clone w510 hard drive

[Daniel Davis]

What application is recommended to clone my w510 500gig hard drive so that if something happens, I don't have to reinstall everything? I know with my old x41, it was a pain to get that done. I'm hoping things are better with the w510.

[mdclow]

I have had success using Apricorn DriveWire Universal Hard Drive Adapter http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0259920 It allows you to connect PATA 2.5/3.5 and SATA hard drives. The only down side is that you have to use this connector & software together. You also have to use USB.

I have recently improved this setup by using the NexStar Hard Drive Dock 2.5"/3.5" SATA to USB 2.0 & eSATA Hard Drive Dock & Acronis True Image 2012. I am doing it with the eSATA connection which is 2 to 3 time faster than USB 2.0. This setup has worked fine with my T60 (eSATA via the ExpressCard slot) and my Dell Dimension 5100c that has and eSATA PCI card added to it.

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/295

[Daniel Davis]

Have you had to restore via that backup yet?

[Bánh mì]

What application is recommended to clone my w510 500gig hard drive so that if something happens, I don't have to reinstall everything? I know with my old x41, it was a pain to get that done. I'm hoping things are better with the w510.

If its an STX or WDC both have free software based on Acronis. So need not buy anything. With Hitatchi or Samsung or Toshiba you are out of luck and have to lay down some coins.

[mdclow]

Relative to my post about using Apricorn DriveWire Universal Hard Drive Adapter & Acronis True Image Home 2012, I should have mentioned that I clone rather than image the HDD. Should anyone want to know the difference there is good explanation at: http://kb.acronis.com/content/1540. I only have about 150 GB filled on my 240 GB SSD. I keep video & image files on an external HDD. Because HDDs are so cheap (prior to SE Asia flooding) I clone my SSD about once a month and put one in a safe deposit box and keep another in my office. I do check the clones and by pulling out the SSD and making sure the HDD clone will boot the machine and then putting the SSD back in the machine.

I have never done an image because I dont like what I perceive to be the extra risk of a proprietal file type having to be restored via a boot disk that I put into my machine. For me, the cloning is simpler and in my mind has less risk and easier to accomplish. I do have a Ubuntu flash drive set up to boot from it so that if Win 7 really got corrupted or infected I could get My Docs & my Outlook .pst off of the drive.

Between clones I backup Peachtree, Quickbooks & Quicken upon exit. The one down side to this backup strategy is that My Docs, & Outlook are then essentially only backed up once a month. I need to get setup to regularly backup My Docs & Outlook to my external HDD. Acronis True Image Home 2012 does have a Sync setup that I will check out. I have not had good luck with two or three previous attemps with Sync Toy & a couple other programs.