External Hard Drive used for System Backup.

[Frog]

I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system
backups (making of backups are not scheduled). My question now
is...should the external hard drive be plugged into the system at all
times or just when it is in use? My concern has to do with the
potential for my backup information of the external hard drive becoming
corrupt due to the invasion of a virus at some future date. I would
appreciate any thoughts you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and-
off of this device.

RELATED NOTE - to all those who helped me in an earlier backup software
thread:
I decided to use Caspar 4.0 software for making my backups. I have
found it, as Anna said it would be in her messages...easy to use. I
have a 500GB internal hard drive (2 partitions- drive C and E) and one
500GB external USB connected hard drive. The initial making of the
first backup took about 18 minutes to complete, and the external hard
drive was given two drive letters...G drive that has the C drive
information on it and H drive that has the E drive information on it.
The first update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand
total of 1 minute to complete. Of course, my computer is new and as
such it is not loaded down with large quantities of
software/folders/files and the like. I can access the information on
the external drives G and H in like manner of accessing information on
the internal C and E drive. Thus, I could copy any folder/file on the
external drive to the internal drive without any problem. I then used
the startup disk to see that it worked...it did. The startup disk takes
a couple of minutes to boot and then the window looks exactly like the
one I access from Program Files. If you want to reload a backup back to
your hard drive, it is simply copy G/H to C/E. I haven't determined
whether I can copy only G or H individually back to the system as of
yet...I haven't looked at that possibility, and guidance here would be
helpful. Well, there you have the results of your help in the earlier
thread. I just thought I should report back about my software decision
and that all is well with my computer...at least for the moment.

Frog

 

[Unknown]

I shut the power off on mine when not being used.

 

[smlunatick]

      I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system
backups (making of backups are not scheduled).  My question now
is...should the external hard drive be plugged into the system at all
times or just when it is in use?  My concern has to do with the
potential for my backup information of the external hard drive becoming
corrupt due to the invasion of a virus at some future date.  I would
appreciate any thoughts you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and-
off of this device.

RELATED NOTE - to all those who helped me in an earlier backup software
thread:
I decided to use Caspar 4.0 software for making my backups.  I have
found it, as Anna said it would be in her messages...easy to use.  I
have a 500GB internal hard drive (2 partitions- drive C and E) and one
500GB external USB connected hard drive.  The initial making of the
first backup took about 18 minutes to complete, and the external hard
drive was given two drive letters...G drive that has the C drive
information on it and H drive that has the E drive information on it.
The first update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand
total of 1 minute to complete.  Of course, my computer is new and as
such it is not loaded down with large quantities of
software/folders/files and the like.  I can access the information on
the external drives G and H in like manner of accessing information on
the internal C and E drive.  Thus, I could copy any folder/file on the
external drive to the internal drive without any problem.  I then used
the startup disk to see that it worked...it did.  The startup disk takes
a couple of minutes to boot and then the window looks exactly like the
one I access from Program Files.  If you want to reload a backup back to
your hard drive, it is simply copy G/H to C/E.  I haven't determined
whether I can copy only G or H individually back to the system as of
yet...I haven't looked at that possibility, and guidance here would be
helpful.  Well, there you have the results of your help in the earlier
thread.  I just thought I should report back about my software decision
and that all is well with my computer...at least for the moment.

Frog

USB drives can cause boot problem, especially if your PC's BIOS can be
set up to boot off a USB drive. You should consider only connecting
the drive at the time of backup and disconnect it when the backup is
done.

 

[PD43]

USB drives can cause boot problem, especially if your PC's BIOS can be
set up to boot off a USB drive. You should consider only connecting
the drive at the time of backup and disconnect it when the backup is
done.

My BIOS can be setup that way.

I leave the drive connected at all times and powered on because I have
a program that backs up all of my data files every couple of hours.

No problems.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Since you are doing manual backups I see no requirement to keep the external
drive connected or not connected between backup sessions. Do what meets
your other needs. I use the same external drive to do manual backup jobs on
several computers without any issues.

 

[throwitout]

I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system
backups (making of backups are not scheduled). My question now
is...should the external hard drive be plugged into the system at all
times or just when it is in use? My concern has to do with the
potential for my backup information of the external hard drive becoming
corrupt due to the invasion of a virus at some future date. I would
appreciate any thoughts you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and-
off of this device.

I'd recommend leaving the hard drive disconnected and powered off
between uses for a few reasons.

One of the reasons is the one that you brought up. There is the
potential for a disaster (such as a virus) that causes damage to your
main drive to also take out your backup. Not good. Another potential
problem would be if a lightning strike or other electrical problem
took out your computer and its hard drive, the potential exist for the
same fault to also damage your backups. I've also seen times where a
computer lockup or other problem can corrupt the FAT or MFT on both
internal and external hard drives. As well if your computer is ever
stolen the thief may also eye the shiny external drive sitting there
and take it too.

