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Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 31st 15, 10:15 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I expect
any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.

Thanks.
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  #2  
Old October 31st 15, 11:05 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Aldred
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Posts: 186
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 17:15:10 -0400, Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I expect
any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


The only thing that I have noticed when doing a similar thing with Acronis
is that Windows searches for a driver for the new HD and installs it.


  #3  
Old October 31st 15, 11:44 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Ian Jackson
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Posts: 168
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

In message , John Aldred
writes
On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 17:15:10 -0400, Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I expect
any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


The only thing that I have noticed when doing a similar thing with Acronis
is that Windows searches for a driver for the new HD and installs it.

I've been honing my disk cloning skills - normally using some old
clunkers I bought cheap to play with

Normally, the PC boots up saying that it has detected new hardware -
then after it gets going properly, it suggests you do a re-boot (just
this once).

With a couple of drives, the PC couldn't find any bootable medium. Both
came right after connecting them by USB to another PC (or the same one
with the original C-drive re-connected) and doing a 'Repair MBR' (many
disk utility programs provide this function).

But I have no idea why this was necessary.


--
Ian
  #4  
Old November 1st 15, 01:05 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Doe[_8_]
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Posts: 2,378
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I
expect any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


If you choose the easy option "Create an image of the partition(s)
required...", you're making a perfect backup copy, not a clone.

You must restore the Macrium Reflect backup copy of your choice to a C
drive.

Use a relatively small SDD for your windows/main drive C. Then make
incremental backup copies, which BTW are also read-only browsable. That
makes for a wonderful system.
  #5  
Old November 1st 15, 01:07 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Doe[_8_]
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Posts: 2,378
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Of course I meant "SSD" not "SDD".
  #6  
Old November 1st 15, 08:16 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Stormin' Norman wrote on 11/1/2015 12:35 PM:
On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 17:15:10 -0400, Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I expect
any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.

Thanks.


What you want to do is, clone the entire disk, not just the C: partition.


Did I say "the C: partition"? :-) What is the proper way to refer to the
HD that contains the C: partition? I used "C: drive" but that apparently
misled you.

After you have cloned it, shut down the machine, DO NOT REBOOT IT, then replace the old disk drive with the new disk drive.


Not much to be gained by booting a computer with no HD, is there?

When it is up and running, fire up Macrium and resize your partitions to take advantage of the extra space on the new disk.


If I'm replacing a HD with one of the same size, what advantage would
there be?

Is there any reason to resize any of these "unlettered" partitions, all
of which appear to be empty?

40MB OEM partition
500MB EFI system partition
750MB Recovery partition
7.12GB Recovery partition
  #7  
Old November 1st 15, 08:52 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Stormin' Norman wrote on 11/1/2015 2:40 PM:
On Sun, 1 Nov 2015 14:16:46 -0500, Cy Burnot wrote:
When it is up and running, fire up Macrium and resize your partitions to take advantage of the extra space on the new disk.


If I'm replacing a HD with one of the same size, what advantage would
there be?

Is there any reason to resize any of these "unlettered" partitions, all
of which appear to be empty?

40MB OEM partition
500MB EFI system partition
750MB Recovery partition
7.12GB Recovery partition


Cy, a stronger laxative might help you with this process.


A little more and you'd qualify as a half-wit!
  #8  
Old November 2nd 15, 01:46 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Cy Burnot wrote:
Stormin' Norman wrote on 11/1/2015 12:35 PM:
On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 17:15:10 -0400, Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I expect
any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.

Thanks.

What you want to do is, clone the entire disk, not just the C: partition.


Did I say "the C: partition"? :-) What is the proper way to refer to the
HD that contains the C: partition? I used "C: drive" but that apparently
misled you.

After you have cloned it, shut down the machine, DO NOT REBOOT IT, then replace the old disk drive with the new disk drive.


Not much to be gained by booting a computer with no HD, is there?

When it is up and running, fire up Macrium and resize your partitions to take advantage of the extra space on the new disk.


If I'm replacing a HD with one of the same size, what advantage would
there be?

Is there any reason to resize any of these "unlettered" partitions, all
of which appear to be empty?

40MB OEM partition
500MB EFI system partition
750MB Recovery partition
7.12GB Recovery partition


There is no need to resize any of those. Just
make sure they appear on the new drive too.

I'm not sure how the 40MB OEM partition interferes
with the process. The boot flag is on a
different partition than the OEM partition,
but it's possible the MBR code points to the
OEM partition, instead of to the actual boot
partition (the one with the boot flag).

The disk in question could be GPT, judging by the number
of partitions. And in that case, the number of partitions
is not an issue. Only compatibility with an old OS
would be an issue (not being able to read a GPT drive
from WinXP for example). Other than that, just
clone it and move on.

You can resize the C: partition as required. If the
space is not all used, you could make C: smaller. If
the new boot drive is bigger, then C: could be made
bigger.

The last time I cloned with Macrium, I think by using
the "Back" button part way through the process, I
was offered the ability to resize any of the
partitions, as well as pick MSDOS or 1MB alignment.
So you should have some capabilities there, if you
need them. If the C: partition is absolutely full,
then making C: smaller will not be an option.

Paul
  #9  
Old November 2nd 15, 07:01 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

John Doe wrote on 10/31/2015 8:05 PM:
Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I
expect any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


If you choose the easy option "Create an image of the partition(s)
required...", you're making a perfect backup copy, not a clone.


