Properly backing up my W2K OS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Holland
  • Start date Start date
T

Tim Holland

I've just had a very bad experience trying to ghost my main drive and
installation with Norton Ghost. Now I have to get rid of some
temporary drives which have appeared in the process.

But I'm scared of using Disk Management snap-in without properly
backing up my installation (W2K Pro).

So can someone recommend a reliable back-up program?

Thanks.

Tim
 
Tim Holland said:
I've just had a very bad experience trying to ghost my main drive and
installation with Norton Ghost. Now I have to get rid of some
temporary drives which have appeared in the process.

But I'm scared of using Disk Management snap-in without properly
backing up my installation (W2K Pro).

So can someone recommend a reliable back-up program?

Thanks.

Tim
Click to expand...

Further to what Dave wrote: Acronis TrueImage Version 7 is now
free: http://www.acronis.com/mag/DVhbcjdI. While it does not
have all the bells and whistles of the later versions, it will do the
job very nicely.
 
Tim said:
I've just had a very bad experience trying to ghost my main drive and
installation with Norton Ghost. Now I have to get rid of some
temporary drives which have appeared in the process.

But I'm scared of using Disk Management snap-in without properly
backing up my installation (W2K Pro).

So can someone recommend a reliable back-up program?
Click to expand...

I use Ghost but only from a dos boot floppy or cd (not from within
Windows). It's simple and has been 100% reliable for me. I back up to a
usb-drive.

I know a lot of people swear by Acronis but I never had much luck with
that (again from a boot-cd). I would do the backup OK but validating the
backup would often show errors so I never trusted it. (I also tried
backing up with Acronis to a NAS drive and that was worse - it couldn't
find half the directories on the NAS). So I stick with Ghost, godawful
dos-interface and all.

Don't know where your "temporary drives" are coming from but I suspect
you are backing up from within Windows.
 
Sid, you said:
I know a lot of people swear by Acronis but I never had much luck with
that (again from a boot-cd). I would do the backup OK but validating
the backup would often show errors so I never trusted it.
Click to expand...

But did you check to see if the files which did not validate are static
or dynamic files. That is, most files will rarely if ever change,
however Windows has MANY files which have constantly changing size and
date values. These files are not going to compare!! A typical example of
these is certain log files, they will not compare! There are many more
files which will not compare too, but they should be non-critical.
AX's, CPL's, EXE's, DLL's, DRV's, OCX's, will rarely if ever change.
INI's might, LOG's might, DAT's might (one can go on and on), but these
are just some examples and the bottom line is you have to know your
system, what is permissible and system critical and what is not.

Have you checked to see if files which didn't compare are system
critical?

Vic
___
 
Vic said:
Sid, you said:


But did you check to see if the files which did not validate are static
or dynamic files. That is, most files will rarely if ever change,
however Windows has MANY files which have constantly changing size and
date values. These files are not going to compare!! A typical example of
these is certain log files, they will not compare! There are many more
files which will not compare too, but they should be non-critical.
AX's, CPL's, EXE's, DLL's, DRV's, OCX's, will rarely if ever change.
INI's might, LOG's might, DAT's might (one can go on and on), but these
are just some examples and the bottom line is you have to know your
system, what is permissible and system critical and what is not.

Have you checked to see if files which didn't compare are system
critical?
Click to expand...


Like I said that quote, it was from a boot-cd - the backups weren't done
from within Windows. They were done from an Acronis Boot CD
(Linux-based, I believe) and were direct partition-image files. It was
these images that did not validate.

In fact, your comments such as:

.... will not compare
.... "should be" non-critical
.... will "rarely" if ever change
.... bottom line (is to) know what is permissible and what is not

illustrate quite well the reasons why I am dubious about using either
Ghost or Acronis from within windows. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.
I just don't see the need. It's just so simple to do it from a boot-disk.
 
Further to what Dave wrote: Acronis TrueImage Version 7 is now
free:http://www.acronis.com/mag/DVhbcjdI. While it does not
have all the bells and whistles of the later versions, it will do the
job very nicely.
Click to expand...

I was away for a few days and, by the time I got back, this page had
expired. So I then downloaded a trial version of TrueImage
Workstation 9.1 and the computer hung after choosing the restart
option in mid-installation.

I'm now really spooked!

I hot restarted, and picked the Last Known Good Configuration option.

Some people are talking about installing either this programme or
Ghost under Dos. Can I do this in the Dos prompt option of W2K?

Can I also actually run the programme under the Dos prompt?

I know only the absolute basics about Dos (dir, cd.., run, exit, and
that's about it), so if there's anything nasty waiting for me, I'd be
grateful if someone would let me know now.

Thanks to everyone who has tried to help.

Tim
 
See below.

Tim Holland said:
I was away for a few days and, by the time I got back, this page had
expired.
Click to expand...

*** Correct. I only just became aware of this.
So I then downloaded a trial version of TrueImage
Workstation 9.1 and the computer hung after choosing the restart
option in mid-installation.

I'm now really spooked!

I hot restarted, and picked the Last Known Good Configuration option.

Some people are talking about installing either this programme or
Ghost under Dos. Can I do this in the Dos prompt option of W2K?
Click to expand...

*** What you call the "DOS Prompt" option under Win2000
*** is probably the "Command Prompt". DOS is an operating
*** system, same as Linux or OS/2. There is no DOS under
*** Win2000.
*** You can, of course, launch the TrueImage installation process
*** from a Command Prompt. However, I do not think that it
*** makes any difference if there is an incompatibility on your
*** machine. Here are a few options:
*** - Try installing it from Safe Mode.
*** - Check the Acronis FAQs.
*** - Write a note to the Acronis HelpDesk. They usually respond
*** within a working day.
Can I also actually run the programme under the Dos prompt?
Click to expand...