Another factor is the reliability of hard drives. For a number of
reasons (poor cooling, suseptability to physical shock, power
supplies) it seems external hard drives fail more often then internal
hard drives. Hard drives that are powered down are less suseptable to
physical shock than powered on ones, so that would decrease the
chances for damage. As well leaving the drive turned off most of the
time would probably give you more time before any of the other
problems reared their ugly head.

What you're doing is certainly much better than no backup, but it
probably wouldn't hurt to also occasionally make a copy of truly
irreplaceable data onto other media and store a copy off site.

I guess a con to disconnecting the drive might be that it's more
inconvenient to backup so you'd be less likely to do it.

Good luck.

 

[Anna]

I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system backups
(making of backups are not scheduled). My question now is...should the
external hard drive be plugged into the system at all times or just when
it is in use? My concern has to do with the potential for my backup
information of the external hard drive becoming corrupt due to the
invasion of a virus at some future date. I would appreciate any thoughts
you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and- off of this device.

RELATED NOTE - to all those who helped me in an earlier backup software
thread:
I decided to use Caspar 4.0 software for making my backups. I have found
it, as Anna said it would be in her messages...easy to use. I have a
500GB internal hard drive (2 partitions- drive C and E) and one 500GB
external USB connected hard drive. The initial making of the first backup
took about 18 minutes to complete, and the external hard drive was given
two drive letters...G drive that has the C drive information on it and H
drive that has the E drive information on it. The first update (one week
after making the initial backup) took a grand total of 1 minute to
complete. Of course, my computer is new and as such it is not loaded down
with large quantities of software/folders/files and the like. I can
access the information on the external drives G and H in like manner of
accessing information on the internal C and E drive. Thus, I could copy
any folder/file on the external drive to the internal drive without any
problem. I then used the startup disk to see that it worked...it did.
The startup disk takes a couple of minutes to boot and then the window
looks exactly like the one I access from Program Files. If you want to
reload a backup back to your hard drive, it is simply copy G/H to C/E. I
haven't determined whether I can copy only G or H individually back to the
system as of yet...I haven't looked at that possibility, and guidance here
would be helpful. Well, there you have the results of your help in the
earlier thread. I just thought I should report back about my software
decision and that all is well with my computer...at least for the moment.

Frog

Frog:
As you have heard from nearly all those who have responded to the first part
of your query re connecting/disconnecting your USB external HDD...

Since you're using that USBEHD primarily, if not exclusively, for backup
purposes in connection with your Casper 4 disk-to-disk cloning program,
there is really little reason to have it connected (powered on) except for
those relatively infrequent times when you're engaged in a disk-cloning
operation. There's certainly no harm in having its USB data cable connected
to your PC - just ensure the device is powered off.

Now as to your query re the cloning of partitions...

When you originally cloned your "source" HDD containing two partitions
designated C: & E: (I assume your optical drive is the D: drive) over to
your USBEHD and then connected the external device to your computer while
the system booted, the system designated the two cloned partitions on your
USBEHD as G: & H: (I assume there's an F: drive somewhere in your system -
possibly a flash drive or even a memory slot on your printer).

There's no problem in cloning one or both of the partitions on your USBEHD
back to your source disk (presumably for recovery purposes). Just as you can
clone individual partitions from the "source" to the "destination" drive,
the reverse is true as well.

Incidentally you mentioned in your post that after you performed the initial
backup of your system using the Casper 4 disk-cloning process, "the first
update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand total of 1
minute to complete."

I hope other users will take note of your comment. As I have tried to point
out in my previous posts re the Casper 4 program - that factor, i.e.,
"incremental disk cloning" is probably the chief advantage of Casper - the
extroardinary capability of the program to complete subsequent disk-cloning
operations (for routine comprehensive backups of one's system) in a fraction
of a time it takes other disk-cloning programs (at least the ones I'm
familiar with). Thus there's a strong incentive for users to backup up their
systems much more frequently than they might otherwise do, knowing that the
time to complete the current disk-cloning process won't be particularly
onerous and/or time-consuming.

But I am a bit puzzled by your comment that the Casper CD Startup Disk took
only "a couple of minutes to boot". That has not been our experience and
we've worked with a large variety of systems. I can't recall a single
instance where it took less than 6 minutes to reach the stage where one
could begin the disk-cloning process. And I would guess that on the average
it takes about 8 to 9 minutes to reach that point. In our experience booting
up with the "Startup Disk" is not particularly quick, to say the least. Are
you certain about that boot-time?

(Potential users of this Casper 4 program should note that the "Startup
Disk" CD) is used for recovery purposes. For example, let's say that, like
"Frog", one is using his/her USBEHD as the "destination" drive, i.e., the
recipient of the cloned contents of the one's internal day-to-day working
HDD. Now that latter drive becomes dysfunctional and unable to boot. So the
user would have no way of accessing the Casper program on that defunct drive
to perform the disk-cloning operation from the USBEHD back to the internal
HDD. That's where the "Startup Disk" comes in. The user would use that CD to
boot to the Casper program on the CD and undertake the disk-cloning
operation from the USBEHD back to an internal HDD. So (hopefully!) it would
be on infrequent occasions where the recovery process would have to be
employed).
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

Frog:
As you have heard from nearly all those who have responded to the first
part
of your query re connecting/disconnecting your USB external HDD...

