Making simply system restore backups....

[Bonge Boo!]

Apologies for cross-postng, but I wasn't sure which group to post in....

Hey ho, here we are again.

I had a machine running Dantz Retrospect backup software, backing up my C
(boot) and D (data) drives on a Win2k SP4 machine

The C drive imploded yesterday. So I thought fine, I just get a new drive,
slot in, reboot from the emergency system on D, and restore the C drive from
he Retrospect backup.

Everything went fine. I rebooted. And go the following message:

Missing or corrupt C:\WINNT\system32\config\systemced

Being a good boy scout I find this means the system hive is missing or
corrupt. So I try putting the registry created on install from:

%systemRoot%\Repair\RegBack

This produces a blue screen on reboot. Which sucks.

So I had to reinstall Windows and all effing applications and settings
AGAIN!

I have a few questions:

1). Does anyone produces incremental backup software that can backup AN
entire disk, including registry , the whole lot, and enable you to bot from
an other boot drive, restore the disk and carry on as before with no
reinstalling?

2). Does Windows 2k ONLY backup the Registry if you use Backup / Backup
System State.

3). Can you make multiple Registry backups as Win95 used to make? If so,
what program will do this?

4). If I make a system state backup, can I clean reinstall Windows, then use
the system state backup to restore the computer to exactly as it was before
I reinstalled

Basically how the hell do people make useful backups of Windows, so if
disaster happens, you can just blast the data back onto the dis kadn reboot.

Don't say Ghost ( had a hell of a time with that); would be interested if
other people use Partition Magic / Drive Image, but ideally I want an
incremental backup program, so I can see "Snapshots" of the data through
time, rather than just one "this is how the disk is on the 29/03/04"

TIA.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Apologies for cross-postng, but I wasn't sure which group to post in....

Hey ho, here we are again.

I had a machine running Dantz Retrospect backup software, backing up my C
(boot) and D (data) drives on a Win2k SP4 machine

The C drive imploded yesterday. So I thought fine, I just get a new drive,
slot in, reboot from the emergency system on D, and restore the C drive from
he Retrospect backup.

Everything went fine. I rebooted. And go the following message:

Missing or corrupt C:\WINNT\system32\config\systemced

Being a good boy scout I find this means the system hive is missing or
corrupt. So I try putting the registry created on install from:

%systemRoot%\Repair\RegBack

This produces a blue screen on reboot. Which sucks.

So I had to reinstall Windows and all effing applications and settings
AGAIN!

I have a few questions:

1). Does anyone produces incremental backup software that can backup AN
entire disk, including registry , the whole lot, and enable you to bot from
an other boot drive, restore the disk and carry on as before with no
reinstalling?

2). Does Windows 2k ONLY backup the Registry if you use Backup / Backup
System State.

3). Can you make multiple Registry backups as Win95 used to make? If so,
what program will do this?

4). If I make a system state backup, can I clean reinstall Windows, then use
the system state backup to restore the computer to exactly as it was before
I reinstalled

Basically how the hell do people make useful backups of Windows, so if
disaster happens, you can just blast the data back onto the dis kadn reboot.

Don't say Ghost ( had a hell of a time with that); would be interested if
other people use Partition Magic / Drive Image, but ideally I want an
incremental backup program, so I can see "Snapshots" of the data through
time, rather than just one "this is how the disk is on the 29/03/04"

TIA.

Acronis TrueImage offers incremental image backups.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Apologies for cross-postng, but I wasn't sure which group to post in....

Hey ho, here we are again.

I had a machine running Dantz Retrospect backup software, backing up my C
(boot) and D (data) drives on a Win2k SP4 machine

The C drive imploded yesterday. So I thought fine, I just get a new drive,
slot in, reboot from the emergency system on D, and restore the C drive from
he Retrospect backup.

