System Restore alternatives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe Ordia
  • Start date Start date
J

Joe Ordia

I have found System Restore on Win XP Pro to be unreliable! More often than
not it will not restore system to an earlier time.

Other than GoBack, what 3rd party programs are available? I used
SecondChance with Win 98 and it worked like a charm, but it is not
compatible with XP.

Joe
 
Joe said:
I have found System Restore on Win XP Pro to be unreliable! More
often than not it will not restore system to an earlier time.

Other than GoBack, what 3rd party programs are available? I used
SecondChance with Win 98 and it worked like a charm, but it is not
compatible with XP.
Click to expand...

Imaging software is the best. Any of these:

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/
http://www.sofotex.com/Acronis-True-Image-download_L7410.html
 
Joe Ordia said:
I have found System Restore on Win XP Pro to be unreliable! More often than
not it will not restore system to an earlier time.

Other than GoBack, what 3rd party programs are available? I used
SecondChance with Win 98 and it worked like a charm, but it is not
compatible with XP.
Click to expand...

I like erunt.zip, a 575K freeware utility that backs up the XP
registry and essential files. Saved me once when Restore failed.
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt
 
I think you must ask yourself the reason as to why you need to restore XP so
many times in the first place.
 
sqr said:
I think you must ask yourself the reason as to why you need to restore XP so
many times in the first place.

--
Click to expand...


Good question.
However, here is how I maintain redundancy as such.

I Installed my OS. Fully patched up and tweaked it.
I installed the most efficient drivers for my hardware. Not necessarily the
latest ones.

AV and Firewall were installed and fully patched up.
I installed my most used applications and utils etc.. and tweaked them.

I ended up with roughly 3Gb or so of OS, Apps, Utils and Security apps.
Before installing Each driver, set of updates and application. I created a
System restore point. That way if the whole thing screwed up when I
installed an app or driver or "Microsoft Update", I could restore back and
it's all good again.

Once EVERYTHING I need was installed and set up exactly how I like it, I
created a complete image of my system using Driveimage 7.0. This got saved
onto a DVD-RW.

So, if my system starts being retard, if possible I back up any new data I
need to, Emails, Docs etc.. across my LAN to another box. (Virus checked of
course). Then, with Driveimage, it's about 20 minutes to get back to fully
working order.

From there on, I re-install any new apps, utils etc.. that I may have
installed since initial installtion, patch up with the latest updates all
round since initial installation and carry on from where I left off.

System Restore is very good at what it does. I ALWAYS create a restore point
before installing ANY update, driver, program etc.. On occasions after
installing a video driver (Nvidia), I've restored back to the point I
created just before installing because the latest driver is rubbish or
something. No problems, sweet as. :o)

If used correctly, Sys Restore and Drive image are fantastic.
 
Joe Ordia said:
I have found System Restore on Win XP Pro to be unreliable! More often than
not it will not restore system to an earlier time.

Other than GoBack, what 3rd party programs are available? I used
SecondChance with Win 98 and it worked like a charm, but it is not
compatible with XP.
Click to expand...

You don't need any of them.
 
Good question.
However, here is how I maintain redundancy as such.

I Installed my OS. Fully patched up and tweaked it.
I installed the most efficient drivers for my hardware. Not necessarily the
latest ones.

AV and Firewall were installed and fully patched up.
I installed my most used applications and utils etc.. and tweaked them.

I ended up with roughly 3Gb or so of OS, Apps, Utils and Security apps.
Before installing Each driver, set of updates and application. I created a
System restore point. That way if the whole thing screwed up when I
installed an app or driver or "Microsoft Update", I could restore back and
it's all good again.

Once EVERYTHING I need was installed and set up exactly how I like it, I
created a complete image of my system using Driveimage 7.0. This got saved
onto a DVD-RW.

So, if my system starts being retard, if possible I back up any new data I
need to, Emails, Docs etc.. across my LAN to another box. (Virus checked of
course). Then, with Driveimage, it's about 20 minutes to get back to fully
working order.

From there on, I re-install any new apps, utils etc.. that I may have
installed since initial installtion, patch up with the latest updates all
round since initial installation and carry on from where I left off.

System Restore is very good at what it does. I ALWAYS create a restore point
before installing ANY update, driver, program etc.. On occasions after
installing a video driver (Nvidia), I've restored back to the point I
created just before installing because the latest driver is rubbish or
something. No problems, sweet as. :o)

If used correctly, Sys Restore and Drive image are fantastic.
Click to expand...