Since you're using that USBEHD primarily, if not exclusively, for backup
purposes in connection with your Casper 4 disk-to-disk cloning program,
there is really little reason to have it connected (powered on) except for
those relatively infrequent times when you're engaged in a disk-cloning
operation. There's certainly no harm in having its USB data cable
connected
to your PC - just ensure the device is powered off.

Now as to your query re the cloning of partitions...

When you originally cloned your "source" HDD containing two partitions
designated C: & E: (I assume your optical drive is the D: drive) over to
your USBEHD and then connected the external device to your computer while
the system booted, the system designated the two cloned partitions on your
USBEHD as G: & H: (I assume there's an F: drive somewhere in your system -
possibly a flash drive or even a memory slot on your printer).

There's no problem in cloning one or both of the partitions on your USBEHD
back to your source disk (presumably for recovery purposes). Just as you
can
clone individual partitions from the "source" to the "destination" drive,
the reverse is true as well.

Incidentally you mentioned in your post that after you performed the
initial
backup of your system using the Casper 4 disk-cloning process, "the first
update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand total of 1
minute to complete."

I hope other users will take note of your comment. As I have tried to
point
out in my previous posts re the Casper 4 program - that factor, i.e.,
"incremental disk cloning" is probably the chief advantage of Casper - the
extroardinary capability of the program to complete subsequent
disk-cloning
operations (for routine comprehensive backups of one's system) in a
fraction
of a time it takes other disk-cloning programs (at least the ones I'm
familiar with).

Even True Image 11? I forgot, but didn't we agree that the Incremental
Backup available there is similar?

I haven't used the incremental backup/restore option yet, since I like
making SURE I have backed up/restored the complete enchilada, without
depending on the backup program keeping perfect track of any and all changes
on the HD (if using the incremental options).

 

[Frog]

First, let me say thank you for all of the responses in this thread. I
have decided, based on your responses, that I will leave the USBEHD
turned off except when I make backups and/or have to restore my system.

Anna, please note my comments interspersed in your message.

Frog:
As you have heard from nearly all those who have responded to the first part
of your query re connecting/disconnecting your USB external HDD...

Since you're using that USBEHD primarily, if not exclusively, for backup
purposes in connection with your Casper 4 disk-to-disk cloning program,
there is really little reason to have it connected (powered on) except for
those relatively infrequent times when you're engaged in a disk-cloning
operation. There's certainly no harm in having its USB data cable connected
to your PC - just ensure the device is powered off.

My USBEHD will be used exclusively for backup purposes.

Now as to your query re the cloning of partitions...

When you originally cloned your "source" HDD containing two partitions
designated C: & E: (I assume your optical drive is the D: drive) over to
your USBEHD and then connected the external device to your computer while
the system booted, the system designated the two cloned partitions on your
USBEHD as G: & H: (I assume there's an F: drive somewhere in your system -
possibly a flash drive or even a memory slot on your printer).

Anna, you have to remember that my technical skills are self-learned and
somewhat limited (my assessment). Thus, I am having some difficulty
understanding the above paragraph...it's not your fault, but mine. So
let me see if I can give you some information that may or may not
respond to this paragraph. Here are the steps I took when I started my
USBEHD/Caspar 4.0 backup process:

--I connected the USB cable and power cord to the USBEHD. Then, while
the computer was off, I connected the USB cable to the computer and the
power cable to the power. I turned the USBEHD on and then turned on the
computer. The computer found the USBEHD as a new piece of hardware and
gave it a drive letter...I think the drive letter was F. I next
installed the Caspar 4.0 software on my system following the
instructions in the Caspar User Guide---instructions were very easy to
follow. After the software was loaded, I then made a backup of my
internal hard drive to the USBEHD. Again, this process was easy to do
when following the Caspar User Guide. The Caspar 4.0 software loaded
from Program Files very quickly, when I was in full/normal Windows.
This backup of the entire C: and E: drives on the 500GB internal hard
disk took 18 minutes to complete. When I looked in My Computer I found
the following Hard Disk Drives listed:
Name - Type - Total Size - Free Space
Local Disk (C - Local Disk - 107GB - 91.7GB
New Volume (E - Local Disk - 358GB - 352GB
Local Disk (G - Local Disk - 107GB - 95.4GB
New Volume (H - Local Disk - 358GB - 352GB
Please note that F is not included in this list. I presumed that
Caspar, during the backup process, partitioned the disk to look like the
internal hard drive and gave it new drive letters (G: and H. Am I
wrong in my thinking?

