OS backup HDD just incase the orginale breaks

[stevethebrain]

I would like to have a operating system backup HDD just incase the orginale breaks.

I was planning on clone the orginale OS HDD w/ this I link to then keep the orginale and use the spare as the primary OS HDD.

How doe's my plan sound to you PC experts yes I know it's a refurb. w/ a 90 day warrenty but if it works for 90 days it should last the brand new ones are warrentied for 5 years.

most important can a Dell OEM HDD be used in a Acer PC w/ a intel Mobo.?

Lastly what is smart I read some of the reviews where SMART was saying these refurbs had 3 years of use on them?
Thanks Guy's STB


Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Certified by Dell) Bare Drive - Newegg.com

 

[evan.briggs]

yes you can clone the hard drives, google parted magic or partition wizard. they are linux based programs that let you clone hard drives. nice program! as for the dell to the acer, it might work and it might now. It really depends, windows 7 has preinstalled drivers so it should be ok for you to swap the hard drive to an acer.

 

[iPwn]

can a Dell OEM HDD be used in a Acer PC w/ a intel Mobo.?

The HDD itself (can|should be able to) be used in the Acer, but you will have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Windows can detect that it's been moved to another PC and will not run if that has happened.

I say "should be able to" because there are a few smaller laptops/netbooks that have a non-standard HDD (slot) in them. If it fits, it works.

 

[strollin]

Not only is it possible to make an image of your drive (clone) but everyone should do it for precisely the reason you gave "in case the original breaks". In my experience the question isn't IF a hard drive will fail but WHEN.

If you move an HDD from one computer to another it might work but you're much better off doing a clean install of the OS.

SMART is a monitoring system built-in to modern disk drives that monitors and analyzes data kept internally to attempt to predict iminent failure of the drive. It isn't perfect but it's better than nothing.

 

[stevethebrain]

The HDD itself (can|should be able to) be used in the Acer, but you will have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Windows can detect that it's been moved to another PC and will not run if that has happened.

I say "should be able to" because there are a few smaller laptops/netbooks that have a non-standard HDD (slot) in them. If it fits, it works.

yes I understand I can't copy windows7 from my current PC then expect that cloned HDD to work on another MOBO because the software has a key code associated w/ the MOBO correct?

I want to clone my OS HDD and remove the orginale OS HDD keep it as a spare then use the new cloned HDD for the operating sys.

Not only is it possible to make an image of your drive (clone) but everyone should do it for precisely the reason you gave "in case the original breaks". In my experience the question isn't IF a hard drive will fail but WHEN.

If you move an HDD from one computer to another it might work but you're much better off doing a clean install of the OS.

SMART is a monitoring system built-in to modern disk drives that monitors and analyzes data kept internally to attempt to predict iminent failure of the drive. It isn't perfect but it's better than nothing.

I'm confussed moving a HDD from one PC to another is this because this HDD is a OEM from Dell?

The reason I want to clone is because I don't have a window7 restore operating sys CD. and this PC dos'nt have access to the internet.

I do have the key code for my laptop and this PC.

What do you Guy's think about the HDD I link to?
Thanks STB

 

[evan.briggs]

that hard drive looks fine, its cheap too

 

[Smart_Guy]

If I get this right, I see it way too simple on an issue.

Windows 7 it self has a built-in system image maker. Right click on "My Computer" icon (yours in this case) and look around for System Protection or similar (I'm using Vista here at work) and it will give you a feature to make a system image. The image (not a single file btw) can then be stored in a flash disk.

I really recommend making an image of the initial Windows install with basic drivers and settings only. You do not know when and/or where a problem has already started. And to have Windows on an exclusive drive solely so the image do not become too big. Flash disk are available in 16GB these days.

Restoring the image is then easy.

 

[setishock]

The CPU has an electronic serial number that windows uses along with your hardware configuration to make an ID number that it sends when you go online with it to activate it. If you make a change to your hardware config that's major, it will phone in and you might have to reactivate the OS. That's just a minor annoyance, nothing major.
But if it gets moved to a totally new hardware setup it will lockup completely. In the XP days you could lock the OS and move it to another computer then reopen it. It got a little complicated and was a PITA big time. After XP the OS's are smart enough to not let you do that.
As far as making a clone of your primary drive, it will run as if it was the original, provided it's used on the same platform. I worked for a company that sent out updates to it's software as clones of the main system. At every location we were running the exact same hardware setup. 10 minutes and you were up to date. So it does work.