Are there any other image programs besides Acronis & Ghost?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mel
  • Start date Start date
So you have made images to an USB drive and had
difficulty trying to restore from it?
Did you try to run image integrity checks?
Click to expand...

Yes. I always verify my backups.
Oh, no, you have said that images were not
showing up on USB drive.
Click to expand...

They were showing up in the preliminary stages when using True Image in
Windows. But once I was in Safe Mode, TI would no longer have the 3
most recent images showing in the TI Restore Wizard, only the earlier 2
images. Even after deleting those earlier images, they STILL were the
only ones showing in TI Safe Mode as being on my E: drive. (Don't ask
how this is possible.)
That gives me an impression that running Linux
based recovery tool with USB drives can lead to
some troubles.

Thank you for sharing that experience with us.
Click to expand...
All I can say to anyone is to save a few images, then make a third and
see if you can recover that last one.

Better find out if you can recover your image before you actually have a
problem.

I cannot begin to figure out this crap. I'll let you know what answer,
if any, Acronis support gives me. Not that it any longer matters to me,
because I have uninstalled the p.o.s. and backed up my C: with XP Pro's
ASR utility, complete with system boot disk. I've had it with the
current crop of imaging programs.
 
Jeesh! I should have stuck with Win 98SE and my singularly dependable
and simple version 2 of Drive Image. However, my wife was always
complaining about the repair costs of the old machine. Now it seems
I'll spend more on trying to find a dependable backup system than I
would have spent on repairing the old 98SE HP machine.
Click to expand...

Why not get yourself a hardware RAID controller and run RAID 1?

The chances of both drives dying simultaneously are pretty slim,
especially if you a) avoid Maxtors and Hitachis and b) mount cooling
fans blowing across the hard drives.


Odie
 
Oh, no, you have said that images were not
They were showing up in the preliminary stages when using True Image in
Windows. But once I was in Safe Mode, TI would no longer have the 3
most recent images showing in the TI Restore Wizard, only the earlier 2
images. Even after deleting those earlier images, they STILL were the
only ones showing in TI Safe Mode as being on my E: drive. (Don't ask
how this is possible.)
Click to expand...

If you used the Rescue Cd you had made in the beginning,
to create images, why you didn't use that CD again to
restore them?

And, why you were using WinXP in Safe Mode?
 
If you used the Rescue Cd you had made in the beginning,
to create images, why you didn't use that CD again to
restore them?
Click to expand...
I misunderstood your question in a previous post. I thought you meant
the boot CD I made. I did not make an image CD. I put the images on 2
outboard USB hard drives, each 275Gigs.
And, why you were using WinXP in Safe Mode?
Click to expand...

That's what I was wondering, but it is what Acronis kicked me into each
time I tried to Restore an image. Drive Image used to put one in DOS to
make an image or to restore an image. According to Acronis, you cannot
make a backup while using Windows itself. But is not one still using
Windows while in Safe Mode. It doesn't make sense to me. Especially
since they continually brag about their "shadow" technology and how it
eliminates the problem of making images while in Windows.

I don't understand these new programs at all. The seem to have lost ease
of functionality with their insistence on using "shadow" technology,
dumping to virtual drives, and other seemingly useful goodies that only
take from their main purpose: making a dependable image which is easily
made and restored. A five-year-old could do it with Drive Image. Of
course now that Norton has "worked it over" into Ghost, it probably
gives techs fits. (I've hated Norton junk since his DOS programs screwed
up my DOS machines years back. I've never used any Norton/Symantec
program since.)

As far as I'm concerned, I have my XP Pro CD with which to reinstall
Windows if need be. I have all my data and program install files backed
up on my two outboard disks, so I'm saying to hell with this stupid
problem. Although, I will post Acronis' answer to this nonsense if and
when I get one.

For the hundredth time: I cannot understand how Powerquest's Drive Image
was so simple and effective, and this new junk is so damn complicated.
Of course I really do know. They screwed up trying to be all things to
all people instead of just doing one simple thing: making and restoring
images.
 
Why not get yourself a hardware RAID controller and run RAID 1?

The chances of both drives dying simultaneously are pretty slim,
especially if you a) avoid Maxtors and Hitachis and b) mount cooling
fans blowing across the hard drives.


Odie
Click to expand...

I already have two outboard drives. As for Maxtor's being not up to
snuff, I've used them for years until they just die of old age. I guess
there are good models and bad models in any line of equipment.
 
I misunderstood your question in a previous post. I thought you meant
the boot CD I made. I did not make an image CD. I put the images on 2
outboard USB hard drives, each 275Gigs.
Click to expand...

No, you did not misunderstood. So check again:
- you have created bootable TI Rescue CD
- you have booted your PC with TI Rescue CD
now you run Linux of that CD
- you have created an image of your internal HD,
and pointed to an external USB drive as image file
location.

Now, to check if you can use that image for recovery,
did you boot your PC with TI Rescue CD again,
and tried to restore previously created image?
That's what I was wondering, but it is what Acronis kicked me into each
time I tried to Restore an image.
Click to expand...

Because you should not boot your PC normally, with WinXP,
but use TI Rescue CD to boot from instead.
Drive Image used to put one in DOS to
make an image or to restore an image. According to Acronis, you cannot
make a backup while using Windows itself. But is not one still using
Windows while in Safe Mode. It doesn't make sense to me. Especially
since they continually brag about their "shadow" technology and how it
eliminates the problem of making images while in Windows.
Click to expand...

You confuse TI image making with TI backup.
They are two different things.
I don't understand these new programs at all. The seem to have lost ease
of functionality with their insistence on using "shadow" technology,
dumping to virtual drives, and other seemingly useful goodies that only
take from their main purpose: making a dependable image which is easily
made and restored. A five-year-old could do it with Drive Image. Of
course now that Norton has "worked it over" into Ghost, it probably
gives techs fits. (I've hated Norton junk since his DOS programs screwed
up my DOS machines years back. I've never used any Norton/Symantec
program since.)
Click to expand...

I have a different opinion about old Ghost, but that's me.
As far as I'm concerned, I have my XP Pro CD with which to reinstall
Windows if need be. I have all my data and program install files backed
up on my two outboard disks, so I'm saying to hell with this stupid
problem. Although, I will post Acronis' answer to this nonsense if and
when I get one.

For the hundredth time: I cannot understand how Powerquest's Drive Image
was so simple and effective, and this new junk is so damn complicated.
Of course I really do know. They screwed up trying to be all things to
all people instead of just doing one simple thing: making and restoring
images.
Click to expand...

I must disagree. But maybe they should have a "light" version -
Rescue CD based only, for people like you, looking for simplicity
rather than additional features.
 
snip
I must disagree. But maybe they should have a "light" version -
Rescue CD based only, for people like you, looking for simplicity
rather than additional features.
Click to expand...
You are right. I have no inclination to go through a 500 page confusing
PDF manual on how to do such a simple thing as backing up a hard drive.
These newer programs - as I have said before, have screwed up in the
effort to make them all things to all people.

Acronis and my $50 are past history. I am staying with XP Pro's
backup system - ASR, complete with boot floppy. If that fails, there is
always my XP Pro OS disk for install.

Again, thanks for trying to enlighten me. : )
 
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