Restore from external SATA drive in enclosure with eSATA interface

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  1. Posts : 77
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit
       #1

    Restore from external SATA drive in enclosure with eSATA interface


    I am educating myself on backing up my disk as an image so that when my laptop drive has a problem, I don't spend 2 weeks re-establishing my environment. I'm not sure whether my question is related to the OS, the laptop, or the imaging SW (I am considering using Paragon or Macrium freeware as an alternative to the native imaging function).

    Basically, I want to image on to an external SATA drive that is in an enclosure with an eSATA interface. If the resident drive becomes corrupted and unbootable, can I use the recovery disk to recover the iamge from the external SATA drive via the eSATA interface? I mean recover the image from the external drive and replicate it back onto the resident drive.

    The thread Image your system with free Macrium seems to indicate that recoverability is related to the image/backup/recovery app, and I just wanted to make sure. Macrium seems to fit the requirements. However, postings at Image your system with free Macrium indicate that it isn't quite a clone, so it eliminates the option of taking the external SATA drive and dropping it into the laptop (if I should want to do that instead of an actual recovery).
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  2. Posts : 467
    Seven ultimate 32bit
       #2

    You can always clone your HDD...
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  3. Posts : 77
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks, SmurofNeves. I didn't realize that cloning was different from creating an image. Now I'm googling to find the best freeware for cloning. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much of a distinction between cloning and imaging in app reviews. In any case, it will likely be either Macrium or Paragon.
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  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #4

    If you use Macrium now, you will most likely have Version 5. From there you can create the Windows PE disk which should work with eSata. I know that the Linux disk does not work with USB3, but eSata I have never tried.

    Why don't you create a small 2GB test partition and experimant with that. I would try that for you but my laptop with the eSata port is currently "in transit".

    Just be warned - when you create the Windows PE disk with Macrium, it will download Windows AIK, and that took 90 minutes here. It may be better to download that from the Microsoft site ahead of time and install it. Then you can point the Macrium CD creator to that .exe in your program files. This is not a lot faster in total, but more convenient. Plus if you download via Macrium, you may get a funny message that it cannot connect. In that case shut your AV network protection off. At least that has happened to me with NIS2011.

    PS: make images of the partitions you want to protect. Do not get confused with cloning.
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  5. Posts : 77
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hello, WHS,

    I'm wondering why I have to create another disk. Maybe I should have clarified that I am pursuing the cloning approach rather than imaging. I just have one partition (to my knowledge -- I haven't done any partition type things since buying the laptop new, and don't seek to have to deal with partitions unless absolutely necessary). The advantage of cloning is that if my HDD goes, I can just take the external 2.5" SATA out of its enclosure and drop it into the laptop. The housing for the external drive will have eSATA, so bandwidth won't be an issue (especially if I clone overnight).
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  6. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #6

    Well, this is a different philosophy. I ALWAYS seperate the data from the system into another partition. That is a lot safer - I think. Can't have enough protection layers. And then my OS is always on an SSD with little space. So I go with images for the OS, an occasional image for the data, else I sync it. But my main systems are desktops with multiple disks and acres of space. A laptop I use only occasionally for teaching classes. And there is nothing really important on it. There is no space. It has only one 90GB SSD.
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  7. Posts : 77
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    That makes a lot of sense in general. For my case, however, I want to own as little physical stuff as possible, and simplify recovery as much as possible. So it would be helpful if the external backup is also the HDD that replaces a dying HDD in the laptop (a simple drop-in). Otherwise, I would need media for images and have a separate HDD on the shelf to drop into the the laptop for recovery, or I'd have to run out and buy an HDD -- hard to surf around to get informed about doing these things if the only computer I own is in a coma. It's a tradeoff of pro's & cons, but I'm leaning toward simplicity of recovery and owning of minimal stuff.
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  8. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #8

    I understand. The dfference between lean and mean and a packrat - LOL.
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  9. Posts : 77
    Windows 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I did my web research on the best backup app before I was aware of the difference between cloning and creating images. Most of the info out there revolves around creation of images, so many free apps (Paragon, Macrium) were peferrable to Windows 7's native backup capability. However, now that the solution I'm aiming for involves cloning rather than creating images, I'm finding it hard to find reviews that discuss the preference of different software based on tradeoffs for cloning. In fact, I'm not even sure there are any cloning tradeoffs -- I imagine that it is a pretty simple operation, unlike the many options for image creation.

    Is there any basis for choosing one cloning program or another? What would those tradeoffs be for you?

    P.S. I realize that some people consider cloning to be a subset of imaging -- specifically, I have seen it described as a sector-by-sector image. The only reason I treat them as mutually exclusive is because I want to avoid the possibility of an approach that doesn't allow for a simple drop-in of the backup HDD into the laptop e.g. approaches that require other software on a recovery disk. I'm not sure if there is a high-fidelity sector-by-sector copy that requires this, but it's not what I'm looking for.
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  10. Posts : 1,965
    win 7 X64 Ultimate SP1
       #10

    Clone


    New7user7 said:
    I am educating myself on backing up my disk as an image so that when my laptop drive has a problem, I don't spend 2 weeks re-establishing my environment. I'm not sure whether my question is related to the OS, the laptop, or the imaging SW (I am considering using Paragon or Macrium freeware as an alternative to the native imaging function).

    Basically, I want to image on to an external SATA drive that is in an enclosure with an eSATA interface. If the resident drive becomes corrupted and unbootable, can I use the recovery disk to recover the iamge from the external SATA drive via the eSATA interface? I mean recover the image from the external drive and replicate it back onto the resident drive.

    The thread Image your system with free Macrium seems to indicate that recoverability is related to the image/backup/recovery app, and I just wanted to make sure. Macrium seems to fit the requirements. However, postings at Image your system with free Macrium indicate that it isn't quite a clone, so it eliminates the option of taking the external SATA drive and dropping it into the laptop (if I should want to do that instead of an actual recovery).
    You lost me when you said a Macrium image isn't quite a clone. I have cloned disks before and used them. But I find a really handy way is to make images and store them. When I have an upset I just restore the image to the same disk or another disk and they work fine. Macrium (free) is my pick of apps. You will need the WinPe disk for recovery (as mentioned in an earlier post). I store all my images on an esata disk and recover from there with no problem.
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