Backup

[em21]

Umh! Some very nasty people out there. If you see the answers to the Backup 2
post, you'll see what I mean.

Thanks Daave for explaining the difference between cloning and restoring
with the CD. Wow, that was crystal clear.

And you are right. The discs I have are actually OPERATING SYSTEM DISC and
SYSTEM RECOVERY DISC, not System Restore.(What was I thinking, da!) They came
with my Gateway computer, and I can use them to do a recovery when my system
cracks down. I can also do this by tapping F11.

I do not need a program to boot up my system, but I will give some
consideration to the programs suggested for cloning, or imaging of my hard
drive. It does sound like a good idea, now that I understand better.

--
edith

Hi Daave,

What I want to do?
As I pointed out earlier,
"What I wanted to do was a backup of my C drive like that one that
was made automatically when I performed a Windows System Restore.This
backup contained the whole C drive and was stored right there in C/.
under the name "MY Backup."

What you are describing does *not* sound like Windows System Restore.
Windows System Restore has more to do with your registry and some other
settings. See this article:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx

I believe some PCs (e.g., HPs) come with software that creates a "my
backup" folder in C:. My guess is you are confusing Windows System
Restore with something else. (That is why I earlier asked what the name
of your backup program was.)

That was great. I was able to use that to quickly restore all my
downloaded software, my games with the current scores, and all my
personal files. It made me feel secure knowing that if I was missing
something, I could find it there. I wanted that same thing, but I
wanted to put it in an external device, wether in my external hard
drive, or on some CD's, or DVD's".

I thought I could do that using the Windows Backup Utility.

Ntbackup can certainly make backups (although it won't help with the
programs -- unless you are referring to program installation files). But
it's not the best program out there; it's not as good as imaging or
cloning -- for reasons already given. Also, you cannot use ntbackup with
CDs or DVDs.

Then I run into the Fat32 conflict. It seems that the only way I can
do what I wanted to do is to change my HD from Fat32 to NTFS. I
didn't really want to go that route, and was open to other
suggestions.

You should reconsider since NTFS is the better way to go in this
situation. (I'm assuming you want to elimiate the file size problem you
earlier described.) And if you *only* want to back up your data, then
ntbackup will work fine with an external hard drive (which, again, might
as well be NTFS).

"Do you want to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it may
restored in
case something bad happens?"

"In that case, you need to either clone or image your hard drive."

That is not what I had in mind. Since I have the "System Restore
Disc" and the Windows Operating System Disc?"I didn't think I needed
to go to that extreme. Aren't those discs just like clones of my hard
drive? This is a questions I have asked before, but have not gotten
an answer yet.

I did answer (scroll down to the very bottom). My apologies if I wasn't
clear. Think of a journal. You purchase a brand new journal, then you
add entries every day for one whole year. You decide to make a copy of
this journal (for safety reasons -- these entries are important and you
don't want to lose them). The copy is the clone. Can you see how
restoring your jourrnal to its original state (without any of the year's
worth of entries) isn't a copy? It's good if you want to start from
scratch, but not good if you value the year's worth of entries! The two
discs basically restore your PC to its original condition. Perhaps the
System Restore CD (not to be confused with Windows XP System Restore!!!)
can allow you to save all your data (journal entries) and lay down a
fresh install of the operating system only (I don't know.. I don't know
what program it is or even the model/number of the PC). But it's still
not a clone (or image, for that matter), which would be an *exact* copy
of your hard drive.

For now, I have settled with just copying to my external hard drive
some files I want saved, like dadiOH suggested.

It is always good to make sure you copy your important documents. It's
not as good as imaging or cloning, but it's much better than what most
people do. Pat yourself on the back!

Thanks Daave for your interest. I appreciate it.
Edith

You're welcome, Edith.

-- Do you want
to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it may restored in
case something bad happens? T
edith

em21 wrote:
OK, I thought something like that would work, but when I hear about
making sure of making a System Backup, I thought I had to go and
backup the whole hard drive in my computer.

