Q: How to create copies of harddisks safe, cheap, easy-to-restore?

[Matthias Spanier]

Hello,

which is a safe and cheap way to create copies of harddisks, and in case
of problems easy-to-restore? I am thinking about that and would
appreciate advice of experts.

Here are the details:

I have a dual-boot system: Win XP Pro German version on harddisk C,
Win2000 Pro German version on harddisk D, application data on harddisk
E. These harddisks are physically different, they are not partitions of
a single harddisk. The PC has a disk drive for 1.44-MB-disks and a DVD
drive for DVD R+ RW+ R- RW-. Furthermore, it has USB1 / USB2 / firewire.
The PC is stand-alone and not part of a network. And I have Office XP
German version including Access 2002, Norton SystemWorks 2004, Norton
Internet Security 2004, Steganos Security Suite Generation 6 and Nero
version 6.0.0.20.

I have installed all available WindowsUpdates, whether "critical" or
not, and all OfficeUpdates.

Besides of other programs, I have installed SAPGUI 6.20 on Win2000 Pro
for professional reasons, and I have Netscape 7.1 on XP and on Win2000
with separate but coinciding files registry.dat, with a common prefs.js
on C: and common profiles on E:.

The OS which is automatically booted (unless I perform a manual choice)
is XP.

I already have transferred (almost) all application data from my
previous Win98 PC.

Currently, C: is filled with > 12 GB, D: with > 6 GB, E: with > 15 GB.

Unfortunately, Norton GoBack says is not suitable for my specific
configuration of Win XP Pro and Win2000 Pro.

Now I want to create copies (as image or whatever other way would be
appropriate) in a safe, cheap and easy-to-restore way.

I heard that e.g. PowerQuest DriveImage 7 is a very good choice to do
that. And people at the shop where I bought the PC are telling me to buy
an external hardddisk big enough to partition it in such a way that it
has enough space to mirror my existing three harddisks, to connect it
via firewire or USB2 to my PC and to create images from time to time.
They have also mentioned that Norton Ghost is almost as good as
PowerQuest DriveImage 7.
This might be a way to do it. A disadvantage might be that I always have
only the most recent copy and no earlier ones to return to? However, as
I am still thinking if there is a cheaper method which is safe and
easy-to-restore?

What about the following?

I could copy the application data on harddisk E to DVD-RWs using Nero.
In case harddisk E should get into trouble, I have copies of the
important data. This is the most simple thing about all the images. I
guess the operating systems are more complicated.

Now what if harddisk D (Win2000 Pro) should get into physical trouble?
Or if I have installed some programs which have influenced the registry
in such a way that other programs no longer run, and I want to return to
a timepoint before the new installations and thus get back to a properly
working system? In order to be prepared, could I log on with XP now and
then simply start Nero and copy the Win2000-harddisk D on DVD-RWs? And
in case of future trouble with Win2000, could I logon with XP on
harddick C again, format the Win2000-harddisk D, and simply write the
DVD contents back to harddisk D?
And could I do this vice-versa, logging on with Win2000 and burn the
XP-harddisk C on DVD-RWs?
Now what if I should somewhen logon e.g. with Win2000 on D, format the
XP-harddisk C, and before I will be able to copy the DVDs back to C, the
electricity gets lost? The XP harddisk would have been formatted, and I
would need to logon again with Win2000. How could I start the computer
in order to restore the XP harddisk from the DVDs?
And maybe I have not thought of other important facts yet?

I am not a professional with these questions. I would like to make sure
which is a cheap, safe and easy-to-restore way to do all that.

Regards,
Mattbias

 

[CWatters]

I heard that e.g. PowerQuest DriveImage 7 is a very good choice to do
that. And people at the shop where I bought the PC are telling me to buy
an external hardddisk big enough to partition it in such a way that it
has enough space to mirror my existing three harddisks, to connect it
via firewire or USB2 to my PC and to create images from time to time.
They have also mentioned that Norton Ghost is almost as good as
PowerQuest DriveImage 7.

I have both DI and Ghost. I prefer DI because it allows you to schedule
backups and does backups under Windows. I couldn't see how to do this with
Ghost.

Overall they probably have similar capabilities but DI feels more like an
application for general users and Ghost seems to be aimed at more
technically advanced users. The Ghost Manual is huge and very difficult to
navigate around. I've never used the DI manual!

I configured DI to:

a) Backup my entire C: (all 13 GBytes) to an external USB 2.0 drive every
night.
b) split the image into 600MByte files so I can move it from the USB drive
to CD or DVD later if I needed to
c) keep only the last 5 backups and one weekly backup. This feature is neat
because it stops the HD filling up and the resulting missed backups.
d) email me status messages (eg Backup completed OK) so I never have to
browse the drive to check dates etc

It takes about 45 mins to backup and verify the 13GBytes. SiSoft Sandra says
that the USB 2.0 drive is about half the speed of my internal drive (which
is exactly the same make and model).

My wifes PC is also backed up over the LAN to the same USB each night as
well.

