Backup copy of system

  • Thread starter Thread starter William B. Lurie
  • Start date Start date
W

William B. Lurie

I'm well aware of the licensing agreements, but I
still prefer to have an exact copy of my hard drive
that I can switch in, should my master drive give
up the ghost. I bought a new Western Digital EIDE
drive and used their Data Lifeguard Tools CD
Version 11.0, which came with it, to copy my whole
C: drive to the new drive. I'd like to set it up
and make it bootable so that all I have to do, when
the time comes to bury its antecedent, is plug it
in, in place of the defunct drive. In my own
provincial way, I do not consider this to be in
violation of the EULA. I'm not asking for advice
on that latter subject, but I'd appreciate learning
how to substitute the copy for the original.
 
This is not a violation of the EULA. I'm not certain why you think it is

Just copy the old drive to the new drive. If the Life Guard Tool makes an
exact copy of the drive like other drive copy programs (Ghost or Drive
Image ) then all you'll have to do later to swap drives is ensure the new
drive is jumpered as master and swap it out for the old one. You can easily
check by simply disconnecting the old drive and connecting the new drive and
booting the computer.
 
Harry said:
This is not a violation of the EULA. I'm not certain why you think it is

Just copy the old drive to the new drive. If the Life Guard Tool makes an
exact copy of the drive like other drive copy programs (Ghost or Drive
Image ) then all you'll have to do later to swap drives is ensure the new
drive is jumpered as master and swap it out for the old one. You can easily
check by simply disconnecting the old drive and connecting the new drive and
booting the computer.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Harry. The reason I thought it might be, is that I've
read many postings in this newsgroup leading me to that
conclusion. As for Ghost, I "tried it, didn't like it". I did
one with Drive Image 7 and it loused up my MBR and PowerQuest
had no way to repair it. I just did as you suggest using Western
Digital's copy software, and it boots up part way, into the
light blue XP welcome screen and hangs there. I suppose I could
try Safe Mode or Boot from CD, but thought I'd ask first. I've been
intending to use FIXMBR in the Recovery Console on my Master with
the MBR problem, but I want to have a guaranteed usable backup copy
before I do. Ergo my query.
Bill L.
 
William B. Lurie said:
Thanks, Harry. The reason I thought it might be, is that I've
read many postings in this newsgroup leading me to that
conclusion. As for Ghost, I "tried it, didn't like it". I did
one with Drive Image 7 and it loused up my MBR and PowerQuest
had no way to repair it. I just did as you suggest using Western
Digital's copy software, and it boots up part way, into the
light blue XP welcome screen and hangs there. I suppose I could
try Safe Mode or Boot from CD, but thought I'd ask first. I've been
intending to use FIXMBR in the Recovery Console on my Master with
the MBR problem, but I want to have a guaranteed usable backup copy
before I do. Ergo my query.
Bill L.
Click to expand...

It really shouldn't take all that effort, should it !!!

Is there no way of creating and then saving a couple of restore points (to
save them from being written over at a later date)?
I have in mind immediately after a fresh install and another after the
installation of *office* and any other major software.

....or doesn't it work like that?
I'm never sure _exactly_ what is kept and _exactly_ what is discarded after
a restore.
 
You cannot permanently save a restore point. They are first in first out as
the space allocated for System Restore is used up. System Restore is of no
use in the OP's situation. If what he does renders the system unbootable,
he would not be able to access System Restore.
 
Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/User) said:
You cannot permanently save a restore point.
Click to expand...

I thought not :-(
That would be far too simple!
They are first in first out as
the space allocated for System Restore is used up. System Restore is of no
use in the OP's situation. If what he does renders the system unbootable,
he would not be able to access System Restore.
Click to expand...

True! :-)
 
You could probably do it with GoBack though the same issue would apply.
You'd have the saved restore point but if the system were rendered
unbootable, you would not be able to access GoBack unless it has some means
of restore from outside XP. I'm not familiar enough with the application to
know whether or not it contains that function.
 
William B. Lurie said:
Thanks, Harry. The reason I thought it might be, is that I've
read many postings in this newsgroup leading me to that
conclusion. As for Ghost, I "tried it, didn't like it". I did
one with Drive Image 7 and it loused up my MBR and PowerQuest
had no way to repair it. I just did as you suggest using Western Digital's
copy software, and it boots up part way, into the
light blue XP welcome screen and hangs there. I suppose I could
try Safe Mode or Boot from CD, but thought I'd ask first. I've been
intending to use FIXMBR in the Recovery Console on my Master with
the MBR problem, but I want to have a guaranteed usable backup copy before
I do. Ergo my query.
Bill L.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your grief. I've used both Drive Image and Ghost
numerous times with great success. One thing you can try is running a Repair
Install to fix the boot problem but I realize that is not your objective.
You simply wish to create a backup or exact duplicate. When you ran Ghost
did you boot with the Ghost floppy and then go to Local->Drive to Drive?
 
I'm well aware of the licensing agreements, but I
still prefer to have an exact copy of my hard drive
that I can switch in, should my master drive give
up the ghost. I bought a new Western Digital EIDE
drive and used their Data Lifeguard Tools CD
Version 11.0, which came with it, to copy my whole
C: drive to the new drive. I'd like to set it up
and make it bootable so that all I have to do, when
the time comes to bury its antecedent, is plug it
in, in place of the defunct drive. In my own
provincial way, I do not consider this to be in
violation of the EULA. I'm not asking for advice
on that latter subject, but I'd appreciate learning
how to substitute the copy for the original.
Click to expand...

- Use ghost, or some such tool to clone the disk.
- Swap it into your machine,
- disconnect your machine from the internet,
- Boot it to make sure it works. You have 30 days to register,
which you are not going to do right now.
- Put the old disk back.
- Put a label on the disk with the current date on it.

Put the disk on the shelf and hope you never need it. If you do, set
the CMOS clock to the day you made the disk _BEFORE_ you install the
disk and boot it. It should register just fine, at worst you'll have
to talk to the nice person at MS, and since the only thing that's
changed is the disk drive they have no reason to doubt your story.
 
Back
Top