Cloning dilemmas

[BoredCollie]

I need to make provision for the eventuality of a heatwave the likes of which we had last year, which caused many many hard drives of mine to pop, one by one, new and old, and I am lucky to have any data left at the end of it.

As it stands I want to make a clone of my 500Gb C-drive (in which Windows 10 is installed on a 72Mb partition). I don’t know the best way to go about it. Last year I was angry with myself for having everything on the same medium of storage, so I thought this year I ought to use a memory stick. I already have copied, via AEOMEI, all my C-drive files to memory stick but imagine myself struggling to get it all in working order if everything goes belly-up again. Plus, since making the copy, I have new stuff on my browser that I want ready to use. That is why I reckon a clone is the best option.

I envisage a scenario in which my C-drive fails and I have to do a second-generation clone of my C-drive via, perhaps, my laptop, from a memory stick to a new hard drive, operated in a caddy, that will ultimately be used internally.

Either that or presumably I could boot from the memory stick.

I don’t know how this is will work because of such considerations as the file system, which is obviously different for a memory stick. Would I have my whole desktop, browser etc. ready to use just by booting from a memory stick, and with no internal HDDk? I have never booted from a memory stick before.

BTW would a desktop fan, pointed into the open computer, help to stop these HDDs failing? It was the platens that went last year.

I am very open to suggestions as I don;t know whether I am going about this in the right way.

With thanks in advance.

[Bruce]

the idea of backups, as you know, is not only to have your original data saved as a duplicate somewhere, but also to have multiple versions, on multiple devices, at multiple locations.
it all comes down to how anal you want to get with backing up - how important your data is, and how often it changes?

if you are worried about disk platers failing, so solid state drive.
if the PC and room is getting that hot that hardware is failing, and more fans or converting to water cooling is out of the question, get an air-conditioner.

usual folders to backup are - Desktop, Pictures, Documents, Music, Videos, maybe Downloads, where ever your emails are if store on your PC, and your browser Profile folder.
then consider special folders you may have like a Software folder, or financial software like MYOB, Quicken, etc.

system images are also good to have, and Macrium is a good product for that.

the amount of down time you are happy to endure while you sort out your backups, or a replacement unit for a failed drive, or a new PC, will dictate the best backup approach, like should you just need to backup your data folders, should you clone the drive to another to simply swap over come D-day, or have a second PC at the ready.

[BoredCollie]

Please can you expand on this <<if the PC and room is getting that hot that hardware is failing, and more fans or converting to water cooling is out of the question, get an air-conditioner.>> – I am wary of anything that humifies the air because I read that humidity is especially bad for computers. I didn’t understand whether you are advising for or against using a desktop fan that I can point into my open (i.e. the case will be missing a side panel) PC.

Also I was keen to know about booting from a memory stick and/or whether my plans for cloning to a new HDD via either my laptop or straight from my desktop are viable. Seriously, if I boot from a cloned memory stick, would I have a desktop at my disposal, with all my programmes (including AOMEI, as this will be important) ready to use? All I do is direct the PC to the memory stick, from the boot sequence?

With thanks.

[Bruce]

if you are blaming excessive heat at your place as the root cause of last year’s drive failures, then I would be considering getting more internal fans in the PC case, or upgrading the CPU and/or GPU to liquid cooling to reduce overall internal chassis heat, or even better, getting an air-con for the room the PC lives in if you deem the effort and expense worth it.

an air-con removes humidity as it cools, so win-win.

as to booting from a USB, Linux distro’s are great for that.
Windows (full-blown OS) cannot be booted from a USB, they make ‘reduced size’ OS’s like Macrium Reflect does with WinPE but these modified ones are built for purpose, like getting the PC to start at a reduce functionality but enough to troubleshoot and recovery from a backup.

if Windows could be booted from a memory stick, we’d all have it on one USB and take that to whatever PC we wanted, only ever buying one OS - Microsoft would never want that! (y)

[PeterOz]

(in which Windows 10 is installed on a 72Mb partition)

No that is just part of the boot partition.
To have what you want you need to run a mirror drive. However if one drive dies from heat - I doubt heat was the problem.
Then the mirror drive should/could die from the heat.
As Bruce mentioned windows does not boot from a usb drive unless you know how to do it, it is not a straight forward operation.

I have new stuff on my browser that I want ready to use

Then you are better to use a browser such as Chrome, Firefox etc that you can sync.
Run your via web based.

What I would look at is a 2nd SSD drive 1TB installed.
Update the current Windows and programs.
Make a clone of the drive onto the ssd.
Disconnect the current drive - remove 1 cable and test that the clone drive boots and is correct.
Then disconnect the cloned drive - Both cables and reconnect the current drive.
You then need an external drive or 2 that runs a sync of your current important files.
If you install any new programs, you then reconnect the 1TB ssd and make a fresh clone and test again as above.
And the disconnect after testing.

This way if your current drive dies you just have to disconnect the dead drive, connect the clone drive and boot
In less then 5 minutes you are back up and running.
You then resync the external drive to the 1TB and all your documents etc are back on the computer.
Because you have synced your web browser all your bookmarks and emails will be available.

Most people who backup and do it properly will have more then one drive the data is backed up to.
In my opinion only backups are a bit of a waste.
Sync is much better and has a better redundancy.

[Rustys]

any news

[Rustys]

Abandoned thread again