I haven't needed to do a restore yet or backup different partions but that
should be OK.

Try a post over on comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

Colin

 

[Ron Sommer]

http://www.bootitng.com/
--
Ron Sommer

Hello,

which is a safe and cheap way to create copies of harddisks, and in case
of problems easy-to-restore? I am thinking about that and would
appreciate advice of experts.

Here are the details:

I have a dual-boot system: Win XP Pro German version on harddisk C,
Win2000 Pro German version on harddisk D, application data on harddisk
E. These harddisks are physically different, they are not partitions of
a single harddisk. The PC has a disk drive for 1.44-MB-disks and a DVD
drive for DVD R+ RW+ R- RW-. Furthermore, it has USB1 / USB2 / firewire.
The PC is stand-alone and not part of a network. And I have Office XP
German version including Access 2002, Norton SystemWorks 2004, Norton
Internet Security 2004, Steganos Security Suite Generation 6 and Nero
version 6.0.0.20.

I have installed all available WindowsUpdates, whether "critical" or
not, and all OfficeUpdates.

Besides of other programs, I have installed SAPGUI 6.20 on Win2000 Pro
for professional reasons, and I have Netscape 7.1 on XP and on Win2000
with separate but coinciding files registry.dat, with a common prefs.js
on C: and common profiles on E:.

The OS which is automatically booted (unless I perform a manual choice)
is XP.

I already have transferred (almost) all application data from my
previous Win98 PC.

Currently, C: is filled with > 12 GB, D: with > 6 GB, E: with > 15 GB.

Unfortunately, Norton GoBack says is not suitable for my specific
configuration of Win XP Pro and Win2000 Pro.

Now I want to create copies (as image or whatever other way would be
appropriate) in a safe, cheap and easy-to-restore way.

I heard that e.g. PowerQuest DriveImage 7 is a very good choice to do
that. And people at the shop where I bought the PC are telling me to buy
an external hardddisk big enough to partition it in such a way that it
has enough space to mirror my existing three harddisks, to connect it
via firewire or USB2 to my PC and to create images from time to time.
They have also mentioned that Norton Ghost is almost as good as
PowerQuest DriveImage 7.
This might be a way to do it. A disadvantage might be that I always have
only the most recent copy and no earlier ones to return to? However, as
I am still thinking if there is a cheaper method which is safe and
easy-to-restore?

What about the following?

I could copy the application data on harddisk E to DVD-RWs using Nero.
In case harddisk E should get into trouble, I have copies of the
important data. This is the most simple thing about all the images. I
guess the operating systems are more complicated.

Now what if harddisk D (Win2000 Pro) should get into physical trouble?
Or if I have installed some programs which have influenced the registry
in such a way that other programs no longer run, and I want to return to
a timepoint before the new installations and thus get back to a properly
working system? In order to be prepared, could I log on with XP now and
then simply start Nero and copy the Win2000-harddisk D on DVD-RWs? And
in case of future trouble with Win2000, could I logon with XP on
harddick C again, format the Win2000-harddisk D, and simply write the
DVD contents back to harddisk D?
And could I do this vice-versa, logging on with Win2000 and burn the
XP-harddisk C on DVD-RWs?
Now what if I should somewhen logon e.g. with Win2000 on D, format the
XP-harddisk C, and before I will be able to copy the DVDs back to C, the
electricity gets lost? The XP harddisk would have been formatted, and I
would need to logon again with Win2000. How could I start the computer
in order to restore the XP harddisk from the DVDs?
And maybe I have not thought of other important facts yet?

I am not a professional with these questions. I would like to make sure
which is a cheap, safe and easy-to-restore way to do all that.

Regards,
Mattbias

 

[Cerridwen]

I have both DI and Ghost. I prefer DI because it allows you to
schedule backups and does backups under Windows. I couldn't see how
to do this with Ghost.

Overall they probably have similar capabilities but DI feels more
like an application for general users and Ghost seems to be aimed at
more technically advanced users. The Ghost Manual is huge and very
difficult to navigate around. I've never used the DI manual!

I configured DI to:

a) Backup my entire C: (all 13 GBytes) to an external USB 2.0 drive
every night.
b) split the image into 600MByte files so I can move it from the USB
drive to CD or DVD later if I needed to
c) keep only the last 5 backups and one weekly backup. This feature
is neat because it stops the HD filling up and the resulting missed
backups.
d) email me status messages (eg Backup completed OK) so I never have
to browse the drive to check dates etc

It takes about 45 mins to backup and verify the 13GBytes. SiSoft
Sandra says that the USB 2.0 drive is about half the speed of my
internal drive (which is exactly the same make and model).

My wifes PC is also backed up over the LAN to the same USB each night
as well.

I haven't needed to do a restore yet or backup different partions but
that should be OK.

Try a post over on comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

Colin

Well said Colin. Ghost isn't in the least bit intuitive. I've been using DI
since it was first released nearly a decade ago for 95 and it does
everthing. I just hope that it isn't killed now Symantec have acquired PQ.