HDD Cloning

[medicnick83]

Hi all,

I need some help urgently with an issue I'm having - I've been struggling the last few days and now it's at a point where I am asking for help.

I have a Windows 7 PC that I need to backup / clone the HDD for safe keeping but this is merely a test because I really need to backup 2x SERVERS at some point next week.

I've tried to use Norton Ghost on the hard drive - it copies the data and the partitions fine but when I "TEST" the backup on another hard drive, the PC boots to a flashing _ cursor.
I tested said image on a different PC as well as the main PC (That I cloned the HDD from) and doesn't work.

So during the course of today I used another tool called "Macrium Reflect Free" and I made a image of the drive, then tested it by restoring the image to the backup drive and Windows would just start loading Windows and then reboot.

Tomorrow is D DAY, I need to get this Windows 7 PC backed up.

How I do the backups is;

I have a completely different PC setup (2x 500GB's with Windows 7 and all drivers loaded) - I take the hard drive out the PC and plug it into this PC (Let's call it a backup PC) and do the a backup from drive to image, then after, I test it by restoring the image to another HDD.

Never struggled like this before and it's blowing my mind but now I need some advice.

I've only really tried Norton Ghost (booted from a DVD) and Macrium Reflect Free.

Thanks!

 

[Sinbad]

I use easeus. It's a paid product but it does image backups, no problem.
Cloning disk to disk is slightly different. But I think you're looking for image backups.

 

[medicnick83]

I use easeus. It's a paid product but it does image backups, no problem.
Cloning disk to disk is slightly different. But I think you're looking for image backups.

The DATA backed up is only 71GB.
So I want to make a image or 2 to the 500GB and keep it in a safe.

The other 2x servers are also about 100GB each so a 500GB would be perfect.

I don't have the luxury of doing HDD to HDD copies thus why I wanna use images which I don't mind testing.

 

[Sinbad]

https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html

 

[medicnick83]

https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html

Busy downloading now. Thanks

 

[Sinbad]

Good luck!
Create new drive backup jobs for each drive you are doing. So you can store the image in different directories or whatever.

 

[medicnick83]

Good luck!
Create new drive backup jobs for each drive you are doing. So you can store the image in different directories or whatever.

What do YOU recommend... Install it ON the PC and do the backup or installing the software on the backing up PC and doing a backup to image?

 

[Dan C]

Acronis.

But not free

Luckily I got my copy on special for about R250

 

[Sinbad]

What do YOU recommend... Install it ON the PC and do the backup or installing the software on the backing up PC and doing a backup to image?

I'd install on the pc to be backed up.
Share out the drive on the machine to hold the images, back up the image to the share. Obviously requires a decent network.

If no network, install on the backup machine and as you were planning, connect up the hdd and back it up that way.

 

[Sinbad]

Acronis.

But not free

Luckily I got my copy on special for about R250

I paid for acronis as well. Then turfed it when their **** software kept crashing on win10 with SSD and they wanted to charge me to resolve it. Fukdat****

 

[Dan C]

I paid for acronis as well. Then turfed it when their **** software kept crashing on win10 with SSD and they wanted to charge me to resolve it. Fukdat****

Never tried it on WIN10 tbh. I got 2013 version and still working very well. Even the recovery USB boot.

 

[Hemi300c]

Sorry medicnick83

What you guys think of these, won't they work?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-5...64993.html?spm=2114.search0301.4.2.0X1zBs&s=p

 

[Hugh.tumisho@gmail.com]

Use hirens boot cd to do that, simply the best in the game

 

[CataclysmZA]

I've tried to use Norton Ghost on the hard drive - it copies the data and the partitions fine but when I "TEST" the backup on another hard drive, the PC boots to a flashing _ cursor.
I tested said image on a different PC as well as the main PC (That I cloned the HDD from) and doesn't work.

So during the course of today I used another tool called "Macrium Reflect Free" and I made a image of the drive, then tested it by restoring the image to the backup drive and Windows would just start loading Windows and then reboot.

It is very, very likely that your boot files reside on a different hard drive, and are not on the drive that you're backing up. I use Macrium all the time, and the only scenario I've encountered where is doesn't work is when a Windows installation decided to be clever and put some of the boot files in the other drive.

What you can do to fix this is restore the image to the testing drive, and then use a Windows installer on a USB drive or a DVD to recreate the boot files so that they reside on that drive. Then use the testing drive as your main drive, format the original drive in your PC, and just swap them around. Now your boot files are on the boot drive, and the testing drive that holds the images is clean and don't reproduce those errors.

I would also do the backup on the PC itself rather than a separate PC. I've seen cases before where the backup PC will have the drive inserted into it, then someone boots into the OS, but it's somehow used the boot files from the drive it's supposed to back up, and it has then changed those files.

If you want to keep this setup in the future, use Linux on the PC that backs up your drives, Linux can be set to not mount drives and to not alter any files at all, while Windows typically doesn't work with storage this way.