backup options?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tofu Chica
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Tofu Chica

I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
 
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

A second hard drive on a removeable tray has worked out well for me
over several years. It's a inexpensive and reliable approach. I use
XXCOPY to clone my main drive:

http://www.xxcopy.com/

Most all the information you need is available somewhere or another at
that site. However, XXCOPY is a command line utility. If you prefer a
GUI backup program instead, there are several free ones available.

BTW, take a look at my web site for malware prevention ideas. There's
no reason for anyone to ever get infected by a virus.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
A second hard drive on a removeable tray has worked out well for me
over several years. It's a inexpensive and reliable approach. I use
XXCOPY to clone my main drive:

http://www.xxcopy.com/

Most all the information you need is available somewhere or another at
that site. However, XXCOPY is a command line utility. If you prefer a
GUI backup program instead, there are several free ones available.

BTW, take a look at my web site for malware prevention ideas. There's
no reason for anyone to ever get infected by a virus.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
Click to expand...

Also, if you are willing to pay for a drive backup program, I have found
that Norton Ghost works very well. I have never had any problems with it and
it's very easy to use.
 
(e-mail address removed) (Tofu Chica) wrote in
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

Check out the software that comes with various CD/DVD drives. Some include
backup options that can copy your whole drive. Or make selected partial
backups.

A web site with choices:

http://free-backup-software.net/recovery/backup-drive-software.htm
 
Tofu Chica said in news:[email protected]:
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

You don't mention your version of Windows (if that is your operating
system).

Use System Restore before and after you do anything major. It might
trigger when you do an install, but do one before the install and make
sure there was one done after the install. Do one before and after you
edit the registry (besides exporting the keys you plan to delete or
modify).

Save disk images. These are partition based and will provide an exact
copy of your partition. Make sure to save physical images (which read
sectors) since logical images have to read the files, will not lay the
files down in the same locations as before, and may not work with
EFS-protected folders and files For Ghost, you must use the /IA
parameter to do save a physical image (but Ghost doesn't skip unused
sectors so its image will be much larger than one created using
DriveImage). Note that Symantec bought Powerquest so Symantec now owns
both Ghost and DriveImage. These products save an image of a partition.
If the disk imaging software doesn't include a copy of the MBR (sector
0) or all of track 0 (since some boot managers extend into the unused
portion of track 0, especially if they support more than 4 partitions),
use a tool to backup the MBR or track 0, like the mbrutil from
Powerquest (it's the head.zip file on ftp.symantec.com under a 'pq'
directory), MBRtool, or whatever you like.

Use a backup program but one that provides compression. This will
perform logical backups (because it reads the files). The NT Backup
utility in Windows NT/2000/XP provides compression but ONLY if the
hardware supports it; i.e., it will turn on the feature in the hardware
to have it to the compression, like when using tapes, but it won't do
the compression itself. Without compression, your backups will be as
large as the files you save (minus perhaps the slack space). The backup
utility in Windows XP will do shadow copying so inuse files will get
included in the backup, like your registry files. xcopy won't do that
(don't know about XXcopy I'd rather apply the $40 towards a real backup
program). The NT Backup utility provided in NT-based versions of
Windows is a crippled version for Veritas' Backup Exec but Veritas sold
off the personal backup tool to Stomp where it is now called Backup
MyPC. While disk images are great for disaster recovery, they suck to
yanking out just a couple files plus they can get slower than tape when
logically yanking out thousands of files from a physical image fileset.
Logical backups, like to tape, CD, DVD, or into a different partition or
to a different hard drive are more convenient for grabbing individual
files. Images are for disaster recovery. Backups are for file recovery
whether due to disaster or a user accidentally deleting a file or
folder.
 
Tofu Chica said:
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

Safer computing practices. I'm sure someone will post a link to
the Claymania "safe hex" page. Lots of ggod general info as well
as leads to follow for AV programs.

....but I'm more curious about the virus that eats harddrives.
 
Tofu said:
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

You did not mention your OS. Over the years, at home and at work, I have
used a 2nd hard drive and either Norton Ghost or the NTbackup that comes
with Win2000 or WinXP. Backing up to CD's is too much trouble which is why
I recommend a 2nd HD.

Steve
 
I just tragically lost my whole hard drive due to a virus. Since I
*can't* go through that again, I'm looking for backup solutions for my
new machine. Can you guys recommend anything?
Click to expand...

Were the drives re-formatted by the virus? I've had that happen and
lost the contents of both hard drives that were on-line, thanks to
Chode. Wish I had had PC Inspector, Drive Rescue, or Handy Recovery
(all freeware) to recover critical data from the formatted drives.

