Backup Issue:

[Navyguy]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 running IE8 with XP, SP3 , Windows
Firewall, Avira antivirus, Spybot (for updates only), Spywareblaster,
ATF and Hive Cleanup and all the programs work well together and are
up to date.

I don't have a dedicated hd for backups but use Nero instead to backup
my files and folders and works reasonably well for my purposes.
Tonight, I was backing up my files and all went well. The only
difference this time around was that I decided to backup my internet
folders which contain all my links.

When it was finished I decided to check some files to make sure it had
indeed backed them up which is something I always do. However, when I
tried to acces the files off the D: drive: it gave me this message:

incorrect function

when I closed this message it gave me this:

You do not have access to the folder D:\ see your administrator for
access to this folder.

I then logged into my adinistrator account and tried it again and it
gave me the exact same messages. Now I've done this a number of times
but this is the first time I've seen these messages. There were no
problems during the burining of the disc and all went as normal.

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

 

[Jan Alter]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 running IE8 with XP, SP3 , Windows
Firewall, Avira antivirus, Spybot (for updates only), Spywareblaster,
ATF and Hive Cleanup and all the programs work well together and are
up to date.

I don't have a dedicated hd for backups but use Nero instead to backup
my files and folders and works reasonably well for my purposes.
Tonight, I was backing up my files and all went well. The only
difference this time around was that I decided to backup my internet
folders which contain all my links.

When it was finished I decided to check some files to make sure it had
indeed backed them up which is something I always do. However, when I
tried to acces the files off the D: drive: it gave me this message:

incorrect function

when I closed this message it gave me this:

You do not have access to the folder D:\ see your administrator for
access to this folder.

I then logged into my adinistrator account and tried it again and it
gave me the exact same messages. Now I've done this a number of times
but this is the first time I've seen these messages. There were no
problems during the burining of the disc and all went as normal.

Thoughts/Suggestions?
Robert

If you have not changed anything or installed new programs since the last
time you backed up you could try a restore point from several days ago and
see if you get access back to to the D: drive. Should that not work you
might uninstall and then reinstall Nero.

 

[Navyguy]

I would suggest, if you are open to a better backup scheme, to consider
something like Acronis True Image, which can back up your entire C:
partition, and you won't have to worry about which files to selectively
backup (it can do the whole enchilada).   Plus it doesn't take all thatlong
to backup or restore the complete C: partition, if you have a reasonably
fast or new computer.  If you don't have a second HD you can get an internal
or external (in an enclosure) pretty inexpensively these days, and then
you're covered for almost any continguency.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I appreciate the suggestion and I understand all that but I'm on a
very marginal fixed income. Perhaps the problem lies in trying to
backup the links since that is the only difference from my previous
backups.

Robert

 

[Navyguy]

That seems so.

Do you only have one HD over there?   (I wasn't sure if that's what you
indicated.)   (I'm assuming when you mentioned D:, you meant the D:
partition on your one internal HD, but I'm not sure).

IF you do have any other physical HD (besides your internal C: one), that
would work fine for the image backups - it does NOT need to be reserved for
just that purpose (meaning, you can have other partitions and other stuffon
it too.  You would simply store the backup images on one of its partitions).

BTW, I know well what you mean by being on a marginal income - same here.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I was premature in my posting because I just remembered that I bought
extra hard drives for the computer so I already have them! All I need
is the Acronis True Image software so I will be taking your excellent
suggestion. I seem to remember something about primary and secondary
plugins on the ribbon cable? Anything else, or are there instructions
on how to install a second hard drive?

In passing, I did restore my computer to a later date and tried Nero
again and this time it worked. It may have also have been a bad disc
(who knows?). In any case, it's working.

Thanks
Robert

 

[Navyguy]

That seems so.

Do you only have one HD over there?   (I wasn't sure if that's what you
indicated.)   (I'm assuming when you mentioned D:, you meant the D:
partition on your one internal HD, but I'm not sure).

IF you do have any other physical HD (besides your internal C: one), that
would work fine for the image backups - it does NOT need to be reserved for
just that purpose (meaning, you can have other partitions and other stuffon
it too.  You would simply store the backup images on one of its partitions).

BTW, I know well what you mean by being on a marginal income - same here.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is this the correct version that I should purchase?

http://www.acronis.com/promo/ATIH20...s true image&gclid=CJi6sqTK4KcCFQkMbAodN1ep8A


Robert

 

[Jan Alter]

That seems so.

