Restoring System and Boot Problems

[Edward W. Thompson]

I backup my complete system to external HDD using True Image. My complete
system is 'spread' across two 80GB HDD and comprises a number of partitions,
the OS being installed on the 'C' partition. I have Norton 'GoBack'
installed. I think there has been two occasions where I have had to resort
to 'GoBack', I have never had to reinstall the complete system from the
backup copies on the external HDD. My question is if I ever get to an
'unbootable' system will a restore from the backup copy, using the bootable
True Image CD to start the system, return the system to its pre-backup
state? I backup the system in 'groups', that is one backup file contains
the 'C' and 'D' drives (OS and programs) and the second file the remaining
partitions which are data and the like.

The reason for this question is twofold. Firstly I don't really understand
the difference between a 'clone' and a 'backup'. I thought the difference
was the backup was simply a compressed version of a clone but I don't think
that is correct. Secondly, I have a rather worrying incident recently when
the machine hung during rebooting with the message to the effect 'operating
system no found'. Rebooting several times did not clear the problem
although the 'post' showed both fixed HDDs. I booted the system using a
'Bart' bootable CD but couldn't access either HDD. After removing the CD.
and rebooting the machine loaded WINXP without incident. I have run a
'diagnostic' test on the drive which reported it to be OK.

If anyone has any ideas on this second issue I would appreciate their
thoughts. For a more complete history of events, prior to the problem I was
editing a bootable (FAT32) floppy disk (boot order floppy, CD-ROM, HDD).
When I tried to reboot to WINXP Pro (floppy disk removed) the system hung
during POST immediately after accessing the floppy drive. I was as though
the machine expected to find a bootable disk in the drive and when it didn't
instead of moving on it hung at that point. Does that make sense? It
doesn't to me but that is how I interpreted events.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I backup my complete system to external HDD using True Image. My complete
system is 'spread' across two 80GB HDD and comprises a number of partitions,
the OS being installed on the 'C' partition. I have Norton 'GoBack'
installed. I think there has been two occasions where I have had to resort
to 'GoBack', I have never had to reinstall the complete system from the
backup copies on the external HDD. My question is if I ever get to an
'unbootable' system will a restore from the backup copy, using the bootable
True Image CD to start the system, return the system to its pre-backup
state? I backup the system in 'groups', that is one backup file contains
the 'C' and 'D' drives (OS and programs) and the second file the remaining
partitions which are data and the like.

The reason for this question is twofold. Firstly I don't really understand
the difference between a 'clone' and a 'backup'. I thought the difference
was the backup was simply a compressed version of a clone but I don't think
that is correct. Secondly, I have a rather worrying incident recently when
the machine hung during rebooting with the message to the effect 'operating
system no found'. Rebooting several times did not clear the problem
although the 'post' showed both fixed HDDs. I booted the system using a
'Bart' bootable CD but couldn't access either HDD. After removing the CD.
and rebooting the machine loaded WINXP without incident. I have run a
'diagnostic' test on the drive which reported it to be OK.

If anyone has any ideas on this second issue I would appreciate their
thoughts. For a more complete history of events, prior to the problem I was
editing a bootable (FAT32) floppy disk (boot order floppy, CD-ROM, HDD).
When I tried to reboot to WINXP Pro (floppy disk removed) the system hung
during POST immediately after accessing the floppy drive. I was as though
the machine expected to find a bootable disk in the drive and when it didn't
instead of moving on it hung at that point. Does that make sense? It
doesn't to me but that is how I interpreted events.

The only way to be completely sure is to perform a
restoration yourself. If you don't then there is always this
nagging feeling: What if the respondent was wrong, or
did not test his method on his own PC? What if my image
file is corrupted (happens occasionally!). Get a spare disk,
perform a test restoration and see what happens!

 

[Anna]

I backup my complete system to external HDD using True Image. My complete
system is 'spread' across two 80GB HDD and comprises a number of
partitions, the OS being installed on the 'C' partition. I have Norton
'GoBack' installed. I think there has been two occasions where I have had
to resort to 'GoBack', I have never had to reinstall the complete system
from the backup copies on the external HDD. My question is if I ever get
to an 'unbootable' system will a restore from the backup copy, using the
bootable True Image CD to start the system, return the system to its
pre-backup state? I backup the system in 'groups', that is one backup file
contains the 'C' and 'D' drives (OS and programs) and the second file the
remaining partitions which are data and the like.