*** After installing TrueImage under Win2000, you can create
*** a Recovery CD. It lets you reboot your PC and run TrueImage
*** without relying on Windows.
I know only the absolute basics about Dos (dir, cd.., run, exit, and
that's about it), so if there's anything nasty waiting for me, I'd be
grateful if someone would let me know now.
Click to expand...

*** DOS does not come into this exercise.
 
See below.







*** Correct. I only just became aware of this.





*** What you call the "DOS Prompt" option under Win2000
*** is probably the "Command Prompt". DOS is an operating
*** system, same as Linux or OS/2. There is no DOS under
*** Win2000.
*** You can, of course, launch the TrueImage installation process
*** from a Command Prompt. However, I do not think that it
*** makes any difference if there is an incompatibility on your
*** machine. Here are a few options:
*** - Try installing it from Safe Mode.
*** - Check the Acronis FAQs.
*** - Write a note to the Acronis HelpDesk. They usually respond
*** within a working day.


*** After installing TrueImage under Win2000, you can create
*** a Recovery CD. It lets you reboot your PC and run TrueImage
*** without relying on Windows.


*** DOS does not come into this exercise.
Click to expand...

I tried to install in Safe Mode and got the following error message:

<<
E00640003: The error was encountered while the installation.

Acronis installation program encountered the error #1601: "The
Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. Contact your
support personnel to verify that the Windows Installer service is
properly registered. (0xFFF0)
code = FFFFFFFF80070641
Tag = 0xBD28FDBD64EDB816"
A possible reason might be that you do not have enough privileges.
Please check the installation troubleshooting section of the support
documentation.
Tim
 
Tim said:
Some people are talking about installing either this programme or
Ghost under Dos. Can I do this in the Dos prompt option of W2K?
Click to expand...

I think the "some" in this instance is me since I mentioned my mild
distrust of doing a Windows backup from within Windows (that would
include a Windows command prompt. Never tried it - nor wanted to - but I
somehow doubt that it would work).

My preference (with Ghost) is to install Ghost in Windows then use it to
make a DOS (real dos) boot-disk containing the Ghost backup facility
(with USB access if desired). Boot from that and (using the admittedly
crude user interface) do the backup. No open, locked,
changing-on-the-fly or otherwise questionable files that may or may not
be able to be backed up. Just a one-for-one image that can be verified
on the same basis. Easy and quick - why complicate matters?

You can of course, still open the image file from the Windows Ghost
installation and extract individual files, directories etc.

Actually, I started with the Ghost boot-floppy but later added the files
to a bootable-cd that contains some other tools (Partition Magic,
manufacturers' HD test utilities etc). It's a mini-cd that's easy to
carry from machine to machine along with my usb backup hd.
 
I think the "some" in this instance is me since I mentioned my mild
distrust of doing a Windows backup from within Windows (that would
include a Windows command prompt. Never tried it - nor wanted to - but I
somehow doubt that it would work).

My preference (with Ghost) is to install Ghost in Windows then use it to
make a DOS (real dos) boot-disk containing the Ghost backup facility
(with USB access if desired).
Click to expand...


I'm suspicious of using Ghost 2003, but I also own Ghost 9.0. I
installed it on Drive C:. How can I make a DOS boot-disk with this?

By the way, I eventually succeeded in getting rid of my temporary
Drive J: but my USB external drive (which used to be J:) became K:
while the temporary drive was there. It's still K:, even after
rebooting. Can I use DM to change its name, or could that be
dangerous?

Does it matter, anyway? Is there anything awkward that could occur if
the drive were always K:? Could it somehow rename itself on its own?

Thanks for all your help.

Tim




Boot from that and (using the admittedly
 
Tim said:
I'm suspicious of using Ghost 2003, but I also own Ghost 9.0. I
installed it on Drive C:. How can I make a DOS boot-disk with this?
Click to expand...

I use Ghost 8.2 which I believe may be Ghost 2003 (not sure though).
I've never upgraded because I've never felt the need (considering that I
only really use it from a dos-boot plus very occasionally I'll use it
from Windows to get a specific file from a backup image).


One of the components when you install it into Windows is the "Ghost
Boot Wizard" which walks you through making various styles of boot disk.
You may need to have a Win98 boot floppy handy if you want the boot disk
to be MS-DOS-based. (There's a licencing consideration that prevents
Symantec from supplying the MS-DOS boot files ... you have to supply
them). Failing that, I believe it will use DR-DOS instead.

I presume it's the same for Ghost 9.0.
By the way, I eventually succeeded in getting rid of my temporary
Drive J: but my USB external drive (which used to be J:) became K:
while the temporary drive was there. It's still K:, even after
rebooting. Can I use DM to change its name, or could that be
dangerous?

Does it matter, anyway? Is there anything awkward that could occur if
the drive were always K:? Could it somehow rename itself on its own?
Click to expand...

I don't think it matters much for a removable drive. The drive-letters
are allocated last and change depending on your hardware configuration.
I wouldn't think that a re-assignment under Disk Manager would persist
beyond the next time that you unplugged the USB drive.

If you create any short-cuts etc that point to a removable drive or,
indeed, try to install an application to it (if Windows lets you), then
you are asking for trouble but that's not the way they are normally used.

When I use a removable drive under Windows, I just plug it in and see
what drive number pops up. If you give it an appropriate drive label
such as "USB-Back" etc it's pretty easy to find under Windows or from a
Ghost DOS boot.
 
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