MS DOS computer startup

[Gordon]

Rock,

I'm looking into Acronis True Image and because I have a lot of room on
my HDD (used 25 GB with 111 GB free, on the 120 GB disk), which I'll
never use, am waiting for an answer from Acronis on how simple or
difficult it is to have their program create a new partition on my HDD
to have the Image berthed

That's not a particularly good solution - the best solution is for the image
to be on something OTHER than the HDD on which your OS, apps and data is
stored. Something like an external HDD or DVD. Say your internal HDD
crashes and you can't boot the system - what good is having the image on a
partition of that HDD?

 

[mfabien]

I see your point. I guess I should buy a portable HDD. Thanks.

 

[jameshanley39]

Never had an error regarding Windows.

But my interest was to have a solution to boot Windows, if ever I have
a problem down the road. Now I have a floppy that boots and opens
Windows.

you should realise that [the windows xp 3 file boot disk] only solves a
trivial windows xp problem. It's useful when any of those 3 files are
corrupted or misconfigured on the hard disk, because it uses the ones
on the floppy disk.

There are only a handful of errors related to that. I have run into one
error regarding "hal.dll"" that I think was from boot.ini(one of the 3
files) being misconfigured. I guess a problem wit the toher 2 files is
less common. So it'd help there. Though that hal.dll error message may
have also occurred in circumstances along the lines of a partition not
being active or a primary partition being hidden or something.

Next coming is the Acronis True Image <snip>

great

 

[mfabien]

....but this afternoon, I'm out to buy an external drive to image my
HDD. This new drive has a CD for drivers and utilities. I imagine the
utilities carry the means to do an image of my drive... therefore, is
there much advantage to invest in the Acronis Tur Image 10 Home
program?

Never had an error regarding Windows.

But my interest was to have a solution to boot Windows, if ever I have
a problem down the road. Now I have a floppy that boots and opens
Windows.

you should realise that [the windows xp 3 file boot disk] only solves a
trivial windows xp problem. It's useful when any of those 3 files are
corrupted or misconfigured on the hard disk, because it uses the ones
on the floppy disk.

There are only a handful of errors related to that. I have run into one
error regarding "hal.dll"" that I think was from boot.ini(one of the 3
files) being misconfigured. I guess a problem wit the toher 2 files is
less common. So it'd help there. Though that hal.dll error message may
have also occurred in circumstances along the lines of a partition not
being active or a primary partition being hidden or something.

Next coming is the Acronis True Image <snip>

great

 

[Rock]

Rock,

I'm looking into Acronis True Image and because I have a lot of room on
my HDD (used 25 GB with 111 GB free, on the 120 GB disk), which I'll
never use, am waiting for an answer from Acronis on how simple or
difficult it is to have their program create a new partition on my HDD
to have the Image berthed taking into consideration that the OEM has
stored a Restore area of 979 MB for Windows (replacing a Windows CD).

Upon receiving the Acronis answer, Iwould expect to download their True
Image 10 Home program.

It isn't of much benefit or protection to keep a backup on the same drive.
The purpose of the backup is to protect against failures. If the drive dies
you loose the backups as well. Putting them on a second internal drive is a
bit better, but still subject to a total system loss. Better yet is to
place the backups on removable media. The easiest, if you're not networked,
is an external USB hard drive. DVD media is also ok though slower and if
the backups are larger than the capacity of one DVD, then it's cumbersome.

The safest is to have redundant backup media with one version stored off
site.

 

[Rock]

...but this afternoon, I'm out to buy an external drive to image my
HDD. This new drive has a CD for drivers and utilities. I imagine the
utilities carry the means to do an image of my drive... therefore, is
there much advantage to invest in the Acronis Tur Image 10 Home
program?

It probably doesn't have an imaging program but some other type of backup.
Dantz Retrospect is commonly bundled with drives. I have never worked with
it though I got a copy with one drive I purchased. I would go with ATI 10.
Remember, whatever backup solution you go with, make sure to test it out so
you know how it works and that it does what you want.

 

[jameshanley39]

...but this afternoon, I'm out to buy an external drive to image my
HDD. This new drive has a CD for drivers and utilities. I imagine the
utilities carry the means to do an image of my drive... therefore, is
there much advantage to invest in the Acronis Tur Image 10 Home
program?

it is very good to use acronis the other standard program usually rated
second to acronis is Norton Ghost. Some criminals acquire software
like acronis, downloading it off emule. I think there are free programs
too. e.g. xxclone http://xxclone.com/ which may get quite standard.