I then visited the G: and H: drives while in normal Windows, and there I
found the same folders/files etc. that are on my C: and E: drives.

--After completing the above tasks, I made a startup disk from the
software downloaded. I did have a little difficulty following the
instructions on how to make this disk; but, with patience, I succeeded
in creating a workable CD Startup Disk. I then placed the CD Startup
Disk in the CD drive and rebooted my computer. This is when I said that
it took about 2 minutes to place the Caspar menu on my screen. (See
more on this timing below.) I then clicked Copy Drive and worked my way
through a few screens where it asked me what I wanted to copy and to
where. It clearly showed the USBEHD as the place to copy from and the
internal hard drive as the place to copy to. That is where I stopped
this process...feeling assured that the rest of the process would work.

--I created an ICON on my Desktop that permits me to make an up-to-date
backup of my internal hard drive to the USBEHD with a simple click of a
mouse...really user friendly.

--Lastly, I clicked the backup ICON on the Desktop and updated the
backup information on my USBEDH in just one minute. I was shocked at
how fast this process was completed.

There's no problem in cloning one or both of the partitions on your USBEHD
back to your source disk (presumably for recovery purposes). Just as you can
clone individual partitions from the "source" to the "destination" drive,
the reverse is true as well.

I just started Caspar 4.0 from Program Files like I was about to make a
backup, and there was the choice as to whether I wanted to copy the
whole or part of the internal hard disk. I did the same thing in
reverse while starting Caspar 4.0 from the Startup Disk, and the same
choices were there also. Thus, I learned something new today...I can
restore a whole disk, part of a disk, a folder, or a file from by backup
disk... nice, very nice.

Incidentally you mentioned in your post that after you performed the initial
backup of your system using the Casper 4 disk-cloning process, "the first
update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand total of 1
minute to complete."

I hope other users will take note of your comment. As I have tried to point
out in my previous posts re the Casper 4 program - that factor, i.e.,
"incremental disk cloning" is probably the chief advantage of Casper - the
extroardinary capability of the program to complete subsequent disk-cloning
operations (for routine comprehensive backups of one's system) in a fraction
of a time it takes other disk-cloning programs (at least the ones I'm
familiar with). Thus there's a strong incentive for users to backup up their
systems much more frequently than they might otherwise do, knowing that the
time to complete the current disk-cloning process won't be particularly
onerous and/or time-consuming.

But I am a bit puzzled by your comment that the Casper CD Startup Disk took
only "a couple of minutes to boot". That has not been our experience and
we've worked with a large variety of systems. I can't recall a single
instance where it took less than 6 minutes to reach the stage where one
could begin the disk-cloning process. And I would guess that on the average
it takes about 8 to 9 minutes to reach that point. In our experience booting
up with the "Startup Disk" is not particularly quick, to say the least. Are
you certain about that boot-time?

My two minutes from starting the Startup Disk to menu on the screen was
estimated at 2 minutes (it seemed long, but I didn't time it at that
point). I actually timed it this afternoon and it took 4 1/2 minutes.
I knew it seemed long, but I didn't realize it was that long. Long,
however, does not count if it is the difference between having a
computer that doesn't work and one that can be restored from the backup.

(Potential users of this Casper 4 program should note that the "Startup
Disk" CD) is used for recovery purposes. For example, let's say that, like
"Frog", one is using his/her USBEHD as the "destination" drive, i.e., the
recipient of the cloned contents of the one's internal day-to-day working
HDD. Now that latter drive becomes dysfunctional and unable to boot. So the
user would have no way of accessing the Casper program on that defunct drive
to perform the disk-cloning operation from the USBEHD back to the internal
HDD. That's where the "Startup Disk" comes in. The user would use that CD to
boot to the Casper program on the CD and undertake the disk-cloning
operation from the USBEHD back to an internal HDD. So (hopefully!) it would
be on infrequent occasions where the recovery process would have to be
employed).

I will say hopefully one will never have the occasion to use the recover
process. I had the unfortunate pleasure of having my 98SE computer
become unusable, and it took this novice about three weeks to recover
from that fiasco. I really wouldn't wish what I went through during
that three week period on anybody.

Anna

Thanks again for the help.

Frog

 

[Bill in Co.]

That's what I do too. Leave the USB enclosure drive OFF until it is
needed for a backup or restore operation, and ONLY then turn it on. Works
great, and there are no potential boot-up anomalies that way, either.

 

[Anna]

Frog:
As you have heard from nearly all those who have responded to the first
part of your query re connecting/disconnecting your USB external HDD...

Since you're using that USBEHD primarily, if not exclusively, for backup
purposes in connection with your Casper 4 disk-to-disk cloning program,
there is really little reason to have it connected (powered on) except for
those relatively infrequent times when you're engaged in a disk-cloning
operation. There's certainly no harm in having its USB data cable
connected to your PC - just ensure the device is powered off.

Now as to your query re the cloning of partitions...

