Can the EHDD be cloned toanother HDD as a backup?

[rexlan]

Just wondering if I did a bit to bit clone of the external drive if it would work in the event the original HDD failed.

I'd guess Dish has something to prevent it, serial number, etc..

 

[navychop]

In Unix (et al), yes, I've heard there is a way. But it will still only play on your receivers on your account.

It's easier to do what I did: Build a hardware RAID. Invisible to the ViP but you have two (or more) disks of the mirrored data without having to go to the trouble of making a copy.

 

[slammers2121]

I was wondering the same thing. My HDD is starting to make the dreaded click, click, click sound and I wanted to backup everything to a new one. Can that be done?

 

[navychop]

I was wondering the same thing. My HDD is starting to make the dreaded click, click, click sound and I wanted to backup everything to a new one. Can that be done?

If you are referring to the internal drive, just hook up an external HDD and move everything off to it.

If you are referring to an external drive making the clicking noises, move everything you want to save back to the internal drive, and then connect a new EHD and move the content off to that. You might have to do this in several steps if your EHD has more content than will fit on the internal drive.

 

[TheKrell]

I did it no problem with a Live CD of Scientific Linux 5.x after logging in as root. Drag and drop simplicity after plugging in two EHDs. That assumes they have both been formatted by one of your receivers first.

 

[navychop]

The disks do not have to be the same size, do they?

 

[empiretc]

Just wondering if I did a bit to bit clone of the external drive if it would work in the event the original HDD failed.

I'd guess Dish has something to prevent it, serial number, etc..

A bit by bit clone, done correctly, will work under any circumstance.

 

[rthomp03]

In Unix (et al), yes, I've heard there is a way. But it will still only play on your receivers on your account.

It's easier to do what I did: Build a hardware RAID. Invisible to the ViP but you have two (or more) disks of the mirrored data without having to go to the trouble of making a copy.

Navychop,

Did you RAID the ViPs HDD? If so, how did you do it?

 

[StevenD]

Ghost worked just fine for me.

 

[empiretc]

Ghost worked just fine for me.

that is good news for the OP- it will be SUPER fast. a bit-by-bit clone can take days.

 

[TheKrell]

The disks do not have to be the same size, do they?

Cloning techniques that have no knowledge of the file system will require disks of identical size. They do so by copying sectors. (You can't actually address "bits" on a disk.)

Since the EHD is just some number of standard Linux ext3 partitions, then Linux does indeed understand the file system and can copy files. In this case, the disks can be radically different and (if there's room) there is no problem using Linux to copy files.

 

[DishInstallAdam]

I have used ddrescue command to do a bit by bit transfer, it does take a good chunk of time those as stated above.

 

[Smith P.]

I did it no problem with a Live CD of Scientific Linux 5.x after logging in as root. Drag and drop simplicity after plugging in two EHDs. That assumes they have both been formatted by one of your receivers first.

This is fastest way - do copy DishArc folder between drives previously initialized by the DVR (if you want use it) or store to any place; to get back do same way to proper drive.
"Ghost -ir" or other like bit-to-bit methods is wasting time. Actually Ghost can copy EXT [Linux] partitions, just not each version could re-size it.

 

[rexlan]

All great answers. My EHDD is a few years old so it will probably fail sometime. I'm just looking for a way to back it up as I hold all of the movies on it. I only have one receiver.

I don't know how to do the RAID. This may be of general interest. Any chance you can do a tutorial on how to set this up?

 

[empiretc]

This is fastest way - do copy DishArc folder between drives previously initialized by the DVR (if you want use it) or store to any place; to get back do same way to proper drive.
"Ghost -ir" or other like bit-to-bit methods is wasting time. Actually Ghost can copy EXT [Linux] partitions, just not each version could re-size it.

For the OP's situation, yes, this would be wasting time. Have not done it personally, but it is good to know you do not need to do a bit-by-bit clone for this to work.

All great answers. My EHDD is a few years old so it will probably fail sometime. I'm just looking for a way to back it up as I hold all of the movies on it. I only have one receiver.

I don't know how to do the RAID. This may be of general interest. Any chance you can do a tutorial on how to set this up?

For RAID, a NAS unit will be the easiest, but it will cost some $$$.

Get a new drive and clone it. Since ghosting works, any of the freebie utilities out there will work as well. It will fast, easy, and cheap- just how we like them......

 

[rexlan]

Get a new drive and clone it. Since ghosting works, any of the freebie utilities out there will work as well. It will fast, easy, and cheap- just how we like them......

I have Acronis True Image and Western Digital Data Lifeguard ... will that work?

So .... I buy another EHDD and have the VIP format it.

Then do I plug both of these EHDD's into my computer and run Acronis?

Will it see these HDD's?

Thanks

 

[navychop]

Navychop,

Did you RAID the ViPs HDD? If so, how did you do it?

Not the internal drive. I have an external enclosure meant for the purpose with two (IIRC)1 TB WD Blacks. The enclosure handles the RAID function in hardware. Yes, it's a bit slower in transfer, but is way more than fast enough to watch programming stored on it directly.

 

[navychop]

All great answers. My EHDD is a few years old so it will probably fail sometime. I'm just looking for a way to back it up as I hold all of the movies on it. I only have one receiver.

I don't know how to do the RAID. This may be of general interest. Any chance you can do a tutorial on how to set this up?

I believe this is the drive enclosure I used, with two identical 3.5" SATA 1TB WD Blacks. Do not use greens in a RAID array. The enclosure talks to the ViPs via USB, of course.

Yes, a bit pricey. But I've gotten years of use out of it. Just follow the directions to set up RAID 1, and the following:
-set the DIP switches with the unit off and no drives installed. I think it was two up and two down, but the instructions, at least on this point, are clear.
-turn it on and hold down the reset button for 10 seconds.
-turn it off and install your drives.

Each model of RAID enclosure will have it's own way of being set up, of course. The above is for the specific model I linked.

The ViP just sees one drive, and the enclosure ensures both are formatted.

I had tried a different enclosure before, but it simply didn't work and I had to return it. It seems there are some cheap RAID enclosures that do not work with DVRs.

 

[rexlan]

Thanks for the information ... going to order one