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Cloning Boot drive in same computer??

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I need advice. I apologize if this is a bit long-winded, but it is a bit complicated.

I have Acronis True Image 2013 (2010 upgraded online).

My computer has:
2 x 250GB SSD drives, and
2 x 3TB SATA III drives

As built in 2012, the two SSD drives formed a mirrored pair in a BIOS-based software RAID1, with Windows 7 Pro- 64-bit and acted as the boot drive for the system and was also where I installed all programs. The two SATA drives formed a mirrored pair in a BIOS-based software RAID1 for all my data. The system was stable for over a year.
This year, a technical issue meant that the motherboard (Intel Extreme DZ77RE-75K) had to be replaced. That’s where my troubles started:

The technician that did the job:
1. Took an image of the boot drive before starting using, I believe, Acronis True Image (which cannot be restored to a RAID),
2. Failed to note the BIOS settings before starting,
3. Failed to set up a RAID1 in BIOS immediately after installing the new motherboard, which meant that the board defaulted to AHCI,
4. Then he booted from a single SSD drive and restored the image to it.

He can now no longer set up a RAID1 using both SSD drives without installing Windows fresh and requiring me to re-install and re-configure all my applications. Since I run a business off this machine, I cannot consider that approach due to the downtime. All of this means that I’m stuck with a single SSD drive with Windows and my programs, and another SSD drive that is in the case, but not powered up. (The two data drives can be mirrored as we have only to copy all the files to restore it, so the boot drive is the problem area).

As I said, I have True Image 2013. Is there a way to power up the second SSD drive with a drive letter assigned of, say, “Z:\” and have True Image run a scheduled job to create a copy (image/clone/whatever it’s called) of drive C:\ onto Z:\. The idea would be that, if drive C:\ failed, I could move drive Z:\ to SATA port #0 (unplugging C:\ in the process) and boot from (old Z:\, new C:\) instead. In effect, I would have almost the same redundancy as I had with RAID1, with just a minor hassle in swapping over.
Please understand I am NOT anywhere close to an expert, so make no assumptions in your reply.
Can I do this?
How do I do it (step-by-step)?
If not, why will it not work?
If it will not work, what advice do you have (other than getting a new technician)?

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Very long post. Too much info to start. Let's see, are you talking about cloning? Making one disk have the same image as another? If so you DO NOT want to clone a system disk to a disk in the machine. Win does not tolerate two boot disk with the same system on them. It will mark one not-a-system-disk and then it won't be bootable so you couldn't swap it and be able to boot up.

OR

Are you talking about making a backup onto an internal disk (backup is copying the entire hdisk image into a file, which you can later restore to a hdisk?
This you can do. ATI will let you schedule backups. You then have to restore one to a hdisk to get the image onto a hdisk. But you can usually fit many such backup files on one disk so all your eggs aren't in one basket.

For step by step yous should consult the user guide and Grover's guides that you can find on this forum.

Btw, RAID 1 only protects you form a hardware failure. More often you will have software muckups that will make you want to do a restore and RAID1 doesn't help with that at all. You are probably better off doing frequent backups of the system disk to another disk.

BTW, if your mobo is capable of RAID 1, you should be able to create an array without reinstalling the OS or your programs. Check you mobo manual if you really want RAID1. I've done this before and even restored hdisk images from a RAID1 onto a RAID1. The RAID aspect is sort of black box to ATI--at least, if everything is working right.

sh

Scott Hieber wrote:

Very long post. Too much info to start. Let's see, are you talking about cloning? Making one disk have the same image as another? If so you DO NOT want to clone a system disk to a disk in the machine. Win does not tolerate two boot disk with the same system on them. It will mark one not-a-system-disk and then it won't be bootable so you couldn't swap it and be able to boot up.

OR

Are you talking about making a backup onto an internal disk (backup is copying the entire hdisk image into a file, which you can later restore to a hdisk?
This you can do. ATI will let you schedule backups. You then have to restore one to a hdisk to get the image onto a hdisk. But you can usually fit many such backup files on one disk so all your eggs aren't in one basket.

For step by step yous should consult the user guide and Grover's guides that you can find on this forum.

Btw, RAID 1 only protects you form a hardware failure. More often you will have software muckups that will make you want to do a restore and RAID1 doesn't help with that at all. You are probably better off doing frequent backups of the system disk to another disk.

Scott Hieber wrote:

Very long post. Too much info to start. Let's see, are you talking about cloning? Making one disk have the same image as another? If so you DO NOT want to clone a system disk to a disk in the machine. Win does not tolerate two boot disk with the same system on them. It will mark one not-a-system-disk and then it won't be bootable so you couldn't swap it and be able to boot up.

OR

Are you talking about making a backup onto an internal disk (backup is copying the entire hdisk image into a file, which you can later restore to a hdisk?
This you can do. ATI will let you schedule backups. You then have to restore one to a hdisk to get the image onto a hdisk. But you can usually fit many such backup files on one disk so all your eggs aren't in one basket.

