How about this bit of kit.

[Mychael]

Trying to copy/paste here. Excuse if you see a blank page.

Drive Enclosures> External> USB & FireWire
USB 2.0 & eSATA Docking & Cloning Station for 2.5" & 3.5" SATA Hard Drives

Dual bay hard drive docking station with stand-alone cloning feature!

This handy cloning station is ideal for system builders/integrators, computer technicians and IT departments. As well as acting as an external hard drive for 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard disks it is also a convenient cloning station. It easily makes bit by bit clones (including Operating System and Partitions) of source HDDs onto target HDDs making it perfect for upgrading to larger capacity HDDs!

The docking functionality allows bare HDDs, up to 2TB in capacity, to be connected to a computer via eSATA (3Gbps) or USB 2.0 (480Mbps). Data recovery and backups are done without the hassle of installation. The dual bay design allows two hard drives to be connected simultaneously, so that data can be copied between multiple drives of different types as 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives are supported natively.

• Standalone cloning functionality, no computer required
• Full bitwise cloning including MBR and EISA partitions
• Dual Bay design accepts either 2.5" or 3.5" SATA disk drives
• High speed USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces
• Power supply and connection cables included
• Compatible with Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS 8.6 & above

 

[Ian]

These units are pretty handy if you're often taking PC's to bits I've got one similar to this, but without the cloning feature.

It saves so much time if I need to recover data from a drive, without needing to open up my case. I guess it's not much use to most home users, but a really handy tool for some users.

 

[Nibiru2012]

These units are pretty handy if you're often taking PC's to bits I've got one similar to this, but without the cloning feature.

It saves so much time if I need to recover data from a drive, without needing to open up my case. I guess it's not much use to most home users, but a really handy tool for some users.

Ian - for us uber geeks it is a necessity! LOL! I use a little bit different setup but it still works very similar to this one shown.

 

[TrainableMan]

An important thing to note with these dual HDD versions; if I understand this correctly, your BIOS must have Port Multiplier Support. This is the ability to connect multiple SATA HDs to a single SATA port and the controller still be able to recognize the individual devices.

I just ordered one so I guess I'll find out if I have the PM support.

I also ordered an esata bracket because the esata connection can be up to 7 times faster than USB.

 

[catilley1092]

That eSATA bracket is what I'm getting, too. There's one that you can plug as many as five eSATA devices in. All that I would need then are external drive cases (with eSATA connectors) and eSATA cables. I even plan to get a small (120GB) IDE drive for one of those cases, so that I can finally run XP Pro on here without having to install it in a VM.

As far as that docking station goes, that looks like a great addition to any system.

Cat

 

[TrainableMan]

I ordered a dual eSATA bracket, it's just $5. I probably would have been fine with a single; personally I can't ever see the need to use 5 eSATA ports, especally with multiple drive units (like this dual) available to use a single eSATA port connection. Plus the type I bought is just a bracket, not a PCI card, so internally they have to be plugged into the MOBO and my MOBO does not have 5 free SATA slots.

BTW, this particular type enclosure is strictly for SATA drives. For your IDE drive you need an enclosure that includes a circuit board to convert IDE; and most of the ones I have seen use USB out so you want to make sure it offers eSATA out.

 

[catilley1092]

Mabye what I'm speaking of is different. You plug it directly to your SATA connection (power & data). There are five eSATA ports, much like converting one power outlet into five by plugging in a power strip. In my case, I would have to place my drive into a case, being that I have only one SATA connection, and that one connects to my hard drive. This way, I'll just install all of my drives into cases. I would only have the power switched onto one drive at a time, so I don't see much of a bottleneck. Clifford showed me the part, I have it bookmarked on my other drive, so that I can easily find it.

As far as that small IDE drive goes, I can use a small SATA drive just as well. I would have to clone the disc, using Acronis True Image, moving Win 2K & XP Pro onto it. I just don't know if Windows Update will give me the right drivers for XP on this computer. If not, I'll be stuck running it in a VM.

 

[TrainableMan]

If you have a PCI-e (1x) slot you might try something like this for $150 (it does not even use a MOBO SATA connection) ...
http://www.satasite.com/5-bay-hardware-raid-enclosure-am5baypmtl.htm

But if you truly only care about using one drive at a time you could save money by simply adding a SATA to eSATA bracket for under $5 and then a single unit similar to the dual above, about $25, and slip them in and out.

 

[Mychael]

The thing I like about the unit I was showing is that it can work standalone, does not need a PC to operate, So I'm thinking that while my computer is running fine again ATM I could whip out the System drive and make a perfect duplicate of it, programs files and O/S. Then if my system drive ever fails I can pull it out and stick the other one in and be going in minutes. i plan on buying one of those devices, I'll report back once I get it and use it.

 

[yodap]

So I'm thinking that while my computer is running fine again ATM I could whip out the System drive and make a perfect duplicate of it, programs files and O/S. Then if my system drive ever fails I can pull it out and stick the other one in and be going in minutes.

Of course this can be accomplished with cloning software as well.

But the device looks cool!

 

[Mychael]

True, but I've always had mixed results doing it that way, probably operator error :-(.
What appealed to me most about this is it can work outside of the O/S so no chance of locked files/files in use type errors.. Straight (well if the information is to be believed) disk to disk copy.

 

[catilley1092]

What if the disc had serious file errors on it, such as my notebook does? It frequently goes into chkdsk at startup, and I have to run chkdsk /r at least twice a week. Will the cloning device copy the bad, as well as the good? I do know that with backups it does.

 

[Mychael]

I would think so, it's essentially a carbon copy. If done offline outside the O/S, it's simply imaging one drive to the other.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I would think so, it's essentially a carbon copy. If done offline outside the O/S, it's simply imaging one drive to the other.

Inside the OS or outside the OS, it really doesn't matter. The drive either has errors or it doesn't. Cloning the drive will copy bit for bit regardless of errors. However copying a damaged hard drive could take a long time to complete that is if it ever does complete. If the drive is damaged to badly, cloning maybe out of the question.

Personally I wouldn't trust a cloned OS from a damaged hard drive. Under those conditions I would only clone to save data and then do a clean install or system restore.

 

[catilley1092]

I have to agree. There's no way that I would even think of placing a copy of the OS's that's on my dying disc onto a new one. A fresh, clean install of the OS & it's programs would be best. Only your personal data should be retained.

That must explain why it's taking me so long to backup now, it's taking an hour to do what it used to do in 15 minutes. And one of the backups was corrupted, and wouldn't install back on the drive. I was wondering what was going on.

 

[Mychael]

Well I tried the cloning function and it's brilliant. I'm typing this message now running the O/S from the cloned drive. It booted up normally and everything is exactly the same. The O/S noticed the new drive serial number but otherwise identicle.

Cloning action took about 8 mins for around 28 gig.
All so easy, the only worry I have is you cannot see what your doing when your inserting the drive into the dock , you have to hope your getting the pins on square.

This was standalone, no PC or operating system involved.

To my mind it's the infinately perfect backup, if my MOBO were to never die I could keep this O/S going as it is for a very long time.

Data is allready on other drives with external backup.