Elementary Question about HD Back-Ups

  • Thread starter Thread starter mutefan
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max said:
There are a couple of problems with this approach:

- You may miss something, unless you know exactly where all your apps
store all your data, and if someone understood XP and its apps at that
level, they wouldn't be asking such elementary questions, I believe.

- You still need to reinstall Windows, all apps, and all updates,
which is not only very timeconsuming, but liable to result in a
different configuration than before you crashed.


TI will restore a typical non-gamer system to exactly the state it was
at the last backup within 20 minutes of installing the replacement HD,
IME. Not only is it far less time consuming, there is far less to go
wrong (though it's still not infallible, of course).

For someone of the technical understanding of the OP, TI and an
external HD is far and away the best solution for backing up a PC.

max
Click to expand...

I agree with that additional information. However, from my own experience,
the only data that causes me major problems if lost is covered by my earlier
strategy!

(In particular contact information in Outlook, and finance/budget
information in my documents).
 
Generally, the proprietary partitions can be backed up.

Toshiba machines still come with a full restore CD and don't use
proprietary partitions for backup / restore (they do use a proprietary
partition for "player" program that allows playing CDs and DVDs without
booting the computer ... there is a separate restore CD for that
partition only, and the very existence of that partition is optional
anyway). Dell uses a restore partition but offers a restore CD (a
Windows CD, actually) for $10 extra at the time that the computer is
purchased. [You have to know enough to check the box to order it!]. HP
and Compaq use proprietary partitions but restore CDs may be available
for a limited time, for a fee, by calling them. However they are model
specific, and once they are gone (for any given model), they are gone
forever.
 
Will True Image or the other software people have discussed in
this regard back up proprietary software and partitions on HDs?
Click to expand...

Yes, if you image the entire physical drive.
Wouldn't major manufacturers like IBM, Dell, HP, and
the "ferr-ners" (Toshiba, Sony, etc.) make it impossible
not to image their proprietary partition software?
Click to expand...

In the ultimate it isnt even possible to stop it. A sector based
image will save everything thats on the original drive.

A few systems to try to play silly buggers and make the
drive appear to be something other than it actually is, but
even those can be handled if you know what you are doing.
 
max said:
For someone of the technical understanding of the OP, TI and an
external HD is far and away the best solution for backing up a PC.
Click to expand...

How much do these programs cost?
 
Barry Watzman said:
Generally, the proprietary partitions can be backed up.
Click to expand...
Toshiba machines still come with a full restore CD and don't use
proprietary partitions for backup / restore (they do use a proprietary
partition for "player" program that allows playing CDs and DVDs
without booting the computer ... there is a separate restore CD for
that partition only, and the very existence of that partition is
optional anyway). Dell uses a restore partition but offers a restore
CD (a Windows CD, actually) for $10 extra at the time that the
computer is purchased. [You have to know enough to check the box to
order it!]. HP and Compaq use proprietary partitions
Click to expand...

Not always, my latest Compaq laptop doesnt.
 
I gave away all the software that came with my ThinkPad, including
Windows
Click to expand...

That wasn't yours to give away, the licenses for the software that
come with your computer are only legally valid on _that_ particular
laptop.
 
Okay, don't laugh. Is "bare-metal" allusive? Or does it really mean
bare + metal, as in the CMOS (or something like that)?
Click to expand...

I means you can restore everything if your hard drive dies and you
install a new (blank) hard drive.
(BTW, I think you're all toying with me and that you all really know
the answer to what the Windows-provided Back Up utility does :) )
Click to expand...

Or maybe (as in my case) we don't _care_ to know what the broken M$
solution is, when there are others that are known to work, and are
proven to work well.
 
Drive Image (the old PowerQuest product bought by Symantec whose
technology got incorporated into Ghost) or Ghost can be gotten fairly
cheap, you can sometimes get bundles of Ghost and Norton Utilitie or one
of the other Symantec products "Free after rebates", or at very low cost.
 
Barry Watzman said:
Drive Image (the old PowerQuest product bought by Symantec whose technology got
incorporated into Ghost)
Click to expand...

It was actually the PowerQuest V2i product that
Symantec renamed to Ghost 9, not Drive Image.
or Ghost can be gotten fairly cheap, you can sometimes get bundles of Ghost and Norton
Utilitie or one of the other Symantec products "Free after rebates", or at very low
cost.
Click to expand...

Yeah, particularly Ghost 2003. Well past its useby date tho.
 
Barry said:
Drive Image (the old PowerQuest product bought by Symantec whose
technology got incorporated into Ghost) or Ghost can be gotten fairly
cheap, you can sometimes get bundles of Ghost and Norton Utilitie or one
of the other Symantec products "Free after rebates", or at very low cost.

<snip>
Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer Acronis True Image... A good product from a company,
unlike Symantec, that hasn't screwed almost every consumer product that
it's gotten its hands on.

If I were Peter Norton, I'd change my name. Maybe he already has!

Notan
 
Notan said:
Personally, I prefer Acronis True Image... A good product from a
company, unlike Symantec, that hasn't screwed almost every consumer
product that it's gotten its hands on.

If I were Peter Norton, I'd change my name. Maybe he already has!
Click to expand...

He hanged himself.
 
Drive Image 7 ***WAS*** the V2i product.


Rod said:
It was actually the PowerQuest V2i product that
Symantec renamed to Ghost 9, not Drive Image.




Yeah, particularly Ghost 2003. Well past its useby date tho.
Click to expand...
 
I'm sticking with the Pre-Symantec PowerQuest version of Drive Image 7
(which, to answer another comment, WAS the V2i product). I never liked
the user interface of Ghost or the way it operates (including the fact
that it must be permanently installed on any system recovered with it).
Have not tried the Acronis product, I am totally satisfied with Drive
Image.
 
Barry Watzman said:
I'm sticking with the Pre-Symantec PowerQuest version of Drive Image 7 (which, to answer
another comment, WAS the V2i product).
Click to expand...

No it wasnt.
I never liked the user interface of Ghost or the way it operates (including the fact
that it must be permanently installed on any system recovered with it).
Click to expand...

No it doesnt have to be.
Have not tried the Acronis product, I am totally satisfied with Drive Image.
Click to expand...

More fool you. DI does incremental images very unsafely.
 
I beg to differ with you, but I'm using Drive Image 7 right here on this
machine, and it is the v2i product, and if I hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete,
PQIV2isvc.exe is a running process.
 
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