But I chose "clone". :-)

  #10  
Old November 2nd 15, 08:16 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Ian Jackson
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Posts: 168
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

In message , Cy Burnot
writes
John Doe wrote on 10/31/2015 8:05 PM:
Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I
expect any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


If you choose the easy option "Create an image of the partition(s)
required...", you're making a perfect backup copy, not a clone.


But I chose "clone". :-)

Most cloning programs give you the choice of cloning either the entire
disk - or individual partitions. You might also get the choice of
cloning sector-by-sector (slow) or not (faster). Either way, what you
get should be an exact copy of the source (but I don't know why I had to
do that 'Repair MBR' on a couple of occasions).
--
Ian
  #11  
Old November 5th 15, 12:00 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Doe[_8_]
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Posts: 2,378
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Cy Burnot wrote:

John Doe wrote:
Cy Burnot wrote:

If I clone my C: drive to another HD of the same or larger size, and
then remove the C: drive and replace it with the clone, should I
expect any glitches when I turn the power back on?

Using Macrium Reflect to make the clone.


If you choose the easy option "Create an image of the partition(s)
required...", you're making a perfect backup copy, not a clone.


But I chose "clone". :-)


Pointless. Instead, do it the easy way. Buy yourself a suitable fast SSD
for your main primary drive. That includes Windows and programs. Also buy
a dirt cheap and huge conventional drive for multimedia and Macrium
Reflect browsable copies of your SSD. Make incremental copies as your
installation progresses throughout its life. Keep a notes file that
indicates the changes you want to make and all of the changes you have
already made (by simply moving the "To Do" lines to the "Done" area).
Immediately after restoring a pristine copy, make whatever changes are in
your notes file and then immediately make another copy. From that point,
you are testing the copy and having lots of fun knowing that nothing can
damage it since you have a backup.

Easy, pristine, and bulletproof Windows.

The only potentially difficult part is knowing what files you need to
backup immediately before doing a restore. You know, like Internet
bookmarks or any data files an important program might generate. Once you
get used to it, that's easy too.








  #12  
Old November 6th 15, 09:15 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

John Doe wrote on 11/4/2015 6:00 PM:

Pointless. Instead, do it the easy way. Buy yourself a suitable fast SSD
for your main primary drive. That includes Windows and programs. Also buy
a dirt cheap and huge conventional drive for multimedia and Macrium
Reflect browsable copies of your SSD. Make incremental copies as your
installation progresses throughout its life. Keep a notes file that
indicates the changes you want to make and all of the changes you have
already made (by simply moving the "To Do" lines to the "Done" area).
Immediately after restoring a pristine copy, make whatever changes are in
your notes file and then immediately make another copy. From that point,
you are testing the copy and having lots of fun knowing that nothing can
damage it since you have a backup.


Interesting.

Could you be a little more specific about "incremental copies"? What am
I making incremental copies of?

What are "browsable copies"?

I'm a tad confused.

Thanks.
  #13  
Old November 7th 15, 01:07 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Doe[_8_]
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Posts: 2,378
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

Cy Burnot wrote:

John Doe wrote:

Do it the easy way. Buy yourself a suitable fast SSD for your main
primary drive. That includes Windows and programs. Also buy a dirt
cheap and huge conventional drive for multimedia and Macrium Reflect
browsable copies of your SSD. Make incremental copies as your
installation progresses throughout its life. Keep a notes file that
indicates the changes you want to make and all of the changes you
have already made (by simply moving the "To Do" lines to the "Done"
area). Immediately after restoring a pristine copy, make whatever
changes are in your notes file and then immediately make another
copy. From that point, you are testing the copy and having lots of
fun knowing that nothing can damage it since you have a backup.


Could you be a little more specific about "incremental copies"? What
am I making incremental copies of?


Your main drive, the SSD drive. The one with Windows and programs on it.
The one without multimedia files. Think of it as a file that is
repeatedly edited. Naturally you make (incremental) copies throughout
the file's lifetime.

What are "browsable copies"?


When Macrium Reflect makes a backup copy of your primary SSD drive, it
becomes a browsable read-only file. I rarely need to, but that file can
be browsed and the files within it can be copied out of it.








  #14  
Old November 7th 15, 01:32 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default Basic Question About Cloning a Hard Drive

John Doe wrote:
Cy Burnot wrote:

John Doe wrote:

Do it the easy way. Buy yourself a suitable fast SSD for your main
primary drive. That includes Windows and programs. Also buy a dirt
cheap and huge conventional drive for multimedia and Macrium Reflect
browsable copies of your SSD. Make incremental copies as your
installation progresses throughout its life. Keep a notes file that
indicates the changes you want to make and all of the changes you
have already made (by simply moving the "To Do" lines to the "Done"
area). Immediately after restoring a pristine copy, make whatever
changes are in your notes file and then immediately make another
copy. From that point, you are testing the copy and having lots of
fun knowing that nothing can damage it since you have a backup.


Could you be a little more specific about "incremental copies"? What
am I making incremental copies of?


Your main drive, the SSD drive. The one with Windows and programs on it.
The one without multimedia files. Think of it as a file that is
repeatedly edited. Naturally you make (incremental) copies throughout
the file's lifetime.

What are "browsable copies"?


When Macrium Reflect makes a backup copy of your primary SSD drive, it
becomes a browsable read-only file. I rarely need to, but that file can
be browsed and the files within it can be copied out of it.


Macrium Reflect also includes .mrimg to .vhd conversion.
And in Windows 8, you can go to Disk Management and
"Attach" a .vhd file to mount it. So there are multiple
ways to pass the information to other computers, even
computers that don't have Macrium on them. As long
as you did a conversion of course.

Paul

 




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