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    T61 - Ultrabay, Raid &/or Backup Strategy

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Georgia Mike, Jun 25, 2008.

  1. Georgia Mike

    Georgia Mike Newbie

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    I have a T61 coming to me and I have 320GB 7200 Fujitsu HD sitting on my desk. I'd LOVE to pop in the Fujutsu and put the other drive in an Ultrabay and set up RAID 1. Ive been reading up on it and it seems T61s dont have a raid contoller on the motherboard and my only option would be to purchase an aftermarket "soft: raid controller. This just wont do b/c I can not afford the overhead on the machine.

    My basic need is that I need two bootable drives. This is a demo machine and I need 100% assurance I can fire it up and use it. Without RAID 1, what is my best option to utilize two HDs in the T61? I can live with a nightly backup from one drive to the other but the second drive must be bootable. I am unsure of how to do a bit for bit backup from one drive to another or how to get the machine to boot off the second drive if the first one fails.

    Any help is most appreciated. Thx.
     
    Georgia Mike, Jun 25, 2008
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  2. lazyart

    lazyart Notebook Enthusiast

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    Booting from the ultrabay is as simple as hitting F12 on startup and selecting the alternate boot device.

    As for mirroring, you would probably want to use Norton Ghost to create a bootable USB key, then create a batch file that on boot will kick off the copy session. And you'd have to remember to do it nightly, weekly, or whatever interval you can live with.

    Should the main drive go down, do the F12 thing to boot into the backup system. While waiting for a replacement drive, install the good bootable drive as the main (so you don't have to hit F12 every boot). Put the replacement drive when it arrives as the backup, then go back to your usual backup routine.
     
    lazyart, Jun 25, 2008
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