(after the crash) OK, how DO you back up your main drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug
  • Start date Start date
D

Doug

Happy new year all. Having spent the last week reconstructing my c drive
after discovering that my backups didn't do what I expected them to do, I'm
wondering what went wrong, and what I should do in the future. I find it
hard to believe that there is no reliable way to back up a c drive in
Windows, short of making a complete mirror of the drive.

Because of a problem with a hard drive controller driver update, I was
forced to reinstall Windows (couldn't boot to safe mode, and none of the
repair functions on the installation disk did the trick). I had done a
"system state" backup, using the Windows backup utility, a few days
previously, and so thought I would be okay. I installed Windows into the
same directory that it had been in, but after restoring the system state
backup, none of my programs worked anymore, and I was essentially forced to
reinstall all my software and settings.

It seems that either I don't know how to use it, or the system state backup
feature is worse than useless. It really had me thinking I was protected...

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints. It looks like I might just need to
buy some mirror software...

Doug
 
Doug said:
Happy new year all. Having spent the last week reconstructing my c drive
after discovering that my backups didn't do what I expected them to do, I'm
wondering what went wrong, and what I should do in the future. I find it
hard to believe that there is no reliable way to back up a c drive in
Windows, short of making a complete mirror of the drive.

Because of a problem with a hard drive controller driver update, I was
forced to reinstall Windows (couldn't boot to safe mode, and none of the
repair functions on the installation disk did the trick). I had done a
"system state" backup, using the Windows backup utility, a few days
previously, and so thought I would be okay. I installed Windows into the
same directory that it had been in, but after restoring the system state
backup, none of my programs worked anymore, and I was essentially forced to
reinstall all my software and settings.

It seems that either I don't know how to use it, or the system state backup
feature is worse than useless. It really had me thinking I was protected...

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints. It looks like I might just need to
buy some mirror software...

Doug
Click to expand...

I have used the following method for several years, with great success:
- Keep the OS and all apps on drive C:
- Keep all data on drive D:
- Park an image file of C: on drive D:, using DriveImage
- Keep a copy of the image file somewhere else.
- Update the image file about once every six months.
- Keep the two most recent copies of the image file.

This method allows me to restore a system in about
30 minutes.

I once attended a Microsoft workshop. The MS engineers had
set up 20 laptops in the class room. On completion of the course,
an engineer went to each machine and typed in a command to
initiate an image file restoration based on DriveImage. Within 30
minutes, every machine was back in its original condition.
 
Hi Doug,

Sorry to hear that, but it is good experience (after the dirty deed). You can laugh about it
now.

Of course you could have done inplace upgrade. ere is the KB...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=292175

And what it does and doesn't do for you.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=306952

You might want to keep those handy. Or Not. Anyways, have better New Year.
--

good computing,
don
---------




Happy new year all. Having spent the last week reconstructing my c drive
after discovering that my backups didn't do what I expected them to do, I'm
wondering what went wrong, and what I should do in the future. I find it
hard to believe that there is no reliable way to back up a c drive in
Windows, short of making a complete mirror of the drive.

Because of a problem with a hard drive controller driver update, I was
forced to reinstall Windows (couldn't boot to safe mode, and none of the
repair functions on the installation disk did the trick). I had done a
"system state" backup, using the Windows backup utility, a few days
previously, and so thought I would be okay. I installed Windows into the
same directory that it had been in, but after restoring the system state
backup, none of my programs worked anymore, and I was essentially forced to
reinstall all my software and settings.

It seems that either I don't know how to use it, or the system state backup
feature is worse than useless. It really had me thinking I was protected...

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints. It looks like I might just need to
buy some mirror software...

Doug
 
Thanks, Pegasus, 30 minutes sounds nice to me ;-) DriveImage is a program, I
assume? And the built-in backup system in win2k is really just a decoy,
intended to trick unsuspecting souls into thinking they've backed up their
system? :-) Or to be more charitable, would we say that it is useful only
for backing up user files?

Doug
 
DriveImage is a program. It is sold by PowerQuest.

The inbuilt backup program is not a decoy - it works quite well.
Unfortunately it has some inbuilt limitations. Restoring a complete system,
using the inbuilt backup tool, is rather tedious.

No matter what system you use, you should always test the functionality of
your backup file(s). Never assume that things work just because you expect
them to. They probably won't.
 
Thanks don and Pagasus,

Yes, I'd tried the inplace upgrade, to no avail. Apparently the hard drive
controller update I'd tried to install to the computer did some serious
damage somewhere (the machine ceased to boot after I ran the install
program). Perhaps this is why the windows "system state" backup utility
didn't work either. So, I guess the bottom line is that a mirror of the
drive is the ultimate protection. DriveImage, here I come...

Doug
 
I use both DriveImage and Ghost... love 'em both!

I prefer Ghost for imaging system drive... you can include the bootable
ghost diskette on the CD with the image, thus creating a "stand-alone"
bootable restore CD.

Drive Image is great and really easy to use for backing up/imaging data
volumes.

If your primary concern is the system drive, I'd suggest you go with Ghost
first.

Chris
 
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