Restoring System Backup crashes! I got the backup blues.

[Guest]

Last night I decided to test the Backup utility to see if it is really
providing me any protection. My goal was to determine whether or not I could
restore my system if my C drive took a dump and had to be replaced.

My system OS is Windows XP Pro rtm (release to manufacturing, the first
release) with all updates and service pack 2.

First, I did a complete system backup to secondary HDD including system
state and creation of an Automated System Recovery disc. Then I removed my C
drive and replace it with a new blank drive thus simulating a drive failure.
I then attempted to run the Automated System Recovery disc only to be
confronted with the message "the disk is to small, it must be as large or
larger than the original backed up drive". Both were 80 gig drives so I ran
diagnostics on them and discovered that one, the original was actually 80.06
gig and the other was 80.03 gig. This sucks because you can buy 2 identical
drives and can not be sure they are the same size because they may have a
diferent number of sectors parsed out as unusable at the time of manufacture
and still meet the 80 gig requirement. So it seems that I would have to buy a
120 gig to even try this method. Even then I don't know if it would work.

So, I decided I would have to do this the hard way. I whipped out my XP disc
and installed it to the new drive. So far so good. Next, I tried to restore
the system from the back up. The restore seemed to run ok but as soon as the
system reboots it goes blue screen and just keeps rebooting over and over
again. I repeated this over this time not restoring system state but got same
result. Tried running XP system repair, no luck. I suspect part of the
problem is that my XP disc is spk0 and my backup is spk2 but if the backup
utility can't handle this what good is it?

All I have found this utility can do with any reliability is backup data
files. Hell, I can do that by dragging my Documents folder to my secondary
drive. I can't trust it to restore users, settings, applications or even desk
top themes correctly.

So, just what is this utility good for other than taking up disc space? I
think I'm going to install Raid 1 for redundency and get an image program for
backup!

 

[Guest]

A microsoft tech viewed the file-transfer wizard as the best way to backup xp,
and he's right.Open the wizard,set as old computer,browse thru to what you
want it to save,save the data in a new folder that you created,once the data
is complete to new folder,move to a cd,or another hd.

 

[Z]

So, I decided I would have to do this the hard way. I whipped out my XP disc
and installed it to the new drive. So far so good. Next, I tried to restore
the system from the back up. The restore seemed to run ok but as soon as the

Did you restore with the option to "Replace existing files" or not?

(Restore Wizard > select .bkf/files > Next > Advanced > Next > Replace
Existing Files)

 

[Lil' Dave]

Last night I decided to test the Backup utility to see if it is really
providing me any protection. My goal was to determine whether or not I could
restore my system if my C drive took a dump and had to be replaced.

My system OS is Windows XP Pro rtm (release to manufacturing, the first
release) with all updates and service pack 2.

First, I did a complete system backup to secondary HDD including system
state and creation of an Automated System Recovery disc. Then I removed my C
drive and replace it with a new blank drive thus simulating a drive failure.
I then attempted to run the Automated System Recovery disc only to be
confronted with the message "the disk is to small, it must be as large or
larger than the original backed up drive". Both were 80 gig drives so I ran
diagnostics on them and discovered that one, the original was actually 80.06
gig and the other was 80.03 gig. This sucks because you can buy 2 identical
drives and can not be sure they are the same size because they may have a
diferent number of sectors parsed out as unusable at the time of manufacture
and still meet the 80 gig requirement. So it seems that I would have to buy a
120 gig to even try this method. Even then I don't know if it would work.

So, I decided I would have to do this the hard way. I whipped out my XP disc
and installed it to the new drive. So far so good. Next, I tried to restore
the system from the back up. The restore seemed to run ok but as soon as the
system reboots it goes blue screen and just keeps rebooting over and over
again. I repeated this over this time not restoring system state but got same
result. Tried running XP system repair, no luck. I suspect part of the
problem is that my XP disc is spk0 and my backup is spk2 but if the backup
utility can't handle this what good is it?

All I have found this utility can do with any reliability is backup data
files. Hell, I can do that by dragging my Documents folder to my secondary
drive. I can't trust it to restore users, settings, applications or even desk
top themes correctly.

So, just what is this utility good for other than taking up disc space? I
think I'm going to install Raid 1 for redundency and get an image program for
backup!

Just the time consumption alone, would not use this for a full system
backup. Stick to your data.

Think you mean RAID 0.

A decent up to date imaging program is all you need.

 

[Guest]

No, I mean exactly what I said. RAID 1, mirroring. This is a hardware
redundency implementation only that allows you to immediately bring the
second drive on line if the primary drive suffers an electrical or mechanical
failure. Please keep in mind that RAID (any level) is not a backup scheme; it
is for redundency and performance enhancement only. Any erroneous data,
virus, deleted file, and etc on the primary drive will also be on the RAID
drives.

Raid 0 is striping without parity which is a performance enhancement only
providing no fault tolerance and is not effective on a 2 drive system unless
you use your primary drive as a member of the striped set. That would be
foolish because it provides no redundency and if your primary drive goes limp
the secondary drive would be useless. Furthermore, it doubles your chance of
having a drive failure. However, such a configuration does remarkably
increase drive access performance if that was all you were concerned about.

Actually the raid 1+0 combination might really be worth trying out.

I agree about the imaging program. Its the way to go.

 

[Guest]

Tried it every way.
--
2dogs in Oregon USA

Did you restore with the option to "Replace existing files" or not?

(Restore Wizard > select .bkf/files > Next > Advanced > Next > Replace
Existing Files)

 

[Lil' Dave]

Imaging backs up everything too. So, any viruses, blah, blah, blah are in
the image file ready for restoration.

Dyslexia is setting in. RAID 1 is what I meant.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html
doubleclick.net is embedded in the above page. Flush your cache, cookies
when done.

 

[MedRxman]

Sorry to see you had a problem. As you indicated in your last post, the
"IMAGING" program is the way to go.

Having a scond HDD makes it easy.

I partitioned my second HDD into several partitions one of which I called
"IMAGES" where I make a new image every 3 months or so and keep a total of 4
images and after 4, will delete the oldest,etc.

Another partition I labeled "DATA" where I keep a backup of the
"MY Documents" folder using a freeware program called "Replicator" available
at www.karenware.com.

Another partition I leave blank so that in the event of a HDD failure I can
switch the IDE cable and make the secondary HDD (slave drive) the primary.
then boot with the imaging rescue disk or CD and restore one of the images
to the blank partition. I can then go and purchase another HDD.

good luck