The reason for this question is twofold. Firstly I don't really
understand the difference between a 'clone' and a 'backup'. I thought the
difference was the backup was simply a compressed version of a clone but I
don't think that is correct. Secondly, I have a rather worrying incident
recently when the machine hung during rebooting with the message to the
effect 'operating system no found'. Rebooting several times did not clear
the problem although the 'post' showed both fixed HDDs. I booted the
system using a 'Bart' bootable CD but couldn't access either HDD. After
removing the CD. and rebooting the machine loaded WINXP without incident.
I have run a 'diagnostic' test on the drive which reported it to be OK.

If anyone has any ideas on this second issue I would appreciate their
thoughts. For a more complete history of events, prior to the problem I
was editing a bootable (FAT32) floppy disk (boot order floppy, CD-ROM,
HDD). When I tried to reboot to WINXP Pro (floppy disk removed) the system
hung during POST immediately after accessing the floppy drive. I was as
though the machine expected to find a bootable disk in the drive and when
it didn't instead of moving on it hung at that point. Does that make
sense? It doesn't to me but that is how I interpreted events.

Edward:
I won't attempt to address myself to what you refer to as "this second
issue" since I'm not entirely sure I understand precisely what this issue
is, but let me comment on the more basic issue you're raising as it pertains
to the backup/disk cloning situation.

But before doing so, let me also add that I'm not really familiar with
Symantec's Norton GoBack program, having using it only a relatively few
times and not being particularly thrilled with it. So I won't comment on the
use of that program.

Since, however, I'm fairly conversant with the Acronis True Image program,
let me confine my remarks to that program. As I'm sure you know, you can use
that program for two basic purposes - to create disk-to-disk "clones" of
one's HDD or to create a "disk image" of the HDD.

The cloned HDD is, for all practical purposes, a bit-for-bit copy of the
source HDD. As such, it is bootable (assuming the source HDD was a bootable
drive) and all of the data on the cloned HDD is immediately accessible. In
effect, the cloned HDD is a true copy of the source HDD.

On the other hand, the disk image that can be created by the program is a
"snapshot" of the source HDD - in effect, a single file. Obviously it is not
bootable and its data is not immediately accessible. However, through a
"recovery" process the disk image can be restored to a HDD as a "normal"
bootable HDD just like it was a clone of the source disk.

The major advantage of a disk image as compared with a disk clone is that
"incremental" disk images can be created following the creation of the
original disk image. This results in a considerable savings of time since
assuming the user is backing up his/her HDD on a systematic, routine basis
the time to create a disk image is only a fraction of the time it would take
to create a disk clone. Also, since the disk image is a compressed file,
there's a savings of disk space.

In your specific situation (as I understand it) you're dealing with two
HDDs - one that contains your operating system and the other containing your
other data. And you're using a USB? external HDD for your backups. Using the
Acronis program you could use that program's disk imaging capability to
create disk images on your external HDD and use those disk images for
restoration purposes should the need later arise.

Another possibility (assuming you find this financially viable) to consider
is to purchase a fairly large-capacity HDD and use that as your single
internal HDD with your entire system on that HDD. (You could clone the
contents of your present C: HDD onto the new HDD and also move/copy the data
contents on your other internal HDD over to the new HDD. Then, using the
Acronis program, a simple disk cloning (or disk imaging) operation would be
all that's necessary for you to establish a comprehensive backup system.

BTW, I recently posted to one of these XP newsgroups step-by-step
instructions for using the Acronis True Image program, both for disk-to-disk
cloning and disk imaging. If you (or anyone) is interested in seeing it, so
indicate.
Anna

 

[Rock]

I backup my complete system to external HDD using True Image. My complete
system is 'spread' across two 80GB HDD and comprises a number of
partitions, the OS being installed on the 'C' partition. I have Norton
'GoBack' installed. I think there has been two occasions where I have had
to resort to 'GoBack', I have never had to reinstall the complete system
from the backup copies on the external HDD. My question is if I ever get
to an 'unbootable' system will a restore from the backup copy, using the
bootable True Image CD to start the system, return the system to its
pre-backup state? I backup the system in 'groups', that is one backup file
contains the 'C' and 'D' drives (OS and programs) and the second file the
remaining partitions which are data and the like.

<snip>

It should restore the system, but the only way to know that it works and
that it works the way you want it to, is to test it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Firstly I don't really
understand the difference between a 'clone' and a 'backup'. I
thought the difference was the backup was simply a compressed version
of a clone but I don't think that is correct.

No, it's not correct. A backup is any kind of file that lets you restore
some or all of what used to be on a drive to the way it was. It could be
compressed, but it also could not.

A clone is simply a particular kind of backup--one that is an exact,
byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive.. If the original drive dies and you
have a clone of it on another hard drive, you can plug the clone in in
place of the original and it should work just as the original did.