When you originally cloned your "source" HDD containing two partitions
designated C: & E: (I assume your optical drive is the D: drive) over to
your USBEHD and then connected the external device to your computer while
the system booted, the system designated the two cloned partitions on your
USBEHD as G: & H: (I assume there's an F: drive somewhere in your system -
possibly a flash drive or even a memory slot on your printer).

There's no problem in cloning one or both of the partitions on your USBEHD
back to your source disk (presumably for recovery purposes). Just as you
can clone individual partitions from the "source" to the "destination"
drive, the reverse is true as well.

Incidentally you mentioned in your post that after you performed the
initial backup of your system using the Casper 4 disk-cloning process,
"the first update (one week after making the initial backup) took a grand
total of 1 minute to complete."

I hope other users will take note of your comment. As I have tried to
point out in my previous posts re the Casper 4 program - that factor,
i.e., "incremental disk cloning" is probably the chief advantage of
Casper - the extroardinary capability of the program to complete
subsequent disk-cloning operations (for routine comprehensive backups of
one's system) in a fraction of a time it takes other disk-cloning programs
(at least the ones I'm familiar with). Thus there's a strong incentive for
users to backup up their systems much more frequently than they might
otherwise do, knowing that the time to complete the current disk-cloning
process won't be particularly onerous and/or time-consuming.

But I am a bit puzzled by your comment that the Casper CD Startup Disk
took only "a couple of minutes to boot". That has not been our experience
and we've worked with a large variety of systems. I can't recall a single
instance where it took less than 6 minutes to reach the stage where one
could begin the disk-cloning process. And I would guess that on the
average it takes about 8 to 9 minutes to reach that point. In our
experience booting up with the "Startup Disk" is not particularly quick,
to say the least. Are you certain about that boot-time?

(Potential users of this Casper 4 program should note that the "Startup
Disk" CD) is used for recovery purposes. For example, let's say that, like
"Frog", one is using his/her USBEHD as the "destination" drive, i.e., the
recipient of the cloned contents of the one's internal day-to-day working
HDD. Now that latter drive becomes dysfunctional and unable to boot. So
the user would have no way of accessing the Casper program on that defunct
drive to perform the disk-cloning operation from the USBEHD back to the
internal HDD. That's where the "Startup Disk" comes in. The user would use
that CD to boot to the Casper program on the CD and undertake the
disk-cloning operation from the USBEHD back to an internal HDD. So
(hopefully!) it would be on infrequent occasions where the recovery
process would have to be employed).
Anna

First, let me say thank you for all of the responses in this thread. I
have decided, based on your responses, that I will leave the USBEHD
turned off except when I make backups and/or have to restore my system.

Anna, you have to remember that my technical skills are self-learned and
somewhat limited (my assessment). Thus, I am having some difficulty
understanding the above paragraph...it's not your fault, but mine. So let
me see if I can give you some information that may or may not respond to
this paragraph. Here are the steps I took when I started my USBEHD/Caspar
4.0 backup process:

--I connected the USB cable and power cord to the USBEHD. Then, while
the computer was off, I connected the USB cable to the computer and the
power cable to the power. I turned the USBEHD on and then turned on the
computer. The computer found the USBEHD as a new piece of hardware and
gave it a drive letter...I think the drive letter was F. I next installed
the Caspar 4.0 software on my system following the
instructions in the Caspar User Guide---instructions were very easy to
follow. After the software was loaded, I then made a backup of my
internal hard drive to the USBEHD. Again, this process was easy to do
when following the Caspar User Guide. The Caspar 4.0 software loaded from
Program Files very quickly, when I was in full/normal Windows. This backup
of the entire C: and E: drives on the 500GB internal hard disk took 18
minutes to complete. When I looked in My Computer I found the following
Hard Disk Drives listed:
Name - Type - Total Size - Free Space
Local Disk (C - Local Disk - 107GB - 91.7GB
New Volume (E - Local Disk - 358GB - 352GB
Local Disk (G - Local Disk - 107GB - 95.4GB
New Volume (H - Local Disk - 358GB - 352GB
Please note that F is not included in this list. I presumed that
Caspar, during the backup process, partitioned the disk to look like the
internal hard drive and gave it new drive letters (G: and H. Am I
wrong in my thinking?

I then visited the G: and H: drives while in normal Windows, and there I
found the same folders/files etc. that are on my C: and E: drives.

--After completing the above tasks, I made a startup disk from the
software downloaded. I did have a little difficulty following the
instructions on how to make this disk; but, with patience, I succeeded in
creating a workable CD Startup Disk. I then placed the CD Startup Disk in
the CD drive and rebooted my computer. This is when I said that it took
about 2 minutes to place the Caspar menu on my screen. (See more on this
timing below.) I then clicked Copy Drive and worked my way through a few
screens where it asked me what I wanted to copy and to where. It clearly
showed the USBEHD as the place to copy from and the internal hard drive as
the place to copy to. That is where I stopped this process...feeling
assured that the rest of the process would work.