Everything went fine. I rebooted. And go the following message:

Missing or corrupt C:\WINNT\system32\config\systemced

Being a good boy scout I find this means the system hive is missing or
corrupt. So I try putting the registry created on install from:

%systemRoot%\Repair\RegBack

This produces a blue screen on reboot. Which sucks.

So I had to reinstall Windows and all effing applications and settings
AGAIN!

I have a few questions:

1). Does anyone produces incremental backup software that can backup AN
entire disk, including registry , the whole lot, and enable you to bot from
an other boot drive, restore the disk and carry on as before with no
reinstalling?

2). Does Windows 2k ONLY backup the Registry if you use Backup / Backup
System State.

3). Can you make multiple Registry backups as Win95 used to make? If so,
what program will do this?

4). If I make a system state backup, can I clean reinstall Windows, then use
the system state backup to restore the computer to exactly as it was before
I reinstalled

Basically how the hell do people make useful backups of Windows, so if
disaster happens, you can just blast the data back onto the dis kadn reboot.

Don't say Ghost ( had a hell of a time with that); would be interested if
other people use Partition Magic / Drive Image, but ideally I want an
incremental backup program, so I can see "Snapshots" of the data through
time, rather than just one "this is how the disk is on the 29/03/04"

TIA.

Acronis TrueImage offers incremental image backups.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

Acronis TrueImage offers incremental image backups.

Ok. But do the restores actually work? You reboot from another drive, press
the button to restore, reboot, and everything works fine?

I come from a computer environment were I wouldn't even have to ask the
question, but I cannot for the life of me get a method of making reliable
easily restorable complete system backups.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

Acronis TrueImage offers incremental image backups.

Ok. But do the restores actually work? You reboot from another drive, press
the button to restore, reboot, and everything works fine?

I come from a computer environment were I wouldn't even have to ask the
question, but I cannot for the life of me get a method of making reliable
easily restorable complete system backups.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok. But do the restores actually work? You reboot from another drive, press
the button to restore, reboot, and everything works fine?

I come from a computer environment were I wouldn't even have to ask the
question, but I cannot for the life of me get a method of making reliable
easily restorable complete system backups.

You boot the machine from the Acronis Recovery CD (which you
make yourself), you select the image file and the target partition,
and off you go. I've done it many times.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok. But do the restores actually work? You reboot from another drive, press
the button to restore, reboot, and everything works fine?

I come from a computer environment were I wouldn't even have to ask the
question, but I cannot for the life of me get a method of making reliable
easily restorable complete system backups.

You boot the machine from the Acronis Recovery CD (which you
make yourself), you select the image file and the target partition,
and off you go. I've done it many times.

 

[Enkidu]

Apologies for cross-postng, but I wasn't sure which group to post in....

Hey ho, here we are again.

I had a machine running Dantz Retrospect backup software, backing up my C
(boot) and D (data) drives on a Win2k SP4 machine

The C drive imploded yesterday. So I thought fine, I just get a new drive,
slot in, reboot from the emergency system on D, and restore the C drive from
he Retrospect backup.

Everything went fine. I rebooted. And go the following message:

Missing or corrupt C:\WINNT\system32\config\systemced

Being a good boy scout I find this means the system hive is missing or
corrupt. So I try putting the registry created on install from:

%systemRoot%\Repair\RegBack

This produces a blue screen on reboot. Which sucks.

So I had to reinstall Windows and all effing applications and settings
AGAIN!

I have a few questions:

1). Does anyone produces incremental backup software that can backup AN
entire disk, including registry , the whole lot, and enable you to bot from
an other boot drive, restore the disk and carry on as before with no
reinstalling?

NTBackup will do it, if you backed up system state, though you don't
boot from another drive - you can do it from the same drive. You just
have to install W2k first.

2). Does Windows 2k ONLY backup the Registry if you use Backup / Backup
System State.
Yes.

3). Can you make multiple Registry backups as Win95 used to make? If so,
what program will do this?

Yes, if you make multiple backups of System State.

