Cloning HDD to new HDD

[T_Yamamoto]

My hard drive is dying. It is getting the click of death (sometimes it boots, sometimes it doesn't)

What do people use to clone HDDs? I used one and it didn't make the HDD bootable, but it did put everything there.

 

[Ketchup]

Do you already have a hard drive? Western Digital has a good one if you do. If you are buying a new (retail) drive, it will come with a program.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Yes I have another. But its roughly the same age (~7years old). Except the "new" one hasn't been used as much as the one developing the click.

 

[Ketchup]

You can never tell with a hard drive. A disk is sitting there spinning at 7200 RPM 24/7. The other one could last 10 days or 10 years. Make sure you have backups, if you don't already.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Well, I'll take the risk. I just want to find a program that will let me create a bootable clone drive.

 

[Ketchup]

What brand? This is a nice piece for WD

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

 

[lxskllr]

I use Clonezilla. You should stop using the bad drive until you're ready to clone it. The arm is on borrowed time, and only has so many swings left in it.

I currently have a hd in the freezer ready to try a recovery on. I got some data off of it a few years ago when it started going bad, but didn't have enough space to recover everything. It's since been dropped on the floor by my daughter, so I'm not expecting much, but I'll give it a shot when the mood strikes. If nothing else, I'll get a couple fun magnets out of it :^D

 

[JackMDS]

http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/Acronis_Cloning_Review.html

 

[T_Yamamoto]

What brand? This is a nice piece for WD

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

Western Digital 250gb 7200rpm cloning to a Hitachi 160gb 7200 ROM HDD. Yes it's a smaller size but I'm only using 80gbs of the 250

I use Clonezilla. You should stop using the bad drive until you're ready to clone it. The arm is on borrowed time, and only has so many swings left in it.

I currently have a hd in the freezer ready to try a recovery on. I got some data off of it a few years ago when it started going bad, but didn't have enough space to recover everything. It's since been dropped on the floor by my daughter, so I'm not expecting much, but I'll give it a shot when the mood strikes. If nothing else, I'll get a couple fun magnets out of it :^D

I can't just stop using my primary drive xD

http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/Acronis_Cloning_Review.html

I'll look into it once I get home from school.

 

[lxskllr]

I can't just stop using my primary drive xD

Sure you can. You can use a bootable GNU/Linux image until you get things done. Otherwise, you may stop using your primary drive, and it won't be by your choice. All data will be history.

 

[corkyg]

http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/Acronis_Cloning_Review.html

+1 Can't go wrong with Acronis. I clone drives every week - they always boot, never a problem. My basic rule for cloning - use bootable media, forget doing it from within Windows.

 

[BlueWeasel]

My basic rule for cloning - use bootable media, forget doing it from within Windows.

I do that for drive imaging, image restore, and drive cloning. It's a holdover of the days when I used to run Norton Ghost off a floppy.

 

[Gillbot]

What brand? This is a nice piece for WD

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

This is what I use. I keep a WD 2.5" drive in a USB enclosure that I can plug in to any machine to allow it to work.

 

[Binky]

^^What Ketchup and gilBot said. Any WD drive connected will let you run their free version of Acronis. Seagate has a similar version and I think it may also be based on Acronis. Hitachi is now WD, so maybe that counts as WD too, or not.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

So the trial version didn't allow me to clone my drive

But I was able to clone my drive and now I'm able to use the 160gb HDD as my main drive.

 

[radhak]

I recommend Macrium Reflect - the cloned drive is bootable, an exact copy with even all the installed programs working just as in the old drive. The free version has sufficed for my simplistic needs - I have been planning to upgrade to the paid version, but have not had the need yet.

I used to use Acronis (old version, maybe 9), but one my clones failed to boot, and had other problems, and when their tech support could not help me get my stuff back, I jettisoned the software. Not to impugn the current version (because I have not tried any recent ones), but just saying.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I recommend Macrium Reflect - the cloned drive is bootable, an exact copy with even all the installed programs working just as in the old drive. The free version has sufficed for my simplistic needs - I have been planning to upgrade to the paid version, but have not had the need yet.

I used to use Acronis (old version, maybe 9), but one my clones failed to boot, and had other problems, and when their tech support could not help me get my stuff back, I jettisoned the software. Not to impugn the current version (because I have not tried any recent ones), but just saying.

Like my previous post, I have already cloned my drive.

 

[flexy]

My hard drive is dying. It is getting the click of death (sometimes it boots, sometimes it doesn't)

What do people use to clone HDDs? I used one and it didn't make the HDD bootable, but it did put everything there.

I am using EaseUS Todo Backup at the moment and just did a "test restore" two hours ago (sector by sector) and it worked flawlessly.

I clone on whatever is handy, old laptop HDs, SSDs or other partitions.

In the past I often had trouble AFTER cloning to boot (using older software)...but it's normally relatively simply issues like that a software didn't restore BCD or MBR right, or the BCD etc. is on the "wrong" HD etc.

Such issues you can usually solve after cloning by booting the Win7 setup DVD and then use startup repair, it's still the most reliable option to make a HD bootable when YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A VALID IMAGE ON IT.

99,99% if a HD is not bootable it's a problem with MBR/BCD.

In terms of cloning software, we just had such a thread...common opinion is

EaseUS Todo Backup or Macrium Reflect or Paragon, all those have free versions available. I like EaseUS Todo..much better than the Aconis TI I used before.