Now I use a drive drawer and Ghost an image every 30 days or so, plus
a USB drive I keep off-line until needed for key files (Quicken,
QuickBooks), backed up immediately after use. The drive drawer remains
powered off until needed for back-ups/restores. I sometimes put the
regular plus cloned drives on-line at the same time, to restore
selected files, after booting the Win98 partition if they are Win2K OS
files. I also copy my Winnt directory (using the Win98 partition)
periodically, and use ERUNT in Win2K before trying out programs that
may trash the registry.

With drives getting so large (and full) these days, burning images to
CD is no longer feasible on a regular basis. Drives are getting so
cheap, it's more effective to Ghost an image and keep it off-line.
Would be prudent to keep one off site, too, but I haven't been that
thorough. DrvImagerXP is a freeware program for cloning drives,
although I've never tried it.

Cheers,
Larry
 
Try Xdrive. Their desktop utility makes for really easy backup! You
can get 50 MB free, more for pretty cheap. I have my important
documents and photos on Xdrive, and it's great because I can access
the documents from anywhere with an internet connection and I can
share the photos with my friends and family without clogging my inbox.
Really a great resource, I suggest you give it a look here.

The thing is that the free 50mb accounts are hidden. After you sign
up and get the confirmation email, the link in the email brings to you
a page with "Not ready to give us your credit card yet?" at the
bottom. If you click on that, you'll get to the free accounts.
Complicated, but definitely worth it!

Try it here:
http://www.xdrive.com/partners/?p=gulk&gcid=gu_lk_gogr
 
Bootitng from bootitng.com is an inexpensive program that will do image
backup, partitioning and multi os management. I have been using it for a
number of years. I image os to cd's and use a file backup program or winzip
for data. A usb hd would be ideal, bootitng supports these. Take a look at
their website, bootitng.com
Dave Cohen
 
Dave Cohen said in
Bootitng from bootitng.com is an inexpensive program that will do
image backup, partitioning and multi os management. I have been using
it for a number of years. I image os to cd's and use a file backup
program or winzip for data. A usb hd would be ideal, bootitng
supports these. Take a look at their website, bootitng.com
Dave Cohen
Click to expand...

Now that Symantec, a known software predator, has bought up Powerquest,
and since other products they have purchased have vaporized in a year or
two, or waned so badly in development that their components become
unsafe, unstable, or surpassed by free alternatives, I have my doubt
about the survivability of PartitionMagic and DriveImage. I remember
looking at Bootit NG about a month ago.

I could not see anything in Bootit NG that described how it handles
unused sectors and if it really saves a physical disk image (by sector)
or a logical disk image (by having to use the file system to read the
file, like Ghost does by default). DriveImage will skip unused sectors
so as to not waste the space in its image fileset whereas Ghost, when
using its /IA parameter to switch to saving a physical disk image, will
include them so its image fileset is a lot larger than the one created
by DriveImage. Because I don't want to logical read the files through a
file system when restoring the partition, I want to save physical disk
images. Does Bootit NG not only compress the saved data in the image
fileset but does it also skip the unused sectors (i.e., record them but
not include them)? Does it create a physical disk image? If it
performs both a logical and physical save, which is the default?
 
IfYouOnlyKnew said in
Try Xdrive. Their desktop utility makes for really easy backup! You
can get 50 MB free, more for pretty cheap. I have my important
documents and photos on Xdrive, and it's great because I can access
the documents from anywhere with an internet connection and I can
share the photos with my friends and family without clogging my inbox.
Really a great resource, I suggest you give it a look here.

The thing is that the free 50mb accounts are hidden. After you sign
up and get the confirmation email, the link in the email brings to you
a page with "Not ready to give us your credit card yet?" at the
bottom. If you click on that, you'll get to the free accounts.
Complicated, but definitely worth it!

Try it here:
http://www.xdrive.com/partners/?p=gulk&gcid=gu_lk_gogr
Click to expand...

Once you upload a file into your Xdrive account, can you simply provide
a link to it (provided it is in a publicly accessible folder) so other
users can click on the link and download the file? If so, does the user
also have to open their own Xdrive account before they can actually
download the file, or can they just click on the link and get the
download without any hassles? For the freebie account at Xdrive, what
is the per-day or per-month bandwidth quota (i.e., the maximum bytes
that can be uploaded or downloaded in a day or month)?

I currently upload large files to my personal web space provided by my
ISP (or use a freebie personal web page). Then I can simply provided a
link to it in my e-mail. Instead of stupidly using e-mail as a
substitute for FTP (because the file size grows when converted to ASCII
to encode it within the e-mail and because e-mail servers are usually
throttled to ensure a minimum level of performance across all concurrent
connections), and instead of infuriating a recipient with having to wait
for a huge e-mail to download who may not want the attachment or wants
to get it later, I give them a link to it in my e-mail. The 50MB
freebie account at Xdrive might prove to be a good solution to get a bit
more disk space (my personal web page with my ISP is limited to 10MB and
probably also has a per-day or per-month bandwidth threshold).