For step by step yous should consult the user guide and Grover's guides that you can find on this forum.

Btw, RAID 1 only protects you form a hardware failure. More often you will have software muckups that will make you want to do a restore and RAID1 doesn't help with that at all. You are probably better off doing frequent backups of the system disk to another disk.

Hi Scott.
I appreciate your helping.

As to supplying too much information, I have seen many posts where the OP is criticized for not providing enough, so I erred on the other side -- sorry if it was overwhelming. My questions reflect my ignorance of what will work and what will not, so I appreciate your more knowledgeable input, so that I can learn.

Re: "cloning" versus other terminology, I might have been a bit more clear. I'm sort of a "semi-newbie". I know what RAID1 is versus other kinds of RAID and I agree with you that it won't protect me against software corruption. I do not clearly understand the different terminology used within Acronis ("cloning" and other) for the different types of backups.

I originally went with RAID1 primarily to avoid downtime if one of the drives failed. I run a business from this computer and, since I am the company, if I can't work the company loses money.

I have learned a lot since this screw-up happened, including learning that the Acronis True Image 2013 i am using will NOT restore to a RAID of any kind. I am currently searching for a product that would allow me to do images (of a RAID1) with incremental updates so I could restore to a point in time, but Acronis TI does not appear to be it.

After the first tech screwed things up, I spoke to a different tech, who works for an Intel Platinum partner. He says we cannot rebuild the raid without wiping everything. I am not saying that you are incorrect in your second post, simply that I don't know and you've just told me something different to what I was told by him. May I ask for more information from you as to the procedure? I would dearly love to get my RAID1 back with all my programs and settings.

Again, thanks for your help.

Here is some info that might help:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/11681

Hi Enchantech
Thanks for the reply.

In my earlier post, I said: "I have learned a lot since this screw-up happened, including learning that the Acronis True Image 2013 I am using will NOT restore to a RAID of any kind. I am currently searching for a product that would allow me to do images (of a RAID1) with incremental updates so I could restore to a point in time, but Acronis TI does not appear to be it."

I was actually quoting from that KB article. I do not have a hardware RAID. The RAID I had (past tense) was BIOS supported software RAID1. The KB article say ATI does NOT support software RAID unless the Plus Pack is installed. I do not. Even with the Plus Pack it still does not support RAID1, which is what I want.

Therefore, IF I can somehow get a RAID1 mirror created again with all my programs and settings, then I need an image program that will create and image from, and restore that image to a RAID1 Software mirror. Acronis TI is not it. The question is "what Acronis product (or non-Acronis) will do that?"

Sorry, I didn't understand that it was a software RAID implementation. I've used hardware RAID, implemented on the mobo, to build RAID arrays in place without disturbing the OS or programs. I've backed these up and restored them many times over the decade or longer.

Software RAID poses a whole set of probs. I believe your RAID requires making changes to the system you want to run on the RAID and that's not possible. Your RAID days are over unless you want to reinstall everything.

I suppose you could get a disk controller card (like a PCI or PCI-E card) that supports/implements RAID1 but I doubt your OS will accept it as a boot drive location--whether you can or not depends on you card and your mobo's BIOS. IF you did, you should be able to tell it to build an array without doing anything destructive. You'd have to install a driver for the card when you installed the card.

In general, I think RAID1 is an expensive way to buy very little security. If a member in an array gets out of whack, it can be "fixed" by the mirror, but usually this is an indication that the hdisk is failing and needs to be replaced anyway. A good set of frequently created and rotated backups (including keeping at least one off site, not to mention not in the same machine) gets you a lot more. I'd look at the loss of your software RAID1 as a silver lining.

Terminology:
Cloning - taking one disk and making another just like it--the image is written onto the new disk as it is copied off of the old disk. Dangers are accidentally trying to clone in wrong direction--more easily done than one might at first suspect.
Pros: you can restore operations in the time it takes to swap disks.
Cons: You need a disk for every clone.

Full Diskmode Backups -- a hardisk image is written to a single file. To restore, the info in the file is used to write the image to a new disk or the original disk, etc.
Pros: You can have lots of backup files on one disk. This let's you go back in time, which is sometimes helpful. E.g., what if your software goes wonky and you don't know it? You clone the wonks or you backup the wonks. Then the wonk becomes bad enough to notice. You want to restore the disk wonks and all or reach back to an earlier version that predates the wonks? This is more practically done with backups than with clones.
Cons: If you need to restore, it takes longer--you have to swap disks and then do the restoration.

Ime, a disk's software will go wonky about three times more often than an hdisk will have a hardware failure.

Thanks for explaining the terminology, Scott.

