best way to back up a hard drive

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J

Jim

I am having hard disk problems and seveeral people have stated that my
data ( which is several thousand images I scanned) is in jepardy.
What is the best way to back up a hard disk? I have a dvd and cd drive.
Is Norton Ghost 9.0 a good tool to use for this?
 
There are two types of backup software: file-based backup and disk imaging.
File-based backup backs up individual files and folders. Windows Backup is a
good example. Disk imaging creates an identical copy of a hard disk (or a
partition on a hard disk). Ghost is an example of disk imaging software. The
current version of Ghost is 10, although Symantec has created a successor to
Ghost called Norton Save and Restore.

To backup your images you could use file-based backup to backup the image
files, or you could use disk imaging software to make an identical copy of
the partition(s) which hold the image files. Either will do the job.
 
And always a good idea to backup to two different media, or create two
backups, and *test* the backups
Its surprising how often a backup finishes up being corrupt
Disk Imaging apps, and backup specific apps are able to verify the backup
 
I saw a responce from you on another thread that states that ghost can
only back up data to be put on a duplicate hardware. Will ghost upload
to any harddrive I install as a replacement to the one going down? Or
do I have to replace the bad drive with the exact same manufactor and
size drive as the ghost duplicated?
 
I am having hard disk problems and seveeral people have stated that my
data ( which is several thousand images I scanned) is in jepardy.
What is the best way to back up a hard disk? I have a dvd and cd drive.
Is Norton Ghost 9.0 a good tool to use for this?
Click to expand...

Since you just want to backup data, and the requirement is not to make a
bootable replacement disk, then you could just get a simple external
hard drive (USB/Firewire) and drag/drop them on the new drive.

I carry a portable 2.5" 80GB drive that uses USB to connect to my laptop
so that I can backup the customer data files before I leave their
location in case something happens to the laptop.

I also use a 300GB External (requires a power supply too), to backup
multiple computers.

If I wanted a backup that could boot, I would use Ghost (2003) to make a
"Image" of the source drive and then burn copies to DVD or CD so that I
could restore them from a boot diskette.
 
Leythos said:
Since you just want to backup data, and the requirement is not to make a
bootable replacement disk, then you could just get a simple external
hard drive (USB/Firewire) and drag/drop them on the new drive.

I carry a portable 2.5" 80GB drive that uses USB to connect to my laptop
so that I can backup the customer data files before I leave their
location in case something happens to the laptop.

I also use a 300GB External (requires a power supply too), to backup
multiple computers.

If I wanted a backup that could boot, I would use Ghost (2003) to make a
"Image" of the source drive and then burn copies to DVD or CD so that I
could restore them from a boot diskette.
Click to expand...

do you backup the whole lot (typically after collecting the comp)
incase the customer forgets about some data and doesn't tell you where
it all is.
Or do you just go by what he says and pretend he knows, search around
for common data files and hope for the best?

seems like you do the latter, sounds a bit of a gamble.

you also might not need to backup any of their data, it takes time.
 
Leythos said:
If I wanted a backup that could boot, I would use Ghost (2003)
to make a "Image" of the source drive and then burn copies to
DVD or CD so that I could restore them from a boot diskette.
Click to expand...


A backup that can be booted is called a "clone". It is an
exact sector-for-sector copy of the original partition or of an
entire hard drive. An "image" is a *file* (perhaps compressed)
from which an entire partition or hard disk contents can be
"restored" (i.e. recontructed). Ghost can do both - make a
clone or make an image file. But a clone must be put on an
IDE hard drive (since it is to be bootable), and an image file
can be put on any of several types of media, including CDs,
DVDs, and USB hard drives.

*TimDaniels*
 
Ted Zieglar said:
There are two types of backup software: file-based backup
and disk imaging. File-based backup backs up individual files
and folders. Windows Backup is a good example.
Disk imaging creates an identical copy of a hard disk (or a
partition on a hard disk).
Click to expand...


Imaging does not create an identical copy of a hard disk or
a partition thereof. It creates a *file* (which may be compressed)
from which the contents of the hard disk or partition may be
reconstructed (called "restoring"). The entity which is itself an
exact copy of the original is called a "clone", and it must reside
on another IDE hard drive. The advantage of a clone is that it
is immediately bootable as it stands. An image file cannot be
booted, but it can take up less storage (since it can be compressed)
and it can reside on several types of media, including CDs, DVDs,
and USB hard drives or flash drives - just as any file could. For
longterm cheap archival, images are good. As backups for
failed hard drives, and for no-brainer backups of multiple files,
settings, and installed programs, clones are good because they
are a copy of *everything*.

*TimDaniels*
 
A backup that can be booted is called a "clone". It is an
exact sector-for-sector copy of the original partition or of an
entire hard drive. An "image" is a *file* (perhaps compressed)
from which an entire partition or hard disk contents can be
"restored" (i.e. recontructed). Ghost can do both - make a
clone or make an image file. But a clone must be put on an
IDE hard drive (since it is to be bootable), and an image file
can be put on any of several types of media, including CDs,
DVDs, and USB hard drives.
Click to expand...

