Seeking Suggestions for bootable HDD cloning software

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vertigoelectric

vertigoelectric

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Apr 2, 2013
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Even though I'm looking for software, I'm posting this in the storage thread because the hard drive is the real focus of my issue.

Recently one of my hard drives started failing badly, causing any application that accessed it to hang. When I realized what was going on I attempted to run CHKDSK on it. The checking started, but it was insanely slow (as in "ETA 999:00:00" slow). I also tried to recover data from it, but that too was lethargic, copying only a few megabytes after several minutes.

During boot, the drive took a while to be accessed by BIOS and showed that it was SMART capable but "Command failed".

I removed the drive.

At this point, I know the drive is still accessible, but clearly has problems that make it essentially unusable. I did a little research and found one idea that suggested trying cloning software to clone the drive and then recover data from the clone. So my plan is to get another drive large enough (2TB), install both drives, and attempt to clone any readable data from the bad drive to the new one. It would be ideal to use a cloning tool that I can boot with so as to not try to involve windows in the process.

Any suggestions? I really appreciate your time and thought. Thanks.

 
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A
Just some final thoughts...

1. First of all, the "problem" HDD, as well as EVERY other HDD or SSD that's internally-connected in your system IS a SECONDARY drive. The term "secondary" is merely used in the context of distinguishing between the system's boot drive containing the OS and any other drive(s) utilized for storage/backup, etc. purposes.

2. Re the SATA-to-USB cable adapter you purchased...unfortunately a common mistake made by many purchasers of this item in not checking that it's equipped with a A/C power adapter when the cable adapter will be used for 3.5" drives.

3. Good luck with the Macrium program. If you run into any problems with using this program don't hesitate to indicate such. USAFRet is an expert with this...
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vertigoelectric

vertigoelectric

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I can give that a try. My system is working fine with the drive removed. It was not the system drive and was just used for storage, but it was still causing issues when it was connected.

Thanks!
 
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ArtPog

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If I correctly understand your current system - and frankly I'm not at all sure I do - your PC contains a bootable totally functional drive and the only problem you're experiencing is "a failing (secondary) HDD". That's the gist of your problem, isn't it?

If it is, your idea to clone the contents of that "failing" HDD to another drive is a good one. Ordinarily, we say "if you clone garbage, garbage is what you get". But sometimes you luck out in the sense that while the data on that failing drive is currently inaccessible, it's possible the data may be (may be!) accessed on the destination drive, i.e., the recipient of the cloned drive.

As USAFRet suggests, you can use that Macrium program to carry out the disk-cloning operation and hope for the best. At worst you'll have at least another HDD that you can ultimately use as a new secondary drive. Now since you have a bootable system (I assume) you can directly install the Macrium program on your current boot drive and use the program that way rather than via a "Rescue CD" or USB device. I assume you can internally connect both the "failing" HDD and the new HDD in the system, although if that were not possible for some reason, one of those drives could be connected as a USB external HDD. I believe (but am not certain of this) Macrium would carry out the d-c operation even if both the source & destination drives were USB connected.
 
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vertigoelectric

vertigoelectric

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Apr 2, 2013
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Yes, my system is operational without the drive. It's actually not just a "secondary" drive, technically. My system consists of 6 internal drives, two being SSDs. My operating system is on one of the SSDs. My installed games are on another. The HDDs are primarily for storage. One of them is critical data such as my documents, which gets backed up to an external from time to time. The other two are primarily just storage for things like downloads/videos/music/etc. The drive that failed is the largest of the bunch, a 2TB HDD containing a rather vast collection of music as well as an archive of my YouTube videos. While I am really hoping to be able to recover the data from this drive, I won't be totally devastated if I cannot. I've already begun rebuilding my music collection and recovering my YouTube videos via Google's "Takeout" service.

Situations like this are exactly why I split my storage into multiple drives in the first place.

Thanks again for the suggestion with Macrium. I have already downloaded it and will give it a try as soon as I obtain a replacement drive.

Fun fact: I recently ordered a SATA→USB connector/adapter so that I could conveniently attach the failed hard drive to a computer via USB as you suggested. I tried it, but in my haste I completely overlooked the fact that USB doesn't provide enough power for a 3.5" HDD. Sigh... hahaha...
 
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ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
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Just some final thoughts...

1. First of all, the "problem" HDD, as well as EVERY other HDD or SSD that's internally-connected in your system IS a SECONDARY drive. The term "secondary" is merely used in the context of distinguishing between the system's boot drive containing the OS and any other drive(s) utilized for storage/backup, etc. purposes.

2. Re the SATA-to-USB cable adapter you purchased...unfortunately a common mistake made by many purchasers of this item in not checking that it's equipped with a A/C power adapter when the cable adapter will be used for 3.5" drives.

3. Good luck with the Macrium program. If you run into any problems with using this program don't hesitate to indicate such. USAFRet is an expert with this program and will surely sort it out.
 
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