Windows 10: Using a SATA III 2.5" HDD for a clone image for recovery

My MSI GT80 SLI laptop takes 4 disks, 3 are in the 2280 format and 1 is in the 2.5" format.

I converted all to SSD, the 2.5" included but I had a 1TB HDD left over and I decided to use that for a backup solution. I used Macrium Reflect to clone the primary Windows 10-1903 to this 1TB HDD and then removed it from the laptop, putting back the Samsung 850 that replaced the HDD.

so if my primary drive went down, I could boot into Windows install media, install this HDD and copy the partitions or the entire disk onto the primary disk, or the backup disk. I would lose some files and get rolled back a few weeks. Or even months depending on when the image was made. I could use Macrium reflect or another software do this reverse clone in a case of a disaster recovery.

I am thinking about cloning the OS onto the HDD once per quarter. Install it, run the clone program such as Reflect and then remove it.

1TB HDDs are cheap, mine is not worth anything, $20 at most. To do it correctly, I would have to take it off site.

:)

 

Failing HDD and Cloning

You seem intend on this install clean install windows when I have said windows does not run on that drive and TeraCopy doesn't even budge anymore.
for moving files from that drive. Then there are those that have suggested imaging and 1 or 2 that talked about cloning software.

I now have 3 HDDs left...

So nothing is copying, no cloning and imaging, now what?

 

Unable to boot after cloning Sata HDD to Sata SSD

Hello,

I did cloning of my original Sata 1 TB HDD to New 1 TB SSD (WD) using Macrium Software. No issues found during cloning and everything went fine. I did swap the hard disk and when I turn on the laptop I am unable to boot to windows. I did try legacy boot
option and also UEFI option and non worked. Please note I didn't create rescue media before cloning, but have the old HDD with all the files intact. Can anyone pls help me resolve this issue?

Thanks.

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 17" 5720

BIOS Version: A19 Dell

OS: Windows 10

 

SATA internal HDD and external SATA HDD

I have a SATA internal HDD that supposed to be my main operational disk but I bought a "lay flat docking station" for Another SATA internal HDD that I cloned from my internal drive on my tower. But now I look at the properties on both drives and they both
say they are online. Is it bad to have them working that way because I don't know what drive is working at any given time? I'm assuming I need to go into the BIOS and set it to which drive I want?