Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (
More info?)
"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote in message news:B8idnQU3H-_uwffcRVn-gg@comcast.com
> "Bob Davis" wrote:
> >
> >
> > "Eric" wrote:
> >
> > > Sort of an odd question: I have this *feeling* that the main
> > > HDD on my PC is about the die. So, I purchased a 2nd
> > > Maxtor ATA/EIDE drive to use primarily to backup important
> > > files. But, I'd also like to use it as a bootable drive in case
> > > the main goes down. Is this possible? I have XP on the
> > > main drive, and I also want to install XP on the 2nd. So,
> > > I guess I'm asking about how to setup a dual-boot sytem
> > > with XP on both drives, with the ability to see the 2nd drive
> > > from the main drive to use for file backups. If that makes
> > > sense.
> >
> > I followed that logic on my old Win98SE machine with no trouble,
> > doing a clone every week and keeping the important files up-
> > dated through a batch file run once per hour. It worked great,
> > but when I moved to XP Pro I was advised by M$ and Symantec not to keep another drive in the system with an identical copy of
> > the OS. The consensus was that although it may work fine for
> > a day, week, or month, eventually it would become confused
> > and write something to the wrong drive. See page 8 of this link:
> >
> >
http://radified.com/Ghost/ghost_1.htm
> >
> > Here there is a clear warning that to boot with the clone in place
> > and running is an invitation to instantaneous disaster with any OS.
> > I disagree in that I've accessed these drives for short periods of
> > time to retrieve a file, or whatever, with no trouble in XP--and as
> > I said ran a clone full-time in Win98SE. But I take Symantec's
> > caveats seriously:
> >
> > "CAUTION: Do not start the computer after cloning until the
> > instructions say to do so. Starting a computer from the hard
> > drive when the computer has two Active partitions can damage
> > program installations and trigger configuration changes that
> > you might not be able to reverse without restoring backups."
> >
> > This came from:
> >
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/8f7dc138830563c888256c2200662ecd/fa8111c6f3f5614d88256c23007c0a64?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam
> >
> > So now I have a permanent D: drive that is in place only
> > to house these hourly backups. The clones are done once
> > per week, rotating six drives in mobil racks, removing them
> > before rebooting into XP.
>
>
> Follow the tip from Rod Speed/Folkert Rientra/et al and just
> disconnect the source HD before booting up the clone HD
> for the first time. Once that is done, both can be connected
> while you boot up one or the other. The one not booting will
> merely be seen as a Local Disk with an accessible file
> structure.
>
> In my system, I also have a removable IDE hard drive that
> I use to do backups of 2 internal hard drives, but I put
> *multiple* clones on the same backup hard drive. All that
> is necessary to keep them from getting melded together
> is to remember to boot the clone for the 1st time in isolation
> from the source drive.
>
> But the frequent physical disconnection of the source drive
> gets tedious, and it ages the connectors and my aching back.
> Right now I'm trying to figure a way to do that without having
> to physically disconnect the source hard drive.
> Merely removing power to the source drive does the trick if it's
> on a dedicated IDE channel, or, if the clone shares a channel with
> the source drive, it works if the clone is the Master. Otherwise,
> the "dead" Master doesn't allow the Slave on the same channel
> to boot.
Ignore the clueless troll.
>
> *TimDaniels*