--I created an ICON on my Desktop that permits me to make an up-to-date
backup of my internal hard drive to the USBEHD with a simple click of a
mouse...really user friendly.

--Lastly, I clicked the backup ICON on the Desktop and updated the
backup information on my USBEDH in just one minute. I was shocked at
how fast this process was completed.

I just started Caspar 4.0 from Program Files like I was about to make a
backup, and there was the choice as to whether I wanted to copy the whole
or part of the internal hard disk. I did the same thing in reverse while
starting Caspar 4.0 from the Startup Disk, and the same choices were there
also. Thus, I learned something new today...I can restore a whole disk,
part of a disk, a folder, or a file from by backup disk... nice, very
nice.

My two minutes from starting the Startup Disk to menu on the screen was
estimated at 2 minutes (it seemed long, but I didn't time it at that
point). I actually timed it this afternoon and it took 4 1/2 minutes. I
knew it seemed long, but I didn't realize it was that long. Long,
however, does not count if it is the difference between having a computer
that doesn't work and one that can be restored from the backup.

I will say hopefully one will never have the occasion to use the recover
process. I had the unfortunate pleasure of having my 98SE computer become
unusable, and it took this novice about three weeks to recover from that
fiasco. I really wouldn't wish what I went through during that three week
period on anybody.

Thanks again for the help.

Frog

Frog:
One thing before we start...

The correct program's name is "Casper", not "Caspar". And it's best to refer
to it (at least at some point in one's post as the "Casper 4" program. I say
this because there is a Casper XP program (at least I *think* it still
exists! And we were never particularly fond of that program even given its
name indicating it's designed for an XP environment. The Casper 4 program is
an entirely different (and much better in our estimation) program.

As far as you're apparently able to get to the "Startup Disk" menu even at 4
1/2 minutes is very good. As I mentioned it takes us on the average nearly
double that time even with fairly high-powered systems that we've worked
with. I think the best time we had was something in the neighborhood of 6
minutes. So count you blessings!

Anyway, the length of time it takes to boot to the Startup Disk is really
not a terribly important factor one way or another. Presumably one would use
the Startup Disk very infrequently involving those recovery-type situations
where the user's internal HDD was dysfunctional for one reason or another
and the user needed to employ the Startup Disk to access the Casper 4
program to undertake the disk-to-disk cloning operation since he or she
obviously would be unable to access the program installed on the internal
HDD that was to be recovered.

As to the disk-cloning process from one's internal HDD to one's USB external
HDD...

Please understand that when you clone the contents of your internal HDD to
your USBEHD, for all practical purposes the USBEHD is a copy of your
"source" HDD, i.e., your internal HDD. As such, it mirrors all the files &
folders on your source drive. It creates the same number of partitions that
you had on the source HDD, the same file system, etc. That's why I'm fond of
saying "a clone is a clone is a clone".

Your "destination" HDD in that case need not be partitioned or formatted. It
could be a "virgin" HDD straight out-of-the-box. In your case when you
connected your USBEHD to your system *prior* to the disk-cloning operation
it took on a drive-letter because the HDD had come from the factory
partitioned/formatted, so XP assigned a drive-letter to it. Is that clear?

Now the disk-capacities of your internal HDD and your USBEHD are identical -
500 GB - the resultant two partitions created on the USBEHD as a result of
the disk-cloning operation would similarly be identical. (Although the
program would allow the user to manipulate the partitions on the destination
HDD).

(Please note that the disk-cloning program - any disk-cloning - program does
*not* assign drive letters to the disks. That is a function of the OS).

So forget about the fact that originally *before* the disk-cloning operation
your USBEHD was assigned a drive letter of "F:" For all practical purposes
it's of no relevance here.

Now if your USBEHD was a different capacity than your internal HDD (assuming
of course it was sufficient in size to contain the cloned contents of your
source disk), the Casper program would create proportionally-sized
partitions on the destination HDD based on the same percentages created in
your source HDD. Again, remember the user can manipulate partition-size on
the destination HDD if desired.

So to use a concrete example involving the possible restoration of your
system based on your current situation...

Let's say your source HDD goes to "HDD heaven" (hell?) so that you need to
install a new internal HDD in your system. Now you have the cloned contents
of that defunct HDD contained on your USBEHD (where their drive letters had
been assigned G: & H: when you had a working, functional system which of
course you no longer have).

So all you would have to do after installing your new (blank) internal HDD
is use the Casper 4 program (accessed via the "Startup Disk") to clone the
contents of your USBEHD to the new HDD. And thus creating a
now-bootable-functioning internal HDD containing all your programs, data,
etc. and which would contain the same original two partitions designated C:
& E: (or possibly D: depending upon your hardware configuration).

