Solved Is there a way to Backup to an Internal Drive vs. an External Drive?

[Mike Lynch]

Is there a way to Backup to an Internal Drive vs. an External Drive?

I really do not want to have an External Drive on my desk.
Since I use a Tower, it has shelves for additional drives.
I understand that if the Drive with the O/S on it fails, I will need to replace it.
I also understand that I would need to run a Restore from a second Internal Drive.
Great, no additional Device on my desk and one less thing to provide external power for.

Hopefully, there is a way, using Microsoft software to do this.

Can you help me with this?

 

[iko22]

Hi Mike Lynch,

If you plan to remain with Windows 7, then using an internal HDD to perform a backup using Microsoft software, should not be a problem.

Microsoft have depreciated Windows 7 style backup in Windows 10, however. So this method of backup is no longer "future proof", and with that goes the ability to backup to internal HDD.

So, stick to Windows 7, and your plans should be fine.

Hope that helps!!

 

[SIW2]

Not sure if I understand the question. It is not necessary to have an external disk for backing up. An extra disk internal can do the same job. Simplest way is to attach another disk to spare sata and power connectors on the mobo.

 

[Mike Lynch]

I did it and it's running now!

Thank you.

 

[RolandJS]

After each backup session, don't forget to disable that internal backup drive via control panel's device manager, it should not remain online 24/7. Ransomware can attack any connected and online hard drive or SSD.

 

[Mike Lynch]

The backup failed: “Volumes larger than 2088958 megabytes cannot be protected”.
The Drive I tried to backup is 195GBs in size.
It is a GPT 4TB Drive.
I am backing it up to another GPT 4TB Drive.
It seems like doing a Backup is an excruciating thing for Windows-7 Systems.
I would have thought it would be a no brain'er, something I could handle.

Any idea how to fix this?

 

[SIW2]

3718gb is too large for a vhd. You need to use a different container. If you want virtual disk, you could try something like O&O diskimage which can do much larger sizes via vhd(x).

Paragon can do virtual disks as well - but their new interface is poor - it was also slow last time I looked at the paragon 17.

Or any number of other applications with their own proprietary backup formats. Aomei backupper free (standard) version is pretty easy to use and is probably your best alternative.
AOMEI Backupper - Data Backup and Restore Software for PC, Laptop and Server


I like diskgenius, but it more of an enthusiast thing.

 

[Mike Lynch]

I don't understand VHD or Container?

 

[Mike Lynch]

RolandJS,

How do I disable it, I do not see that as an option in the Control Panel Disk Manager?

This is what Windows reports as the Space Available, do you see a way to get this Backup to work?

From what I see, Space should not be a problem.

 

[SIW2]

You would be better using a different program that has a different image file format and has more flexibilty in some ways.

For simplicity, I suggest using aomei backupper. The free version does the job fine.

AOMEI Backupper - Data Backup and Restore Software for PC, Laptop and Server

 

[TechnoMage2016]

Is there a way to Backup to an Internal Drive vs. an External Drive?

I really do not want to have an External Drive on my desk.
Since I use a Tower, it has shelves for additional drives.
I understand that if the Drive with the O/S on it fails, I will need to replace it.
I also understand that I would need to run a Restore from a second Internal Drive.
Great, no additional Device on my desk and one less thing to provide external power for.
Hopefully, there is a way, using Microsoft software to do this.
Can you help me with this?

The short answer to your question is "YES". I do it all the time.
But then you add stipulations that make that answer a lot harder.



The easiest way (for me anyway) is to just CLONE your C: drive to another Internal HD of equal or greater size.

Every week, I boot up my PC with my GHOST Backup/Restore CD and run the DISK to DISK (clone) backup routine, and clone my 120GB SSD to my 2TB Seagate HD.


My PC is set up in the BIOS to boot from the SSD and the clone just sits there quietly doing nothing.
To guarantee total isolation of the Clone, I can just reach in and unplug it. It's safe and ready when I might need it.



You could do something similar, with a minimum of effort.
Cheers mate,
TM

 

[RolandJS]

TechnoMage answered OP's question to me a lot better than I ever could have! Thanks, TechnoMage