4). If I make a system state backup, can I clean reinstall Windows, then use
the system state backup to restore the computer to exactly as it was before
I reinstalled
That's basically it.

Basically how the hell do people make useful backups of Windows, so if
disaster happens, you can just blast the data back onto the dis kadn reboot.

That's a good question and it depends on your setup. However, if you
do backups as a disaster recovery strategem, it is best if you try out
your restore process before you need it. I'd start off at the
Microsoft site and then broaden the search to the Internet, books and
so on. I'd suggest that the makers of your backup software might be
able to provide recovery scenarios, too.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Enkidu]

Apologies for cross-postng, but I wasn't sure which group to post in....

Hey ho, here we are again.

I had a machine running Dantz Retrospect backup software, backing up my C
(boot) and D (data) drives on a Win2k SP4 machine

The C drive imploded yesterday. So I thought fine, I just get a new drive,
slot in, reboot from the emergency system on D, and restore the C drive from
he Retrospect backup.

Everything went fine. I rebooted. And go the following message:

Missing or corrupt C:\WINNT\system32\config\systemced

Being a good boy scout I find this means the system hive is missing or
corrupt. So I try putting the registry created on install from:

%systemRoot%\Repair\RegBack

This produces a blue screen on reboot. Which sucks.

So I had to reinstall Windows and all effing applications and settings
AGAIN!

I have a few questions:

1). Does anyone produces incremental backup software that can backup AN
entire disk, including registry , the whole lot, and enable you to bot from
an other boot drive, restore the disk and carry on as before with no
reinstalling?

NTBackup will do it, if you backed up system state, though you don't
boot from another drive - you can do it from the same drive. You just
have to install W2k first.

2). Does Windows 2k ONLY backup the Registry if you use Backup / Backup
System State.
Yes.

3). Can you make multiple Registry backups as Win95 used to make? If so,
what program will do this?

Yes, if you make multiple backups of System State.

4). If I make a system state backup, can I clean reinstall Windows, then use
the system state backup to restore the computer to exactly as it was before
I reinstalled
That's basically it.

Basically how the hell do people make useful backups of Windows, so if
disaster happens, you can just blast the data back onto the dis kadn reboot.

That's a good question and it depends on your setup. However, if you
do backups as a disaster recovery strategem, it is best if you try out
your restore process before you need it. I'd start off at the
Microsoft site and then broaden the search to the Internet, books and
so on. I'd suggest that the makers of your backup software might be
able to provide recovery scenarios, too.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[James Barley]

Answer to #1
I use powerquests drive image7, and when I mess up my system, which is quite
often, I just boot from PQ's CD and restore an image from my D drive, this
gets me up and running again in approx 6 minutes, and it has never failed to
work.

#3
Winrescue will make multiple registry backups, and restoring them is a
breeze.
http://www.superwin.com/index.htm it can be found here.

 

[James Barley]

Answer to #1
I use powerquests drive image7, and when I mess up my system, which is quite
often, I just boot from PQ's CD and restore an image from my D drive, this
gets me up and running again in approx 6 minutes, and it has never failed to
work.

#3
Winrescue will make multiple registry backups, and restoring them is a
breeze.
http://www.superwin.com/index.htm it can be found here.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

NTBackup will do it, if you backed up system state, though you don't
boot from another drive - you can do it from the same drive. You just
have to install W2k first.

Ok. So I clean install 2k, thenopen Backup, and find my Backup catalog and
hit the button, reboot and presto, everything back as was when the system
backup was done?

Yes.

Bit daft.

Yes, if you make multiple backups of System State.

Ok. I've tried that; I see the regbackup in %systemroot%/restore being
over-writen, but have other ones incremetally added. Or doesn't that matter,
because the registry is wrapped up inside the system state backup file?

That's basically it.

Ok. I will give it a crack. Of course it means hosing the PC setup to test,
but.... I guess I could try using Virtual PC and breaking that....

