clone to USB pen drive

Can I clone my 160 GB SATA HD to a USB pen drive and back again? My goal is to be able to boot to and use the pen drive just like my regular drive. Then if my SATA HD go’s Kapuut (technical term) I can use the USB pen drive until I get a replacement drive and then clone everything back to the new drive. Also if (when) I get my system so discombobulated (another technical term) that I can’t fix it, I can repartition it and restore it from the USB clone. This actually sounds so easy and convenient that It probably can’t be done very easily if at all?

E330131

Aka John

 

I don't think you're going to find a "pen drive" large enough to hold all the data on it.

Your best bet would be to use a DVD burner and Acronis to create DVD backups.

 

So, I can only clone a hard drive to another hard drive. But I can’t clone to an external hard drive that is connected via USB port. Is that correct? ….. That really blows!
I’m not sure what imaging is but cloning is very convenient if you need to start over.

 

I don't know if this is true or not.

"Personally, I think images are better for backup purposes. Since an image
is a file, you can copy it to CD/DVD if you want, or you could save
chronological versions of your main system on an external hard drive. For
example, let's say your main system is a 250GB drive that's 40GB full. If
your modus operandi is cloning, you'll get one backup on an external 250GB
drive. If you instead use imaging, you can probably fit 10 images on the
same external drive. That gives you the opportunity to retain multiple
versions, such as several monthly or weekly images. "

Using cloning it would seem that you have to have a drive that is the same size as the drive you want to clone.

 

:confused

OK. So, if I replace my HD then I need to make the new one bootable and load whatever program on it to retrieve my image. Or could I have a bootable floppy or CD with the reimaging program on it and do it that way? I think I need to do some research and see what I can find because, I don’t think I understand everything I know about this.:confused
Thanks
E330131
Aka John

 

Hi All,

The drive you are cloning to does not have to be the same size as the cloned drive. It just has to be equal or larger. Not sure about cloning to external drive. Cloning just copies all sectors of the old drive to the new one so really should allow cloning to external. Maybe? I'll try it next time I have a chance.

Good Luck, Jim