Backup two SSDs to one Large HDD

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mojorisin23

mojorisin23

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Jan 7, 2012
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I have two 500gb SSDs that i want to backup to an HDD. How can I perform this task without removing the data already on the HDD? FYI- the HDD is 2TB but has 400gb of data.

All three have windows 7 on them. However, my primary SSD, the version of Win7 has corrupted. It won't let me reinstall with the Win7 disk (some BS about it being 32 bit; when the disk, the installed win7 are both 64 bit, so no idea.... ).

Can i segregate the OS on the corrupted SSD and reinstall? I believe the answer is no. SOmeone suggested backing up the corrupted drive and then wiping it and reinstalling windows cleanly.

If anyone can help me with the steps to do that i would appreciate it. From my research i have found:
* on the HDD create a partition of say 600gb and backup the corrupted SSD to it (with what program i'm not sure).
* On the corrupted SSD reinstall windows fully (not upgrade; which i tried and again will not work). this will wipe the drive clean
* After windows is working and installed, migrate the backup (the data only, not the OS) back to the originally corrupted SSD (again, how can i do this as i'm sure i cannot just drag a program and drop it into a different letter drive since it was installed under a separate windows)

I appreciate the help!
 
Solution
USAFRet
Basically, you can use any of the current Imaging tools to create an Image of each drive, off on some other drive.
My goto tool for this is Macrium Reflect. Yes, the free version works for this.

Each Image will simply be a single file.
I prefer to have each drive in its own folder, but that's just me.

However...it seems like you have a host of other issues on this system.
3 Win 7 installs? Why?
At least one of them is corrupted? Again, why?

Backing up corrupted data simply results in a backup of corrupted data. Useless.
You need to fix this PC, and get it to a stable working condition, with one and only one OS.

Read here for a comprehensive backup routine...
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srdowns

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Some things to consider:

What happened to your boot drive? Malware related or something else? You need to give us a little more information about the problem.

If you can copy the data from your ssd boot drive to your hdd, do so. But, the data may be corrupted too. It all depends on what's going on with your ssd boot drive. If you wipe the ssd boot drive, and the data is not corrupted, you will still have to reinstall all the programs on the drive. For example, you would have to reinstall MS Office, but you will have saved your documents on the hdd, so you can copy them back to your boot drive.

A clean install of the OS can solve many issues, but you will have to:
- copy all of your data files to the hdd
- have the latest drivers for you motherboard and all other hardware
downloaded to your hdd
- do a clean install of OS, wiping all partitions on the boot ssd before
doing the new install (disconnect the other ssd and hdd before the
install)
- reconnect the other ssd and hdd
- install all drivers for your hardware
- install all OS updates
- once you are satisfied that all is well with your fresh install, reinstall all
of your programs
- once all of your programs are reinstalled, copy over your data files from
your hdd (data files only, not program files)

Now, some other things:

You said that all three drives had Windows 7 installed on them. Why? You only need to have Windows 7 installed on your boot drive. Perhaps I'm missing something.

You always want to have backups of your boot drive. If you have a 2TB hdd with only 400GB of data, you have plenty of room to store your backup images of your boot drive. I would recommend Macrium Relect for this. It's free for home use and pretty much bullet proof. Having backup images of your boot drive can save you much grief down the road.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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Basically, you can use any of the current Imaging tools to create an Image of each drive, off on some other drive.
My goto tool for this is Macrium Reflect. Yes, the free version works for this.

Each Image will simply be a single file.
I prefer to have each drive in its own folder, but that's just me.

However...it seems like you have a host of other issues on this system.
3 Win 7 installs? Why?
At least one of them is corrupted? Again, why?

Backing up corrupted data simply results in a backup of corrupted data. Useless.
You need to fix this PC, and get it to a stable working condition, with one and only one OS.

Read here for a comprehensive backup routine.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3383768/backup-situation-home.html
 
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