Do I need to back up XP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Miguel Sandoval
  • Start date Start date
M

Miguel Sandoval

I'm new to NTFS, having upgraded from Win98. I understand NTFS is a whole
different kind of file system, but I don't understand it well, ie. how it
prevents data corruption. I'm trying to figure out whether I need to back
up my XP Pro system. Its much harder to do now, because I have 40 gigs to
back up, and that takes a lot of CD-RW's and time. I don't care about
reinstalling the OS, that's pretty quick. I care about data corruption
that will cause me to lose my files and settings. But I read somewhere
that NTFS doesn't get corrupt clusters like Win 9x. That is to say, if you
reboot while writing to the drive (or having files open) under Win 9x,
Scandisk will come up and fix things, and you'll lose some data. I've
rebooted XP and Scandisk never came up, no data was lost, far as I know.
Does this mean files can't get corrupted? Do I just have to worry about
corrupted MBR's, etc?
 
Miguel Sandoval said:
I'm new to NTFS, having upgraded from Win98. I understand NTFS is a whole
different kind of file system, but I don't understand it well, ie. how it
prevents data corruption. I'm trying to figure out whether I need to back
up my XP Pro system. Its much harder to do now, because I have 40 gigs to
back up, and that takes a lot of CD-RW's and time. I don't care about
reinstalling the OS, that's pretty quick. I care about data corruption
that will cause me to lose my files and settings. But I read somewhere
that NTFS doesn't get corrupt clusters like Win 9x. That is to say, if you
reboot while writing to the drive (or having files open) under Win 9x,
Scandisk will come up and fix things, and you'll lose some data. I've
rebooted XP and Scandisk never came up, no data was lost, far as I know.
Does this mean files can't get corrupted? Do I just have to worry about
corrupted MBR's, etc?
Click to expand...

Although NTFS reduces file corruption when compared to FAT32, no file system
can be 100% corruption proof. It is recommended that you keep a backup of
your most important files in case anything does happen.
 
Miguel said:
I'm new to NTFS, having upgraded from Win98. I understand NTFS is a
whole different kind of file system, but I don't understand it well,
ie. how it prevents data corruption. I'm trying to figure out whether
I need to back up my XP Pro system. Its much harder to do now,
because I have 40 gigs to back up, and that takes a lot of CD-RW's
and time. I don't care about reinstalling the OS, that's pretty
quick. I care about data corruption that will cause me to lose my
files and settings. But I read somewhere that NTFS doesn't get
corrupt clusters like Win 9x. That is to say, if you reboot while
writing to the drive (or having files open) under Win 9x, Scandisk
will come up and fix things, and you'll lose some data. I've rebooted
XP and Scandisk never came up, no data was lost, far as I know. Does
this mean files can't get corrupted? Do I just have to worry about
corrupted MBR's, etc?
Click to expand...

Nothing is perfect. Backups are not perfect either, but we all hope
they will not go bad at the same time as our HD's

You may want to take a look at that 40 Gig. You don't need to back up a
lot of what is on most computers as it includes programs, backup files
restore files etc. A good plan and well organized data storage plans can
usually cut that way down.
 
NTFS has some advantages over FAT32, but it is not perfect. Further,
hardware problems, lecrical surges, and viruses can destroy data.

If it is important, back it up !!!
 
Okay, the unanimous vote seems to be "back it up". I figured as much. I
know backups is always useful, but I'm trying to get a sense of how
"bulletproof" NTFS is. I can already tell it doesn't get corrupted like
FAT partitions, so what I don't know is, can it get corrupted, and if so,
what happens when it does? Do you lose clusters of data like with FAT, do
you lose entire partitions, is the data easily recoverable or when its
repaired, does it end up in "cluster files" that you pretty much have to
chuck out, like with Scandisk? Speaking of which, does XP even scan the
drive after a crash? I have not found any file/drive checking programs in
my XP yet?? If it can crash and cause you to lose data files, why doesn't
XP come with a disk doctor utility?
 
Hi,

Instead of using CDs, why not use a second HD that can be unplugged and
kept out of harms way? As a matter of fact, you could easily use Nortons
Ghost and clone your whole drive, if the main one took a dump you would
just swap it out for the second drive and be good to go.
 
Although NTFS reduces file corruption when compared to FAT32, no file system
can be 100% corruption proof. It is recommended that you keep a backup of
your most important files in case anything does happen.
Click to expand...


Forget the technology; your computer couple be stolen, or the hard
disk can die, no matter what the file system is.

backup. test backup. backup. repeat.
 
Hi,

Instead of using CDs, why not use a second HD that can be unplugged and
kept out of harms way? As a matter of fact, you could easily use Nortons
Ghost and clone your whole drive, if the main one took a dump you would
just swap it out for the second drive and be good to go.
Click to expand...


You need multiple generations of backups. It's always
a bad idea to be doing a backup by overwriting your only
backup.
 
Backing up to CD's is a slow, cumbersome way to operate. Spend about $200
and buy an external drive, and if your computer does not yet have a USB2
port - add a USB2 card. Then you can backup very quickly and convieanently.
If your system is limited to USB1 your backups will take longer but will
still be much quicker than CDs. And when you get your next computer, just
move your external drive over and you are on your way again.
............................
 
Back
Top