It's as simple as that. So please, do not be concerned with what you think
is a terribly complex and/or onerous process to "recover" your system. Using
the Casper 4 program as we've described makes the process virtually "child's
play". Just ensure that you continue to use the program to back up your
system on a routine & systematic basis. That's the important part. And as
you have discovered, Casper accomplishes subsequent backups so quickly that
you have little excuse not to use the program frequently to do so.
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

Can you please answer this, Anna? I can't remember what we determined in
regards to what I wrote below.

 

[Lil' Dave]

I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system backups
(making of backups are not scheduled). My question now is...should the
external hard drive be plugged into the system at all times or just when
it is in use? My concern has to do with the potential for my backup
information of the external hard drive becoming corrupt due to the
invasion of a virus at some future date. I would appreciate any thoughts
you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and- off of this device.

RELATED NOTE - to all those who helped me in an earlier backup software
thread:
I decided to use Caspar 4.0 software for making my backups. I have found
it, as Anna said it would be in her messages...easy to use. I have a
500GB internal hard drive (2 partitions- drive C and E) and one 500GB
external USB connected hard drive. The initial making of the first backup
took about 18 minutes to complete, and the external hard drive was given
two drive letters...G drive that has the C drive information on it and H
drive that has the E drive information on it. The first update (one week
after making the initial backup) took a grand total of 1 minute to
complete. Of course, my computer is new and as such it is not loaded down
with large quantities of software/folders/files and the like. I can
access the information on the external drives G and H in like manner of
accessing information on the internal C and E drive. Thus, I could copy
any folder/file on the external drive to the internal drive without any
problem. I then used the startup disk to see that it worked...it did.
The startup disk takes a couple of minutes to boot and then the window
looks exactly like the one I access from Program Files. If you want to
reload a backup back to your hard drive, it is simply copy G/H to C/E. I
haven't determined whether I can copy only G or H individually back to the
system as of yet...I haven't looked at that possibility, and guidance here
would be helpful. Well, there you have the results of your help in the
earlier thread. I just thought I should report back about my software
decision and that all is well with my computer...at least for the moment.

Frog

Leave it off until needed for use. Turn it off, remove correctly when
finished.

Turn off system restore for the partitions on the external hard drive.

Be sure to run your AV scan prior to cloning.

 

[Opinicus]

I am using an external USB connected hard drive for my system backups
(making of backups are not scheduled). My question now is...should the
external hard drive be plugged into the system at all times or just when
it is in use? My concern has to do with the potential for my backup
information of the external hard drive becoming corrupt due to the
invasion of a virus at some future date. I would appreciate any thoughts
you might have on the pros/cons on the on-and- off of this device.

I disconnect my USB external backup drive between backups and, for good
measure, I don't keep it in the same place that the computer is but where I
can grab it in a hurry if need be.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

I disconnect my USB external backup drive between backups and, for good
measure, I don't keep it in the same place that the computer is but where
I can grab it in a hurry if need be.
...

I use two external drives. One on site, not powered up or connected,
but convenient to power on and connect (USB), and the other in a safe
place offsite (and I'm not going to say where). At reasonable
intervals, I swap the two. This way I'm protected against malware,
power spikes, power failures, and, but for recent work I don't judge
to be critical, theft, fire, earthquake and our other natural and
unnatural friends.

 

[Flyerfan27]

Hello Anna,

I hope you don’t mind me writing. I am hoping you can help me out. To make
a long story short I am looking for a good cloning software. I like what I
have read about Casper 4 that you and others have written so I went to the
link you provided for the free trial. I read that Casper 4 will resize the
volume you backup your drive to and I am afraid that will make Casper 4 no
good for my use. I am asking you for help instead of trying the free trail
version because that feature of the software is not available with the trail
version.

I have 3 separate hard drives that I want to clone to one USBEHD. The
external drive is the size of the other 3 drives put together so it is big
enough. Do you know if the resizing feature of Casper 4 will interfere with
me backing up the 3 hard drives to the one external drive? I have the USBEHD
partitioned into the 3 sizes of the drives I am cloning.

I have already spent enough money in cloning software and would like to
make my next purchase my last one for awhile. I last used Ghost 9.0 and it
worked fine, but now I am running Windows Vista and Ghost 9.0 is not
compatible with Vista. I did not know if I should buy a newer version of
Ghost or not. I came to this forum looking for help.

Any help you can provide me with would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
James

 

[Anna]

Hello Anna,

I hope you don't mind me writing. I am hoping you can help me out. To make
a long story short I am looking for a good cloning software. I like what I
have read about Casper 4 that you and others have written so I went to the
link you provided for the free trial. I read that Casper 4 will resize the
volume you backup your drive to and I am afraid that will make Casper 4 no
good for my use. I am asking you for help instead of trying the free trail
version because that feature of the software is not available with the
trail
version.

I have 3 separate hard drives that I want to clone to one USBEHD. The
external drive is the size of the other 3 drives put together so it is big
enough. Do you know if the resizing feature of Casper 4 will interfere
with
me backing up the 3 hard drives to the one external drive? I have the
USBEHD
partitioned into the 3 sizes of the drives I am cloning.

