[SOLVED] internal 1tb drive idk what to extra/not really

[white.a.drew]

So for some dumb reason i'm drawing a blank on what to do with my extra 1tb drive.
System spec
Cpu Ryzen 5 3600x stalk cooled have liquid cooler "just to lazey to put it on"
Mobo Asus rog strix b450-f gaming r1 "latest bios beta"
Case deepcool matrexx 50
250gb boot/drive drive nvme m.2
1tb nvme m.2 files
2tb ssd Files/Back up
1tb ssd Back ups for back up
1tb hdd games
1tb hdd "want to know what i can do with"
Rx 580 8gb oc'd dual fan gigabyte
750w evga b3 plus bronze fully mod
3 140mm intake
1 140 on the back 2 on the top
Ethernet being used now however wifi card installed. Tp link archer t6e disabled.
2x8gb samsung geil evo 16gb kit rgb rated 3200MHz
Display acer X223w 60hz oc to 75hz
Os windows 10 home active x64... Been considering other os's however again just to lazy been more into gaming lately then anything but i've been getting annoyed at the empty space on my pc...

So i guess my question is what can i do with the spare drive i dont have a optical drive so transfering music/movies to it isn't really a option i do have any external devices with any to add saddly. I have been think of exploring other os's and DO NOT wish to use my primary drive for it so it would be good for partitioning into parts for that but not sure where to start minus linux and i want to explore something new for a little so linux is out. If any one knows things besides windows and linux that would be cool

 

[USAFRet]

A selection of VM's for "other operating systems'.
Power it off, and have it just be a spare for when one of the others die.
Overflow space for more games.

 

[robert600]

For me this is a 'no brainer'. My boot drive is by far the most important part of my entire computer system. It represents hours and hours of software installations and custom configurations. Folks can talk about 'restore points' and back ups all they want but in the case of a catastrophic boot drive failure all I can say is good luck. Nothing beats having a clone of the boot drive tucked away somewhere safe.

Accordingly, I would slip that 1TB HD into a usb drive enclosure - clone the boot drive to it (repeat after any major changes to the boot drive (new important software installation, major windows updates, etc) - tuck it away somewhere safe and hope you never have to use it. Since your boot drive is 250 G ... cloning should only take about 1/2 hour.

 

[USAFRet]

For me this is a 'no brainer'. My boot drive is by far the most important part of my entire computer system. It represents hours and hours of software installations and custom configurations. Folks can talk about 'restore points' and back ups all they want but in the case of a catastrophic boot drive failure all I can say is good luck. Nothing beats having a clone of the boot drive tucked away somewhere safe.

Accordingly, I would slip that 1TB HD into a usb drive enclosure - clone the boot drive to it (repeat after any major changes to the boot drive (new important software installation, major windows updates, etc) - tuck it away somewhere safe and hope you never have to use it. Since your boot drive is 250 G ... cloning should only take about 1/2 hour.

A clone is only as good as when you made it.
An Image made with some of the current tools is also as good as when you made it, but you can update that image easily, and keep many many images at once.
A clone is a single instance, consuming a whole other drive.

I've used the Image in Macrium specifically to reconstitute after a fully dead SSD.
Those Images work just like a clone, but does not have to consume a whole second drive.

 

[robert600]

A clone is only as good as when you made it.
An Image made with some of the current tools is also as good as when you made it, but you can update that image easily, and keep many many images at once.
A clone is a single instance, consuming a whole other drive.

I've used the Image in Macrium specifically to reconstitute after a fully dead SSD.
Those Images work just like a clone, but does not have to consume a whole second drive.

Yes, those are good arguments for an'image type' type backup (particularly the ease bit) and I'm 100% in agreement with you when it comes to data drives ... however, in my view a windows boot drive is a completely different animal. It's good to know you reconstituted a fully dead ssd with it but you didn't actually specify whether or not it was a windows boot drive.

In any case, what I really like about having a back-up cloned boot drive is that in the event of a catastrophic boot drive problem ... the computer is good to go in the (5 or 10 minutes) time it takes to swap the drives. I can get on with what needs to be done on the computer and it buys time to replace the drive that failed and shop around a bit for a replacement/upgrade drive - using newegg or whatever. With an image backup, wouldn't you have to have a blank hard drive at the ready, and write the image to it before the computer was usable again? That kind of puts the pressure on you to find a replacement drive very quickly and the local computer shop is not likely to have the exact drive you ideally would like so either you buy an immediate not so ideal replacement or you wait days for the one you really want to be delivered - the whole time you're without the use of your computer. I think the immediate 'up and running' aspect of having a clone is a huge advantage. Admittedly it's a bit of a pain to be clonning every month or so but it's worth noting that these cloning programs can be set to shut down the computer when they're done so if I get it clonning as my last task of the day ... it's not really a big deal.

 

[USAFRet]

The one I recovered was a secondary drive.
But that solution also works with the OS drive. And is the whole basis of my backup routine.

Does it work with the Windows C drive?
Absolutely.
Tried and tested.

Cloning is OK, but once you get into multiple physical drives in a system, it becomes much harder to manage.
And Images, we can store a months worth of multiple systems and drives in one folder tree.

I have all my house systems run a full, incremental, or differential nightly or weekly as warrants.

Recovering a 1TB drive from an image takes maybe an hour over the house LAN.

If my 500GB SSD C drive were to die right now, I could recover that to a 2TB HDD I have sitting around, until I get a replacement 500GB SSD.
Yes, that works.
Be up and running before I need to open a new beer.

 

[USAFRet]

Bottom line though...there are multiple ways to do this, as long as you do it...

Far too many people don't.

 

[robert600]

Ok ... good to know it works on a windows boot drive. Nice that you have a spare 2TB on hand for emergencies ... not that many people do though and without that you're looking at wait time. Sounds like a very nicely organised system you have. I'm just getting around to a LAN network in the house here (90% done) but I'm having problems seeing other computers and sharing, copying files etc. I thought it would be more straightforward. There's been a very nice jump in internet speed though compared to wifi.

Couldn't agree more ... the important thing is to have it backed up one way or the other. It amazes me how many otherwise intelligent people don't grasp this - particularly now that storage is so inexpensive. Some even tell me that windows has built in back-up 'restore points' so it's not necessary to do anything lol.

 

[USAFRet]

Specifics on my backup routine (modified somewhat since this was written):

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

This saves to my NAS, but could easily be reduced to a USB external drive of enough capacity.