Windows 10: Cloning the Windows partition as an ongoing bootable backup

I am running Windows 10 Pro from a partition on an SSD. I have two internal HDDs: one for data and the second for backups, temporary files, RAM swap file, etc.


I want that second HDD to have a bootable Windows 10 Pro partition. I would use this to run my computer in case of failure of the SSD. That is, when Window fails on the SSD, I simply reboot the computer, go into BIOS, change the boot sequence to boot from the HDD, and, reboot. Of course, I want this partition on the HDD to be as current as possible, including such things as newly installed/updated applications and Windows Updates. I do not want to involve an external HDD, cloud storage, or, any repair/installation process when switching over to booting from the HDD.


I understand that a Windows partition and installation has some files that cannot be copied with the copy/xcopy/robocopy commands. I understand that using copy/xcopy/robocopy alone does not make the destination partition bootable. It would seem that I have two possible options to create/update the bootable partition on the HDD: 1 clone the partition, which seems to require deleting the destination partition first or 2 update the existing bootable destination partition with newer files to keep it current. I know how to do #1 manually, but, I don't know if #2 is possible for a Windows partition.


Does anybody know of a solution, preferably free, where I can have a regularly scheduled unattended process to either:

• make a bootable copy of the SSD Windows partition on a HDD Windows partition
• update a bootable HDD partition with newer files from the SSD Windows partition

:)

 

clone MBR HD to bootable GPT partition?

My HP Vista laptop took a swim and died. I pulled the 320MB HD, put it in an external enclosure and found it still good. Bought a new Dell Win 10 machine w/ 1TB HD. Plan was to:

• 
  Partition off a piece of the new 1TB w/ native Win10 Disk Management.
  
• 
  Clone the 320MB Vista drive into the new partition w/ Easeus Partition Manager.
  
• 
  Run Paragon-adaptive-restore on the Vista partition.
  
• 
  Set up as dual-boot Win10 / Vista.
  

Ran into problems right away. Apparently can't clone the MBR HD to a GPT partition and have it remain bootable. Don't see a way to do this without wiping the new Dell 1TB clean – which I'm hesitant to do, especially since I'm about 6000 miles from
home right now.

• 
  What's the solution to cloning the MBR drive to a bootable GPT partition?
  
• 
  Am I on the right track? I really want to preserve this Vista installation - I have 30+ years of data in legacy programs on it that would be very difficult to access in Win10.
  

TIA

 

partition cloning help!

Erm, so I used norton ghost to clone the partition, now how do i get it so my new drive is bootable?

 

clone MBR HD to bootable GPT partition?

I think in 1.) you're giving me details on how to wipe out my Win10 drive, which doesn't help.

It sounds like I CAN clone a bootable MBR into a GPT drive partition if I start off with a completely empty drive. So if I go buy a fresh 1TB drive and clone the MBR drive into it first (partitioning as GPT) then I'll be able to clone the Win10 into it
and have a dual-bootable system?

I'm also intrigued by your 2.) answer although it was short on details. I'll go search about "virtual machines" and see if I can get there that way.