ok so.... the "Capacity" does add up quite right.... the fuk lol. so the one on the left is my 1tb partition. the one on the right is the drive i want to clone to the partition....

slightly different sizes... i think ill try to make it more even so both of the "Capacity" matches.



This post was edited by noob_whacker on Jul 11 2017 09:35pm

save the back up as an image file... da fuq is wrong with you?

Ghot is also telling me to save it as a backup and not clone the drive.

i am open to help. and my bad if i dont understand this properly.

But i only want to clone the drive, in case my older HDD, that is 4 years old, eventually fails. So if it fails, i can then just swap the SATA cables on my 2 hdd and use the cloned partition to have everything up and running again. I will probably only overwrite the cloned information once every 6 months or so.

What would the benefit to making an image backup be? if the hdd fails, would i be able to use the image backup to bring ALL the information back again as easily?

Yes, that's what backups are for. You can restore the backup to the existing HDD or to a new HDD.


/e I've done it bro. Had my C: drive die a ways back...just bought a new one...restored the backup from my storage drive to the new C: drive. The restored backup will be exactly the same as the last backup you made.Takes 5 mins. Don't know how many times I gotta tell you this.


Cloning is ONLY for copying a working drive to another working drive...and having it still be bootable. A clone though will be oolldd.

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 11 2017 10:07pm

or what raid 1 is for, without having to constantly remake back ups.

Here's where you are missing the point.

A clone is from a working drive to a working drive. That's it. You can't clone your C: drive to a storage drive, then IF your C: drive dies....there is no way to get the clone back onto a new C: drive.

Backups however, are designed to work this way. That's exactly what they are for.

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 11 2017 10:11pm

isnt raid 1 the same as a clone...? but raid 1 is constantly cloning in real time

RAID 1 is two HDDs working as ONE HDD.
Each HDD is an exact copy of the other...always. You make a new text file...it will be made on both HDDs. But in my computer, you will only SEE one HDD, even though there are really two HDDs.


/e Let's say we tell you to go ahead.....make a clone...what you will end up with is TWO C: drives. NOT a C: drive and a usable copy.
Both the C: drive and the clone will be bootable...all the time.

It's truly a waste of HDDs.



/e Here's another way to look at it. For what you want to do there are two options....

1. Use backup software, or use RAID 1.

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 11 2017 10:16pm

Thanks for explaining. but i still see RAID 1 and cloning, as exactly the same thing, except RAID 1 is constantly cloning all the time. Technically if a hdd fails in raid 1, you can just boot from the non failed drive.
Same for cloning. except the cloned drive will not be completely up to date. but at least my cloned drive will have 4 years of data.
i got a 4tb hdd. i will still have 3tb available to use, which is more than enough.

Ive read that an image backup will take up around 25% less space. so instead of using 1tb , ill use 750gb.

I do like the advantage of RAID 1 constantly copying all data between the drives. But i do not like that it will obviously copy any errors or issues, such as a virus. that is why i would prefer a clone

ive read this "There is one advantage to cloning for backups. Should your main drive crash, you can swap in a cloned drive and be back in action almost immediately. With an image, you’d have to buy a new internal drive and restore the backup to it. "
i guess ill do back up images for now. but then i would need to purchase a new drive if my main 1 fails?

This post was edited by noob_whacker on Jul 11 2017 10:27pm

Last time... cloning is for when your C: drive is dying and you buy a new one. You clone the dying C: drive to the new one, and toss the old C: drive.




For issues like errors or infections,l or dying drives.... etc....you want backup software.

If you just want two identical drives, acting as one...then you use RAID 1.

This post was edited by Ghot on Jul 11 2017 10:29pm