I completely agree with your comments on software issues being more likely than hardware failures. It is for that reason that I took a "belt and suspenders" approach. I created the RAID1 to guard against hardware failure, but I also bought and used Acronis TI 2013 to make images (full plus incremental). Unfortunately I did not realize that ATI cannot restore to a RAID. If I did have a hardware failure, the ATI image would have been useless since I would not be able to restore it to the software RAID1.

Since I now have a situation in which I have:
(1) Acronis TI 2013,
(2) A 250GB SSD with Windows and all my programs, and
(3) A "spare" 250GB SSD drive,
could I put the spare drive in a USB enclosure and do regular clones to it? This would mean overwriting the clone each time, of course, which doesn't sound good.

If I did, at some point create a RAID1 again and start from scratch (reinstalling everything), which software would successfully image from and restore to a software RAID1?

You could clone as you suggest but I'd advise backups because you could have more than one.

I'd clone and then swap drives and make sure the clone boots. In some cases the target needs to be physically installed when the cloning is done.

OK, I think I see a plan starting to come together. How does this sound:
Step 1: Put the spare drive in an enclosure and run a clone of the boot drive to it.
Step 2: Swap the SSD drives to make sure that the cloned one would boot.
Step 3: Put the spare drive away for safekeeping.
Step 4: Put the current drive back in
Step 5: Mount a 3TB SATA in an enclosure and use it as a target to do ???type of backup??? on a scheduled basis
Step 6: In case of SSD drive failure, mount the spare one, and then bring it up to date from the backups on the 3TB drive

Oops, I thought I had it
-- the ongoing backups would be what type?

Obviously I am having trouble understanding how Acronis works its magic.

If you can run the backups when not using the machine, then doing Full backups provides most security. If need the backups done asap, then do incrementals. But remember, you need each member of a set for incrementals to do a full restore.

I apologize for taking so much of your time, Scott.

I asked what backup type. If I have a clone of boot drive stored away safely and I have tested that the stored clone does boot, that stored clone will quickly become out of date, so I'd need some sort of backup to bring it "up-to-date" if I ever had to use it. I wondered what sort of backup I could do on an ongoing basis that could be used for that purpose.

I have just looked at the interface in ATI and there are several options:
On the left is "Disk and Partition Backup"
There is also "Other Backups", which include:
* File Backup
* Nonstop Backup

Disk and Partition doesn't sound like what I want since it would restore by wiping up the cloned drive -- I might as well start with an un-formated blank drive.
File Backup would also basically overwrite everything on the booted drive -- again the same as starting with a blank drive.
Nonstop -- not sure what that does. Could I have that Cloned drive in an enclosure and use this to keep it up-to-date on an ongoing basis (i.e. almost the same as having a RAID1)?

Am I correct in concluding that there's no real benefit to having a bootable clone?

Full diskmode backup...not fileback....nit nondtop

Good luck.keep it simple if u can. Also do a practice restore up to the final proceed to ensure no probs on your machine...u don't want to find out trueimage has some bug working on your machine when you are desperately trying to restore.

Mike Brown,

Another point of view: I think your idea of creating a clone of your installation on a spare SSD is a sound one. Many users create a full disk mode backup of a fresh OS installation for archive purposes so as to have an exact copy of the installation on hand for recovery. Your plan would eliminate the recovery step thus lessen your down time. I would suggest this however, if you do go this route before performing the clone operation make a full disk mode backup of your system disk so that if things do go wrong you will have a good copy to fall back on. Additionally, I would perform the clone in the following fashion and I am assuming here that you are working with a desktop PC; Open your PC case and locate the SATA port where your OS system disk (source) is attached. Unplug the data cable from the OS drive. Place the new disk (target) in a convenient location inside the PC (it does not need to be mounted if disk is an SSD). Attach spare power cable and the data cable that you removed from the source disk to the new (target) disk. Now attach a spare data cable from an empty SATA port on your motherboard to your current OS system (source) disk. You can now boot your machine to a rescue media disk and perform the clone operation. Here is a link which describes cloning details, please read thoroughly:

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

Here is another link that answers questions about backup, recovery, and cloning that you may find useful:

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

The one flaw in your thinking is that you would be able to keep your "clone drive" up to date. A clone disk is an exact mirror image of a source disk copied to a target disk. As such it cannot be kept up to date as it were by ATI. In order to track changes in data ATI needs a backup file as a base to work with and then can track changes in data either incrementally or differentially. Here is a link describing Full, Incremental, and Differential backups that should be of benefit:

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

In the scheme I have laid out thus far, at this point you would have 1., A full disk mode backup of your OS system drive. 2., A mirror image clone of your system drive for quick swap out to get your system back up and running if needed. Now what you need is a way of returning your system to as close as possible how it was before disaster. It would be my preference to do this by scheduling regular differential backups of the full disk mode backup you created already saving no more than X number (user preference) of versions. The main advantage of differential backups is that you can restore from any differential version number in the chain without needing prior or later versions of the backup chain for success.

Good Luck