External Hard Disks Part 2
by Pierre Boisvenue. 24/05/2007 2:23:26 PM
Part of a good system backup strategy is to not only backup important data but also backup
the entire operating system such as XP ,Windows 2000 and Vista.
This is a follow up to
part 1.
This also referred to Ghosting a system or make a drive image. Now a lot of applications allows to backup
operating system while being active in the operating system, it is not much of use if some reason
your system crashes and need to restore. This is why I prefer using a mechanism where I can boot
from a floppy disk or bootable CD and be able to recover from a system crash. A lot of solutions
employed is to reserve dedicated hidden partition space on a hard drive where a suitable backup
resides and can be restored from.
Now this have some limitations a well since if the hard disk dies so does your backup.
Another approach is to have a second hard drive, if your system is a desktop and use it for system
and data backup purposes. Image for Dos works quite well in this scenario. However, system for DOS
does not work as expected in my setup in that if I wish to use a USB hard drive for a backup
destination it is not being recognized by it. In fact the same can be said about Acronis and
HDClone. It is also recommend to stay away from Norton Ghost.
The same situation occurs with my laptop in that I cannot boot from a bootable CD and be able
to do a complete drive backup via a USB hard drive. So here I am, sitting with a large external
hard drive that is meant to be used for full drive image and data backup for both my desktop and
laptop and considering if I should just bring it back to the store and ask for a refund and get
a second bigger SATA hard drive for backups. But that would not help me with the laptop in that
it only has one hard disk.
Then I decided to run a “check for errors” test on the Seagate free agent pro and it reported
an error about to many clusters. So I deleted the partition and opted to create two new primary
partitions. I connected the SFAP(Seagate Free agent Pro) to the laptop via USB and booted
Image for DOS from a CD. I could then proceed and do an entire disk backup of my laptop via USB.
Still however, there is simply no way from me to do a complete hard drive image from my
desktop computer by using a BOOT CD to backup via USB to the SFAP.
So far being able to at least use Image for DOS to backup two OS to my second SATA backup drive reassures me.
Also being able to backup my entire laptop hard drive with Image for DOS via USB. I still need to check
if HDClone will now recognize SFAP. I know for sure that Acronis still does not see by external USB drive.
Long term maybe eSata will allow me to do full system backups to SFAP from my desktop, yet at this time I am covered.
Hard Disk, SATA, eSata, USB External Drive, Backup, Ghost, Disk Image
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