Windows XP machine, hard drive going

[Buck]

So I have a PC running Windows XP, and it sounds like the hard drive is failing. What's the best way to duplicate the drive onto a new drive and not lose anything? It's still running now, but I suspect that won't last.

It's an older Gateway with a typical IDE drive in there, with room for another one acting as a slave. I'd like to put in a new drive, replicate the old one, then swap them.

Thanks!

[Randall]

I would use something like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image to clone the drive. Can't remember how well they handle damaged sectors, but for your basic "OMG the hard drive is gonna DIE!" situation they work well.

Randall

[Kevin]

I would consider it an opportunity to test my backup system. You do run backups right? ;)

1. Run a backup to make sure it is as current as possible
2. Yank the dying drive and call it dead
3. Install the new blank drive
4. Restore from backups

If the restore procedure fails you still have the other drive untouched and you can repeat the procedure after finding better backup software :P

[Jeff]

I just went through this on Thursday... once again I used Acronis TrueImage (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/) after getting the recommendation from Randall a few years ago I believe :) Back then I first cloned a dying hard drive with the free 15 day trial version, but it worked so nicely that I bought the $49 full home version.

Plan to use it again when I get my 15k drive rma-ed this week to clone things back to a faster drive.

[Wassercrats]

The noises I heard (http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21178) almost a year ago went away, so it may be nothing in your case too. I'm glad I waited to get a new hard drive, but I made sure to make backups. I use the software that came with my hard drive, plus I make separate backups with Windows' backup software, which I had to install from the XP disk.

If you'd like to know what backup utilities rocket scientists use:

Windows XP desktop: Tivoli 5.3.2
Macintosh OSX desktop: Tivoli 5.3.2
NT servers: Backup Exec 8.0/9.0, Legato Networker 5.5.1, and NetBackup 5.1
Macintosh servers: Retrospect 6.0.193

(from http://www.hq.nasa.gov/itcd/documents/hqwsstdm.doc)

[Buck]

I back up all of my core systems, servers & databases nightly with [Symantec] BackUp Exec. All data files for the users are stored on the server, not locally, so other than the pain of having to re-install Windows & all the programs, I'm not out any data if it dies on me unexpectedly.

I used Ghost a few years ago, but never actually restored from a ghosted image. Maybe I'll try that or Acronis TrueImage.

Thanks!

[Randall]

I used Ghost a few years ago, but never actually restored from a ghosted image. Maybe I'll try that or Acronis TrueImage. Not sure how Ghost operates these days, but True Image can save you a step and simply clone the old drive directly to the new one -- no need to make an image file and then go through the process of restoring it.

Randall

[tknterry]

... once again I used Acronis TrueImage (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/) after getting the recommendation from Randall a few years ago I believe :) Back then I first cloned a dying hard drive with the free 15 day trial version, but it worked so nicely that I bought the $49 full home version.


Based on your endorsement of Randall's recommendation I downloaded the 15 day trial version of Acronis True Image 11 last evening and made a full backup of my files to an external drive. It worked quite well and I will probably buy it. It also comes with a handy set of disk utilities. So thank you Jeff and Randall for an excellent idea. Its just another example of the versatility and value of these excellent FutureQuest forums.

[Randall]

So thank you Jeff and Randall for an excellent idea. You're welcome. :winky:

Slightly off topic, but I think I should mention my favorite Mac backup program as well: SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html). (NB: not fully Leopard ready.) You don't have to drop out of the OS, even to make bootable system backups, and with the paid version it only takes a few minutes to keep it up to date (or a lot of minutes if you've got a 20GB VMware file like I do). As far as I know, the nearest Windows equivalent is BounceBack Pro (http://www.cmsproducts.com/product_bounceback_professional.htm).

The Mac equivalent of Ghost/True Image is built into the OS, which is a nice touch.

Randall

[Buck]

There's always Time Machine...

[Randall]

There's always Time Machine... Yep. But until I have a chance to play with it -- and it may be a while before I upgrade, at the rate things are going -- I don't know if it will replace SuperDuper or just complement it.

I hope my laptop drive lives a long and fruitful life, because extricating it from the case is going to be a real pain.

Randall

[Mandi]

Remind me what make and model the laptop is?

[Randall]

Remind me what make and model the laptop is? MacBook Pro, which has been known to masquerade as a Windows XP machine. :wink:

I could back up the virtual machine with True Image, but it's easier to let SuperDuper copy the VMware disk file. Nice bonus: I can copy the file while Windows is running.

So my Mac is, for all practical purposes, the best PC I've ever owned. :rasberry:

Randall