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PaulBoyden

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PaulBoyden

11 Posts

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March 16th, 2009 09:00

How to boot from an alternative harddisk drive ?

I would like to increase safety/backup of my Dell Dimension 9200! I added a second internal harddisk(250Gb) and copied my C-drive to it, including the MBR record.  (Dell Dimesion 9200, WindowsXP3, Norton Ghost12)

Question 1: How can I make this new harddisk boot-able, so when the original C-drive fails I can reboot from that copy? What should I do to boot from it?

Question 2: Is going for RAID1 a feasable/sensable option? If yes, what should I do to implement it?

  • husky0894

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    Posted March 16th, 2009 09:00

    The only way to make it bootable is to use a utility like Acronis True Image to make an exact clone of the disc.

     

  • TheRealFireblad

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    4639 Posts

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    Posted March 16th, 2009 10:00

    What should I do to boot from it?

     

    You'd just need to make it the 'primary' drive (in the BIOS).

     

     

    I added a second internal hard disk(250Gb) and copied my C-drive to it...

     

    Since you specifically mention Norton Ghost, I assume you mean you created an image of C:\ :emotion-55:

     

     

    Question 2: Is going for RAID1 a feasable/sensable option? If yes, what should I do to implement it?

     

    RAID 1 is certainly both a feasible and a sensible option.

    But you need to use two hard drives of the same capacity for starters.

    And you're best to start with a clean sheet - i.e. reinstall the OS, drivers, windows updates, applications, games etc?

     

    It would appear setting up a RAID 1 array to an existing install can be done.

    But that's on a Nvidia board setup - and using a Nvidia BIOS which supports striping on a single drive - initially.

    And this suggests it can also be done, by setting the drives up as a "broken array", and letting it "rebuild" (approx time to rebuild 1TB is 12 hours!)

     

     

    What you could do however... assuming you're 100% sure it's a working image... is borrow an external hard drive, and copy your image to it.

    Then setup the two drives in your system in a RAID 1 array, and install the image off the external drive :emotion-55:

     

    But starting from a clean install is definitely the best way to go IMO.

     

     

    BTW:  You can buy external RAID enclosures nowadays. 

    I personally have a Raidsonic Stardom SR3610-2S-SB2 (USB 2.0/eSATA) Raid Enclosure hooked up to each of my two gaming PC's (via eSATA) for backups :emotion-11:

    They ain't cheap though :emotion-3:

    But the cost is relative of course.  Can you put a price on all your important data/programs/files :emotion-55:

  • PaulBoyden

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    Posted March 17th, 2009 07:00

    Thanks for your reply, Fireblade!!

    Indeed, I used Norton Ghost12 for the C-drive copy. When I make it the boot device using PF12 during startup, it comes with the message "selected boot device not available". Also hard switching the two disks doesn't make it boot-able. 

    The RAID1 implement doesn't seem an easy step to take, so I think I better stay away from it or buy an external RAID enclosure as you suggest.

  • PaulBoyden

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    Posted March 17th, 2009 07:00

    Thanks husky0894 for your reply! So it is not going to work out with my Norton Ghost12 copy, I understand! I am not sure what the purpose is of that Ghost12 feature then!?!  If I make the copy with Acronis True Image, can I then use and operate the copied disk free space online for example for accomodating CS4 Photoshop work files?