S.M.A.R.T. error

[Bob Dietz]

Er - RAID 0 isn't what you want, as that increases you risk of data
loss! In RAID 0, each HD holds half the data, so that both HDs work
as if they were one. Lose *either* HD, lose your data

RAID 1 is where the same data is on both HDs, so in theory you can
chop one up with an axe and the PC will keep on truckin'.

Are you speaking from experience?

My understanding has been that the PC will be down until the
damaged drive is replaced with a new on and the image rebuilt.

I could easily be wrong about that. Just wondering.

 

[Al Dykes]

Thanks to dmac, joe727, no_one, Al Dykes, and Ken Blake for your replies. I
didn't realize that RAID was available as an option in certain Desktop PCs
as I verified by checking Dell, Gateway, and IBM websites. I expect that
desktops are where you want to use raid since notebooks may not have room
for them and it adds weight and decreases battery life. Also, I suppose
that one of the significant risks with notebooks is losing it or having it
stolen which raid doesn't address.

Does anyone have an opinion on the following (which might be safer to leave
in the office and do backup jsut before you take your laptop on the road):
TheIBM Portable 40GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive with Rapid Restore T is IBM's
ultimate recovery and restore solution that you can take on the road. It is
a high-capacity, high-speed, portable storage and disaster recovery at the
touch of a button solution. Includes IBM Rapid RestoreTM software which
helps you increase uptime by creating a complete image back-up of up to 40GB
(data, applications and operating system) that is stored in a protected
portion of the hard drive. This hard drive is bootable which helps enable
system recovery in the event of a complete primary drive failure. (Bootable
on systems with appropriate system BIOS). Just plug in and use with systems
running Microsoftâ Windowsâ2000 or XP. No drivers, batteries, or external AC
power adapter required.

I haven't look at the IBM preduct, I'm sure they's done a nice job,
such as it is.

From the IBM FAQ:
Q: How are IBM Rapid Restore Ultra program backups created?
A: IBM Rapid Restore Ultra program creates a hidden, protected
partition on the primary hard drive, and then backs up the
entire system image including all data files onto this partition.

As good as IBM's products are, installation of this product on an
existing computer has a risk of loosing everything. It's best as part
of a new computer, partitioned before you start using it.

I expect the 40GB capacity allows you to make at least 3 generations
of backups. (it's bad karma to write on top of your only backup. The
Public Power Utility god may stop smiling in your direction while
youir are backing up, crashing yoiur HD, and screwing your only
backup.)

It also means you can't make cheap copies of your system or data
on CDs to put offsite.

What am I using ? I keep everything possible in my windows profile,
this includes My Documents, plus desktop, and all my email and it's
under 600 MB, so far. I frequently burn a CD of my profile.

I have a laptop and a desktop on a 100MB LAN. I use Backer6 (shareware)
to sync My Documents folder on both machines.
http://www.softpile.com/Internet/FTP/Review_29436_index.html
So I've always got two copies of the files I work on most.

After I spend time customizing one of these systems, or before doing a
Windows update I do an image backup from one machine to the disk on
the other, over the LAN. This is done stand-alone, and I verify the
image. Each machine has a copy of the other's system and data. I like
Acronis TrueImage 7 for this.

I bought Acronis just before I set up my laptop. After doing some
setup I did a backup and then imaged my laptop from the backup. It
worked, and I have a warm and comfy feeling that comes from a for-real
test of a restore proceedure.

 

[Sunny]

You have to set it in your BIOS. The option should be under your
"standard" settings for your hard drive (probably "primary master"). Most
recent BIOS's have a S.M.A.R.T. setting. As well, you should google for
the "drive fitness test", a boot-from-floppy utility that can run some
tests of your hard drive and enable S.M.A.R.T. for the drive outside of the
BIOS. (I think you need to set both.) Note that there is no S.M.A.R.T.
for SCSI, or at least I haven't found the option.

Not sure about XP, but for Win98 and ME you have to move:
"Smartvsd.vxd" as well,
from Windows\System folder to Windows\System\Iosubsys.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;265854&Product=winme

 

[Jim Slager]

You're welcome. You might want to take a look at the Maxtor OneTouch
USB hard drive backup. There have been great reviews about it.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/external/onetouch/onetouch_usb/index.htm

Joe

Joe, OneTouch backup would be great. But is this actually just an external
drive? Currently I am backing up my computers across wifi on each other.
One thing that I don't like is that you can't copy files which are in use.
So you can't quite restore to exactly the same state. With mirroring I'd
think that you could do a 100% restore (although someone was suggesting that
it isn't so easy).

Or is there a way that true OneTouch 100% backups can be done?

 

[Joe727]

Joe, OneTouch backup would be great. But is this actually just an external
drive? Currently I am backing up my computers across wifi on each other.
One thing that I don't like is that you can't copy files which are in use.
So you can't quite restore to exactly the same state. With mirroring I'd
think that you could do a 100% restore (although someone was suggesting that
it isn't so easy).

Or is there a way that true OneTouch 100% backups can be done?

It depends on what you are backing-up. For Word documents, family photos,
etc., I simply drag and drop them to my backup hard drive. There really is
no simple answer since everybody decides for himself/herself what needs to
be backed-up.

Joe

 

[Jim Slager]

What am I using ? I keep everything possible in my windows profile,
this includes My Documents, plus desktop, and all my email and it's
under 600 MB, so far. I frequently burn a CD of my profile.

I have a laptop and a desktop on a 100MB LAN. I use Backer6
(shareware) to sync My Documents folder on both machines.
http://www.softpile.com/Internet/FTP/Review_29436_index.html
So I've always got two copies of the files I work on most.

Al, that's quite a system you have. I like the idea of using sync sw and
getting backup as a side effect.

