Use XP Restore or my backup data?

[jtsnow]

If I do image backups and daily incrementals using Ghost, Is there a
reason I should keep the XP System restore feature on? I do a baseline once
a month and then daily incrementals with Ghost 9.

Turns out, if I have the XP Restore on, then Ghost wont do incrementals,
only the large baseline backups and thats uses up a lot of space when
backing every day. I have 44gb on my drive..

My thought is that doing it by Ghost means I restore everything, even apps
from the date chosen, whereas XP Restore only restores system data...drivers
and such. So the only problem may be a longer restore from my backup drive
vesus using the XP Restore.

What do you think?

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

There's probably no need to do both.

You may consider reducing the amount of space system restore uses to
around 500mb's and do less backup. Restoring using SR is probably much
quicker the Ghost.

How to Adjust the amount of disk space System Restore uses
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/body_diskspace.html

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Hi,

There's probably no need to do both.

You may consider reducing the amount of space system restore uses to
around 500mb's and do less backup. Restoring using SR is probably much
quicker the Ghost.

How to Adjust the amount of disk space System Restore uses
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/body_diskspace.html

The problem with System Restore is while it is good in theory, practice
shows it to be totally unreliable. Further you do not know you have a
problem with SR until you come to Restore the registry and then it is too
late. SR is convenient, when it works, but you should always have an
alternative. Ghost seems to me, to be somewhat overkill to safeguard the
Registry but ERUNT will provide the security required.

 

[jtsnow]

I want to safeguard everything, including the registry.

What files does one restore to restore the registry?

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

See section: "Registry hive" "Supporting files" in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

ERUNT (as mentioned by Edward W.) backs up the entire registry. System
Restore does it as well, but it's not reliable if you want to restore the
snapshot after a long period of time..

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

ERUNT:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,57949,00.asp

 

[Dwight Stewart]

If I do image backups and daily incrementals
using Ghost, Is there a reason I should keep
the XP System restore feature on? I do a
baseline once a month and then daily
incrementals with Ghost 9.

I use both Ghost and Restore. System Restore is nearly ideal for those
less major problems and mistakes, almost like super undo feature for
Windows. Ghost is nearly ideal for those serious disasters System Restore
just cannot handle. As such, I think they compliment each other very nicely.
Besides, two avenues of recovery are always better than one. I certainly
feel better knowing there is more than one possible solution at hand when
things go wrong.

Stewart

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Edward,

"Practice shows it to be totally unreliable"! This is not my
experience. Most System Restore failures (that is with out any
warning) are do to malware/virus infection. There are also some
applications the can case problems with SR such as, RealPlayer,
Norton, and some virus software. Saying that, these are the very
issues that are responsible for the majority of problems in Windows
today. To avoid these problems one must take steps to keep there
system free of virus/malware infection. Here are some steps to take to
help keep the system clean.

Virus and Spyware removal and prevention
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/spyware.html

 

[Bert Kinney]

I second that!!! :- )

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Clearly our experiences are different and I think my experience is supported
by the number of posts relating to SR problems. I would strongly recommend
that no one should rely upon SR to assist them in their hour of need and to
use an alternative, I suggest ERUNT.

Perhaps some SR problems, but by no means all, are related to viruses and
malware. My system is free of viruses and malware, at least free of all
known viruses and malware. I know my problem with SR is not due to a recent
virus or malware as it has been with me for several months and updates of
the various scanning engines I use (both online and installed) will have
caught the problem by now. My biggest complaint against SR is that a
failure is only detected when one comes to carryout a Restore which is
somewhat disturbing if SR does not then function as designed.

You are I (Bert Kinney) had an extended exchange concerning my particular
problem with SR. The problem still persists, that is when an automatic
restore point is made the 'system' deletes all other Restore Points and the
Event Viewer shows a message to the effect there is insufficient space even
although over 10GB of space is available. I can make manually any number of
Restore Points but directly an 'automatic' point is made (i.e. a Restore
Point initiated by the system) all other Restore Points are deleted. This
problem persists. From MS documentation the only explanation seems to be
that one of the files that are included in the 'restore package' is corrupt
but which one is impossible to say as my System works perfectly other than
for this problem.

I suspect the only solution to solve the SR problem is to reinstall the
system. I have followed all suggestions to repair SR posted by yourself and
others but without result.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Clearly our experiences are different and I think my
experience is supported by the number of posts relating
to SR problems. I would strongly recommend that no one
should rely upon SR to assist them in their hour of need
and to use an alternative, I suggest ERUNT.
Perhaps some SR problems, but by no means all, are
related to viruses and malware.

I said most, not all.

My system is free of
viruses and malware, at least free of all known viruses
and malware. I know my problem with SR is not due to a
recent virus or malware as it has been with me for
several months and updates of the various scanning
engines I use (both online and installed) will have
caught the problem by now. My biggest complaint against
SR is that a failure is only detected when one comes to
carryout a Restore which is somewhat disturbing if SR
does not then function as designed.
You are I (Bert Kinney) had an extended exchange
concerning my particular problem with SR. The problem
still persists, that is when an automatic restore point
is made the 'system' deletes all other Restore Points and
the Event Viewer shows a message to the effect there is
insufficient space even although over 10GB of space is available.

I emailed you detailed suggestion on cleaning up the programs that are
loading at startup on your system. I never heard back from you either
in the newsgroup or via email, so I took it the case was closed.
Looking back at the large amount of apps loading at startup, I suspect
one of these is interfering with the System Restore filter causing the
restore points to be deleted. If you did not receive the email I would
be glad to send it again. And once the culprit is found, you will be
able to depend more on SR, and we could use that information to help
others.

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Hi Bert:

Yes, I did follow your suggestions but without success. I did not reply as
the thread was becoming very long and quite honestly I didn't think we were
getting anywhere, no disrespect intended here. I know how to fix it, or at
least I think so, and that is a WINXP 'reinstall'. I am obviously reluctant
to do this for a couple of reasons, firstly other than the SR problem the
machine and all installed programs are operating faultlessly. Scondly the
registry is backed up each day using ERUNT so I don't feel I am at risk.
Nevertheless, a fault clearly exists and I would like to understand what
the problem is. Reinstallation is a little like using a sledge hammer to
crack a nut.

If you or others have any ideas what else I could look into I would
certainly appreciate your advice but I do not want to clutter up this NG
needlessly.