Installing a new HDD

[ManBearPig]

I already have one HDD (SATA), and have decided to install another for backup purposes. Originally, i thought i was going to use RAID 1, but everyone here cautioned against it. So now i want to just use it as a second HDD and back up my files on it. I've never done this, and i know it's probably simple, but...Questions:

1)Do i just attach the SATA cable to the mobo and HDD and put the plug in? There's nothing else i have to do (SATA has no slave/master, right?)?

2)I dont have to install windows on it, all i have to do is format it?

3)Can i just drag and drop files i want to backup over to the other HDD?

4)Do you think it would be a good idea to unplug it from power and the mobo when im not using it, so it acts like an internal external HDD? lol...

5)Do i need to windows CD to format it? If so, that'd suck...it's at home and im at school.

THANKS!

 

[moosey]

1) Yes. No slave/master
2) Just format it in Windows
3) Yes
4) ?
5) No

 

[RMSe17]

Originally posted by: Heen05


4)Do you think it would be a good idea to unplug it from power and the mobo when im not using it, so it acts like an internal external HDD? lol...

Yea, you could do that, if you just want it to be a backup drive. It will last longer that way. It could be a hastle to keep turning the machine on and off to plug it in and unplug the drive, so I would get something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812101003

This way, you could plug the drive into USB, when you need it, and unplug it, all "on the go".

 

[ManBearPig]

should i make multiple partitions? i dont really need them, just wondering if theres any extra things to do or anything that i may not know about.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

Here's my 2 cents...ready?

Get Acronis True Image.

Plug in the drive to any open SATA port.

Plug in power to it...and leave it plugged in.

Boot and let windows recognize it and ask you to format it...

Format it for full capacity...not multiple partitions.

load up Acronis, read the basic instructions...and take an image backup of your boot.

Create a rescue media set for Acronis.

Schedule Acronis to take incremental backups daily and fulls on weekends...if you have the capacity. I'm not sure if it allows you to rotate through the fulls, but that would be the best thing...only keep one copy of the fulls. you will get some good compression maybe 2:1, so you won't use all that much space.

This will give you a full copy of your data that is updated every day...so you can recover for a failure at any point in the future. The media rescue disks will allow you to rebuild the system from scratch, so you don't need to OS on the new drive. The only possible, not that likely problem might be some virus that hits your system and worms into this drive and corrupts the image...I've never had this happen, but it's possible. If you are worried about this, then unplug the drive...but then you need to plug it in before you do backups...which will get very tedious.

hope this helps.

 

[ManBearPig]

thats exactly what i was looking for, thanks cron.

windows recognizes the HDD in the BIOS, but not when i boot up...ive tried a couple times, any ideas?

 

[ManBearPig]

never mind, i got it.

 

[ManBearPig]

why should i use acronis over NTBackup (it was recommended to me in another thread)?

 

[bwatson283]

There is no need to buy backup software for what you are using it for. Just use the Windows one. The windows one is just a LITE version of Veritas.

 

[ManBearPig]

what the hell is a backup.bkf file? i thought it would copy all my files directly over...maybe im an idiot or really naive. what happens when i want to upgrade to vista and pull up my files and copy certain ones over? ugh

and i didnt have a diskette at the end either so i cant do anything if something happens, apparently. this really sucks...

 

[ManBearPig]

bump

 

[ManBearPig]

Originally posted by: Heen05
what the hell is a backup.bkf file? i thought it would copy all my files directly over...maybe im an idiot or really naive. what happens when i want to upgrade to vista and pull up my files and copy certain ones over? ugh

and i didnt have a diskette at the end either so i cant do anything if something happens, apparently. this really sucks...

 

[gramboh]

I believe Windows 'packages' your backup into a single file. I'm not sure if TrueImage does this as well as I have yet to use it.

I just wrote a small batch (.bat) file to copy certain files over using flags like /D so only newer dates are copied. I am going to get Acronis next time because it sounds easier.

One suggestion, keep the backup drive in an external enclosure and don't power it on unless you are backing up. What if your MB fails and toasts all the HDD's connected to it? Then your backups are ruined.

 

[ManBearPig]

ill have to look into buying an enclosure. thanks for the tips.

anyone know if acronis does a single file also? also, what if i dont have a floppy? an i SOL? all the files are backed up, just no floppy like it says

 

[ManBearPig]

Originally posted by: Heen05
ill have to look into buying an enclosure. thanks for the tips.

anyone know if acronis does a single file also? also, what if i dont have a floppy? an i SOL? all the files are backed up, just no floppy like it says

 

[ManBearPig]

bump