Installing OS with two HDDs causes backup disk imaging problem

We were recently called to a customer’s home whom was having problems using the “create disk image” backup utility of their Windows 7 computer.

When the utility looked for drives to backup the image to, the second internal HDD (Hard Disk Drive) was not shown under the “Where do you want to save the backup?” dialog.

The customer complained that this had been the case from when they bought the computer and were now wanting to create a backup image of their primary HDD.

The second HDD was visible in Windows Explorer but not in the backup utility.

The reason for this behaviour is when the Windows 7 OS (Operating System) was being installed, part of the system files were automatically installed on the secondary HDD. Unfortunately, once the OS is installed, there is no way to change this behaviour or to move the files back to the primary drive

Therefore, Windows 7 would not allow this secondary HDD to be utilised to house a disk image.

The only way to rectify this dilemma is to physically disconnect the secondary HDD and reinstall the OS.

After this was done, the secondary HDD now appeared as a backup drive.

 

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