Re: Cloning to an eSATA drive
- From: "Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 21:42:50 -0400
(SNIP)"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eWe7nuY2JHA.1372@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Unless I reboot once, the eSATA external drive isn't apparently seen by
windows after just turning it on (either in Windows Explorer or in Disk
Management), however I know it is being "picked up" as I can see some
disk activity when I turn it on (on both my internal and external
drives).
This behavior doesn't happen with the USB external enclosure drives;
there, if you turn on the external USB drive enclosure, it instantly is
recognized.
Is this by design?
At any rate, it makes it a bit inconvenient to make a clone using eSATA,
since one always has to reboot first to get it recognized by windows,
and
that process takes a bit of time before it settles down as it assigns
drive letters and all that. And I don't need that anyway since when the
clone is made, the first thing that happens is it deletes all the
partitions on the backup drive, as expected.
My solution to this mess has been as follows:
Before making a clone, boot up on BootITNG (outside of windows!) and
delete all partitions in the old clone drive (windows is NOT loaded at
this time). THEN boot up into windows with the clone drive connected,
and
proceed making the clone.
Anna wrote:
Bill:
I assume you're working with an Intel-based system. This "hot-plugging"
(lack of SATA device recognition) has been a problem with Intel chipsets
(even up to Intel's latest ICH10 SATA controller) at least with respect
to
the XP OS environment. Theoretically this lack of SATA device
recognition
(in terms of the device being "hot-pluggable") should be overcome by
setting the BIOS SATA controller mode to the AHCI setting, however it
seems that
this mode while supported in Vista is not supported in XP. So the result
(at least based upon my experience) is a failure to boot the system when
the
AHCI mode setting is selected.
We haven't run into the same problem with AMD-based systems (at least
those I've worked with, not including AMD's latest offerings). There the
BIOS
default settings re the SATA HDD seem to work just fine and the external
SATA HDD (either SATA or eSATA) are "hot-pluggable" ("hot-swappable")
without further ado. (I would like to hear from anyone who has worked
with
AMD's Phenom II X3 & X4 processors and hear their experience re this
issue).
But if you are working with an Intel-based system there's a relatively
simple workaround to effect the "hot-pluggability" of an external SATA
HDD
without the need to reboot the system. After the device is connected &
powered-on, access Device Manager (WinKey + Pause key, Hardware tab,
Device Manager or place a shortcut on your Desktop) and click Action,
Scan for
hardware changes. The system will then detect the external SATA HDD.
Admittedly a bit of a pain but it beats rebooting, no?
"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eWrr7uZ2JHA.5728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Amazing that hot swappable SATA isn't the default, especially considering
that SATA is so much newer than USB. I can't understand why Intel
didn't get with the program on this. But I haven't checked the BIOS
setting on that yet.
Sounds like it, thanks! However, I assume that when I do this, it's
still going to take a fair amount of time (just like it did after
rebooting) for the disk to be fully recognized in windows again? (When
I did it my way after rebooting, it took a few minutes for that backup
drive to get fully recognized by windows).
Bill:
While the SATA device recognition will not be instantaneous, the system will
detect the SATA HDD fairly quickly. Surely a lot quicker than having to
reboot the system to effect device recognition.
Anna
"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eWrr7uZ2JHA.5728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A second comment:
Of course, the other thing that is a pain is always having to remember to
at least initialize the clone once *without* the normal internal system HD
connected (so I have to pull the case off, and disconnect it,
temporarily - a bit of a nuisance). It would nice if I could avoid that
step by simply changing the BIOS boot disk priority settings, but I don't
think that alone will work (so long as the other drive is connected, I
mean). But maybe??
However, I think you said this disconnect step wasn't necessary with
Casper though, but I'm not sure. However if that is indeed the case,
then Casper must somehow get the system to write a new disk signature to
the backup drive even though the other drive is still connected? If
that's the case, I don't understand why ATI can't do that too.
Bill:
Yes, you've got it right insofar as the Casper 5 disk-cloning program. There
is *no* need to disconnect the source HDD following the disk-cloning
operation and boot only with the cloned (internal or external eSATA) HDD
connected. It simply doesn't matter whether the cloned HDD is connected
during the initial boot to the source HDD immediately following the
disk-cloning operation.
Nor is it necessary to directly boot to the cloned HDD with the source HDD
disconnected immediately following the disk-cloning operation. (Naturally
many users may want to do this if only for the sake of determining that the
clone "took" and the cloned HDD is indeed a bootable device. But it's
unnecessary to prevent the possible problem to which you're referring). It's
another reason why we prefer the Casper 5 program as a comprehensive backup
program for a wide range of PC users.
Anna
.
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