That's a good question and it depends on your setup. However, if you
do backups as a disaster recovery strategem, it is best if you try out
your restore process before you need it. I'd start off at the
Microsoft site and then broaden the search to the Internet, books and
so on. I'd suggest that the makers of your backup software might be
able to provide recovery scenarios, too.

Very good point. I just come from a background where making a complete
system backup that can be restored from is so trivial I don't even think
about it.

Most software companies do have recovery scenairos. They don't appear to
work "as the manual suggests" I have had ridiculous problems getting
anything in Wondows done that involves cloning systems to new hard drives
(going in the same machine) or achieving CONSISTANT reliable restores. Fine
I can get all the data; but actually making something bootable from that
seems...... Well difficult.

And thanks for your time.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

NTBackup will do it, if you backed up system state, though you don't
boot from another drive - you can do it from the same drive. You just
have to install W2k first.

Ok. So I clean install 2k, thenopen Backup, and find my Backup catalog and
hit the button, reboot and presto, everything back as was when the system
backup was done?

Yes.

Bit daft.

Yes, if you make multiple backups of System State.

Ok. I've tried that; I see the regbackup in %systemroot%/restore being
over-writen, but have other ones incremetally added. Or doesn't that matter,
because the registry is wrapped up inside the system state backup file?

That's basically it.

Ok. I will give it a crack. Of course it means hosing the PC setup to test,
but.... I guess I could try using Virtual PC and breaking that....

That's a good question and it depends on your setup. However, if you
do backups as a disaster recovery strategem, it is best if you try out
your restore process before you need it. I'd start off at the
Microsoft site and then broaden the search to the Internet, books and
so on. I'd suggest that the makers of your backup software might be
able to provide recovery scenarios, too.

Very good point. I just come from a background where making a complete
system backup that can be restored from is so trivial I don't even think
about it.

Most software companies do have recovery scenairos. They don't appear to
work "as the manual suggests" I have had ridiculous problems getting
anything in Wondows done that involves cloning systems to new hard drives
(going in the same machine) or achieving CONSISTANT reliable restores. Fine
I can get all the data; but actually making something bootable from that
seems...... Well difficult.

And thanks for your time.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

Answer to #1
I use powerquests drive image7, and when I mess up my system, which is quite
often, I just boot from PQ's CD and restore an image from my D drive, this
gets me up and running again in approx 6 minutes, and it has never failed to
work.

Good call. Tried using Ghost to cone drives; horrible piece of pooh. Wasted
days. Partition Magic let me clone my drive in 30 mins flat.

Does Drive Image do incremtals? Or do I have to do complete drive backups?
The issue her is speed and size. Obviously incrementals are much smaller and
quicker and also let you view a "data history"

#3
Winrescue will make multiple registry backups, and restoring them is a
breeze.
http://www.superwin.com/index.htm it can be found here.

Thank you.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

Answer to #1
I use powerquests drive image7, and when I mess up my system, which is quite
often, I just boot from PQ's CD and restore an image from my D drive, this
gets me up and running again in approx 6 minutes, and it has never failed to
work.

Good call. Tried using Ghost to cone drives; horrible piece of pooh. Wasted
days. Partition Magic let me clone my drive in 30 mins flat.

Does Drive Image do incremtals? Or do I have to do complete drive backups?
The issue her is speed and size. Obviously incrementals are much smaller and
quicker and also let you view a "data history"

#3
Winrescue will make multiple registry backups, and restoring them is a
breeze.
http://www.superwin.com/index.htm it can be found here.

Thank you.

 

[Mark V]

Good call. Tried using Ghost to cone drives; horrible piece of
pooh. Wasted days. Partition Magic let me clone my drive in 30
mins flat.

