Question Mirroring an Existing Drive?

[koberulz]

Everything I can find about drive mirroring assumes I have two empty drives and want to set them up as a mirror. Is there a way I can set up a mirror with a blank drive and a drive that has data on it already?

 

[Lafong]

Is there a way I can set up a mirror with a blank drive and a drive that has data on it already?

Can you re-write that question?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "mirror".

You can certainly use certain software to cause one drive (that may or may not have data) to become an effective replica of another that has data....but I'm not sure that's what you are after.

Are you referring to some form of "backup"....or not?

 

[koberulz]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "mirror".

I have Drive A. It has all my stuff on it, and is in daily use.

I have Drive B. It's empty.

I want to copy everything on Drive A onto Drive B, then have Drive B continue to update itself whenever changes are made to Drive A. If Drive A fails, I then simply have to remove it and assign its drive letter to Drive B, and I can carry on as though nothing happened.

 

[Lafong]

What exactly is on drive A?

Windows only?

Windows and a bunch of installed programs?

Windows, a bunch of installed programs, and a bunch of your personal files?

Personal files ONLY, but nothing related to an operating system?

What is the total capacity of drives A and B?

How much space is occupied on drive A?

 

[koberulz]

Personal files ONLY, but nothing related to an operating system?

This one.

 

[Lafong]

Lots of different backup applications can do that.

They work similarly. The interfaces differ. Some are unnecessarily complicated.

I use SyncBackFree.

Others include Free File Sync, Karen's Replicator, Second Copy, among others.

Some are free; some not.

Generally...they allow you to select which files and folders to include. That might be all or just some. You can choose which, down to the individual file level.

In the configuration, you have to decide on this issue:

If I delete or modify a file on drive A, do I also want it to be deleted or modified on drive B. Or not?

I use SyncBackFree several times a day to make a replica of 140,000 files on drive D onto drive E. If I delete or modify a file on drive D, it is also modified or deleted on drive E. Takes 2 or 3 minutes.

I do NOT automate this process. I do it manually on demand with a single mouse click.