C Drive Backup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Trevor L.
  • Start date Start date
T

Trevor L.

After the posts from DSH and others, I decided to use my new 250GB external
drive as a backup for my C: Drive

As was done by one poster (was it DSH), I decided to start with backing up
all of "C:\Documents and Settings"

But I found some files in use. I had nothing open except Windows Explorer,
which I need to do the drag and drop

The files were
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\ntuser.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Perflib_Perdata_d68.dat (I
think - can't read my own writing)

How can I backup when files are being used by the system?
Is there a list of files to exclude?
Or can one do this somehow else - either in safe mode or at startup?

BTW,
The process hasn't finished yet. The info. box says 240 minutes to go, so
I'll be leaving it while I have dinner and watch TV.

Maybe I'll check back every ad break (except ABC TV - our national
broadcaster - doesn't have ad breaks).

Anyway, there may be more files in use other than these two.
 
Trevor said:
After the posts from DSH and others, I decided to use my new 250GB
external drive as a backup for my C: Drive

As was done by one poster (was it DSH), I decided to start with
backing up all of "C:\Documents and Settings"
Click to expand...

Cannot be done.. Your user profile will be in use. You do not need to
backup everything in this directory anyway. Your files and folders are what
are important... Not everything.
But I found some files in use. I had nothing open except Windows
Explorer, which I need to do the drag and drop

The files were
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\ntuser.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local
Settings\Perflib_Perdata_d68.dat (I think - can't read my own
writing)
Click to expand...

Again - when you are logged in, your profile is in use.
How can I backup when files are being used by the system?
Is there a list of files to exclude?
Or can one do this somehow else - either in safe mode or at startup?
Click to expand...


Be pickier - backup the files and directories that ARE important to you.
Documents, emails, contacts, pictures, etc.
BTW,
The process hasn't finished yet. The info. box says 240 minutes to
go, so I'll be leaving it while I have dinner and watch TV.

Maybe I'll check back every ad break (except ABC TV - our national
broadcaster - doesn't have ad breaks).

Anyway, there may be more files in use other than these two.
Click to expand...

How To Use Backup to Back Up Files and Folders on Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422

Yes - you still need some sort of external media to store the results
on, but you could schedule the backup to occur when you are not around,
then burn the resultant data onto CD or DVD or something when you are
(while you do other things!)

Another option that came to my attention as of late:

Cobian Backup
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

A lot of people have wondered about how to completely backup their system
so that they would not have to go through the trouble of a reinstall..
I'm going to voice my opinion here and say that it would be worthless to
do for MOST people. Unless you plan on periodically updating the image
backup of your system (remaking it) - then by the time you use it
(something goes wrong) - it will be so outdated as to be more trouble than
performing a full install of the operating system and all applications.

Having said my part against it, you can clone/backup your hard drive
completely using many methods - by far the simplest are using disk cloning
applications:

Symantec/Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/

Acronis True Image
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage

BootIt™ NG
http://terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html
 
Actually, I back up everything on the computer [according to the Backup
menu] rather than just C:\Documents and Settings.

That amounts to about 9 GB and 70,000 files.

I can complete that Backup in 35 minutes.

I have to exclude the G: drive [my external hard drive] itself.

Another poster suggested backing up C:\Documents and Settings and I tried
that as an experiment.

Of course, I had the same experience you did and aborted the backup.

Aloha,

DSH
 
D. Spencer Hines said:
Actually, I back up everything on the computer [according to the
Backup menu] rather than just C:\Documents and Settings.

That amounts to about 9 GB and 70,000 files.

I can complete that Backup in 35 minutes.

I have to exclude the G: drive [my external hard drive] itself.

Another poster suggested backing up C:\Documents and Settings and I
tried that as an experiment.

Of course, I had the same experience you did and aborted the backup.

Aloha,

DSH

After the posts from DSH and others, I decided to use my new 250GB
external drive as a backup for my C: Drive

As was done by one poster (was it DSH), I decided to start with
backing up all of "C:\Documents and Settings"

But I found some files in use. I had nothing open except Windows
Explorer, which I need to do the drag and drop

The files were
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\ntuser.dat
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local
Settings\Perflib_Perdata_d68.dat (I think - can't read my own
writing) How can I backup when files are being used by the system?
Is there a list of files to exclude?
Or can one do this somehow else - either in safe mode or at startup?

BTW,
The process hasn't finished yet. The info. box says 240 minutes to
go, so I'll be leaving it while I have dinner and watch TV.

Maybe I'll check back every ad break (except ABC TV - our national
broadcaster - doesn't have ad breaks).

Anyway, there may be more files in use other than these two.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
D. Spencer Hines said:
Actually, I back up everything on the computer [according to the
Backup menu] rather than just C:\Documents and Settings.
Click to expand...

OK That sounds like what I want.

A couple of quesions
1. Where do I find the Backup Menu or are yopu using a 3rd party product
2. How does ths manage to backup C:\Documents and Settings if the problem
mentioned (of open files) exists.

Going from the fact that you can exclude the external drive, it sounds like
you can exclude certain files and/or folders.
Is that wat you did ?
(i.e. excluded ntuser.dat andLocal Settings - the folder that gave me
trouble.)

