Impact and Effect on Source Drive when Cloning
Hi fellow users. I have a simple question. I have just built a new machine and I would like to create a clone of the boot disc; an exact image, so that in the event that my source disc fails or corrupts, I can simply swap the original with the cloned version.
Is this possible to do? By cloning, are there any risks I need to be aware of? Will cloning render my original disc unbootable?
I'm scared to do it incase I screw something up - its taken me over 2 weeks to build and put all the software on it.
With much appreciattion
Ledders
Not that I want to sound dramatic, but yes there are risks to the source disk when cloning. Human error, power interruptions can result in catastrophic issues.
That said, many users follow the best practices that Steve highlighted above. I am adding a 4. one
4. Never boot the system with both the source disk and the newly cloned disk in the system. Remove the source disk, then make sure the system boots correctly on the new disk. Then, it is OK to reconnect the old disk.
5. Always take a backup as a safety precaution. Even the clone information suggests this. Cloning is a feature for simplicity, but does have some risks. In most cases, if done properly, it is relatively safe and effective. However, there's no guarantee either - hence a backup is a good precaution. If you take this precaution, and have a backup already, then forget the clone and just restore the backup image to the new drive.
All existing recommendations still apply when booting and/or testing the restored backup as they do for the clone process.
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2016/#21822.html
- What is the best way to migrate the system to a new disk: cloning or backup and recovery? - The backup and recovery method provides more flexibility. In any case, we strongly recommend to make a backup of your old hard disk even if you decide to use cloning. It could be your data saver if something goes wrong with your original hard disk during cloning. For example, there were cases when users chose the wrong disk as the target and thus wiped their system disk. In addition, you can make more than one backup to create redundancy and increase security.
Thanks so much Steve, this is useful. I just want to check with you that this workflow will work if I may please:
1. Create Acronis Bootable Rescue Media disc
2. Change BIOS boot priority to boot from Acronis Media Rescue disc
3. Select Clone facility and proceed with cloning process to new destination disc
4. Remove destination disc - this will be my back up should my machine breakdown / corrupt or whatever in the future
5. Change BIOS boot sequence to boot from the original source disc - effectively returning to normal
So as you can see, all I am doing is essentially creating a who new clone of the orignal disc to use in case of emergency.
Hope this makes sense,..... but would love your confirmation before I embark on this.
Thanks again
Jason
Jason, your workflow looks good to me, given you are intending to remove the cloned drive immediately after completing the clone and returning to using the original drive.
The only comment here is whether you need to change the BIOS boot priority or not, on some systems you can use a key combination to get into the BIOS boot choice menu, i.e. on my Dell laptop it is the Fn12 key, and this gives me the option to do a one-time boot from CD/DVD without the need to make any changes in the BIOS boot priority settings.
Hi Steve, yes correct, I will remove the cloned disc to avoid any system confusion prior to the re-boot. I understand your point about the F12 option too, great thanks.
I have now created an Acronis Rescue Media Boot Discy Disc using the Acronis web software. So in a previous thread, I understand that I should run the clone with this disc in the drive now, right and not use the Acronis software on the machine - correct?
Can you tell I am nervous !? hahaha
Jason, a definite yes to using the Acronis bootable Rescue Media on CD/DVD or USB stick.
All of the MVP's will advise against starting a clone from within Windows as this will modify your bootloader configuration in order to create a temporary Linux OS boot environment from which to start the Acronis program.
The may work well for many users but should any problems occur, you could be left with a modified bootloader that would then need a Windows repair disk to correct, assuming that the Acronis changes are not removed.
Okay.... thanks Steve. Im going to re-boot, select the DVD with the rescue disc in, then clone.
I cannot thank you enough for you time and patience in helping me - thank you !
Okay.... thanks Steve. Im going to re-boot, select the DVD with the rescue disc in, then clone.
I cannot thank you enough for you time and patience in helping me - thank you !