD is jumpered correctly. It MUST have the same software on it as the original also.

As mentioned above, GHOST is the application I used to make a copy of the HDD.. which runs off a bootable MSDOS diskette. Alternatively, I'm fairly certain that most new motherboards come IDE controllers that support IDE RAID. That can create a copy of your current HDD.. without any software. But I haven't played with it.

Good luck!

Lachlan

Note: be aware, simply doing a Windows copy of all data on your original HDD to a new HDD will NOT work.

[cool blue]

Lachlan

Unfortunately, it was Ghost 2001 that caused the 'meltdown' - hence this idea. Despite running a full Scandisk prior, mid-way through the first use, the program stopped and a prompt to enter a DOS command appeared [an error with Scandisk]. As DOS is dutch to me - that was that, finito. Obviously, I'm extremely reluctant to try Ghost again.

The hope was that after removing the original drive I could insert the new one, install Windows etc and build up the same sofware and data [over time] to broadly mirror the original drive. I'm not sure from your reply if this is possible and still maintain use of both HDD's on an ['at will'] inter-changeable basis throughout?

I'd appreciate any further clarification - as you can probably tell I'm no expert :o

Rgrds

CB

[ORAC]

Yes you can, and they don't have to be the same size/make etc, as modern BIOS autodetect the drive.

Get a couple of HDD caddies. Then you can simply change the drive between reboots without having to open up the machine.

I've got a machine with 3 drives in caddies with different OS just to play around with. One with XP, one with Win2K and one with Linux.

[Mac the Knife]

Agree with ORAC (who' the b$&^%#r won't tell he how he found that thing on Google!), HDD caddies are the way to go for backups.

I may have said this before, but XXCOPY is simpler and faster than Ghost and makes a true clone rather than an image.
It also costs nothing for personal use. Doesn't do strange things to your drive(s), leaves the MBR alone, doesn't ferk up your Windows installation, just works.

It's a true 32-bit program that runs in a DOS window under Windows.

XXCOPY Personal Edition v2.80.3 is free from Pixielabs at http://www.xxcopy.com/

Its like a superpowerful Xcopy and the equivalent of a very sharp knife - wonderful if you are careful. The command syntax is very complex and rather arcane, but can do amazing tricks in file management if that what you're into.

Often used for moving drives, but I use it to clone my main drive to a similar sized backup drive that lives in the woodshed.

For copying drives (clone the C:\ drive to D:\ drive)

XXCOPY C:/ D:/ \CLONE will do the trick.
Add /PB if you want to see a pretty Windows progress bar as well.
Just remember to start in the root (i.e. C:\) when you do this.

Just make sure that you are in a DOS box in Windows (you heard me right, IN Windows). And if you're like me, with a lot of physical. logical and mapped drives, make sure you've typed the right f**king drive letter for the destination (only made that mistake once).

RTFM (Read The Firkin Manual) which is long and complicated, but worth it. It'll handle NTFS volumes too.

[ORAC]

Oh, all right Mac, if you're going to sulk.

I put the answer on the other thread. :D

[cool blue]

ORAC & Mac - just the good news I needed - cheers!:)

[fobotcso]

ORAC, do I understand that you can boot from the HDDs in your caddies?

I, too, have old spare HDDs in caddies (3½ and 2½ inch). They connect through Firewire and the USB hub, not through an IDE interface.

If you can boot from them, I'd love to know the trick.

[ORAC]

Depends on whether they are onboard onyour motherboard and supported as boot devices in the BIOS.

Microsoft - Firewire Boot (http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techenthusiast/features/ieee1394.asp)

AOpen Motherboard (http://www.aopen.com/tech/download/mbbios/ax3s.htm)

[A-V-8R]

May I suggest that if you have two HDD's that you relocate the Window's Swap file to the other (secondary) HDD to increase your speed?

Not my invention, just for once I read the instructions when I installed the second HDD....