However, I won't bother using Xdrive (for links in e-mail) if its use
forces the recipients to also sign up for an Xdrive account. I want to
make it easy to get the file should the recipient chose to do so, and I
definitely do not want to penalize them by making them sign up for
Xdrive's service when all they want to do is get my file from my
account.
 
*Vanguard* said in news:BHJvc.1456$Sw.620@attbi_s51:
IfYouOnlyKnew said in


Once you upload a file into your Xdrive account, can you simply
provide a link to it (provided it is in a publicly accessible folder)
so other users can click on the link and download the file? If so,
does the user also have to open their own Xdrive account before they
can actually download the file, or can they just click on the link
and get the download without any hassles? For the freebie account at
Xdrive, what is the per-day or per-month bandwidth quota (i.e., the
maximum bytes that can be uploaded or downloaded in a day or month)?

I currently upload large files to my personal web space provided by my
ISP (or use a freebie personal web page). Then I can simply provided
a link to it in my e-mail. Instead of stupidly using e-mail as a
substitute for FTP (because the file size grows when converted to
ASCII to encode it within the e-mail and because e-mail servers are
usually throttled to ensure a minimum level of performance across all
concurrent connections), and instead of infuriating a recipient with
having to wait for a huge e-mail to download who may not want the
attachment or wants to get it later, I give them a link to it in my
e-mail. The 50MB freebie account at Xdrive might prove to be a good
solution to get a bit more disk space (my personal web page with my
ISP is limited to 10MB and probably also has a per-day or per-month
bandwidth threshold).

However, I won't bother using Xdrive (for links in e-mail) if its use
forces the recipients to also sign up for an Xdrive account. I want
to make it easy to get the file should the recipient chose to do so,
and I definitely do not want to penalize them by making them sign up
for Xdrive's service when all they want to do is get my file from my
account.
Click to expand...

Okay, just did a trial of Xdrive. Really slow web interface. You have
to divulge a valid e-mail address to get their confirmation e-mail to
activate your account, so I generated an alias using Sneakemail just to
be sure that if I start getting spammed from Xdrive then I know it was
them since they are the only recipient of that unique e-mail alias.

I created a folder and made it shared (i.e., publicly accessible).
However, you cannot provide a URL link to a file in the folder. Instead
you can only provide a link to the folder itself which requires a web
browser open that page (so the recipient of your e-mail telling about
the file will have to pick it out of those listed). Also, and what
really pisses me off (I forgot why I passed on Xdrive but remembered
after checking it out again. What pisses me off about Xdrive is that a
recipient of your link to your public folder has to register at Xdrive
to get YOUR files in YOUR account that you have ALREADY registered for!
Fark them. I'm not going to make my buddies sign up for an Xdrive
account to get my files even if they were the ones asking for them. I
rarely need to send big files anyway. I'm not into stealing, er,
borrowing music, movies, or other multimedia content and the only time I
transfer big files is to my friends or buddies that I'm working with on
some project and they need the source code or a compiled version.

One, Xdrive does NOT get to find out my real e-mail address. Two, their
web interface is really slow. Yeah, maybe there is some client-side
software you can use but one point that was made is that you can access
your files from elswhere and you shouldn't be going around installing
Xdrive's software on every remote host you use, so you're stuck with
their slow web interface. Three, and a killer despite the other
problems, is that no one can get at the files you want to share unless
they first also sign up for an Xdrive account. I'm not going to open my
computer up by running Bit Torrent or some other peer-to-peer file
sharing program. I might keep the Xdrive account alive for my own
personal use in having a remote file store of 50MB but it's not
something that I'll bother to use for sharing files with other users. I
knew there was a reason why I passed on Xdrive when I checked it out
before. Making users register to open yet another account to yank files
from an existing account was the reason.
 
IfYouOnlyKnew said in
Try Xdrive. Their desktop utility makes for really easy backup! You
can get 50 MB free, more for pretty cheap. I have my important
documents and photos on Xdrive, and it's great because I can access
the documents from anywhere with an internet connection and I can
share the photos with my friends and family without clogging my inbox.
Really a great resource, I suggest you give it a look here.

The thing is that the free 50mb accounts are hidden. After you sign
up and get the confirmation email, the link in the email brings to you
a page with "Not ready to give us your credit card yet?" at the
bottom. If you click on that, you'll get to the free accounts.
Complicated, but definitely worth it!

Try it here:
http://www.xdrive.com/partners/?p=gulk&gcid=gu_lk_gogr
Click to expand...

