System restore?

[Guest]

I have a IBM ThinkPad which came with the IBM Rapid Restore. I've been using
this feature for weekly backups. My question is...Do I still need to have
WINXP's system restore enabled or can I disable it?

 

[lvee]

I would disable it, but be advised that Rapid Restore can take up a lot of
disk space..there must be some sort of maintenance to remove multiple
backups.
I would still, on occasion, create your own backup with something like
NTbackup, just in case. Either way, those two methods are more reliable
than System Restore, which is an okay tool, just very limited and not very
reliable.

 

[Guest]

OK thanks a lot for that, I will disable.

I would disable it, but be advised that Rapid Restore can take up a lot of
disk space..there must be some sort of maintenance to remove multiple
backups.
I would still, on occasion, create your own backup with something like
NTbackup, just in case. Either way, those two methods are more reliable
than System Restore, which is an okay tool, just very limited and not very
reliable.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I have a IBM ThinkPad which came with the IBM Rapid Restore.
I've
been using this feature for weekly backups. My question
is...Do I
still need to have WINXP's system restore enabled or can I
disable it?

I don't know anything about Rapid Restore. What does it back up?
Data? The operating system? Everything? What medium does it back
up to?

XP's System Restore feature is not a backup solution. It backs up
the system only and does nothing for your data. It's not meant to
replace a real backup strategy, but to supplement it. It gives
you a quick way to go back to the way the operating system was
yesterday, or a few days ago, if something goes wrong that you
can't readily fix. It's not a perfect tool, but can be very
valuable in some situations.

Unless Rapid Restore duplicates System Restore's functionality
(and I doubt if it does), I would *not* disable system restore.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi JAR,

After doing some research, I would not recommend IBM Rapid Restore.

<Snip from the following article>

Symptom
System Restore's Restore Points are not saved in IBM Rapid Restore Ultra's backup. When
restoring using Rapid Restore Ultra, System Restore will log an error message in the
Windows Event Viewer and if you start System Restore, any prior System Restore Points are
not available.

IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore - Microsoft System Restore "Restore Points" are
not preserved or System Restore errors are logged in Event Viewer
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-54488

IBM Rapid Restore is a imaging/recovery tool rather than a system file restore
application.

System Restore is a very good first line of defense for restoring system setting and
files, particularly when it is used promptly after a problem is identified.

A second line of defense is having good backups, and an imaging program that once used
doesn't destroy the System Restore restore points.

Acronis True Image Disk backup software is a good alternative.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

More information:

How to Adjust the amount of disk space System Restore uses
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspace.html

IBM PC heals itself - TechUpdate - ZDNet
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2907867,00.html