Purpose of whole registry backup

[Guest]

If I manually back up the whole registry, under what circustance this backup
would be useful?

The only context I can think of is when I want to restore individual keys.
Is there other use of this backup?

many thanks,

 

[Mark V]

If I manually back up the whole registry, under what circustance
this backup would be useful?

The only context I can think of is when I want to restore
individual keys. Is there other use of this backup?

First define your method. If you are using "Export" you do not have
a "full backup" that can be used for recovery. The ntbackup.exe
"ERD" (with "[x] Also backup...") will do a full registry backup. As
will tools like ERUNT or others designed for that purpose.
ntbackup.exe "System State" also includes full registry backup though
may be less accessible when really needed.

A full registry backup is useful if you experience a problem where
one or more registry hives has been trashed (especially if it
prevents OS boot) and you need to recover from it. That could be
because of bad manual registry edits, malware, bad application or
driver, disk/controller errors, and so on. It is also useful to some
to retain multiple "snapshot" copies of the registry for reference or
manual research and recovery where no other method or record exists.

Let me ask you this. Do you backup and retain your data files? If
you don't, what would you do if the data were lost. What would you
do if the system's (or the account's registry were lost)? Start
over. Try to "repair". Or just get to Recovery Console and copy a
file(s)? Your choice. In my book regular full registry backups are
mandatory (just like one's data backups), even though they
(hopefully) will never be needed. A small price for insurance.

Any "full backup" method that gives you a registry at-this-point-in-
time is potentially a life saver for recover from disaster (or even
for lesser troubles). Your choice and IMHO.

 

[Guest]

If I manually back up the whole registry, under what circustance
this backup would be useful?

The only context I can think of is when I want to restore
individual keys. Is there other use of this backup?

First define your method. If you are using "Export" you do not have
a "full backup" that can be used for recovery. The ntbackup.exe
"ERD" (with "[x] Also backup...") will do a full registry backup. As
will tools like ERUNT or others designed for that purpose.
ntbackup.exe "System State" also includes full registry backup though
may be less accessible when really needed.

A full registry backup is useful if you experience a problem where
one or more registry hives has been trashed (especially if it
prevents OS boot) and you need to recover from it. That could be
because of bad manual registry edits, malware, bad application or
driver, disk/controller errors, and so on. It is also useful to some
to retain multiple "snapshot" copies of the registry for reference or
manual research and recovery where no other method or record exists.

Let me ask you this. Do you backup and retain your data files? If
you don't, what would you do if the data were lost. What would you
do if the system's (or the account's registry were lost)? Start
over. Try to "repair". Or just get to Recovery Console and copy a
file(s)? Your choice. In my book regular full registry backups are
mandatory (just like one's data backups), even though they
(hopefully) will never be needed. A small price for insurance.

Any "full backup" method that gives you a registry at-this-point-in-
time is potentially a life saver for recover from disaster (or even
for lesser troubles). Your choice and IMHO.

My original question was intended to ask what the purpose of the "full
registry exporting". Thanks for the explanation.

I understand that you have to back up the data files regularly in addition
to registry backup.

On ntbackup "System State" and ASR backup, from what I read both will give
full registry backup but System State would backup additional files such as
boot files, key system files, etc. Would you recommend "Full Registry
backup" with "System State" backup or ASR backup?

 

[Mark V]

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry =?Utf-8?B?ZnJhbmtjdmM=?=
wrote:

If I manually back up the whole registry, under what
circustance this backup would be useful?

The only context I can think of is when I want to restore
individual keys. Is there other use of this backup?

First define your method. If you are using "Export" you do not
have a "full backup" that can be used for recovery. The
ntbackup.exe "ERD" (with "[x] Also backup...") will do a full
registry backup. As will tools like ERUNT or others designed for
that purpose. ntbackup.exe "System State" also includes full
registry backup though may be less accessible when really needed.

A full registry backup is useful if you experience a problem
where one or more registry hives has been trashed (especially if
it prevents OS boot) and you need to recover from it. That could
be because of bad manual registry edits, malware, bad application
or driver, disk/controller errors, and so on. It is also useful
to some to retain multiple "snapshot" copies of the registry for
reference or manual research and recovery where no other method
or record exists.

Let me ask you this. Do you backup and retain your data files?
If you don't, what would you do if the data were lost. What
would you do if the system's (or the account's registry were
lost)? Start over. Try to "repair". Or just get to Recovery
Console and copy a file(s)? Your choice. In my book regular
full registry backups are mandatory (just like one's data
backups), even though they (hopefully) will never be needed. A
small price for insurance.

Any "full backup" method that gives you a registry
at-this-point-in- time is potentially a life saver for recover
from disaster (or even for lesser troubles). Your choice and
IMHO.

My original question was intended to ask what the purpose of the
"full registry exporting". Thanks for the explanation.

I understand that you have to back up the data files regularly in
addition to registry backup.

On ntbackup "System State" and ASR backup, from what I read both
will give full registry backup but System State would backup
additional files such as boot files, key system files, etc.
Would you recommend "Full Registry backup" with "System State"
backup or ASR backup?

Sorry. I don't use XP/W2K3 and am not personally familiar with
"ASR" (Automated System Recovery).

 

[Jerold Schulman]

An ASR backup backs up every thing on the Boot partition.
An ASR restore formats the partition and restores eveything from the ASR media.

If I manually back up the whole registry, under what circustance
this backup would be useful?

The only context I can think of is when I want to restore
individual keys. Is there other use of this backup?

First define your method. If you are using "Export" you do not have
a "full backup" that can be used for recovery. The ntbackup.exe
"ERD" (with "[x] Also backup...") will do a full registry backup. As
will tools like ERUNT or others designed for that purpose.
ntbackup.exe "System State" also includes full registry backup though
may be less accessible when really needed.

A full registry backup is useful if you experience a problem where
one or more registry hives has been trashed (especially if it
prevents OS boot) and you need to recover from it. That could be
because of bad manual registry edits, malware, bad application or
driver, disk/controller errors, and so on. It is also useful to some
to retain multiple "snapshot" copies of the registry for reference or
manual research and recovery where no other method or record exists.

Let me ask you this. Do you backup and retain your data files? If
you don't, what would you do if the data were lost. What would you
do if the system's (or the account's registry were lost)? Start
over. Try to "repair". Or just get to Recovery Console and copy a
file(s)? Your choice. In my book regular full registry backups are
mandatory (just like one's data backups), even though they
(hopefully) will never be needed. A small price for insurance.

Any "full backup" method that gives you a registry at-this-point-in-
time is potentially a life saver for recover from disaster (or even
for lesser troubles). Your choice and IMHO.

My original question was intended to ask what the purpose of the "full
registry exporting". Thanks for the explanation.

I understand that you have to back up the data files regularly in addition
to registry backup.

On ntbackup "System State" and ASR backup, from what I read both will give
full registry backup but System State would backup additional files such as
boot files, key system files, etc. Would you recommend "Full Registry
backup" with "System State" backup or ASR backup?

Jerold Schulman
Windows: General MVP
JSI, Inc.
http://www.jsiinc.com