Interchanging master hd's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Opusita
  • Start date Start date
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Opusita

Hi all,

Over the last couple years I've had to deal with hard drive problems....one
due to static electricity and one due to chkdsk deleting partitions or
something. Any way I thought it would be a good idea to have two identical
hard drives....then if one had a problem I would simply replace the bad with
the good.

I installed 2 Genica removable trays and 2 HD's. One as the master and the
other as a USB backup drive. I now back up everything backupable daily. I
also tried some clone software and use this weekly.

The problem is that when I tried to interchange the drives I received error
messages to install a boot up disk. Apparently XP doesn't like the cloned
drive. Is it the clone software?.......if so which one will work........or
is it XP?

Thank you,

Dave
 
The backup disk is just that, a backup, not an active partition, I suggest
you replace the bad drive and use the cloning software to replace the data to
the new drive.
 
Opusita said:
Hi all,

Over the last couple years I've had to deal with hard drive
problems....one due to static electricity and one due to chkdsk deleting
partitions or something. Any way I thought it would be a good idea to have
two identical hard drives....then if one had a problem I would simply
replace the bad with the good.

I installed 2 Genica removable trays and 2 HD's. One as the master and the
other as a USB backup drive. I now back up everything backupable daily. I
also tried some clone software and use this weekly.

The problem is that when I tried to interchange the drives I received
error messages to install a boot up disk. Apparently XP doesn't like the
cloned drive. Is it the clone software?.......if so which one will
work........or is it XP?

Thank you,

Dave
Click to expand...

What cloning software did you use? I also use Genica removable trays and
routinely clone my hard drive, I also run off the clone to insure it
functions. I use Ghost 2003.
 
Opusita said:
Hi all,

Over the last couple years I've had to deal with hard drive
problems....one due to static electricity and one due to chkdsk deleting
partitions or something. Any way I thought it would be a good idea to have
two identical hard drives....then if one had a problem I would simply
replace the bad with the good.

I installed 2 Genica removable trays and 2 HD's. One as the master and the
other as a USB backup drive. I now back up everything backupable daily. I
also tried some clone software and use this weekly.

The problem is that when I tried to interchange the drives I received
error messages to install a boot up disk. Apparently XP doesn't like the
cloned drive. Is it the clone software?.......if so which one will
work........or is it XP?

Thank you,

Dave
Click to expand...

If you're saying you're cloning to a USB connected drive, then inserting in
a removable tray, that may be the problem.

Neither boot drive should "see" each other at boot time, the one that isn't
intended to be booted should not be visible. That is another concern.
 
You might not have set up the "cloning" software to also clone the MBR (Master
Boot Record.) You might have to run the XP Recovery console, off XP CD, and
repair the MBR or other parts.
 
Opusita said:
I tried Casper Clone.

Can you physically interchange the hd's without boot up problems?
Click to expand...


Dave:
In your original posting you stated "I installed 2 Genica removable trays
and 2 HD's. One as the master and the other as a USB backup drive." The
Genica devices are designed as IDE mobile racks, are they not? So the HDD
that's enclosed in the rack via the removable tray/caddy serves as a
internal HDD, just like any other internal HDD. Isn't that so? What do you
mean then when you refer to a "USB backup device"?

I don't know how a mobile rack could be used as a USB device without some
tortuous workaround. If somehow you *did* clone the contents of your boot
HDD to a USB external HDD, that latter drive is *not* bootable in an XP
environment while it serves as a USB drive.
Anna
 
Anna,

Thank you for your response.

"In your original posting you stated "I installed 2 Genica removable trays
and 2 HD's. One as the master and the other as a USB backup drive." The
Genica devices are designed as IDE mobile racks, are they not? So the HDD
that's enclosed in the rack via the removable tray/caddy serves as a
internal HDD, just like any other internal HDD. Isn't that so? " -
Agreed...yes.

"What do you mean then when you refer to a "USB backup device"?" - I use
Cobian Back Up frequently to back up data and spread sheets to the USB HDD.
I only want to clone weekly.

"I don't know how a mobile rack could be used as a USB device without some
tortuous workaround. If somehow you *did* clone the contents of your boot
HDD to a USB external HDD, that latter drive is *not* bootable in an XP
environment while it serves as a USB drive." - Really it is quite simple. I
use an USB to IDE cable and connect to the rear of the Genica rack.Yes I
understand that it is not bootable as a USB drive.

For explanation I'll call the Genica IDE drive "C" and the Genica USB drive
"X". What I want to do is clone C to X, power off the machine, remove the C
and X trays and install the X (which should now be identical to C) into the
IDE rack and the C tray into the USB rack and reboot. This seems like it
should work but I get a boot failure message requesting a start up disk.

At this point I think it must be the clone software not creating an
identical image so that XP recognizes it as the licensed software......but I
am wondering if it's XP before I go out and buy more software.

I appreciate your help and comments.

Thank you,

Dave
 
Dave:
I guess it's hard for me to understand why you are using your second mobile
rack containing a removable HDD as a USB device. If I correctly understand
your objective -- it is to clone the contents of your day-to-day working HDD
to another HDD in order to maintain a (nearly) failsafe backup system. Using
two mobile racks as you now have, together with a disk imaging (disk
cloning) program, is an ideal way to achieve this objective.

Is it not a simple matter to connect your second mobile rack in your system
in basically the same way you've connected your first mobile rack that
contains your bootable OS so that the second HDD will also function as an
internal drive? Then, using your disk imaging software, you can routinely
clone the contents of your boot drive to the second (destination) HDD. Isn't
that a more straightforward way to accomplish your goal rather than engaging
in a USB process?

I believe in a previous posting you said you were using the Casper disk
cloning program. I've had only limited experience with that program but from
the comments I've come across it seems to garner good reviews. We use the
Norton Ghost 2003 version or the Acronis True Image program for our disk
cloning operations.
Anna
 
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