And you point was? I thought my statement was quite clear - make an
IMAGE and burn it to media and then restore it.
 
Leythos said:
And you point was? I thought my statement was quite clear - make an
IMAGE and burn it to media and then restore it.
Click to expand...

His distinction was in terminology. He's being stricter than I ever
heard.
I never heard anybody say an image isn't bootable (a burnt image is).

Of course the term "bootable image" doesn't mean booting off the image,
it means that the image when burnt is bootable.

One case where you do boot off an image (Cd - ISO image rather than
ghost image) is with a virtual machine

To amend what Tim wrote, I don't think a clone is necessarily a backup
which can be booted. You can clone a HDD with no OS on it.
 
Hi Jim,

..........Will ghost upload to any harddrive I install as a replacement
to the one going down?

Yes, use Ghosts clone option. It'll make an exact bootable copy of your
hard drive. The clone can be used as your primary drive by proper
placement of its jumper. It can also be used to make more copies of your
info.

You can't put the clone in a different computer and expect it to boot
though unless you're cloning Win 95/98 as they're not as computer
specific OSes.

Or do I have to replace the bad drive with the exact same manufactor and
size drive as the ghost duplicated?

Nope, different sizes and manufacturers works just as well.

Look around on ebay and you can easily find Ghost 8 for about $10
that'll do all you're looking to have done.


---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562
 
Jim said:
I saw a responce from you on another thread that states that ghost can
only back up data to be put on a duplicate hardware.
Click to expand...

Misleading.

It Is probably is referring to the true fact that if - at least with
Win NT.
If a HDD has a Win NT OS installed on it, then it was intalled with
that MBRD.
If you move that HDD to another MBRD with a diff chipset, win NT prob
won't work or won't work smoothly.

so if you ghost an image of one drive (With Win XP on it (XP is NT)),
onto another drive, then the other drive will run perfectly, on the
same MBRD as the original drive. Or on a MBRD with the same chipset.

i.e. so in your case, if you're running the ghosted hard drive in the
same comp as the original hard drive then it'll work.

Hence the answers to the next questions are good news-
Will ghost upload
to any harddrive I install as a replacement to the one going down?
yes

Or do I have to replace the bad drive with the exact same manufactor and
size drive as the ghost duplicated?
Click to expand...

no
 
His distinction was in terminology. He's being stricter than I ever
heard.
I never heard anybody say an image isn't bootable (a burnt image is).

Of course the term "bootable image" doesn't mean booting off the image,
it means that the image when burnt is bootable.
Click to expand...


Even the image when "burned" (such as onto optical media)
is not bootable as it is. It can only be booted when "restored".

To amend what Tim wrote, I don't think a clone is necessarily a backup
which can be booted. You can clone a HDD with no OS on it.
Click to expand...


True. But a clone of a partition containing an operating system
is the only kind that can be booted without a "restoration" step.
And a clone of a data partition is the only kind that can be accessed
without a "restoration" step.

*TimDaniels*
 
Leythos said:
(e-mail address removed) says...

And you point was? I thought my statement was quite clear -
make an IMAGE and burn it to media and then restore it.
Click to expand...


It wasn't clear that what would be booted was the product
of the "restoration" process. It sounded like the image residing
on the multiple optical disks was to be booted. The comment
was not for you but for readers of the newsgroup who may not
be as familiar with the various forms of backup.

*TimDaniels*
 
PA20Pilot said:
Yes, use Ghosts clone option. It'll make an exact bootable copy of your
hard drive. The clone can be used as your primary drive by proper
placement of its jumper.
Click to expand...


That is the usual procedure, but not really necessary if there
isn't a 2nd IDE hard drive. If there is no Master HD on channel 0,
the BIOS looks for a Slave HD on channel 0 to be the boot drive,
so a sole hard drive could be left jumpered as Slave. What
really *should* be done if there is just a single device on an IDE
cable is to put that single device at the end of the cable to avoid
the reflections that come back from the unterminated cable end.

Of course, if the BIOS is one in which the HD boot order can
be rearranged via keyboard input, the Slave HD can be made to
be the boot drive even if there is a Master HD on the cable.

*TimDaniels*
 
Timothy Daniels wrote:
Of course, if the BIOS is one in which the HD boot order can
be rearranged via keyboard input, the Slave HD can be made to
be the boot drive even if there is a Master HD on the cable.

*TimDaniels*
Click to expand...

how about the less practical way, usually a temporary thing 'cos you
can't access the toher drive. If you want to boot off the secondary
drive, then, if there's no option to change boot ordrer, you might be
inclined to disable the first HDD in the BIOS. Then it might boot off
the other one

So that's another way of having 2 HDDs in there and choosing which to
boot of. THe only prob there is the toher drive is inaccessible.

Another method is boot managers - even the one built into NT.
 
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