Do you only have one HD over there? (I wasn't sure if that's what you
indicated.) (I'm assuming when you mentioned D:, you meant the D:
partition on your one internal HD, but I'm not sure).

IF you do have any other physical HD (besides your internal C: one), that
would work fine for the image backups - it does NOT need to be reserved
for
just that purpose (meaning, you can have other partitions and other stuff
on
it too. You would simply store the backup images on one of its
partitions).

BTW, I know well what you mean by being on a marginal income - same here.-
Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is this the correct version that I should purchase?

http://www.acronis.com/promo/ATIH20...s true image&gclid=CJi6sqTK4KcCFQkMbAodN1ep8A


Robert



Newegg has it for $40 with shipping included. I've been using it for about 5
years and find it a very solid backup solution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832200023&cm_re=acronis-_-32-200-023-_-Product

 

[Paul]

Re-installing XP SP3
I've had to format the hard drive using Windows 98 FAT32. If I install
using NTFS or install onto FAT32 then convert to NTFS I get HAL.dll
corrupt or missing error. Why is this?

Thanks,
J.

Something to do with the information content of boot.ini ?

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-corrupt/c496ce30-9e1a-4c0b-9844-dd293eab8a00

I don't know if the "convert" function, has a reason for messing
around with boot.ini, or with the partition table. I'd take a look
at the partition table with this, before and after conversion.
(If you can't boot, after conversion, boot a Linux LiveCD and
examine the partition table with fdisk and the print command.
Compare what you see, with the info in PTEDIT32. In my case, I have
two Windows OSes on separate disks, so one broken Windows isn't the
end of the world.)

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/PTEDIT32.zip

I've had a primary partition table here, where the entries were out of
order, due to the way the disk was (partially) cloned in the first place.
This didn't cause me any problems, but might explain how a partition
table gets messed up. In normal circumstances, each successive partition
entry, should define an area of the disk further from track 0. In my case,
two partition entries were swapped 1,3,2,4 in terms of spatial location.
I fixed this purely for peace of mind, because it was so disturbing trying
to remember which was which when doing maintenance. The disk tools I used,
didn't get too upset by it.

Paul

 

[Navyguy]

I would buy Acronis True Image Home in a box (and not just download the
file) since that way it comes already on a bootable CD.   I think Jan
mentioned one source from Newegg.

The answer to your other question depends on what you have.   If you have
room inside for a second internal HD you could put it there.  OR you could
buy a hard drive "enclosure" (and put your HD inside the unit).  These HD
enclosures work with either USB HD drives or SATA HD drives, depending on
what you have and what model you buy (some handle both).   I have some
Vantec HD enclosures for that purpose, which connect to my PC either through
a USB connection, or (better yet, if your system supports it, the newer
eSATA connection.   I can't recall if I had to buy an external USB (or
eSATA) cable (used to connect the external HD enclosure with the drive
inside, to the PC), or whether I just had one lying around.

Of course, to use the (newer) SATA HD drives, you would need *both* SATA
drive capability on your PC (common with newer PCs, and also need a SATA HD
(not the older standard 40 pin connector, IDE HD).

But if you don't have that (SATA), you can always use a USB connected HD
enclosure, with the standard IDE drive (which has a 40 pin connector inside
it) to hook up to the drive.


Good to hear.
If you get Acronis True Image Home, and backup your entire C: partition,
just keep in mind it will take a few minutes to do so (and a bit more with
USB), so it may not be as fast as what you are currently doing.

But it can backup your entire system C: partition that way, so even if
windows gets messed up a bit, you can restore an image by booting off the
Acronis CD, if needbe.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree I would rather buy Acronis in a box and will check out
Newegg.

Let me try and answer your questions as best I can.

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 which came with a 40GB hd which I
upgraded to 160 GB and I also added more RAM so that it's maxed out
for this vintage of computer. I realize these days computers come with
500GB but mine serves for my purposes as I'm only using 18.9 GB of my
current hd.

I do have room in my computer for a another hard drive although I'm
not certain I have the internal connections for one.

The hard drives I purchaed were PATA the exact same series as my
current hd because I understood they were being phased out and I
wanted to have extra hd drives in case mine crashed. So I have (2)
160GB and the original(40GB) that has been cleaned/formatted for
further use.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[Jan Alter]

Is this the correct version that I should purchase?

http://www.acronis.com/promo/ATIH20...s true image&gclid=CJi6sqTK4KcCFQkMbAodN1ep8A


Robert

Hopefully you haven't ordered True Image if you are still interested in the
program. It appears to have gone on sale this morning at Newegg uaing the
code below. You can pick it up for $15 after you send in using the code and
the $10 rebate form..


