I know you aren't my personal tech support. Running chkdsk now I am on windows 8.1. What is the best method of backing up before it is beyond saving?
Get Linux in a flash drive and a drive of equivalent or more space. Plug the hard drive into your computer and boot off the flash drive. Go into terminal and identify which drive is which. This is supremely important. Once you've identified which drive is which, run
>sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb1
But replace the drive names with the names of your drives. "if" is input, "of" is output, and most likely the "dev/s" part will remain the same when you run the command.
>>51244336
Okay I understand all of that. Problem is I don't have another 1TB hard drive. I have to 500GB hard drives. How could I split the clone to 2 drives? I really appreciate the help.
>>51244336
Don't listen to this guy he is trying to wipe ur drive
The freezing trick is best.
Put the drive in a ziplock with about 2 oz of water. Roll it around so the whole thing gets damp.
Freeze for at least 8 hours. I do 24.
Keep the pc unplugged while reattaching, and be ready to copy to another drive or a CD-ROM as soon as you boot!
>>51244336
Disregard that, I'm a faggot.
OP, why do you think your harddrive is failing? Does it make strange noises? If so, get a new one; it's on the brink of death. You can also run SMART tests on your hard drive, these are generally the most thorough diagnostics you can get as a consumer. But it doesn't catch everything.
>>51244356
The only way to clone to two discs is with a raid array. Don't bother. The other option is to get all your files and shit to one drive and shrink your partition to less than 500gb, and then clone.
>>51244371
Don't think it's that far yet. But will keep it in mind. Thanks.
>>51244373
It's dying because I can not access the drive, it takes windows forever to boot. I have tried to access the drive on a liveusb or ubuntu and it gives me errors. My current pending sector count is going up. Will post a picture.
>>51244386
Well then I am screwed there I don't have another 1TB hard drive. Would Acronis work?
>>51244373
^this. Run SMART to figure out what's up with your drive.
how about buying a new hard drive, installing it in your computer, and copying all the files from one drive to the other
idiot
>>51244578
if booting process starts, the files are obviously still there so just use a linux boot disk. any kind will do.
>>51244578
>>51244607
I guess I should make it clear I am booting from an SSD and my external hard drive is plugged into eSATA. The drive I am trying to get data off of.
>>51244618
if windows is installed on the ssd and wont boot, the hdd is fine. it does not matter if the files on that are there, you could also boot with that drive deattached. something must be wrong with the ssd then, or your windows installation.
this is a good time to install gentoo
>>51244641
No. My SSD is fine. The HDD is messing up. I'm only trying to ask how I can backup the entire drive. DD won't work because I don't have another 1TB hard drive to back up to. I do have 2 500GB drives but I only have 2 sata ports.
>>51244664
>I only have 2 sata ports
so?
>>51244664
>plug in dying hdd and 500gb hdd
>copy first 500gb
>switch to next 500gb hdd
>copy the rest
>>51244678
Is it possible to run RAID with that?
>>51244687
How do I do this using DD? Would it be possible to use something else to backup the data? If so care to recommend anything?
