IT/Computer Geeks - What do you suggest for this?

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TwistedKestrel said:
Let me summarize. What you are trying to do is not a good idea.

If you want to double down on your bad idea, however, see if your laptop lets you switch the SATA controller from AHCI into RAID mode. There are definitely laptops that will let you do this. Then you can execute your bad idea by installing the appropriate Intel RST drivers & software for your laptop, then follow these instructions: http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cadhs1/SLN288974/en
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Dude, I am looking for solutions.
I posted a link to Windows 10 function.
This ain't rocket science.

I know I can manually use clonezilla or other apps to simply clone the partition (manually), I was wondering if there is software that does it auto...I will check into Macrium and Acronis...I think they can do it.
 
-D- said:
Dude, I am looking for solutions.
I posted a link to Windows 10 function.
This ain't rocket science.

I know I can manually use clonezilla or other apps to simply clone the partition (manually), I was wondering if there is software that does it auto...I will check into Macrium and Acronis...I think they can do it.
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I just posted the best possible solution to your idea that accomplishes exactly what you want, what don't you like about it
 
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It sounds like you want to continually clone (ie Raid 1). See if you BIOS supports RAID 1 (but Raid normally likes matched drives, so I'm not sure how well it will work). 'm not sure if SyncToy still works in windows 10 but it may work for you.

Keeping a bootable clone is a pain in the ***, I would recommend a solid data backup solution without having 2 bootable copies of windows.
 
TwistedKestrel said:
Let me summarize. What you are trying to do is not a good idea.

If you want to double down on your bad idea, however, see if your laptop lets you switch the SATA controller from AHCI into RAID mode. There are definitely laptops that will let you do this. Then you can execute your bad idea by installing the appropriate Intel RST drivers & software for your laptop, then follow these instructions: http://www.dell.com/support/article/ca/en/cadhs1/SLN288974/en
Click to expand...

Arguably RAID1 would be a great idea, if also combined with a saved system image someplace safe (eg. an external drive kept at home), as well as backups of any other files deemed important. Essentially that would translate to zero downtime in the event of a drive failure, and you are still protected against loss, corruption, or physical issues with the laptop.
 
For the love of God...My laptop does not contain the cure for cancer.
I don't want to waste time reinstalling the OS and other programs.

I keep my data on my NAS which has a local synch option much like Dropbox does for you.
My data is already protected.

I will check the Raid 1 in BIOS next time I reboot.
 
-D- said:
For the love of God...My laptop does not contain the cure for cancer.
I don't want to waste time reinstalling the OS and other programs.

I keep my data on my NAS which has a local synch option much like Dropbox does for you.
My data is already protected.

I will check the Raid 1 in BIOS next time I reboot.
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coulda been more clear about the question..
 
conundrum said:
Arguably RAID1 would be a great idea, if also combined with a saved system image someplace safe (eg. an external drive kept at home), as well as backups of any other files deemed important. Essentially that would translate to zero downtime in the event of a drive failure, and you are still protected against loss, corruption, or physical issues with the laptop.
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*Disclaimer* -D- is free to make their own decisions. I phrased it that way for the benefit of anyone that comes across this via a Google search. I will elaborate a little further...

RAID 1 doesn't accomplish much. It gives you a tiny benefit on certain types of read operations, and you have a live identical clone of a given disk/partition. It only protects against significant disk failure, and by significant I mean a failure dramatic enough for the RAID controller (hardware or software) to notice. If you have a drive that is slowly going bad and is returning bad data, generally the controller is not checking for that and you still get bad data. If you have something in software that is corrupting your data, that will still happen (e.g. dual booting two different versions of Windows and one version decides that the partition is all ****ed up and tries to "fix" it). If you accidentally delete something or save over it, that is still gone. etc

The short of it is in most situations where you think RAID 1 might be useful, there are superior methods of data protection that are about the same amount of work and need about the same amount of hardware/storage.
 
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CruisnGrrl said:
You would think there would be a program like time machine like the mac has built in. surprised windows 10 doesn't have it.
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It's not a 1:1 equivalence but File History is pretty close
 
I just tried to run it, and it doesn't work. Since it's complaining about insufficient disk space, I suspect it's written by someone who made an assumption about partitions never being larger than 2 TB.

Anyway. You will need to use that program or a boot disk to recover the images it generates, it's not generating bootable clones but images packaged in XML/DAT files.
 
and now yer back to cloning....

I actually tried Macrium Reflect Free when my WD Acronis didn't work. I think it worked alright.
 
TwistedKestrel said:
I just tried to run it, and it doesn't work. Since it's complaining about insufficient disk space, I suspect it's written by someone who made an assumption about partitions never being larger than 2 TB.

Anyway. You will need to use that program or a boot disk to recover the images it generates, it's not generating bootable clones but images packaged in XML/DAT files.
Click to expand...

Thx for testing but I am not cloning TB's just 150gb where the OS is.

I think Macrium and Acronis will do the same thing.

I can use CLonezilla and Redo Backup but those require I reboot using my USB util key.

I would like to setup a schedule in Windows e.g. Sunday night 2am to clone partition C to the spare internal drive AND do some form of incremental backup of partition D (data/storage)...and either stay in Windows or reboot back into Windows.

Sounds doable? If so how?

* I don't like rebooting all the time because I tend to have about 50 tabs open for browsing. Firefox is good because I can 1 click restore previous session but I don't see that feature in Chrome...it had something like that I thought...it vanished...probably have to turn that back on.
 
Raid 1, supported by a hardware controller is the way to go which was already mentioned. If you don't have a hardware controller, windows can do a software raid for you, at least Windows 2000 did. A google search suggests this should still be possible in newer versions. Its worked since day 1 on my own server so I've never changed it.

I've never had consistent success with a software bakup solution
 
-D- said:
Thx for testing but I am not cloning TB's just 150gb where the OS is.

I think Macrium and Acronis will do the same thing.

I can use CLonezilla and Redo Backup but those require I reboot using my USB util key.

I would like to setup a schedule in Windows e.g. Sunday night 2am to clone partition C to the spare internal drive AND do some form of incremental backup of partition D (data/storage)...and either stay in Windows or reboot back into Windows.

Sounds doable? If so how?

* I don't like rebooting all the time because I tend to have about 50 tabs open for browsing. Firefox is good because I can 1 click restore previous session but I don't see that feature in Chrome...it had something like that I thought...it vanished...probably have to turn that back on.
Click to expand...

If all the tabs are in a single chrome window, when you reopen chrome, in history there will be a recently closed tabs folder to open them all again. It only works for the last closed chrome window though.
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