Data Locations & Backup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff Gaines
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeff Gaines

I now have what seems to be a good (clean) install of the RTM with all my
apps installed (a couple have to wait for upgrades).

Before I get too deeply into development in Visual Studio (which on past
experience means I will break things badly) I wanted to be sure I have
covered all the bases on data backup.

The principle is that I don't (intentionally) keep any of my data on C.

My first HD is split into C & D, D is backed up nightly to E which is the
main data disk.

I have changed the Locations of:
Contacts
Documents
Downloads
Favorites

to point to the E drive.
SendTo gets backed up on the schedule (and is not critical).

The only area of concern is the Mail Store, currently on the C drive. I
know I can move the data store, and as long as I use the Complete PC
Backup and restore from it then all should be fine, everything will still
point to the right place. My concern is if I *really* break things and
have to re-install from the DVD how easy is it going to be to retrieve all
my email? If I just point a freshly installed Windows Mail to the mail
store on the E drive will it automagically pick up all the existing
settings and mail or not?

I know I could experiment and find out but this really is a nice clean
install and I don't want to break it!

The other question is have I missed any important data that the OS keeps
on the C drive that I should include in my back up schedule (I use
SmartSync Pro and SyncBackSE which backup E to F then F (twice) to NAS
RAID1 arrays).

Many thanks :-)
 
See the section on backing up the message store here:
www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

If you move the store to D for instance, then backup the entire directory
and also the registry keys. Then, if you have to do a new install, you can
restore the registry keys and put the message store back where it was, prior
to opening WinMail and it should open okay as it was on the old install.

steve

MS-MVP
OE / WinMail
 
Jeff Gaines said:
I now have what seems to be a good (clean) install of the RTM with all my
apps installed (a couple have to wait for upgrades).

Before I get too deeply into development in Visual Studio (which on past
experience means I will break things badly) I wanted to be sure I have
covered all the bases on data backup.

The principle is that I don't (intentionally) keep any of my data on C.

My first HD is split into C & D, D is backed up nightly to E which is the
main data disk.

I have changed the Locations of:
Contacts
Documents
Downloads
Favorites

to point to the E drive.
SendTo gets backed up on the schedule (and is not critical).

The only area of concern is the Mail Store, currently on the C drive. I
know I can move the data store, and as long as I use the Complete PC
Backup and restore from it then all should be fine, everything will still
point to the right place. My concern is if I *really* break things and
have to re-install from the DVD how easy is it going to be to retrieve all
my email? If I just point a freshly installed Windows Mail to the mail
store on the E drive will it automagically pick up all the existing
settings and mail or not?

I know I could experiment and find out but this really is a nice clean
install and I don't want to break it!

The other question is have I missed any important data that the OS keeps
on the C drive that I should include in my back up schedule (I use
SmartSync Pro and SyncBackSE which backup E to F then F (twice) to NAS
RAID1 arrays).
Click to expand...


Isn't it possible to move the whole of AppData?

ss.
 
See the section on backing up the message store here:
www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

If you move the store to D for instance, then backup the entire directory
and also the registry keys. Then, if you have to do a new install, you
can restore the registry keys and put the message store back where it was,
prior to opening WinMail and it should open okay as it was on the old
install.
Click to expand...

Many thanks, Steve, carefully book-marked :-)

I do like Windows Mail, especially its integration with Contacts and the
Calendar(another one to back up!).
 
I do the same thing, keep data away from the OS drive, but I'm wondering is,
it a valid concern anymore? When you reinstall Vista it moves all of your
data files to oldwindows, so they are safe to a greater degree than they
were in XP.

Ray
 
Isn't it possible to move the whole of AppData?

ss.
Click to expand...

Now that would be a good solution - but it doesn't seem to offer the
ability to relocate in the properties dialog.
 
I do the same thing, keep data away from the OS drive, but I'm wondering
is, it a valid concern anymore? When you reinstall Vista it moves all of
your data files to oldwindows, so they are safe to a greater degree than
they were in XP.

Ray
Click to expand...

I suppose I may need to think about working differently, but I'm not keen
to be the guinea pig :-)
 
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