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...11-Index-_-SoftwareUtilities-_-32200022-L015B


use code EMCKGHH67

 

[dadiOH]

I was premature in my posting because I just remembered that I bought
extra hard drives for the computer so I already have them! All I need
is the Acronis True Image software so I will be taking your excellent
suggestion. I seem to remember something about primary and secondary
plugins on the ribbon cable? Anything else, or are there instructions
on how to install a second hard drive?

1. Find the wide data cable that goes from the motherboard to your existing
drive. Most likely, the end connection opposite the mobo is plugged into the
drive. There is another connection between the mobo and HD...use it for
your new drive. The data cable will only plug in one way as it is "keyed".
If you have a CD/DVD already plugged into that cable, move it to the second
channel on the mobo...another data cable to mobo and CD/DVD drive.

2. Look at the back of each drive: there will be a small diagram by a
series of small pins, That diagram details how to place a jumper for your
drives; the choices are normally CS (cable select), slave and master. I
would set the jumpers on both drives to CS. If your things are old and CS
is not available or if it doesn't work, set your existing drive on the end
of the cable to "master", the new one on the center cable connection to
"slave". The jumpers are small so good light and tweezers are handy.

3. Insert the drive into an empty bay. It is held there with small,
roundhead machine screws.

4. Hook a power connector to the drive

5. Boot the computer and assure that BIOS finds the new drive.

6. After Windows boots, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer
Management, Disk Management. Find the new drive and assure that it is
assigned a drive letter.
___________________

In passing, I did restore my computer to a later date and tried Nero
again and this time it worked. It may have also have been a bad disc
(who knows?). In any case, it's working.

You do realize, I hope, that when you restore an *image* (not Windows
restore) you are totally destroying what was there before; if the image
restore fails for any reason the drive will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
I'm not saying to not restore an image, just pointing out that there is a
risk, albeit a small one.
_________________

There are other imaging programs besides Acronis, Paragon for one. Some -
including me - feel Paragon is better. Here is someone else who also
discusses some other imaging programs...
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm

Comparison of Paragon's offerings, one of which is free...
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/comparison.html

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Navyguy]

1. Find the wide data cable that goes from the motherboard to your existing
drive. Most likely, the end connection opposite the mobo is plugged into the
drive.  There is another connection between the mobo and HD...use it for
your new drive.  The data cable will only plug in one way as it is "keyed".
If you have a CD/DVD already plugged into that cable, move it to the second
channel on the mobo...another data cable to mobo and CD/DVD drive.

2. Look at the back of each drive:  there will be a small diagram by a
series of small pins,  That diagram details how to place a jumper for your
drives; the choices are normally CS (cable select), slave and master.  I
would set the jumpers on both drives to CS.  If your things are old andCS
is not available or if it doesn't work, set your existing drive on the end
of the cable to "master", the new one on the center cable connection to
"slave".  The jumpers are small so good light and tweezers are handy.

3. Insert the drive into an empty bay.  It is held there with small,
roundhead machine screws.

4. Hook a power connector to the drive

5. Boot the computer and assure that BIOS finds the new drive.

6. After Windows boots, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer
Management, Disk Management.  Find the new drive and assure that it is
assigned a drive letter.
___________________


You do realize, I hope, that when you restore an *image* (not Windows
restore) you are totally destroying what was there before; if the image
restore fails for any reason the drive will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
I'm not saying to not restore an image, just pointing out that there is a
risk, albeit a small one.
_________________

There are other imaging programs besides Acronis, Paragon for one.  Some -
including me - feel Paragon is better.  Here is someone else who also
discusses some other imaging programs...http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm

Comparison of Paragon's offerings, one of which is free...http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/comparison.html

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it athttp://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Thank you very much for the instructions, and the links.

Orginally, until I saw your post I was going to ask which version of
Acronis I should pick?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=acronis+true+image+home+2011&x=12&y=28

I read the reviews in the link you provided but now I'm confused as to
which backup software to use since I've never myself used any of these
programs but Paragon does seem to be highly regarded. It seems to be a
downloaded program versus something I can buy at Newegg, correct?

Yes, I do realize that by doing a system restore is destroying the
previous image which is another reason why I would like to have a
dedicated backup software/hd.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by hooking a power connector up to
the drive unless your refering to the normal power cable of the
computer.

Lasting, in passing, some have mentioned the time element involved
including the links you provided. Honestly, that issue doesn't concern
me. I just want something that will work and give me a mirror image
of my system. I also like the fact of just updating from the last
backup.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[dadiOH]

Thank you very much for the instructions, and the links.

