I have used the diskette distributed by Western Digital with every one of their Hard Drives to make a periodic complete backup that I keep in a drawer.

This program was originally intended to copy an entire HD to a larger one, when bought as an upgrade. It can make a duplicate of an entire HD to a second one, even if the second one is smaller.

The second disk has to be set to "slave" with a jumper. A bus connector plug and a power plug are probably drifting in your PC orphaned right now. Immediately after the procedure from diskette, the PC MUST be powered down and the second H disk is removed.

This process yields a "spare" HD that can be plugged into your PC if the regular HD crashes. It contains ALL info that was on the original disk, i.e. the operating system and all programs at the time of duplication. It is a fully functional "C:\" drive.

It may be worth the 150 bucks for a HD to do this kind of backup to store the EXACT contents of your main HD.

-- W (me@home.now), December 24, 1999

Answers

Yup, the EZDRIVE "Copy partition (?)" function is nice, and it works for any OS (I'm pretty sure, I don't have it installed on THIS machine).

The primary use of EZDRIVE is to offer support fo large drives, even on machines who's BIOS doesn't support drives larger than 528 Meg. The copy function is an added bonus.

WDC has since announced a new product (not sure of the name) that replaces EZDRIVE, so I'm not sure if you can still download it from www.wdc.com, but I'm sure EZDRIVE9 (9 being the latest, I think) is on many Shareware sites. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 24, 1999.

The function of choice is *copy drive "HD1" (EZdrive identifies the drive by manufacturer's type number) to "HD2" (EZdrive identifies that drive also*.) This can be done in reverse. PC boots from diskette.

One can then set partition size for the new drive, if more than one partition is required or desired. Fat32 is also possible.

In the past I have used several levels of this program. EZdrive Ver 9.09W came with a 8.4 GB HD. (The $150 indicated in the first posting is of course the price of the HD, not the price of the program...) Don't know what level shareware is available, but I guess most have to purchase a HD for that purpose anyway.)

I hope this helps someone. Gone now,

Merry Christmas!

-- W (me@home.now), December 24, 1999.

As far as I know, EZDRIVE is "freeware" as long as you own a WD drive. Well, I do, and it's in this machine! I just don't need EZDRIVE to support it here, because by BIOS doesn't have a problem, with drives over 528.

But I do have that old 486 server over in the corner. It has an 8 gig IBM drive. Yup, I have EZDRIVE installed on it! Is that a problem?

You can FTP EZDRIVE9 (.09W) from Western Digital, here:

http://www.westerndigital.com/service/ftp/ezdrive/ezdrive9.exe

Be ready. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 24, 1999.

Oh darn, I'm at home, on a "new" 'puter, and don't have my ref handy, yet...

How does one go about that (C) symbol, after Western Digital... <:)))=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 24, 1999.

I know what EZDRIVE is advertised for. I am not pushing EZDRIVE. EZDRIVE *on* our HD is completely useless for the purpose I described (making a *backup HD*.) It may be wonderful for all the other purposes.

But if you want to continue using your precious, personalized software after your HD is trashed beyond recovery, or physically damaged, WITHOUT HAVING TO RE-INSTALL from scatch, you can make a "backup HD" (not a HD backup!) with the WD supplied diskette containing this program. (Insurance!)

I described it, because it is an unconventional but fast way of getting a PC back on line after a HD catastrophy. My experience shows that eventually personalized software (including remediated OS!) becomes invaluable.

-- W (me@home.now), December 24, 1999.

Hi W,

Dude, chill! "I am not pushing EZDRIVE" either! Sheesh, I don't have any stock in the co. I'm just commenting on the original post, I have found it to be a useful tool. Maybe you have had some problems with it, and I feel for ya!

Screw the (C), this is Y2K! I'm willing to offer my comment, based on my experience, when I feel that it will be helpful! Cut me a break!

As YOU said... "I hope this helps someone."

Merry freaking Xmas, dude... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 24, 1999.

EZDRIVE never gave me any problems! I was never interested in the other compatibility solutions that are on this diskette. But I was delighted to find by accident the answer to a simple question that even the PC developers inside (Ixx) could not answer in 1996:

How to make a bootable, fully functional copy of the C:\ drive on a second hard drive.

This program on a bootable diskette answered it. It makes a copy WITHOUT altering anything on the original disk, because it never goes into the OS, never triggers plug and play. Never changes the identity of the individual disks used (master boot records.) Copies contents completely and bootable including the OS.

The *restore* programs that came with my PC would set me back to WIN95 first version, 1996, and completely outdated levels of other software. Backup programs depend on the HD to work in the first place. ZIP drive effort seemed unreasonable.

I still don't know ANY ALTERNATE way to do this kind of COPY.

That's why I shared it. Merry Christmas, Sysman!

-- W (me@home.now), December 25, 1999.

Hi W,

Well, I guess we're in agreement here. I was just confused when you said "EZDRIVE *on* our HD is completely useless for the purpose I described (making a *backup HD*.)"

See ya! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 25, 1999.