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Cloning data-only drive to replacement

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I have an internal 3TB data drive (NOT system) that is 6 years old and on its way out. I have a replacement new 3TB drive. What I want to do is to clone the current drive to the new one, as seamlessly as possible.

Ideally, I’d like to be able to store the clone/image/backup on an external hard drive, remove the old drive, install the new one in the same slot, turn on my computer, restore the clone/image/backup in Windows to the new drive, and have everything pick up exactly where it left off — as though the drive never changed. There are some programs on the drive to be replaced, but no system stuff.

Because there’s a ton of material about using Acronis to clone a system drive but nothing I could find about cloning a purely data one, I have some questions:

1) is what I’ve outlined (seamless replacement with backup restored from an external drive) possible with Acronis 2016?

2) if not, what’s the next best way to accomplish what I’m trying to do?

3) if so, what functions do I need to run in Acronis 2016 to ensure he process is seamless? (Eg in other programs I’d want an “image”, right? But Acronis doesn’t have that)

Thanks in advance for any help!

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James, welcome to these User Forums.

Please see the link in my signature describing the difference between Backup and Cloning - this is important to understand and will help you avoid any costly mistakes with your data.

I would strongly recommend using Backup and Recovery, not Cloning in this situation - this is very much more safer than cloning, as your Backup can be stored on another, separate drive and can then be used as many times as is needed.  Once your Backup has been created, then you can remove your old, failing 3TB drive, and store it away in a safe place, then replace it with your new drive.

You should then be able to recover your Backup from the separate drive to the new drive and be able to do this from within Windows using ATI 2016.  You should not need to format the new drive before recovering to it, as the first step of the recovery process would be to wipe the drive.  You may need to use the ATI Tools option to 'Add new disk' if the new drive is not offered as a target for your recovery action.  This option is shown via the All Tools option in the GUI.

 

Thanks so much, Steve. Very helpful. After reading more, you’re exactly right that backup and restore is what I’m after.

I'm backing up the drive now to an external drive. Anything else I should think of before I 1) disconnect the old drive, 2) connect the new drive, 3) make sure the new drive letter is the same as the old one, and 4) restore the backup to the new drive?

For example, I should probably expect windows to throw up some “path not found” errors based on shortcuts/etc. that won’t be present until the restore is finished, right? Do I need to worry about symbolic links being broken after the restore, or should they make it through the restore unscathed?

Thanks! I’ve never had a build last so long that I needed to do this, so apologies for the very basic questions.

James

James, there shouldn't be anything else that you need to do here other than ignore any errors related to data which will be 'missing' from the new drive - so try not to have anything launched that would look for such data / disable anything that would launch automatically and refer to the drive etc.

Symbolic links should exist on your OS drive within the OS configuration / registry etc, so should be resolved correctly once the backup has been restored to the new drive.

Steve, just wanted to let you know I replaced the drive based on your instructions — went without a hitch.  Thanks again for your help!

James, always glad to read positive news, thanks for the feedback.