Man that is a lot of work to go through just to get a Windows system up and keep
it backed up! :) With my Gentoo Linux box I just tar up my /home directory
to my DVD drive every couple of weeks or so, do not have to worry to much about the
OS screwing up on me. :) Even if for some remote reason it does the, it it
much easier to trouble shoot and install than Windows.
 
Your backup procedures is very sound but on system restore I must disagree
some what. System restore will not always bring back a previous setup when
some changes have been made to the OS itself i.e patches. Drive Image or
Ghost will always completely restore a sick machine.
 
Man that is a lot of work to go through just to get a Windows system up and keep
it backed up! :) With my Gentoo Linux box I just tar up my /home directory
to my DVD drive every couple of weeks or so, do not have to worry to much about the
OS screwing up on me. :) Even if for some remote reason it does the, it it
much easier to trouble shoot and install than Windows.
Click to expand...

Keyword here :o)

WINDOWS ! Not Linux :o)

Please don't think I'm being rude as I don't mean it in that way but, I
couldn't care less about any Linux installation. I don't use it and never
will (unless I have no other alternative).

I'm posting in a Windows group because thats what the title of the Group
contains.

It's a lot of work to do which is literally, a few clicks here and there.
Then to put my system, back it's 20 minutes max. I'm happy with that. I'm
also happy with the fact that everything I personally require a computer
system to do, is performed by Windows is a more than satisfactory manner.

I appreciate what you're saying. and hell yeah, I wish Windows was as simple
as Tar'ing up a directory... but unfortunately it isn't :o), but once you
have the backup methods, it is simply point and click. I do also have backup
apps that can be set to back up my whole system across my LAN. However, my
most important data isn't stored locally on the machine anyway. It's secure
on removeable media.

Tbh, I've tried Linux.. got sick of the install procedures. Got sick of
sourcing drivers. Then sat at it thinking.. Um all my Windows software ain't
gonna work.

Destroy Partition, Recreate and FORMAT C: :o))
 
sqr said:
Your backup procedures is very sound but on system restore I must disagree
some what. System restore will not always bring back a previous setup when
some changes have been made to the OS itself i.e patches. Drive Image or
Ghost will always completely restore a sick machine.
Click to expand...


Agreed Sqr, however it's acceptable for me at present :)

As much as create a brand new Drive image file each week or month and then
spend the time writing to a DVD, I'm happy with Sys Restore :o)

My system isn't critical to the point I need it up and running within 5 mins
of falling over :)
Actually, it's only ever fallen over once and Yup, believe it or not, it was
System Restore that helped.. :o)

Drive image does rock though :)
 
Ian Clark - typed:
Agreed Sqr, however it's acceptable for me at present :)

As much as create a brand new Drive image file each week or month and
then spend the time writing to a DVD, I'm happy with Sys Restore :o)

My system isn't critical to the point I need it up and running within
5 mins of falling over :)
Actually, it's only ever fallen over once and Yup, believe it or not,
it was System Restore that helped.. :o)

Drive image does rock though :)
Click to expand...

I've had SR fail only once not long after installing XP. 9 months later,
I sequentially restored 6 points (less relevant when it safe to assume
that if one works, all will) & only had to delete about 10 renamed files
which were safe to leave anyhow. Not long after that, I disabled the SR
Service. I did so because of so many bad reports in NGs. Also, running
DI5 & NTBackup as tasks at night to wake, run then resume Standby mode
made SR redundant.

I have issues with how SR works. It had a big hit on fragmentation (but
works pretty damn quickly), virtually any file corruption will toast
*all* restore points where disabling then re-enabling is required. You
must watch out for low disc space on all monitored partitions. You
cannot archive particular points or choose which partition the RPs are
kept & I'm not sure exactly what it restores.

It's a nice idea, especially running automatically on updates & installs
but needs to be robust & more choosy how it stores files. I would not
want to rely on SR without imaging s/w or use any Norton product apart
from NAV, NIS & Ghost on XP 'cos of the number of negative posts.

I recently tweaked DI5 (also works with DI2002) which gives a 2-3x
increase in speed (IIRC, forces DMA mode under DOS). Others have
reported a 0-5x increase.
 
sqr said:
If people think SR is the cat's ass then why has M$ removed it from Server
2003?

--
Click to expand...


I don't think anyone thinks it's the cats ass... but it's definately not a
server tool.
If anyone expected to use in a server environment well.. ROFL ! Say good
bye to your network.

At home however, it's perfectly adequate alongside Drive Image..

Most people aren't running corporate servers at home.. :)
 
Back
Top