Is it time to backup my hard drive? (getting Microsoft warnings about the HDD)

[Foffykins]

Hey friends. Figure I'd keep this simple.

This morning I received a warning message about the state of my C: drive. I decided to run Crystaldiskinfo, and it lists the HDD under the caution status, but the only warning is on the "Reallocated Sectors Count" with a value of 5. I know nothing of these numbers, so I do not know the severity here.

I have purchased a new HDD off of Newegg to backup this drive to that, to be safe, but I wanted to know if I can find the depth of my problems in greater detail, so perhaps you guys can help me out here.

 

[DR_Luke]

The drive is showing early signs of failure. It could keep going for ten years or crash tomorrow. Safest thing to do is to backup to data and replace the drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Is it time to backup my hard drive?

That would be every single day, just for times like this.

If it is still running, image that drive now. Not tomorrow, not next week...in the next 10 minutes.
Your drive might die next year, or as I'm typing this.

If various pieces of software are telling you there is an issue...there probably is an issue.

 

[RolandJS]

Make full image backups of your OS and Data partitions residing on that problematic HD onto affordable and reliable external media today, if not yesterday. Please spend valuable hard-drive spin time making backup today if not yesterday.

 

[Foffykins]

Make full image backups of your OS and Data partitions residing on that problematic HD onto affordable and reliable external media today, if not yesterday. Please spend valuable hard-drive spin time making backup today if not yesterday.

I've made sure not to use the HDD until the new one comes, so this may be a dumb question...how would I start transferring the drive over? Is there a program or a cable I need?

 

[RolandJS]

Macrium Reflect usb or dvd boot, or any backup/restore/clone program, and usings its cloning function to clone, make an exact copy of, the problem HD onto the new HD. If the replacement HD is different in size, let us know. Be aware that I will be in classes as sub-teach and cannot be available to walk you through this. I do not know program you will be using nor will I have the "contiguous air time" for any step by step instructions.

 

[Foffykins]

I am replacing the HDD (500GB) with a 2 TB HDD. I was thinking of repkacing the drive by plugging in the new drive as if I were installing it, and then finding a way to copy it.

 

[RolandJS]

Ok, pretend you're using Macrium Reflect, MR has a sub-board that allows you to specify: during the cloning, the target HD's total byte-space is "used" -- thereby bypassing the unintended problem of "leftover un-allocated" byte-space.

 

[DR_Luke]

I am replacing the HDD (500GB) with a 2 TB HDD. I was thinking of repkacing the drive by plugging in the new drive as if I were installing it, and then finding a way to copy it.

It won't be so easy to transfer to, as it is your main OS drive you are talking about. You will basically need to boot from something else and then do a drive to drive copy while resizing the partitions on the fly. Programs you can use are ghost or acronis, but they cost some money. Realistically speaking, it shouldn't cost more than 1 hours's service by a technician (assuming that they do it at the shop and assuming that there isn't significant amounts of read errors.)

 

[Foffykins]

I am replacing the HDD (500GB) with a 2 TB HDD. I was thinking of repkacing the drive by plugging in the new drive as if I were installing it, and then finding a way to copy it.

It won't be so easy to transfer to, as it is your main OS drive you are talking about. You will basically need to boot from something else and then do a drive to drive copy while resizing the partitions on the fly. Programs you can use are ghost or acronis, but they cost some money. Realistically speaking, it shouldn't cost more than 1 hours's service by a technician (assuming that they do it at the shop and assuming that there isn't significant amounts of read errors.)

..I can't do this myself by trying to just copy the drive? Doesn't Microsoft have a way of backing up drives? Shouldn't that include the OS on the drive?

 

[DR_Luke]

..I can't do this myself by trying to just copy the drive? Doesn't Microsoft have a way of backing up drives? Shouldn't that include the OS on the drive?

You can do it yourself, but not without the right tools and software to do the job. Sadly, the cost of your investment will be higher than the cost to pay someone with the resources to do it for you.

Alternatively, you can remove the 500GB drive, insert the new 2TB drive, boot from your windows install disk, install windows and after you have windows installed, connect the 500GB drive and copy your data files over to the new drive. Be very careful to disconnect the 500GB drive and any other drive you don't want to accidentally lose the data from when installing Windows. It is very easy to make a mistake and format the wrong drive.

 

[Foffykins]

..I can't do this myself by trying to just copy the drive? Doesn't Microsoft have a way of backing up drives? Shouldn't that include the OS on the drive?

You can do it yourself, but not without the right tools and software to do the job. Sadly, the cost of your investment will be higher than the cost to pay someone with the resources to do it for you.

Alternatively, you can remove the 500GB drive, insert the new 2TB drive, boot from your windows install disk, install windows and after you have windows installed, connect the 500GB drive and copy your data files over to the new drive. Be very careful to disconnect the 500GB drive and any other drive you don't want to accidentally lose the data from when installing Windows. It is very easy to make a mistake and format the wrong drive.

Theres no free program to just 1:1 copy a drive? Thats what I assumed happened with mirroring a drive; it takes the files and the OS assumingly with it. Am I wrong here?

My plan, to be specific, was to add the new drive and then start copying the old one onto the new one. Perhaps cloning. Isn't there a program that can do this...?

 

[USAFRet]

Theres no free program to just 1:1 copy a drive? Thats what I assumed happened with mirroring a drive; it takes the files and the OS assumingly with it. Am I wrong here?

My plan, to be specific, was to add the new drive and then start copying the old one onto the new one. Perhaps cloning. Isn't there a program that can do this...?

Yes. Macrium Reflect does specifically this. (assuming the old drive is still fully functional)
The free version works just fine.
Steps here:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[USAFRet]

You can do it yourself, but not without the right tools and software to do the job. Sadly, the cost of your investment will be higher than the cost to pay someone with the resources to do it for you.

Macrium Reflect Free does this.

 

[DR_Luke]

Getting a clone of a drive from which you booted is like trying to paint a floor while you are standing on it...although the painting of the floor is a lot easier to work around, assuming that you can eventually work your way to a door or wait until the paint dries. With your OS, files are constantly changing while your system is running.

 

[DR_Luke]

Cool...I was not aware of Macrium reflect and it ability to image an active boot drive...and it is free.

 

[USAFRet]

Cool...I was not aware of Macrium reflect and it ability to image an active boot drive...and it is free.

Yes. It takes a snapshot at the start of the procedure.
Seems weird, but it does it, and it works very, very well.

I like Macrium so much that I paid for it. And I'm a cheap bastid.
Not just the cloning options, but the backup procedures and schedules are well worth it.

Another tool is Casper, but only with their paid version.

 

[Foffykins]

I'll follow those instructions posted for Macrium Reflect, so I hope that it'll work.

Is there a core difference between the free and paid version? I'm actually a bit poor do even buying the HDD was a sign of difficulty, hence me wanting short and sweet to fix this.

 

[USAFRet]

I'll follow those instructions posted for Macrium Reflect, so I hope that it'll work.

Is there a core difference between the free and paid version? I'm actually a bit poor do even buying the HDD was a sign of difficulty, hence me wanting short and sweet to fix this.

The free one is just fine.
The paid version brings some extra options as far as scheduling, and incremental backups.

 

[RolandJS]

...and differential backups as well