BTW, 35 minutes is good. My external drive , although USB2.0, is connected
through USB1.1.
This may be why it is so slow. It may ne a good idea to throw out my USB1.1
card and replace it with USB2.0
 
I'm using the standard Windows XP Pro Backup [I hope it's in the other
versions].

Good little Utility.

It's under Control Panel > Performance And Maintenance.

Yes, you can choose precisely which directories you want to back up. Click
on _Advanced Mode_ in the first Wizard screen and then customize your
Backup.

I didn't have to exclude any specific files. The program was smart enough
to do that, as appropriate.

Yes, I'm using USB 2.0 -- a 2 GB CPU, 1 GB RAM and a fast video card.

DSH

D. Spencer Hines said:
Actually, I back up everything on the computer [according to the
Backup menu] rather than just C:\Documents and Settings.
Click to expand...

OK That sounds like what I want.

A couple of questions
1. Where do I find the Backup Menu or are you using a 3rd party product
2. How does this manage to backup C:\Documents and Settings if the problem
mentioned (of open files) exists.

Going from the fact that you can exclude the external drive, it sounds
like you can exclude certain files and/or folders.
Is that what you did ?
(i.e. excluded ntuser.dat andLocal Settings - the folder that gave me
trouble.)

BTW, 35 minutes is good. My external drive , although USB2.0, is connected
through USB1.1.
This may be why it is so slow. It may be a good idea to throw out my
USB1.1 card and replace it with USB2.0
Click to expand...
 
D. Spencer Hines said:
I'm using the standard Windows XP Pro Backup [I hope it's in the other
versions].

Good little Utility.

It's under Control Panel > Performance And Maintenance.

Yes, you can choose precisely which directories you want to back up. Click
on _Advanced Mode_ in the first Wizard screen and then
customize your Backup.

I didn't have to exclude any specific files. The program was smart
enough to do that, as appropriate.

Yes, I'm using USB 2.0 -- a 2 GB CPU, 1 GB RAM and a fast video card.
Click to expand...

Lucky! I have 1.3 GB CPU, 512MB RAM and a standard video card - I don't even
know what it is.
I don't think I need a new video card - the only use I have for video is my
home movies, but USB 2.0 may be on the horizon.
DSH
Click to expand...

I can't find Performance And Maintenance.

But I have to admit that I tidied up my icons under Adminstrative Tools, so
I now have only
Data Sources (ODBC)
General MCC - contains everything that was accessed through separate icons
*except* Performance
Performance - only retained because it has the pretty performance graph.
(the logs and alerts are in General MCC)
Microsoft .NET Framework Configuration - probably added when I installed
..NET 2.0

I would not have (deliberately at least) deleted anything, so is it possible
that Windows XP Home does not include this facility?

Do you know what it is named (as in perfmon.msc for performance monitoring)
?
Perhaps it can be added into the MCC
 
I can't find Performance And Maintenance.

"Trevor L."
-------------------------------

Try...

START > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.

Let me know if you don't have it.

DSH

D. Spencer Hines wrote:
I'm using the standard Windows XP Pro Backup [I hope it's in the other
versions].

Good little Utility.

It's under Control Panel > Performance And Maintenance.

Yes, you can choose precisely which directories you want to back up.
Click on _Advanced Mode_ in the first Wizard screen and then
customize your Backup.

I didn't have to exclude any specific files. The program was smart
enough to do that, as appropriate.

Yes, I'm using USB 2.0 -- a 2 GB CPU, 1 GB RAM and a fast video card.
Click to expand...

Lucky! I have 1.3 GB CPU, 512MB RAM and a standard video card - I don't
even know what it is.
I don't think I need a new video card - the only use I have for video is
my home movies, but USB 2.0 may be on the horizon.
DSH
Click to expand...

I can't find Performance And Maintenance.

But I have to admit that I tidied up my icons under Adminstrative Tools,
so I now have only
Data Sources (ODBC)
General MCC - contains everything that was accessed through separate icons
*except* Performance
Performance - only retained because it has the pretty performance graph.
(the logs and alerts are in General MCC)
Microsoft .NET Framework Configuration - probably added when I installed
.NET 2.0

I would not have (deliberately at least) deleted anything, so is it
possible that Windows XP Home does not include this facility?

Do you know what it is named (as in perfmon.msc for performance
monitoring) ?
Perhaps it can be added into the MCC
Click to expand...
 
D. Spencer Hines said:
"Trevor L."
-------------------------------

Try...

START > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.

Let me know if you don't have it.

DSH
Click to expand...

I can't find it here. For some reason, Accessories is not shown under All
Programs

However, at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start
Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools there is an icon System Backup and
this seems to be the one I want. There is an option for 'All infomation on
this computer'.

I will try this later.

At the moment I am waiting for a programmed backup (with GRSoftware
Professional Backup) of Documents and Settings.
This porrgam also stops when a file is in use, so I have excluded the
following:
Trevor\ntuser.dat
Trevor\ntuser.dat.LOG
Trevor\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat
Trevor\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat.LOG

It has gone a fair way with this now, about 53%, but it is slow, slow, slow.

When it finishes, I will be installing a USB2.0 port. It is so slow that I
had time to go up to the local PC shop and buy one while it was still
running. I drove, but I could have walked - about 2 Km each way - and it
would still have been running when I got back !!
 
Back
Top