I have already spent enough money in cloning software and would like to
make my next purchase my last one for awhile. I last used Ghost 9.0 and it
worked fine, but now I am running Windows Vista and Ghost 9.0 is not
compatible with Vista. I did not know if I should buy a newer version of
Ghost or not. I came to this forum looking for help.

Any help you can provide me with would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
James

James:
I'll gladly respond to your question, but first...

Are the three HDDs that you would plan to clone to your USBEHD bootable
HDDs, i.e., do they contain operating systems? Or are any or all of them
drives that merely contain non-bootable data? In other words, they do not
contain a bootable OS.

And you mention Vista. Are you indicating that one or more of those three
HDDs contain the Vista OS and one or more of those three HDDs contain the XP
OS?

What I'm trying to get at here is for you to give me a clear idea of what
these three HDDs contain. There may be a problem here (as I'll explain) if
multiple operating systems are involved on those three separate drives since
I would be assuming your intent is to clone the contents of each of those
HDDs (including their operating systems) to separate partitions of your
USBEHD for backup purposes so that the cloned contents on the USBEHD could
be cloned back to an internal HDD for recovery/restoration purposes should
that be necessary. That's your intent, yes?

Again - give me a clear idea of the contents of those three hard drives.
Anna

 

[Flyerfan27]

Hello Anna,

Thank you so much for responding to my question. Also thank you for
responding so quickly. I didn’t expect to hear from you until some time next
week at best. I am glad I clicked the box to be notified when there is as
response. I guess I tried to shorten my question too much. I was going to
write some of the things you asked me, but I was trying to keep the question
short. Sorry about that.

You are correct. I want to backup files on each drive along with the
operating systems and all three drives are bootable. I want to be able to use
the backups to fix each bootable drive should I have a problem.

Here is what I have:

1- Laptop; IDE HD 1st partition C: Vista Home op. 139 GB drive with 93.4 GB
free
2nd partition D: system restore files 9.73
GB with 3 GB free

1- Dual booting Desktop Computer
1st drive 1st partition IDE HD C: XP Sp2 Home op. 69.5 GB with 58.5 GB free
1st drive 2nd partition D: system restore files 5.00 GB with 538 MB free.
2nd drive only partition IDE HD E: Vista Home op. 74.5 GB drive with 53.4
GB free

One USB External 320 GB Simple Tech drive. I partitioned this drive into 3
drives as follows: 1st 149 GB, 2nd 74.5 GB & 3rd 74.5 GB

Anna; I am not interested in backing up the system restore partitions
because I do have the CD discs to restore my system. Plus if I can clone the
drives I will not need the system restore files anymore.

I hope I am giving you enough info this time. If not please let me know
what else you need and I will be happy to give you the information. Thanks
again for your help. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it.

Best regards,
James

 

[Timothy Daniels]

...I went to the link you provided for the free trial. I read that
Casper 4 will resize the volume you backup your drive to and
I am afraid that will make Casper 4 no good for my use...

I have 3 separate hard drives that I want to clone to one
USBEHD. The external drive is the size of the other 3 drives
put together so it is big enough. Do you know if the resizing
feature of Casper 4 will interfere with me backing up the 3
hard drives to the one external drive? I have the USBEHD
partitioned into the 3 sizes of the drives I am cloning.
[......]

Casper 4.0 will let you specify whether it should copy
the original partition size to the unallocated area, or fill the
entire unallocated area with the new partition, or fill the
unallocated space with a partition of the size that you designate.
You can download the User Guide at:
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/guide.aspx
In my experience with Casper XP, you can even put the
clone in a smaller partition if the data in the original partition
will fit, i.e. Casper doesn't try to clone contiguous empty
area at the end of the original partition.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Bill in Co.]

James:
I'll gladly respond to your question, but first...

Are the three HDDs that you would plan to clone to your USBEHD bootable
HDDs, i.e., do they contain operating systems? Or are any or all of them
drives that merely contain non-bootable data? In other words, they do not
contain a bootable OS.

And you mention Vista. Are you indicating that one or more of those three
HDDs contain the Vista OS and one or more of those three HDDs contain the
XP
OS?

What I'm trying to get at here is for you to give me a clear idea of what
these three HDDs contain. There may be a problem here (as I'll explain) if
multiple operating systems are involved on those three separate drives
since
I would be assuming your intent is to clone the contents of each of those
HDDs (including their operating systems) to separate partitions of your
USBEHD for backup purposes so that the cloned contents on the USBEHD could
be cloned back to an internal HDD for recovery/restoration purposes should
that be necessary. That's your intent, yes?

Again - give me a clear idea of the contents of those three hard drives.
Anna

If that's the case (and his intent) he could either do that, or use imaging,
I'd think, right?
In fact, wouldn't this perhaps be a better case for imaging, since he wants
to reclone it back anyways?