ERUNT and/or NTREGOPT...opinions please

[Sylvia M]

ERUNT and/or NTREGOPT

I downloaded both, planning to use them to backup computer and registry
to my Western Digital MDL WD1600U017-002.
I went to Western Digital...they then said not to use my external drive
for Backup, just for storage???

If not a WD external drive 500 GB, what should I use for external
backup?
Surely not a thumb drive?

And, I would appreciate opinions about ERUNT for a complete backup
and/or NTREGOPT as a registry back-up.
What I read on their website about their products is
encouraging...but...???

T.I.A.

Sylvia M.

 

[Sylvia M]

Oh, sorry...
I have an HP 2005 XP Media Edition with SP, 3 updated.
250 GB Free space 171 GB

 

[Rod Speed]

ERUNT and/or NTREGOPT

I downloaded both, planning to use them to backup computer and registry to my Western Digital MDL WD1600U017-002.

I went to Western Digital...they then said not to use my external drive for Backup, just for storage???

God knows what thats about. Who at WD said anything like that ?

Maybe its a bizarre admission that their drives dont like being used for long or something.

If not a WD external drive 500 GB, what should I use for external backup?

Any decent external drive.

Surely not a thumb drive?
Nope.

And, I would appreciate opinions about ERUNT for a complete backup
and/or NTREGOPT as a registry back-up.

I prefer Acronis True Image myself.

 

[Arno]

ERUNT and/or NTREGOPT

I downloaded both, planning to use them to backup computer and registry
to my Western Digital MDL WD1600U017-002.
I went to Western Digital...they then said not to use my external drive
for Backup, just for storage???

They have no clue. Not a surprise. Of course you can use external
HDDs for backup. Just make sure you have more than one independent
media set as HDDs have about a 5%/year chance of dying. The greatest
risk to external HDDs is dropping them though, which will reliably
kill them.

If not a WD external drive 500 GB, what should I use for external
backup?
Surely not a thumb drive?

And, I would appreciate opinions about ERUNT for a complete backup
and/or NTREGOPT as a registry back-up.
What I read on their website about their products is
encouraging...but...???

No idea. I do image backups under Linux via ntfsdump,
as I have found everything else to be tedious and/or broken.

Arno

 

[Sylvia M]

They have no clue. Not a surprise. Of course you can use external
HDDs for backup. Just make sure you have more than one independent
media set as HDDs have about a 5%/year chance of dying. The greatest
risk to external HDDs is dropping them though, which will reliably
kill them.



No idea. I do image backups under Linux via ntfsdump,
as I have found everything else to be tedious and/or broken.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email:
(e-mail address removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50
1E25 338F

Thanks to all...

I think I'll back up to the WD external drive 500 GB,
then download onto my laptop.
I'll also backup my laptop on the external plus my P.C.

Hopefully I'll remember to update from time to time ;-)

Sylvia M.

 

[Sylvia M]

It seems I missed the obvious part in regard to your wanting a
complete backup. Well, then you need an imaging program. I wouldn't
be without one. But for simple uninstalling the registry entries made
by trial installs, it cannot be beat.

Yes, when I used it, I thought it was a backup program for my computer
as well as registry, since it had both the ERUNT and NTREGOPT
download...sigh.

Sylvia

 

[tome]

Yes, when I used it, I thought it was a backup program for my computer
as well as registry, since it had both the ERUNT and NTREGOPT
download...sigh.

Sylvia

It's kinda coincidental that I just posted the following to another
newsgroup yesterday about how I screwed up and allowed the AskToolbar
to be installed on my machine. I think this is a perfect example for
you of why you should have a drive imaging program.
----------
The AskToolbar - The Toolbar From Hell

I got stuck with this damn thing from the install of Auto Hide IP. I
don't know whether the program installed the damn thing with or
without my permission. I'm usually very careful and *always* look for
those little boxes that ask you for permission to install this type of
adware. Evidently, they either didn't ask my permission, or I got
sloppy and missed the notice regarding whether to install it or not.

