How Swap Backup

[JAGX]

I just installed a secondary HDD in a 'hot swap' bay on my Azza Solano 2000 rig. I did not do any special formatting, as it already has some data on it.

Will it be possible to use this HDD as a hot swappable backup? That is, I would like it to back up my primary HDD, but I also want to be able to remove it as needed, if possible.

I was reading around other sites but I could not understand what I needed to do with the settings on the device.

What should these be set to:

Enable Write Caching - Yes/No

Turn off Windows Write-Cache Buffer Flushing - Yes/No

Anything else I need to change?

 

[tintin]

make sure controller set to AHCI
Leave on write caching, and don't turn of buffer flushing
And make sure no I/o is happening on the drive when you remove it.
Ideally go to devmanger and right click on the drive and choose Remove/disable I hi hat is and windows will flush all data to the drive and stop I/O

 

[Elixer]

As long as your driver supports it, you can use the 'safely remove hardware' method to flush the cache.
It should be enabled in BIOS as well (if your BIOS has hotplug support).
As for anything else, not really, defaults are fine. (Assuming vista/win7)

 

[JAGX]

I'm looking up tutorials to enable ACHI on Win 7 but it seems kinda tricky, there must be a way to do it other than tinkering with the registries right? I don't even know what this does, will it affect the primary HDD as well?

Also, are there any concerns about running the secondary HDD along with the primary all the time? Should I be looking to have some power management or does it do that automatically (WD Cavar Green).

 

[Old Hippie]

Will it be possible to use this HDD as a hot swappable backup? That is, I would like it to back up my primary HDD, but I also want to be able to remove it as needed, if possible.

If you use the drive to hold an image you can leave it hooked up at all times but if you clone your "C" drive to it you'll probably want to unplug it.

The drive will not slow/spin down.

If this explanation sounds like Greek to you....keep reading and researching.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!