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| Thread ID: 33810 | 2003-05-26 08:31:00 | DATA /SYSTEM BACK-UP | WILLWILLWILLWILL (236) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 147608 | 2003-05-26 08:31:00 | After my latest semi-anual crash, I am searching for the best/easiest/most practical/economical means of backing up my systems. Whats out there? Advice is much apreciated. | WILLWILLWILLWILL (236) | ||
| 147609 | 2003-05-26 09:19:00 | Hopefully someone will offer some advice on a good backup program as there are heaps of them out there. Meanwhile it might help if you listed what your operating system/s is. | Susan B (19) | ||
| 147610 | 2003-05-26 09:19:00 | Do you have a CDRW drive? If you do, then this would be a possibility. Oxie |
Oxie (1318) | ||
| 147611 | 2003-05-26 09:29:00 | Quite simply, Nero's Multisession CD's cant be beaten for low-cost and fast backup.. A hundred dollar CD-R/W will get you fastest on the market (qmb.co.nz for example). Nero can burn a folder to a CD-R, then put the CD-R back in the drive, tell it to continue the CD only adding and updating files and you're peachy! Takes about twenty seconds to update your backups! |
Chilling_Silently (228) | ||
| 147612 | 2003-05-26 09:35:00 | I would reccomend Symantec Ghost... Format your machine, reinstall everything and get everything running, create a Ghost image and your sweet. Should anything happen your always able to go back to your machine when it was in it's "newly installed" state. The only problem would be drivers for graphics cards assuming you like to keep up to date?? The problem is My Documents and Emails wouldn't be saved with this, so use Nero or something and burn them to a CD on a weekly/fortnight basis. WindowsUpdates wouldn't go amiss either if you have the space.... CyberChuck |
cyberchuck (173) | ||
| 147613 | 2003-05-26 10:17:00 | Well, there are already several several methods mentioned. The method I use is a backup hard drive in a plug-in caddy, and use Ghost once a week to copy the complete main hard drive to the back up drive. It copies at about 500Mb/minute. Running Win98SE and never re-installed Windows since it was first loaded in 1999 or thereabouts, although I have copied from the backup a few times when it has been too much of a pain to sort something out due to playing around. Some people make image files. DriveCopy is another program from PowerQuest that works Ok for copying, or Drive Image for image files, but Ghost is pretty good. CDs are just too small IMHO. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 147614 | 2003-05-26 11:02:00 | Hi Will I endorse Terry's comments, but I use compressed images rather than straight copies . I also use a second hard drive in a caddy and I take this off site if I am going to be away from my office for an extended period . The following is pasted from a previous post I made on this subject: <Here is the best way to set up this system: 1) Have your existing hard drive partitioned as C: and E: 2) Have a second hard drive installed and partitioned as D: and F: 3) Transfer all your data to D:, including the files for your email (outlook . pst for Outlook 2000) . Don't forget to reset the target drive for your email & other program data files so that it knows where to store the data . 4) Once your computer is set up as you want it and working well, create an image of your OS and programs on C: using Norton Ghost or Drive Image and store it on the second hard drive in the F: partition . Name this file as the "original" and keep it unchanged . This is then your ultimate "return to go" option . You can keep an even earlier image of just the bare OS on its own if you like and that will save future reinstallations . 5) Make regular images (back ups) of your data on D: and store these on the E: partion of your original drive . Before creating an image, delete all temporary & redundant files, run scandisk then defrag to ensure that you have the smallest & cleanest file structure . Verify that the disk is ok by booting for OS or data checks for a data disk before creating the image, and use Ghost Explorer to check that the files are similarly accessible after the image is created . 6) If you want a belt n' braces backup system, keep a copy of your current C: image on the main drive in the E: partition, and a copy of your current D: data on F: on your data drive . That way you have multiple redundancy options . I actually store spare backups on another computer on the network as well, that way if I suffer fire, theft or other (unspecified) disaster in my office, I can commandeer another computer and image it as per my defunct box inside of an hour and be back at work . Note that this will only work if the second computer has the identical hardware profile to the first . The C: drive image is otherwise only usable to restore on the original drive, or a new drive in the same system . 7) Every time you make a significant change to your OS or programs, such as installing a service pack or video driver update, create an new image and store this in F: along with the most recent backup . Once you have verified that the update is OK you can delete the previous image (but not the original "return to go" image) . Using this system, if your OS or program files get corrupted or one or the other drives fails completely, you can be back to normal in no time at all . For example, if your C: & E: drive dies, you can have a new drive installed and partitioned, then dump across your C: image from the still working F: partition and away you go . Similarly, if your D: & F: drive fails, you can install and partition a replacement, then dump your data back from the image on E:, and transfer your current C: image I have been using this system for some years now on all my computers and I have never had to reinstall an OS or programs . However, I have used images several times, mostly on my children's computers as a quicker option than finding what was wrong, especially for failed installations . I actually got into this after my original computer needed reformatting and reinstallation of programs about once every six weeks for about a year . The cause was finally diagnosed, but I bought the original Ghost Personal Edition the minute that it was first released and I have never looked back since . It offers great peace of mind! Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 147615 | 2003-05-26 20:45:00 | Billy Ts recommendations are really good. I think the reasons I make complete copies of partitions rather than compressed image files is historical, it goes back to when I bought DriveCopy which doesnt make image files, only copies. However one advantage of a complete copy is that the back up drive can be plugged into the main hard drive caddy holder every now and again and 'QA' tested to check that it boots and all is OK and everything copied properly. Also it allows a bit of experimental playing around on the backup to test ideas out. Again, if both drives are plugged in together with the backup as a slave, then the odd new data file can be easily moved to the backup. I think each user has to work out what suits them best. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 147616 | 2003-05-26 22:06:00 | Definitely the backing up the whole drive in the way that Terry does would be the ultimate way to go in my opinion. Provided that you have the discs about. I also I like the look of Billy's plan. I really should start some back up regime at some stage. |
-=JM=- (16) | ||
| 147617 | 2003-05-27 04:46:00 | JM: Backups are something you do every day for a week. Just after a disk crash. :D | Graham L (2) | ||
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