Anways, that damn AskTool bar wouldn't leave my machine no matter
what I did. Windows Add/Remove couldn't get rid of it. It kept
telling me there was an error in the program's msi file which was
preventing it from uninstalling the program. Removing the addon from
my browser got rid of the addon, but didn't get rid of the AskToolbar.
It still was holding my browser captive.

I went to it's directory in Program Files and erased every file left
in there. That didn't do it. I went into my registry and manually
removed the numerous entries for it. That didn't do it. It still
owned my browser.

I went on the Web and - on my wife's uninfected machine, tried a
number of solutions from the advice there. Unfortunately, because of
my erasing of the program and my deletions in the registry, very
little of the solutions I found there applied to my situation.

The only thing that got rid of the s.o.b. was my disk imaging program.
I had imaged my C: drive the night before. I do that every other day.
As usual, True Image saved my butt again. As far as I'm concerned, an
imaging program is the best investment you'll ever make for protecting
your comp.

I used to image the drive before every program install, but stopped
that due to my own impatience of having to wait the 6 minutes to image
it. Well, let me tell you, I am again going back to imaging each and
every time before I install any program.

As I said, I'm usually very cautious about pressing the install
button. I read the notations regarding each permission box. This time,
they either hid the fact of the AskToolbar install, or I got sloppy.
This is a classic example of how these adware/malware bastards can
screw you.

Get yourself an imaging program!

 

[Sylvia M]

It's kinda coincidental that I just posted the following to another
newsgroup yesterday about how I screwed up and allowed the AskToolbar
to be installed on my machine. I think this is a perfect example for
you of why you should have a drive imaging program.
----------
The AskToolbar - The Toolbar From Hell

I got stuck with this damn thing from the install of Auto Hide IP. I
don't know whether the program installed the damn thing with or
without my permission. I'm usually very careful and *always* look for
those little boxes that ask you for permission to install this type of
adware. Evidently, they either didn't ask my permission, or I got
sloppy and missed the notice regarding whether to install it or not.

Anways, that damn AskTool bar wouldn't leave my machine no matter
what I did. Windows Add/Remove couldn't get rid of it. It kept
telling me there was an error in the program's msi file which was
preventing it from uninstalling the program. Removing the addon from
my browser got rid of the addon, but didn't get rid of the AskToolbar.
It still was holding my browser captive.

I went to it's directory in Program Files and erased every file left
in there. That didn't do it. I went into my registry and manually
removed the numerous entries for it. That didn't do it. It still
owned my browser.

I went on the Web and - on my wife's uninfected machine, tried a
number of solutions from the advice there. Unfortunately, because of
my erasing of the program and my deletions in the registry, very
little of the solutions I found there applied to my situation.

The only thing that got rid of the s.o.b. was my disk imaging program.
I had imaged my C: drive the night before. I do that every other day.
As usual, True Image saved my butt again. As far as I'm concerned, an
imaging program is the best investment you'll ever make for protecting
your comp.

I used to image the drive before every program install, but stopped
that due to my own impatience of having to wait the 6 minutes to image
it. Well, let me tell you, I am again going back to imaging each and
every time before I install any program.

As I said, I'm usually very cautious about pressing the install
button. I read the notations regarding each permission box. This time,
they either hid the fact of the AskToolbar install, or I got sloppy.
This is a classic example of how these adware/malware bastards can
screw you.

Get yourself an imaging program!

So O.K., which do you use? I'm assuming I'll be paying,
but I'd rather not be paying on a yearly basis...

 

[Sylvia M]

RE:

Get yourself an imaging program!

So O.K., which do you use? I'm assuming I'll be paying,
but I'd rather not be paying on a yearly basis...

 

[tome]

RE:

So O.K., which do you use? I'm assuming I'll be paying,
but I'd rather not be paying on a yearly basis...

Sorry for the time lag, but as for the multiple posts go it's a long,
long story that this thread doesn't need. )

I use an older version of Acronis, version 8.

Acronis does not charge you by the year, although, after a year you
have to pay for updates. One really doesn't need updates, though.

Macrium Reflect is another I have used and own. There is no yearly
fee for that, either.

I think one cannot afford to be without such a program. I would have
lost my C: drive many, many times over the years had it not been for
Acronis True Image.