Orginally, until I saw your post I was going to ask which version of
Acronis I should pick?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=acronis+true+image+home+2011&x=12&y=28

I read the reviews in the link you provided but now I'm confused as to
which backup software to use since I've never myself used any of these
programs but Paragon does seem to be highly regarded. It seems to be a
downloaded program versus something I can buy at Newegg, correct?

Correct. You could always try various free ones and see what you like (if
any). There is certainly nothing wrong with Acronis but I think one reason
it is so widely recommended is simply because it the one people have heard
about. Sort of like Nikon and Canon cameras...there are others equally (or
better) as good but those are the ones people have heard about.
____________

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by hooking a power connector up to
the drive unless your refering to the normal power cable of the
computer.

One of the little connectors coming out of the power supply which is inside
the computer case. They look like these...
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=molex&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi
___________________

Lasting, in passing, some have mentioned the time element involved
including the links you provided. Honestly, that issue doesn't concern
me. I just want something that will work and give me a mirror image
of my system.

The time to make/restore an image is more dependant on the hardware on your
sysyem than on the software itself.
__________________

I also like the fact of just updating from the last backup.

A lot of people like incremental backups but I've never used it as it
results in an additional file for each increment. If/when I restore I want
to be dead sure I am restoring what I want to restore to where I want to
restore it; given the small amount of time to make an image, I prefer making
them of the whole works. I keep two images: the most recent and its
predecessor; any older ones are deleted.

One thing you can do is keep a log of things you do that affect your
computer...programs installed/removed...registry changes...etc. I keep a
NotePad file of those, just the date and a short note about what was done so
that I can refer to it if I restore an image and see what if anything was
done after the restored image was made. Obviously, that NotePad file needs
to be kept somewhere other than a drive being restored.

I should mention that imaging programs (Paragon, at least) don't quite make
an image that is 100% accurate. If I restore one, the "key" for my avast AV
is no longer good and I have to re-enter it. No idea why.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Paul]

dadiOH wrote:


It's due to the hard drive's unique ID in the MBR not being backed up (or
restored). Which means that a very few programs might need to be "rekeyed"
as you mentioned.

VolumeID ?

I fix them with this, if needed. I use the old, free version of
Everest to take note of them in the first place, and put back the
original value if it is ever needed, with the Sysinternals tool.
If I'm restoring a C:, I boot my other Windows OS to run this first,
so the restored OS boots seeing only the original value.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897436

volumeid F: 492A-AC63

HTH,
Paul

 

[BillW50]

In

Is this the correct version that I should purchase?

http://www.acronis.com/promo/ATIH20...s true image&gclid=CJi6sqTK4KcCFQkMbAodN1ep8A

Robert

Newegg has it for $40 with shipping included. I've been using it for
about 5 years and find it a very solid backup solution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832200023&cm_re=acronis-_-32-200-023-_-Product

Actually you don't have to buy ati and get it for free if you have at
least one of the following drives:

Acronis True Image Seagate Edition (DiscWizard)
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

Acronis True Image WD Edition
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&type=download&wdc_lang=en

And I too have been using Acronis True Image for years and it has some
serious problems. I wrote 3 pages worth of problems with Acronis True
Image. The most serious is that it will not restore from some USB
drives. It will backup to them all day without a problem though. Acronis
True Image knows all about this and hasn't fixed it in many versions.
And yes, the problem exists in even the free versions.

 

[BillW50]

In

I should mention that imaging programs (Paragon, at least) don't
quite make an image that is 100% accurate. If I restore one, the
"key" for my avast AV is no longer good and I have to re-enter it. No
idea why.

I use both Acronis True Image and Paragon. And I never had that problem
with Paragon. But they have a number of products that can make an image.
So which one are you talking about and which version(s).

 

[Navyguy]

OK.   And you have a choice of whether or not to install the second HD
inside your computer, or to use an external HD (contained within in a HD
"enclosure" connected to the computer by a USB cable).   The simplest and
cheapest approach is to put it inside your computer, but there are pros and
cons to each approach.

I think dadiOH has given some helpful information here in regards to all of
this.

Do keep in mind that when you do a restore operation, as dadiOH pointed out,
it will totally replace everything you had before on the C: partition.   So
using an image backup scheme is not normally used for the same purpose as
just backing up some selected files (like in My Documents or whatever).
It's more like all or nothing, and it takes longer because of that.- Hidequoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'm confused, I understand that the dedicated backup is all or nothing
but how else can I backup selected files? Should I continue to use
Nero for this?

