How to Make a Carbon Copy of a Hard Drive
A carbon copy of your hard drive is also referred to as a clone or backup of your drive. It is always a good idea to create a copy of your drive in the event that your hard drive fails. You don't have to copy the files manually on the hard drive in order to create a carbon copy. Instead, you can use the Windows Backup and Restore utility to make a clone of your drive and all of its settings.
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Instructions
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Turn on your computer and log on as a user with administrator privileges.
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Plug your external hard drive into your computer. External drives plug into either your computer's USB port or Firewire port. Close the dialog pop-up box if it appears.
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Open the Backup and Restore utility. To do this, click "Start," "Control Panel," "System and Maintenance" and "Backup and Restore."
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Click the "Set up Backup" button on the right side of the window.
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Select a backup destination from the list of drives. Click on your external hard drive and click the "Next" button located at the bottom of the window.
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Select "Let Windows Choose (Recommended)" when asked what you want to back up. This setting creates a clone of your drive. The other option, "Let Me Choose," merely backs up certain files that you select.
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Click the "Back up Now" button at the bottom of the screen. Enter an administrator password if you are prompted to do so. Your entire hard drive will be cloned onto the external hard drive.
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References
- Photo Credit hard drive internals image by BigDog from Fotolia.com
