Want to Create BOOTABLE Clone Drive of my OS/System Drive

[commissarmo]

Just an addendum since I might have misspoke - I do not BELIEVE there is a way to keep a clone drive that is REAL-TIME incrementally updated, since the cloning the of the drive necessitates an instant in time to copy it.

RAID1 co-writes in duplicate (thus creates a 'clone' of sorts, but with the concomitant problems of RAID), but this isn't a backup solution.

If indeed, I'm wrong about this, (I have to try it to find out), then Acronis PERHAPS CAN maintain a live-clone drive which is incrementally updated; this seems reasonable, but I'm just not sure, and Acronis Support seemed to be confused as to what I was asking about, and supplied an in-kind confusing answer.

 

[ElectricRhino]

Thanks for that commissarmo, I sure do appreciate your reply.

I have been in communication with Acronis support myself, trying to learn their method of using English too.
Broken it down to this in the most recent message:

"Just to confirm then:
1. I can create a bootable backup (internal) drive from an SSD to a HDD (or from an HDD to an SSD)?
2. I can then incrementally update the bootable internal backup on a schedule?
3. If the main drive fails I can boot up from the bootable internal backup and add a new drive as the new internal backup?

If I intend to clone my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Disk 0 (which is an SSD) it has a 100MB partition (type Basic, called an "EFI System Partition") before the 2 accessible partitions - will this pose an issue? (Casper was unable to cope with this and thus could not clone, which is why I am asking you before I buy.)"

Lets keep each other posted.
Rhino

 

[ElectricRhino]

Here is a recent reply from Acronis:
"Adding to previous answers, I would like to bring to your notice that there would not be such adding incremental files to the cloned hard drive. Once you feel that the primary hard drive is healthy enough to be backed up, you may can perform the clone operation to secondary hard drive.

If you make any changes to your primary hard drive, you would have to repeat the clone procedure again. Like wise when the primary hard drive fails, you can make the secondary hard drive as the primary and boot your computer. "

and a follow-up reply today:
"As we mentioned in the previous email, it is not possible to add incremental files to the cloned hard drive.

However, you can take a incremental backup and you can save those backup in external hard drive."

So Acronis will not do what SystemGuardian used to do, dammit. The search continues.

I'm prepared to offer a $20 prize to anyone who can direct me to proper bootable backup software that can be incrementally updated. Payment by Paypal.

Rhino

 

[ElectricRhino]

And the final reply stating that Acronis will not support a bootable backup that can be updated, so it will not do what SystemGuardian used to do, dammit all:

"I understand you queries and I would like to take this opportunity to explain the difference between backup and cloning in terms of Acronis Software.

Cloning is basically a disk level operation and the outcome of this will be a bootable drive and you may use this and boot the computer when the primary drive crashes. The downtime here is less, however, you cannot incrementally add files in this procedure. Every time you clone a drive it will be for the full disk and not for the changes only.

Alternativelty, you may choose to create a Disk level backup. Here you store this on a device like external drive and at the time of disaster, you have to restore the backup archive. Only after restoration you will be able to boot the target drive.
You may choose to perform incremental backup here and there are various backup schemes which you can customize.

Here is a Knowledge Base article that explains the difference between a backup and cloning:
http/kb.acronis.com/content/1540

Let me know if this answers your questions.
I look forward to your response."

So the search continues.

Rhino

 

[ElectricRhino]

Just in case anybody is still reading this, here is an application that might just be a replacement for the lamented SystemGuardian: MirrorFolder (www.techsoftpl.com/backup/index.php)

 

[commissarmo]

Our software is SO primitive still (Windows, Linux, Mac, all of them) - When is someone going to just completely alter the entire paradigm of digital data beyond MBRs, aligned partitions, clones, backups, operating systems... there is definitely a better way to store bits in a secure, redundant and SIMPLE fashion - even VonNeumann architecture could probably give way to biologically based neural networks. End Rant.

@ElectricRhino - it takes me months in between when I have time to address these issues, but I have found some interesting software, perhaps you know of it already:

http/www.***/

This software is basically ONLY used to CLONE drives, and whilst it doesn't do the incremental cloning you speak of, it does allow the SCHEDULING (unlike Acronis, or nearly any other software I've found out there) of the Clone operation, which allows for automated maintenance of a (relatively) up to date clone drive.

While it won't be the incremental version you've mentioned - presumably if you do it frequently enough you can mimic that functionality to some extent.

There's a free trial I'm going to test.

-----

On a more general note - currently my strategy is to use Acronis to create Images with incremental backups of all my data AND primary OS drive. I used the PlusPack add-on to Acronis TI2013 to create a Win-PE bootable media Disc which provides the boot environment to restore the images.

I then maintain a separate clone drive which I've been doing manaually with Acronis.

---

Basically, Cloning of HDDs is apparently deprecated as a backup solution for its inflexibility. And while this has merit, I think what is not well conceived is that it's NOT a replacement for backup, in fact.

What "Cloners" are REALLY trying to achieve is what RAID in theory does (but has all manner of complex issues that a non-server running person probably doesn't want to deal with (drivers, firmware, etc.).

A clone drive is essentially just a slave-drive as they called them back in the early 90s - a REDUNDANT harddisk that, while not as seamless viz. uptime as RAID (as the system DOES go down for a time), still restores the exact system to its pre-fail state more-or-less instantly, without the need for BOOT environments, and without the need to worry about RAID issues.

In my opinion - it's a redundancy strategy, not a BACKUP one, but that doesn't means it's less useful. I think if people understood it better, and it was marketed better (particularly with the cheap prices of large HDDs out there), I think it would catch on tremendously. It makes SO much sense afterall.

Analogously - it's like a backup electrical generator - in fact, the most sophisticated format of this doesn't even exist yet to my knowledge - which would be completely independent clone drives that fail over seamlessly (again, RAID-like, but without the problems).

 

[commissarmo]

http/www.***/

link fail.

 

[commissarmo]

argh it's called

Handy Backup

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by MouseMonkey