After I spend time customizing one of these systems, or before doing a
Windows update I do an image backup from one machine to the disk on
the other, over the LAN. This is done stand-alone, and I verify the
image. Each machine has a copy of the other's system and data. I like
Acronis TrueImage 7 for this.

What exactly do you mean by an "image backup"? Does it mean a complete copy
of the enitre disk? What do you do about open files?

I bought Acronis just before I set up my laptop. After doing some
setup I did a backup and then imaged my laptop from the backup. It
worked, and I have a warm and comfy feeling that comes from a for-real
test of a restore proceedure.

Very nice.

 

[Al Dykes]

Al, that's quite a system you have. I like the idea of using sync sw and
getting backup as a side effect.


What exactly do you mean by an "image backup"? Does it mean a
complete copy
of the enitre disk? What do you do about open files?

The TrueImage software setup makes a "boot CD" that contains the NIC
drivers, and the backup tool. You put the CD in the machine, reboot
and you're running stand-alone. The backup software lets you browse
the network and find another computer that will let you write to it's
disk drive. It's real fast and sure. I don't like to depend on CDR
disks as my only backup, as important as they are for off-site
storage. I screw around with my systems and restore more often than
most people. (the last time because the Windows Update site get me a
bad driver) The TrueImage restore proceedure is wonderfull; boot from
the CD, use TrueImage to browse to the machine that has all my
backups, pick one, click on it and go. Reboot.

 

[Jim Slager]

The TrueImage software setup makes a "boot CD" that contains the NIC
drivers, and the backup tool. You put the CD in the machine, reboot
and you're running stand-alone. The backup software lets you browse
the network and find another computer that will let you write to it's
disk drive. It's real fast and sure. I don't like to depend on CDR
disks as my only backup, as important as they are for off-site
storage. I screw around with my systems and restore more often than
most people. (the last time because the Windows Update site get me a
bad driver) The TrueImage restore proceedure is wonderfull; boot from
the CD, use TrueImage to browse to the machine that has all my
backups, pick one, click on it and go. Reboot.

This is what I'm looking for. It sounds like with TrueImage you can copy
files without any open file problems since you're executing off CD. You can
copy them to any of:
- Another partition on your c: disk
- Another internal disk
- An external disk
- Another computer on your network
- Network storage if your company provides it
- A CD if you have two drives (otherwise do one of the above and then copy
it to CD)
- Can you copy to CD on another computer????

I think that I could copy to disk on another computer on my wifi by sticking
in the TrueImage CD and then going to bed. Just have to leave both
computers on all night. Then the next night backup the 2nd machine on the
first machine. Apparently the restore if you have to do it is painless and
you can restore all settings, statue, favorites, email, etc exactly as they
were on your last backup.

And I suppose that after you backup the first time you could do incrementals
after that so you don't need to leave it run all night.

 

[Al Dykes]

This is what I'm looking for. It sounds like with TrueImage you can copy
files without any open file problems since you're executing off CD. You can
copy them to any of:
- Another partition on your c: disk

Then it wouldn't be a C disk, but I know what you mean.
yes, you can backup to D: etc.

- Another internal disk

yes, but it doesn't support SATA disks but you'd know if you had these.

- An external disk

Depends on how it's connected. TrueImage supports some
USB/firewire disks, but not mine :-( I haven't begun
to work on this yet, and it's not a show stopper for me.

- Another computer on your network

A windows workgroup computer, Yes.

- Network storage if your company provides it

Most certainly, but check with your ops people for details.

- A CD if you have two drives (otherwise do one of the above and then copy
it to CD)

You don't need 2. Once TrueImage is loaded you can remove the boot CD.

- Can you copy to CD on another computer????

No, but you can write to the hard disk (over a LAN)
and then burn CDs.

I suggest you go to www.acronis.com, get the PDF of the manual and
read it. There are lots of gotchas on this. They have a money-back
deal, buy it as soon as you ar ready to play with it, so you can get
your money back if there is a show-stopper.

 

[Jim Slager]

Then it wouldn't be a C disk, but I know what you mean.
yes, you can backup to D: etc.

I haven't used partitions but it sounds like each partition is viewed as a
separate disk.

You don't need 2. Once TrueImage is loaded you can remove the boot
CD.

Do you mean that once you load the CD it is transferred to dram memory and
executes from there so the CD drive is free and you can put a blank CD in
and write to it?

I suggest you go to www.acronis.com, get the PDF of the manual and
read it.

I'm reading it now. Thanks for everything, Al.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

Er - RAID 0 isn't what you want, as that increases you risk of data
loss! In RAID 0, each HD holds half the data, so that both HDs work
as if they were one. Lose *either* HD, lose your data
RAID 1 is where the same data is on both HDs, so in theory you can
chop one up with an axe and the PC will keep on truckin'.

[/QUOTE]

Are you speaking from experience?

Saw a demo where they did exactly that, smashing up a HD on a running
PICK system back in the late '80s. That all implimentations of RAID 1
are that robust; no - and also I'd file this under "don't try this at
home" (e.g. in case shorting the ciruitry in the crushed drive fries
the rest of the PC, etc.).

My understanding has been that the PC will be down until the
damaged drive is replaced with a new on and the image rebuilt.

I could easily be wrong about that. Just wondering.

I think that would defeat the purpose of hot swappability. I'd expect
it to alert the administrator while working, so that the sick HD could
be swapped out, and then the image on the new HD be built either as an
elective task, or on the fly. Until that's done, you no longer have a
RAID 1; anything that happens to the remaining HD would tilt the game.

I doubt whether "thrown in for free" RAID 1 is actually that fault
tolerant, even if S-ATA power makes the HDs hot-swappable.

OTOH, RAID 0 is a disaster if one HD should fail.

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