CD-ROM Backup Drive Not an Option

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skid Schermerhorn
  • Start date Start date
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Skid Schermerhorn

In an upgrade from ME to XP PRO, the CD-ROM
drive is not recognised. It is recognised
in Windows Explorer.
I had DirectCD in ME but Roxio wants $69.95
for the version that works on XP.
 
Skid Schermerhorn said:
In an upgrade from ME to XP PRO, the CD-ROM
drive is not recognised. It is recognised
in Windows Explorer.
I had DirectCD in ME but Roxio wants $69.95
for the version that works on XP.
Click to expand...

NT Backup is a crippled version of Veritas Backup Exec Desktop (which
got sold off to Stomp Inc. and is now called Backup MyPC). The included
defragmenter is a crippled version of Diskeeper. The Disk Cleanup
wizard is a crippled version of CleanSweep. There are problem many more
examples of Microsoft incorporating other-vendor software in Windows but
with a reduced feature set. If you want more functionality than the
crippled utilities provide, you need to buy better utilities.

I suppose you could save the backup file to disk and then use a utility,
like PKZip, WinZip, or whatever that supports spanning multiple media,
to burn the backup file onto CD-R[W]s. Or, as you mention, use a UDF
writer (loads as an installable file system), like Roxio DirectCD or
Nero InCD, to save the backup to file on the CD-R[W] media (which then
looks like a big floppy). However, I don't believe the crippled NT
Backup progam will span across multiple media (removable disk drives,
floppies, ZIP disks, or UDF-write-supported CDs) except for tape media.
So a UDF writer utility might not work, either.

Also, a CD-ROM drive will *NEVER* be recognized as a target device to
save backups. CD-ROM = Compact Disk Read-ONLY Media. It is READ-ONLY
media which means you can never write to it. If you want to use CD-R or
CD-RW media then you need to get a CD-R[W] drive (or go for the larger
capacity of a DVD-+RW drive).
 
Vanguardx said:
NT Backup is a crippled version of Veritas Backup Exec Desktop (which
got sold off to Stomp Inc. and is now called Backup MyPC). ...
Click to expand...
<snip>

I forgot to mention. The crippled NT Backup program also will not
compress the files it saves into its backup file (unless the device
supports it in hardware and NT Backup can enable it, like for tape
drives). So your backups will be pretty big, almost as big as the
aggregate size of all files you backup, so you'll need LOTS of space on
the backup media. Backup MyPC provides for compression on any media it
supports so the backup file is much smaller and you use up less disk
space or CD-Rs.

And a warning: ALWAYS enable the Verify option. If you don't verify the
backups are readable and match the original files then you have no way
of knowing that the backup is any good. The write to the backup media
may have been successful but the read can fail. Without a verify after
backing up, you might find later that the backup is near worthless (the
backup halts when it hits the first error and often will not recover to
continue extracting the remainder of the files on the backup media after
the error). Verifying will double the time to perform a backup, but if
you think the data is important enough to backup then it must also be
important enough to ensure you can actually retrieve it if and when
needed.
 
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