Second hard disk

Hello
Running WinXP with SP2 on a MS-6728 (v2.X) ATX Mainboard using a Maxtor
6Y160M0 hard disk.
The above hard disk (150GB) was partitioned into 5 NTFS partitions, by my
friend who built the system, at 30GB each.
Last month I had hard disk problems and had to switch off partition G due to
errors/malfunction.
I have bought a second hard drive (80GB) which is compatible with the system
(SATA) and installed it (but not formatted it, it is just sitting there but
is recognised by the system but no drive letter is allocated yet).
What I want to do is replicate partition/drive C from the main hard disk
onto the new/back up hard disk. I want to do this because drive/partition C
is where all the startup/windows files are. In the event of a main hard disk
crash I want to invoke the new hard disk to boot/load Windows immediately
from the backup hard disk thus causing no computer downtime.
I am thinking of using Norton Ghost to ghost partition C to the back up
drive then changing the BIOS settings to firstly load/boot from the Maxtor
then the floppy drive then the back up hard disk.
Would this work and would the backup drive need disconnecting or would the
main/backup hard disks work happily together.
I have read elsewhere about 'mirror raid' technology (which I think is
available when I come to format the new hard disk using the 'Disk Management'
tool when I right click 'My Computer'.
Would this be a better option and if so could someone please explain simply
how it works, how I do this and is it easy to follow using the 'Disk
Management' wizard.
Many thanks

--
AW

For RAID youd need to hds of the same mfg and size,then youd make a RAID
set or RAID configuration,this is done in a post BIOS set-up,if you have a
RAID controller,SATA hds run on them.As for the other,no the OS doesnt or
wont look to the other hd for help with the OS,each would run independently.
Sure you can have another hd with xp installed on it,then set BIOS to make it
#1 bootable drive then run on that one,but seems like alot of nonsence and
work when the other hd runs just fine....

"AW" wrote:

Hello
Running WinXP with SP2 on a MS-6728 (v2.X) ATX Mainboard using a Maxtor
6Y160M0 hard disk.
The above hard disk (150GB) was partitioned into 5 NTFS partitions, by my
friend who built the system, at 30GB each.
Last month I had hard disk problems and had to switch off partition G due to
errors/malfunction.
I have bought a second hard drive (80GB) which is compatible with the system
(SATA) and installed it (but not formatted it, it is just sitting there but
is recognised by the system but no drive letter is allocated yet).
What I want to do is replicate partition/drive C from the main hard disk
onto the new/back up hard disk. I want to do this because drive/partition C
is where all the startup/windows files are. In the event of a main hard disk
crash I want to invoke the new hard disk to boot/load Windows immediately
from the backup hard disk thus causing no computer downtime.
I am thinking of using Norton Ghost to ghost partition C to the back up
drive then changing the BIOS settings to firstly load/boot from the Maxtor
then the floppy drive then the back up hard disk.
Would this work and would the backup drive need disconnecting or would the
main/backup hard disks work happily together.
I have read elsewhere about 'mirror raid' technology (which I think is
available when I come to format the new hard disk using the 'Disk Management'
tool when I right click 'My Computer'.
Would this be a better option and if so could someone please explain simply
how it works, how I do this and is it easy to follow using the 'Disk
Management' wizard.
Many thanks

--
AW

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 06:13:02 -0700, AW
wrote:

Hello
Running WinXP with SP2 on a MS-6728 (v2.X) ATX Mainboard using a Maxtor
6Y160M0 hard disk.
The above hard disk (150GB) was partitioned into 5 NTFS partitions, by my
friend who built the system, at 30GB each.
Last month I had hard disk problems and had to switch off partition G due to
errors/malfunction.
I have bought a second hard drive (80GB) which is compatible with the system
(SATA) and installed it (but not formatted it, it is just sitting there but
is recognised by the system but no drive letter is allocated yet).
What I want to do is replicate partition/drive C from the main hard disk
onto the new/back up hard disk. I want to do this because drive/partition C
is where all the startup/windows files are. In the event of a main hard disk
crash I want to invoke the new hard disk to boot/load Windows immediately
from the backup hard disk thus causing no computer downtime.
I am thinking of using Norton Ghost to ghost partition C to the back up
drive then changing the BIOS settings to firstly load/boot from the Maxtor
then the floppy drive then the back up hard disk.
Would this work and would the backup drive need disconnecting or would the
main/backup hard disks work happily together.

One thing you should be aware of when cloning disks is booting Windows
from the old or clone disk while the clone disk is still connected can
render the clone disk to become independently unbootable. In other
words, the clone may not boot if the old disk is no longer accessible.

I have read elsewhere about 'mirror raid' technology (which I think is
available when I come to format the new hard disk using the 'Disk Management'
tool when I right click 'My Computer'.
Would this be a better option and if so could someone please explain simply
how it works, how I do this and is it easy to follow using the 'Disk
Management' wizard.
Many thanks

Andrew E. wrote:

For RAID youd need to hds of the same mfg and size,then youd make a RAID
set or RAID configuration,this is done in a post BIOS set-up,if you have a
RAID controller,SATA hds run on them.As for the other,no the OS doesnt or
wont look to the other hd for help with the OS,each would run independently.
Sure you can have another hd with xp installed on it,then set BIOS to make it
#1 bootable drive then run on that one,but seems like alot of nonsence and
work when the other hd runs just fine....

Andrew, please go away. Far far away like Antarctica where there is
no Internet service.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

AW wrote:

Hello
Running WinXP with SP2 on a MS-6728 (v2.X) ATX Mainboard using a Maxtor
6Y160M0 hard disk.
The above hard disk (150GB) was partitioned into 5 NTFS partitions, by my
friend who built the system, at 30GB each.
Last month I had hard disk problems and had to switch off partition G due to
errors/malfunction.
I have bought a second hard drive (80GB) which is compatible with the system
(SATA) and installed it (but not formatted it, it is just sitting there but
is recognised by the system but no drive letter is allocated yet).
What I want to do is replicate partition/drive C from the main hard disk
onto the new/back up hard disk. I want to do this because drive/partition C
is where all the startup/windows files are. In the event of a main hard disk
crash I want to invoke the new hard disk to boot/load Windows immediately
from the backup hard disk thus causing no computer downtime.
I am thinking of using Norton Ghost to ghost partition C to the back up
drive then changing the BIOS settings to firstly load/boot from the Maxtor
then the floppy drive then the back up hard disk.
Would this work and would the backup drive need disconnecting or would the
main/backup hard disks work happily together.
I have read elsewhere about 'mirror raid' technology (which I think is
available when I come to format the new hard disk using the 'Disk Management'
tool when I right click 'My Computer'.
Would this be a better option and if so could someone please explain simply
how it works, how I do this and is it easy to follow using the 'Disk
Management' wizard.
Many thanks


Disk mirroring is not, in my opinion, a good choice for the operating
system drive. Also RAID configurations normally work best where the
drives are of similar sizes.

Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site (Maxtor or the
manufacturer of the new drive) and get their free drive
cloning/copying utility and use this to copy the partition(s) you want
to move to the new drive.

Do this from a bootable disk and not from within Windows XP. If you
use Windows XP's Disk Management on the new drive then it will get
assigned a drive letter (e.g. J: or K: or similar depending on what
letters are currently in use) and that letter assignment will persist,
causing all sorts of problems if you make it the boot drive.

Good luck




Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."