It's better to avoid "cloning software/utilities" *from hard drive
manufacturers* - because they may be specific to that make of hard
drive. Better to use the same program whenever you clone, or one of two
programs. So you know the procedure.. know the issues. That program
would of course work whatever the make of drive.

Having a working way of cloning that you are familiar with, is
important enough that some companies that do a lot of it, have one old
version of norton ghost that they started using some years ago and
they've used for years.

 

[Rock]

it is very good to use acronis the other standard program usually rated
second to acronis is Norton Ghost. Some criminals acquire software
like acronis, downloading it off emule. I think there are free programs
too. e.g. xxclone http://xxclone.com/ which may get quite standard.

It's better to avoid "cloning software/utilities" *from hard drive
manufacturers* - because they may be specific to that make of hard
drive. Better to use the same program whenever you clone, or one of two
programs. So you know the procedure.. know the issues. That program
would of course work whatever the make of drive.

Having a working way of cloning that you are familiar with, is
important enough that some companies that do a lot of it, have one old
version of norton ghost that they started using some years ago and
they've used for years.

As a clarification, cloning and imaging, though related, are different.
Programs that do one usually do the other, as is the case with Acronis and
Ghost but not necessarily equally well. Imaging is the process of making a
image of the drive, normally in a compressed form, and storing that as a
file on another medium such as another drive or DVD. Cloning is the process
of creating a duplicate of the drive on another drive. To restore from an
image, the image is decompressed and copied back to the original drive. For
a clone, the old drive is removed and the cloned drive inserted.

 

[mfabien]

This afternoon I bought an External HDD. Then I bought the Acronis True
Image Home 10 software.

I created an image of my drive late in the afternoon. I just now
completes the restore on my Internal drive. Happy to report that all is
fine. Was nervous about deleting partitions and all, but followed the
Wizard's instructions and it went well. And because of it, I believe
the program does the job and I will backup my drive regularly without
hesitation.

Thanks to all who participated in this thread.

 

[Rock]

This afternoon I bought an External HDD. Then I bought the Acronis True
Image Home 10 software.

I created an image of my drive late in the afternoon. I just now
completes the restore on my Internal drive. Happy to report that all is
fine. Was nervous about deleting partitions and all, but followed the
Wizard's instructions and it went well. And because of it, I believe
the program does the job and I will backup my drive regularly without
hesitation.

Thanks to all who participated in this thread.

Great, you're brave to do it on your own system! Better yet to try it out
on a friend..lol. Have fun- you've taken the right steps.

 

[jameshanley39]

This afternoon I bought an External HDD.

I use internal drives with USB-IDE adaptors. Far cheaper. Especially in
the long run. And so convenient, you don't need to keep buying external
drives. If you're really into computers, then an internal hard drive
is as easy to find as a screw.

I've known people to even use Laptop HDDs almost like people use USB
keys.

 

[Rock]

I use internal drives with USB-IDE adaptors. Far cheaper. Especially in
the long run. And so convenient, you don't need to keep buying external
drives. If you're really into computers, then an internal hard drive
is as easy to find as a screw.

I've known people to even use Laptop HDDs almost like people use USB
keys.

What you mean is you use a regular hard drive in an external, USB enclosure.
Yes - you can buy these preassembled or put one together yourself. The
preassembled units are the same as what you are saying. All it is, is a
hard drive in an external enclosure that connects by USB. There is nothing
special about the hard drive.

 

[jameshanley39]

What you mean is you use a regular hard drive in an external, USB enclosure.

No enclosure

Yes - you can buy these preassembled or put one together yourself.

you don't need to tell me that. Nothing to assemble anyway.

There is nothing
special about the hard drive.

of course not. that's the beauty of it. it's an internal drive. And of
course even if it were "an external drive" there's nothing special
about it. So why pay more. The only possible reason is the "external
ones" come with a fan. But for that you could get an enclosure if you
really wanted it.

 

[jameshanley39]

No enclosure

to elaborate. I wrote "USB-IDE adaptor" in my post. If you didn't
recognise it you sohuld've googled it. And then you will discover the
useful thing I refer to, and that I don't mean [with] an enclosure.

 

[Rock]

No enclosure

to elaborate. I wrote "USB-IDE adaptor" in my post. If you didn't
recognise it you sohuld've googled it. And then you will discover the
useful thing I refer to, and that I don't mean [with] an enclosure.

Ahh I missed that part. Ok.