Also, I now remember about connecting the power cable to the hard
drive (its been awhile).

I think that Paragon seems the best choice. So I guess at this point I
need to install and format one of the 160GB hard drives. Then try the
free trial version of Paragon?


Robert

 

[Navyguy]

Correct.  You could always try various free ones and see what you like (if
any).  There is certainly nothing wrong with Acronis but I think one reason
it is so widely recommended is simply because it the one people have heard
about.  Sort of like Nikon and Canon cameras...there are others equally(or
better) as good but those are the ones people have heard about.
____________


One of the little connectors coming out of the power supply which is inside
the computer case.  They look like these...http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=molex&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa...
___________________


The time to make/restore an image is more dependant on the hardware on your
sysyem than on the software itself.
__________________


A lot of people like incremental backups but I've never used it as it
results in an additional file for each increment.  If/when I restore I want
to be dead sure I am restoring what I want to restore to where I want to
restore it; given the small amount of time to make an image, I prefer making
them of the whole works.  I keep two images: the most recent and its
predecessor; any older ones are deleted.

One thing you can do is keep a log of things you do that affect your
computer...programs installed/removed...registry changes...etc.  I keepa
NotePad file of those, just the date and a short note about what was doneso
that I can refer to it if I restore an image and see what if anything was
done after the restored image was made.  Obviously, that NotePad file needs
to be kept somewhere other than a drive being restored.

I should mention that imaging programs (Paragon, at least) don't quite make
an image that is 100% accurate.  If I restore one, the "key" for my avast AV
is no longer good and I have to re-enter it.  No idea why.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it athttp://mysite.verizon.net/xico

From what you say, I does seem a better idea to make a complete image
versus increments. Keeping a log also sounds like a good idea although
I hardly add anything to my computer and I wouldn't know about any
registry changes. Still, its a good thought.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[BillW50]

I'm confused, I understand that the dedicated backup is all or nothing
but how else can I backup selected files? Should I continue to use
Nero for this?

No, Acronis True Image and Paragon you can select just some folders and
files too. You don't have to do all or nothing.

Nobody said this so far in this thread, but the original problem I think
you had was caused by file sharing. Meaning if Windows or an application
is using a file, normally you can't copy or use that file. And if you
had IE opened while trying to backup favorites it might not work. Backup
programs like like Paragon and Acronis True Image gets around this problem.

I think that Paragon seems the best choice. So I guess at this point I
need to install and format one of the 160GB hard drives. Then try the
free trial version of Paragon?

There are free versions of Acronis True Image too, if you have at least
one of the following: Seagate/Maxtor or Western Digital drives.

Acronis True Image Seagate Edition (DiscWizard)
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/discwizard

Acronis True Image WD Edition
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&type=download&wdc_lang=en

Although the free versions it is all or nothing (full backups only I
believe). The paid version of Acronis True Image you can backup just
some folders and/or files if you want.

 

[BillW50]

Reading through all the comments posted in this thread, I sometimes wonder
if it would have been simpler to just let Navyguy continue backing up his
personal data the way he was already doing - IF that is only what he needs
or wants.

I think both are handy. For data stuff, I like the free SyncBack (they
have both free and commercial versions). The free version will not work
if Windows or an application has the file in use. Not a problem if you
close the application(s).

And I believe you should also backup all or at least just the OS and
applications every once in awhile too. As this saves you from installing
the OS from scratch, updating, adding drivers, and installing all of
your applications all over again.

Although you really need to test this backup by removing the drive and
putting in a spare and pretend the old drive is trashed. And if all
works okay, well no problems. If it doesn't, you still have the original
drive and you need to figure out why it didn't work.

Backing up and restoring your system using imaging or cloning is a nice
backup scheme, assuming you learn enough how to go about doing it (and any
caveats), beforehand. But for those who just want to backup personal
documents, it's a bit overkill.

Yes it is overkill. Data backup is pretty easy. And SyncBack is one of
the best here. It is so fast after the first time it is synced and it
beats so many others out there.

 

[dadiOH]

In

I use both Acronis True Image and Paragon. And I never had that
problem with Paragon. But they have a number of products that can
make an image. So which one are you talking about and which
version(s).

Hard Disk Manager 6.01.506

Yeah, it is old but works well and I'm used to it. I do have a newer
version installed - 8.5 IIRC - so I may try it sometime and see if it does
the same. OTOH, feeding avast a serial is not a big chore...

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico