On my Win 7 desktop I have 2 hard drives...C: with everything on it and D: which is totally empty. Both drives are identical manufacturer and size. The C: has been running for 9 years non stop. In the event of a failure I'd like to just have my BIOS point to D: and start up just like a normal C: startup.
What kind of backup/copy should I run on a regular basis (weekly ?) to give me that capability?

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Posted by jcole4lsu

The Kwisatz Haderach

Member since Nov 2007

31004 posts

Posted on 1/21/19 at 10:42 am to lsu68

No you dont.
What you described is basically a RAID 1 setup. RAID 1 is great in general, but not a fit for your situation. RAID needs to be setup on empty disks, not disks already in use with data. Also, RAID directly from the motherboard or via software is garbage. RAID should always be setup and ran from an add-in card.

What you want is an image based backup system that runs automatically and can do bare metal restores. Check out VEEAM. Its enterprise software but is free for standard workstation use (aka they only actually charge for servers and virtualized environments). Its also about as easy to use as it gets.

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Posted by lsu68

huntsville, al

Member since Sep 2003

104 posts

Posted on 1/21/19 at 8:09 pm to jcole4lsu

Thanks for the response.

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Posted by DannyB

Bagram, Afghanistan

Member since Aug 2010

6141 posts

Posted on 1/23/19 at 2:41 am to lsu68

Go download Macrium Reflect. There is a free version.
Use it to make an exact image of your C drive onto D
Replace your C drive with the D drive
Destroy C drive
Prosper

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