Basic Backup Guide for Secondary Drive?

Hi All,

My 2tb secondary hard drive is failing. My OS is on a separate SSD. I have my pictures, videos, documents, etc. on this drive as well as some programs. I bought a 3tb drive to replace it with. Because of the failing aspect of the drive, I cannot clone it after trying a few different options. I do have the data on the drive backed up to a cloud account through "iDrive."

I am looking for a basic guide on how to swap it out as seamlessly as possible. If I restore the backup to the 3tb drive and rename it as the same location as the failing drive, will Windows be able to "map" or recognize the various directories and programs on the new drive? I also have an external enclosure for the new drive, if that helps the migration process.

This is a first for me, so I want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks!

What options have you tried?
This may help in working out a strategy
What size is your SSD?

Image secondary drive with Hasleo. Swap drives. Restore image to new drive. Afterwards, resize partition using disk management to include any unallocated space. You should not have to change anything else.

Many ways. I use FreeFileSync. Free and unrestricted.

As you’re only doing it once, either a mirror or two Way would do it.





There’s also an Update sync which should work, no video but the only difference would be is that you select Update as apposed to Mirror etc



As glasskuter said, Hasleo is probably also a good option. I’ve only ever done a system backup but if the clone and file backup works just as well, could be easier to jump straight to it.

I hate to be the one that wants to keep it easy and simple. Have you tried the copy and paste method to transfer data from one drive to another? You don't need to use 3rd party software. That is unless the drive is causing you problems. If it is I'm not sure any 3rd party software can't be of any help.

I do have the data on the drive backed up to a cloud account through "iDrive."

I am looking for a basic guide on how to swap it out as seamlessly as possible

Click to expand...

Pretty sure the OP is asking how to get his data from "iDrive" onto his new 3tb disk

I dont know what it is, I have never used it

tallen2_34 said:

If I restore the backup to the 3tb drive and rename it as the same location as the failing drive, will Windows be able to "map" or recognize the various directories and programs on the new drive?

Click to expand...

Yes, it’s a s simple as placing the data on the new 3TB, removing the failing drive and changing the letter of the new drive to be as the old.

Until the OP comes back to give some details it's all speculative i guess.

Seems pretty clear to me.

• Has failing drive ex D:
• Bought new drive ex E:
• Wants to replicate D: to E:
• If some kind of copy doesn't work (FreeFileSync will I’d bet) then there is a backup on the OP’s iDrive account
• OP wants to know if they can get the files to the new drive E: can they simply remove D: change E: drive letter to D: without problems. Answer is Yes in my experience. I’ve done it many times, it’s just a data drive.

I could be wrong but that is how I read the post.

tallen2_34, reads like you moved your user folders to D.
Windows doesn't look for: ex “Documents” located on D: sectors ‘this number to that number” it just looks for D”\Documents\
The games should also be the same.
Windows wont look for: ex D:\Games\this game name\ on D: drive Segate model **** 2TB, it just looks for D:\Games\this game name\

So as long as you change the drive letter of the new drive to what the old drive was “D:” (after removing the old drive) then all should be sweet like chocolate.

EDIT: The only problem you may face, in my opinion, is if you’re copying files from the failing drive and file wont copy over.
If a game file isn’t copied over because the file was on a bad sector or is corrupted, the game most likely will be incomplete.

Reinstalling the game would fix this.
If your entire D: drive is uploaded to iDrive (an image of D: for example) you shouldn’t have this problem.