Data backup for T510: from one SSD to anther SSD

Hi, I recently upgraded my T510's 500GB hard drive to a 500GB Samsung SSD. This upgrade makes my T510 quiet and cool, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I have a lot of important work and personal data on this 500GB SSD. I am going to do constant backups for it.

I am thinking about buying a 480GB SanDisk SSD (because there is a deal going on in eBay about this SSD) as backup drive.

Here is my PLANNED backup process.

I have a USB 2.0 to SATA 7+15 Pin 22 Pin Adapter Cable for 2.5" inch HDD Hard Disk Drive bought at ebay ( USB 2 0 to SATA 7 15 Pin 22 Pin Adapter Cable for 2 5" inch HDD Hard Disk Drive | eBay).
I will use this cable to connect the SanDisk SSD to my T510.

I will use Acronis True Image Home (2010) to clone my Samsung SSD ( 500GB) onto the SanDisk SSD ( 480GB).

This is just my thinking, but I dont have any experience. Here are my questions:

1. How long will it take approximately? I have about 300GB data on my Samsung dive.The duration is what I am most concerned about, which is why I am looking for a SSD as backup drive.
What could be the duration if I use 750GB Seagate Momentus XT 2.5" SATA NCQ 7200 RPM Internal Solid State Hybrid Drive SSD ( Amazon.com: Seagate Momentus XT 750 GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 32 MB Cache 2.5-Inch Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive Retail Kit STBD750100: Computers & Accessories) as the backup drive?

2. Is there any problem with cloning a 500GB drive to 480GB drive? What are the things I need to careful about?

3. Is this process reasonable or doable? Or odd or stupid way of doing backups my situation? Or how do you usually back up your drives (SSD or disks)?

Thanks so much for any input!

Regards.

 

And fast!

I just want to add a few points for your consideration:

• If you plan to do regular backups of your data (i.e. personal folders and files), you have Acronis save each backup as a file on an external hard drive. You don't need a SSD. Usually, such an external drive can be large enough (say, 1TB) to hold a series of backup files over a period of time. For example, I do a monthly backup of all my personal documents and keep six successive backup files.

• If you plan to back up the system image, you don't need a SSD. You can do a backup after you have set up everything to your liking: the OS, the drivers, the applications, the settings, and so on. Such a backup can be done once, and it is also saved as a file on an external drive. If the system eventually gets messed up for some crazy reason, you can restore the system image from that backup file onto the existing SSD, using Acronis.

• You do a SSD-to-SSD clone only if you want to make a bootable duplicate of the existing SSD. Is this what you intend to do?

How long does it take? About 15 minutes.

For external backup drive, consider this or this.

 

Kaso, thanks for your reply and information.

You are talking about SSD to SSD backup, correct? I really want this type of speed.

So, if I use Acronis to do a SSD-to-SSD clone, th backup SSD is ALWASY bootable duplicate, correct? I think being bootable takes more space on the backup SSD. Anything else wrong about being bootable?

I will buy a large external drive and will do what you are doing. Do you know how long it approximately takes to backup 300GB data from my T510's Samsung SSD to a USB 3.0 external hard drive?

Thanks!

 

No, that's the average time-to-completion for a typical backup of user files from an internal drive to an external drive.

Why do you want to do backup on an expensive (and typically not so big) SSD?

"More space"? "Wrong"? What were you talking about? That's what "cloning" mean: an exact duplicate. So, if the source drive is bootable, the target (cloned) drive will be bootable.

You're still confused between "cloning" and "making a backup."

Try it and see. Why "how long" a concern? Do you work around the clock? The important thing is the backup. You can let it run while you take a nap, do your laundry, whatever. Heck, let it run overnight while you sleep.

 

Kaso, thanks for your reply. Now I understand everything.

Best.

 

My W520 with a 256Gb SSD and 240Gb of data while making a Acronis 2012 backup image to a USB 3.0 external drive took about 5 hours. After that first full image I then make incremental backups which of course are much shorter. I made one today that took about an hour. If I create a clone with Acronis from the primary bay to the ultrabay it took less than an hour. 45 minutes or so last I checked.

Brad

 

In my opinion, using a SSD for backup on USB2.0 is pointless, USB2.0 will give you 40 MB/s of transfer rates at best. Sure randoms will still be better than a HDD, but at the slow sequential speeds for the initial backup, I'd say not worth it. On USB3.0, you'll get faster sequential writes than on a HDD, but I don't see a reason to spend a ton of cash on a SSD only for backup purposes, I'd stick to a HDD for that. SATA to SATA would be the fastest method and you likely have an eSATA port on your thinkpad anyways.