Does Drive Image do incremtals? Or do I have to do complete drive
backups? The issue her is speed and size. Obviously incrementals
are much smaller and quicker and also let you view a "data
history"

See also ERUNT for registry backups. And ntbackup can do _just_ the
registry by running a "ERD backup job and checking the "Also backup
the registry..." checkbox. It's true that the previous registry
backup will be overwritten, but you can copy the files to another
location in order to keep several versions. ... or ERUNT.

Not sure what you really want. I do all of
Partition image
ntbackup System State / ERD
Simple copy files (in batch) and burn to CD-RW
to cover things.
Image the "system" partition about once a month or any time (such as
Service Pack) a major software change is immanent. In between,
multiple file copies and registry copies to stay up to date against
recovery needs in a disaster scenario.

FWIW

 

[Mark V]

Good call. Tried using Ghost to cone drives; horrible piece of
pooh. Wasted days. Partition Magic let me clone my drive in 30
mins flat.

Does Drive Image do incremtals? Or do I have to do complete drive
backups? The issue her is speed and size. Obviously incrementals
are much smaller and quicker and also let you view a "data
history"

See also ERUNT for registry backups. And ntbackup can do _just_ the
registry by running a "ERD backup job and checking the "Also backup
the registry..." checkbox. It's true that the previous registry
backup will be overwritten, but you can copy the files to another
location in order to keep several versions. ... or ERUNT.

Not sure what you really want. I do all of
Partition image
ntbackup System State / ERD
Simple copy files (in batch) and burn to CD-RW
to cover things.
Image the "system" partition about once a month or any time (such as
Service Pack) a major software change is immanent. In between,
multiple file copies and registry copies to stay up to date against
recovery needs in a disaster scenario.

FWIW

 

[Bonge Boo!]

See also ERUNT for registry backups. And ntbackup can do _just_ the
registry by running a "ERD backup job and checking the "Also backup
the registry..." checkbox. It's true that the previous registry
backup will be overwritten, but you can copy the files to another
location in order to keep several versions. ... or ERUNT.

Not sure what you really want. I do all of
Partition image
ntbackup System State / ERD
Simple copy files (in batch) and burn to CD-RW
to cover things.
Image the "system" partition about once a month or any time (such as
Service Pack) a major software change is immanent. In between,
multiple file copies and registry copies to stay up to date against
recovery needs in a disaster scenario.

Really what I want is a foolproof simple and above all reliable program to
enable me to do incremental backups, that can be restored from bare drive to
full working system in just the time it takes to copy the data back.

I don't see why it should be hard, except it seems to be.

Drive Image seems the most promising; but gosh darn, not incremental, not
scheduleable or scriptable, or networkable.

 

[Bonge Boo!]

See also ERUNT for registry backups. And ntbackup can do _just_ the
registry by running a "ERD backup job and checking the "Also backup
the registry..." checkbox. It's true that the previous registry
backup will be overwritten, but you can copy the files to another
location in order to keep several versions. ... or ERUNT.

Not sure what you really want. I do all of
Partition image
ntbackup System State / ERD
Simple copy files (in batch) and burn to CD-RW
to cover things.
Image the "system" partition about once a month or any time (such as
Service Pack) a major software change is immanent. In between,
multiple file copies and registry copies to stay up to date against
recovery needs in a disaster scenario.

Really what I want is a foolproof simple and above all reliable program to
enable me to do incremental backups, that can be restored from bare drive to
full working system in just the time it takes to copy the data back.

I don't see why it should be hard, except it seems to be.

Drive Image seems the most promising; but gosh darn, not incremental, not
scheduleable or scriptable, or networkable.

 

[Mark V]

Really what I want is a foolproof simple and above all reliable
program to enable me to do incremental backups, that can be
restored from bare drive to full working system in just the time
it takes to copy the data back.

I don't see why it should be hard, except it seems to be.

Drive Image seems the most promising; but gosh darn, not
incremental, not scheduleable or scriptable, or networkable.

A second hard disk drive and Acronis True image may be what you need.
I don't own True Image (still on old Drive Image), but have seen some
good reports FWIW.

http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/