Well, after a trial of XDrive using their web interface and their XDrive
Desktop client program, I'm finally glad to have gotten rid of this
crap. Slow web interface, slow response to their XDrive Desktop
program, crappy uninstall, installing under the wrong account for the
start menu group and shortcuts, only accessible to the user that
installed their client program, and many more problems with their
service or application. No thanks. There are worse things, like
viruses, but I'm not going to suffer through using XDrive.

Also, they apparently have just stopped providing the free 50MB
accounts. I opened the first account using an e-mail alias because as
yet they are not a trusted recipient of that information. It is used as
your login - yeah, stupid, I know, but that's how they work. You cannot
change your login username (i.e., your e-mail address) unless you call
them. More stupidity. So instead I cancelled that account and tried to
open a new one using a more memorable disposable webmail account. I got
the confirmation e-mail but when I clicked on the link in it this time,
the web page presented no longer had the link at the bottom about not
charging your credit card to let you open a freebie 50MB account. Guess
that option is now gone. They want to get your credit card to open a
trial account (so they can charge it should you happen to forget to
terminate the account before the trial period ends).

So I dumped their service, had to do a lot of registry cleanup after
running their dirty uninstall, and will stick with using the 30MB
Briefcase feature in the free Yahoo accounts and the 15MB disk quota for
their personal web page feature. Below is a copy of my e-mail to
XDrive's support noting the entries their uninstall left behind in the
registry along with deficiencies in their programs and its use.

***** E-mail sent to (e-mail address removed):

I tried using your Contact Us link on your web pages. Your contact.jsp
script paints a blank page. Please fix. As a result, I have to send
this notice via e-mail because your web form is unavailable.

After running the uninstall of Xdrive, I found the following registry
entries were left:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XDrive
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}

HKEY_USERS\<userSID>\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell
Extensions\Approved
- Value: {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4} = XDrive Shell
Extension


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\XDri
vePage
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA0
06B77F4}
- Value: Default = XDrive Shell Extension


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\XD
rive
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\
XDrivePage
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\X
Drive
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers
\XDrivePage
- Value: Default = {A08DE1E0-0882-11d3-BE1C-00AA006B77F4}


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_XDRIVEFSD\0
000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_XDRIVEFSD\0000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_XDRIVESERVICE\0
000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root\LEGACY_XDRIVEFSD\0000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root\LEGACY_XDRIVESERVICE\0
000
- These cannot be manually deleted using regedit. Don't know
how to get rid of these. Change permissions maybe?

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\XDrive
- All values.


HKEY_USERS\<userSID>\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
MountPoints2\##plus.xdrive.com#<emailAccountUsedAsLogin>
- All values.

HKEY_USERS\<userSID>\Software\Xdrive
- All subkeys.
- All values.

Peculiarly, as per a prior response from Xdrive, it installs its group
and shortcuts under the All Users start menu but it is only usable by
the account that installed it. In other words, XDrive does NOT support
a multi-user/account version of Windows (NT4/2000/XP). This is because
they install under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER (as evidenced by the last
registry key noted above which gets melded into the composite presented
under the merged HKEY_CURRENT_USER pseudo-hive) instead of
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. The install puts their group under the wrong
account (All Users) and must get moved into the Start menu of the
account that installed the program; otherwise, other users of the same
host will be mislead into thinking they can also use this program.
There is NO option during the install to decide to install the program
for just the account that is installing it or for all accounts. XDrive
really does not well support NT-based Windows.

So besides deleting the subdirectory where you installed your XDrive
Desktop program, why do you leave the registry polluted with all your
entries? The uninstall requires a reboot which was performed. Your
uninstall is dirty in that it leaves behind registry entries that you
added but will not remove.

An invalidly positioned start menu group (under All Users instead of
under the account that installed it), no option to support all accounts,
and a crappy install makes XDrive Desktop a program to avoid. I found
using the XDrive web interface to be extremely slow. I thought XDrive
Desktop would eliminate the delays. Nope, it is just as slow. Slow
service and a crappy client program. I closed my XDrive account.
Instead I'll just use the 30MB disk space available in Briefcase that
comes with the free Yahoo accounts.
 
I'm surprised you hated Xdrive that much! My experience was the exact
opposite! I tried it out and really liked the service- then again, I'm
not the intense kind of user you are, (I couldn't begin to tell you
what a registry is, let alone how to change it.) so the easy user
interface made using this easy for me. I backed up My Documents and
used it to send a bunch of vacation photos to my family/friends. They
didn't mind signing up- some of them even thanked me for alerting them
to the service! Also, my download speeds were just fine, maybe it was
just you. Anyhow, I really enjoy this service and just don't see why
you're both so wildly negative.
 
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