"System backup" is a vague term. What exactly is your goal? Do you
want to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it may
restored in case something bad happens? That is, do you want to
duplicate (in addition to all you important documents, photos,
music, e-mails, etc.) the operating system and its current settings
and configurations along with all the installed programs and their
settings and configurations? [If so, that is smart. ] In that
case, you need to either clone or image your hard drive. If you were
to simply copy the contents of your hard drive to another hard
drive, that unfortunately won't work. You need to do this job in a
specific, special way -- with either cloning or imaging software.

Anna mentioned Casper, which is a good program to clone the hard
drive. The result is a perfectly cloned hard drive that you can
physically swap with the other one should the need arise, and your
PC will not know any difference.

If you wish to create an image archive of your hard drive (like a
compressed snapshot that can later be expanded), you need to use an
imaging program like Acronis True Image (which also can clone your
hard drive -- but note that Casper's cloning system is superior
since it is faster and allows for the making of "incremental"
clones). If you would rather use a free imaging program,
DriveImageXML works well. But ATI is superior and well worth the
$35. Actually, it looks like there is a rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832200008

Now, if you don't mind one more question. You think then, that Just
keeping a backup of my personal files would be enough?

Not the best way to "back up," but it's certainly much better than
nothing! Cloning or imaging is much better because it allows you to
undo disaster (caused by malware, a flaky update, or failing
hardware).

These two discs I have, (XP Operating System Disc, and System
Recovery Disc), would they be the same as the System Backup I
always hear about?

No, not at all. The XP disc allows you to perform a Clean Install
(where everything is wiped clean -- that is, all your documents,
etc. will be erased) or a Repair Install of Windows XP. I am
guessing the Recovery Disc returns your PC to its fresh-from
the-factory condition (similar to a clean install, but there is no
need to install drivers for your hardware components).

 

[em21]

Wow, I better do things right uh!. I see you saw my reply in my new post, but
here it goes again anyway.

"unless it is just one big file - what's stopping you from just moving it to
where you want it?"

Thanks DadiOh, this is what I will do, until I decide about a
cloning/imaging program.


And a big thank you to all those that pitched in to help with my issue, I
learned a whole lot about "Backups".

 

[em21]

Thanks Anne for your recommendations. I really didn't quite understand what
was the significance of the cloning process. Now that Daave explained it in
more lay terms, I understand a lot better. As I told Daave, I will give it
some consideration.
Thanks for your help

 

[Guest]

I love SPAM

(e-mail address removed)
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Daave]

Glad to help and thanks for posting back to your original thread. There
is a good chance I would have missed your other post. Nate was correct
in pointing out the need to stay in your original thread, but he is an
embarrassment for insulting you the way he did. Just brush it off.

Umh! Some very nasty people out there. If you see the answers to the
Backup 2 post, you'll see what I mean.

Thanks Daave for explaining the difference between cloning and
restoring with the CD. Wow, that was crystal clear.

And you are right. The discs I have are actually OPERATING SYSTEM
DISC and SYSTEM RECOVERY DISC, not System Restore.(What was I
thinking, da!) They came with my Gateway computer, and I can use them
to do a recovery when my system cracks down. I can also do this by
tapping F11.

I do not need a program to boot up my system, but I will give some
consideration to the programs suggested for cloning, or imaging of my
hard drive. It does sound like a good idea, now that I understand
better.

Hi Daave,

What I want to do?
As I pointed out earlier,
"What I wanted to do was a backup of my C drive like that one that
was made automatically when I performed a Windows System
Restore.This backup contained the whole C drive and was stored
right there in C/. under the name "MY Backup."

What you are describing does *not* sound like Windows System Restore.
Windows System Restore has more to do with your registry and some
other settings. See this article:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx

I believe some PCs (e.g., HPs) come with software that creates a "my
backup" folder in C:. My guess is you are confusing Windows System
Restore with something else. (That is why I earlier asked what the
name of your backup program was.)

That was great. I was able to use that to quickly restore all my
downloaded software, my games with the current scores, and all my
personal files. It made me feel secure knowing that if I was missing
something, I could find it there. I wanted that same thing, but I
wanted to put it in an external device, wether in my external hard
drive, or on some CD's, or DVD's".

I thought I could do that using the Windows Backup Utility.

