blackbird3216
July 10th, 2011, 11:00 PM
I took out this 120gb HD from an old computer which I recycled. I took out the SATA cable and an IDE cable just in case I would need them for the installation.
This would work great as a backup HD for my current 320gb HD. I have never had a backup HD, so I don't know how it works. I have numbered my concerns to make for easy reference.
1. First, however, is one concern I forgot to address. When I looked up the documentation for my computer (Inspirion 530), it mentions that
"NOTE: For additional drives, extra screws are not shipped during initial purchase of the computer, but are shipped with the additional drives."
This is terrible! Had I known, I would have taken out some screws from the old computer, but now it is gone, and I don't know what kind of screws I need. I don't even know where to buy them.
2. In terms of installing the new HD, I read that all I need to do is connect the SATA cable and the power, and then boot up to BIOS, where I would "activate" my drive. Then, Ubuntu should be able to identify it immediately.
Since I am thinking about doing a fresh install to 10.04, I am thinking about formatting this new drive to ext4, and then backing up my important documents/pictures/music onto this second drive.
Finally, I would boot up to the 10.04 live disc, and simply do a fresh install onto the 320gb HD, knowing that my files are backed up on the 120gb one.
Would this procedure work fine, or would Ubuntu have trouble identifying the HD?
3. My final concern is regarding automatic backups. Assuming that I am able to install the HD perfectly, and get a fresh install of 10.04, I want a program or mechanism to help me backup on a regular basis. I know that Mac users have a convenient program called "Time Machine" but there is no such counterpart for Linux. I also know that there are some command-line utilities that I can use, but I would like to stick with a GUI. Any suggestions?
This would work great as a backup HD for my current 320gb HD. I have never had a backup HD, so I don't know how it works. I have numbered my concerns to make for easy reference.
1. First, however, is one concern I forgot to address. When I looked up the documentation for my computer (Inspirion 530), it mentions that
"NOTE: For additional drives, extra screws are not shipped during initial purchase of the computer, but are shipped with the additional drives."
This is terrible! Had I known, I would have taken out some screws from the old computer, but now it is gone, and I don't know what kind of screws I need. I don't even know where to buy them.
2. In terms of installing the new HD, I read that all I need to do is connect the SATA cable and the power, and then boot up to BIOS, where I would "activate" my drive. Then, Ubuntu should be able to identify it immediately.
Since I am thinking about doing a fresh install to 10.04, I am thinking about formatting this new drive to ext4, and then backing up my important documents/pictures/music onto this second drive.
Finally, I would boot up to the 10.04 live disc, and simply do a fresh install onto the 320gb HD, knowing that my files are backed up on the 120gb one.
Would this procedure work fine, or would Ubuntu have trouble identifying the HD?
3. My final concern is regarding automatic backups. Assuming that I am able to install the HD perfectly, and get a fresh install of 10.04, I want a program or mechanism to help me backup on a regular basis. I know that Mac users have a convenient program called "Time Machine" but there is no such counterpart for Linux. I also know that there are some command-line utilities that I can use, but I would like to stick with a GUI. Any suggestions?