 

[Arno]

Sorry for the time lag, but as for the multiple posts go it's a long,
long story that this thread doesn't need. )

I use an older version of Acronis, version 8.

Acronis does not charge you by the year, although, after a year you
have to pay for updates. One really doesn't need updates, though.

Macrium Reflect is another I have used and own. There is no yearly
fee for that, either.

I tried that and it sent me rioght back to my own image
method. It has a user-intrface, that seesmt be intent on obscuring
what it actually deoes. Also, I could not find a verify-option
that actually compares backup against data on disk, and that is
a big faux-pas for a backup software. (Others have that problem
as well.)

I think one cannot afford to be without such a program. I would have
lost my C: drive many, many times over the years had it not been for
Acronis True Image.

You can, but it is really painfull installing all that software
again. The critical thing is your data and documents. The
system image is for convenience, but still highly recommended.

Backup should be supplemented with disk maintenance, where I
recommend long-SMART selftests every 2-4 weeks and higly
reccomend SMART attribute monitoring. Software for
that is e.g. HDD sentinel (commercial, but pretty good
freeware version) or the smartmontools (FOSS, commandline).

Arno

 

[tome]

I tried that and it sent me rioght back to my own image
method. It has a user-intrface, that seesmt be intent on obscuring
what it actually deoes. Also, I could not find a verify-option
that actually compares backup against data on disk, and that is
a big faux-pas for a backup software. (Others have that problem
as well.)

The version I have does have a verify mode. I have ver. 4.2

The menu system is not as clear as Acronis TI.

Acronis is extremely easy to use compared with Macrium Reflect.
That's why I recommended Acronis in my post .

You can, but it is really painfull installing all that software
again. The critical thing is your data and documents. The
system image is for convenience, but still highly recommended.

Backup should be supplemented with disk maintenance, where I
recommend long-SMART selftests every 2-4 weeks and higly
reccomend SMART attribute monitoring. Software for
that is e.g. HDD sentinel (commercial, but pretty good
freeware version) or the smartmontools (FOSS, commandline).

Arno

All that is a bit much to contend with when Acronis is so darn easy to
use.

I'll tell you what , SylviaD, send an email to this yahoo address. I
have a simple solution for you - close up all the spaces before using.

j k a r g a n @ yahoo . com

 

[Arno]

I tried that and it sent me rioght back to my own image
method. It has a user-intrface, that seesmt be intent on obscuring
what it actually deoes. Also, I could not find a verify-option
that actually compares backup against data on disk, and that is
a big faux-pas for a backup software. (Others have that problem
as well.)

[/QUOTE]

The version I have does have a verify mode. I have ver. 4.2

It has. But it only comparesa backup against backup checksums.
That is worthless to find the usual sources of corruptions
like bad RAM or bus problems.

Arno

 

[wilby]

ERUNT and/or NTREGOPT

I downloaded both, planning to use them to backup computer and registry
to my Western Digital MDL WD1600U017-002.
I went to Western Digital...they then said not to use my external drive
for Backup, just for storage???

If not a WD external drive 500 GB, what should I use for external
backup?
Surely not a thumb drive?

And, I would appreciate opinions about ERUNT for a complete backup
and/or NTREGOPT as a registry back-up.
What I read on their website about their products is
encouraging...but...???

T.I.A.

Sylvia M.

Sylvia:

I use Erunt and find it very useful for registry backup. I have it
automatically back up my registry (Win 7-64) the first time the computer
is started every day. It keeps the most recent 30 reg backups.

On having something bad happen I simply point to the version I want
restored and click the exe file. Instantly the registry is back to that
point in time.

I have turned Windows restore points off since Erunt does the same
thing, better.


For imaging use Macrium Reflect free version. It images either an entire
drive, or selected partitions. Very handy and useful. I have restored
drives and partitions with Macrium and they always boot up.

Wilby

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

Yes, when I used it, I thought it was a backup program for my computer
as well as registry, since it had both the ERUNT and NTREGOPT
download...sigh.

No, ERUNT backs up the registry (it can be configured to do so every day
at a time of your choosing), and NTREGOPT optimises the registry.

ERUNT became somewhat redundant when M$ introduced System Restore in XP,
but I still find the automated daily backup feature useful.