Ntbackup can certainly make backups (although it won't help with the
programs -- unless you are referring to program installation files).
But it's not the best program out there; it's not as good as imaging
or cloning -- for reasons already given. Also, you cannot use
ntbackup with CDs or DVDs.

Then I run into the Fat32 conflict. It seems that the only way I can
do what I wanted to do is to change my HD from Fat32 to NTFS. I
didn't really want to go that route, and was open to other
suggestions.

You should reconsider since NTFS is the better way to go in this
situation. (I'm assuming you want to elimiate the file size problem
you earlier described.) And if you *only* want to back up your data,
then ntbackup will work fine with an external hard drive (which,
again, might as well be NTFS).

"Do you want to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it
may restored in
case something bad happens?"

"In that case, you need to either clone or image your hard drive."

That is not what I had in mind. Since I have the "System Restore
Disc" and the Windows Operating System Disc?"I didn't think I needed
to go to that extreme. Aren't those discs just like clones of my
hard drive? This is a questions I have asked before, but have not
gotten an answer yet.

I did answer (scroll down to the very bottom). My apologies if I
wasn't clear. Think of a journal. You purchase a brand new journal,
then you add entries every day for one whole year. You decide to
make a copy of this journal (for safety reasons -- these entries are
important and you don't want to lose them). The copy is the clone.
Can you see how restoring your jourrnal to its original state
(without any of the year's worth of entries) isn't a copy? It's good
if you want to start from scratch, but not good if you value the
year's worth of entries! The two discs basically restore your PC to
its original condition. Perhaps the System Restore CD (not to be
confused with Windows XP System Restore!!!) can allow you to save
all your data (journal entries) and lay down a fresh install of the
operating system only (I don't know.. I don't know what program it
is or even the model/number of the PC). But it's still not a clone
(or image, for that matter), which would be an *exact* copy of your
hard drive.

For now, I have settled with just copying to my external hard
drive some files I want saved, like dadiOH suggested.

It is always good to make sure you copy your important documents.
It's not as good as imaging or cloning, but it's much better than
what most people do. Pat yourself on the back!

Thanks Daave for your interest. I appreciate it.
Edith

You're welcome, Edith.

-- Do you want
to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it may restored in
case something bad happens? T
edith


:

em21 wrote:
OK, I thought something like that would work, but when I hear
about making sure of making a System Backup, I thought I had to
go and backup the whole hard drive in my computer.

"System backup" is a vague term. What exactly is your goal? Do you
want to make a perfect copy of your hard drive so that it may
restored in case something bad happens? That is, do you want to
duplicate (in addition to all you important documents, photos,
music, e-mails, etc.) the operating system and its current settings
and configurations along with all the installed programs and their
settings and configurations? [If so, that is smart. ] In that
case, you need to either clone or image your hard drive. If you
were to simply copy the contents of your hard drive to another hard
drive, that unfortunately won't work. You need to do this job in a
specific, special way -- with either cloning or imaging software.

Anna mentioned Casper, which is a good program to clone the hard
drive. The result is a perfectly cloned hard drive that you can
physically swap with the other one should the need arise, and your
PC will not know any difference.

If you wish to create an image archive of your hard drive (like a
compressed snapshot that can later be expanded), you need to use an
imaging program like Acronis True Image (which also can clone your
hard drive -- but note that Casper's cloning system is superior
since it is faster and allows for the making of "incremental"
clones). If you would rather use a free imaging program,
DriveImageXML works well. But ATI is superior and well worth the
$35. Actually, it looks like there is a rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832200008

Now, if you don't mind one more question. You think then, that
Just keeping a backup of my personal files would be enough?

Not the best way to "back up," but it's certainly much better than
nothing! Cloning or imaging is much better because it allows you to
undo disaster (caused by malware, a flaky update, or failing
hardware).

These two discs I have, (XP Operating System Disc, and System
Recovery Disc), would they be the same as the System Backup I
always hear about?

No, not at all. The XP disc allows you to perform a Clean Install
(where everything is wiped clean -- that is, all your documents,
etc. will be erased) or a Repair Install of Windows XP. I am
guessing the Recovery Disc returns your PC to its fresh-from
the-factory condition (similar to a clean install, but there is no
need to install drivers for your hardware components).