Computer help: Backup payoff time. I lost my main machine's hard disk.
- 10/16/05 8:40 PM
HARD DRIVE BACK-UPS
by BRENDAL - 10/21/05 10:21 AM In reply to: Hard Drive failure by rjcarterWell, this is something else to be concerned about. How about a step one step two explanation by Mr. Proffitt? I do back-ups of various things that I work on but not the hard drive and wouldn't even know where to begin. Do I go to MY COMPUTER and get to the C drive and find something there with a (R)click???
Why would DVD's be used?
See what I mean? I don't know a thing about this but am certainly willing and anxious to find out.
THANK YOU
Backup
by The Fly - 10/21/05 11:06 AM In reply to: HARD DRIVE BACK-UPS by BRENDALFirst - what do you need to backup? You need to backup your personal files that you do not want to lose. These would be any documents such as Word or Wordperfect files, spreadsheets (Excel /Quatro Pro, etc.) pictures, email - any files that you have created. Unless you have set up custom folders, you will most likely find your data in ''My Documents'' somewhere. E-mail depends on what email client you are using. For Outlook Express there is free backup program available called Outlook Express Freebie Backup. You do not need to backup the operating system or programs.
Second - How to backup. It depends on how much money you want to spend and to what lengths you are willing to go to save time, etc. You can get extra hard drives and use disk imaging software to backup everything and if something happens you have a complete image of your system. Personally, I don't go the RAID, disk image type of backup. Also, I don't do the classic backup but I copy all my files so they are available and usable without having to restore them. I can use them from the backup media or copy them to whatever and use them. If you have a LAN, you can backup from one computer to another. You should also have some type of ''off site'' backup in case of fire or other disaster that would wipe out your local setup. In my case, I use CD/DVD that I can take with me and also a 1 GB thumb drive. Be aware that some types of DVD writes cannot be read on any drive but the one it was created on. The safest backup on DVD is to write once and finalize the DVD. CD or DVD - depends on how much data you have that needs to be backed up. DVD will hold approx. 4.5 GB of data whereas a CD will only hold about 700 MB or approximately .7 GB. If you have a lot of pictures or other files that take up a lot of room it may require a DVD.
I use Syncback (which is free) to do my backups. I had been using SecondCopy2000 (which must be purchased) but ran into several problems which support was never able to rectify. No problems with Syncback. For CD or DVD use the writer of your choice. I use Nero Burning 6.
When to backup - Proprietary files which might cause a real problem if lost such as financial files should be backed up everytime you input to them. Other files can be backed up based on how much trouble it would be to reconstruct them from the last time they were backed up. Usually, about once a week.
Backup of multiple PCs
by Bob Bloch - 10/22/05 8:27 AM In reply to: Backup by The FlyI have both a laptop & desktop. Can i use an external HD to backup each one (including OS). Your post does not mention OS backup but that can be a major consideration since it has been enhanced (SP2, etc) since the machine was purchased so going back to the original install CD is not practical.
Will "Syncback" support multiple backups (from different sources) on an external HD ? Also can the entire backup (OS + apps, etc) be restored to a newly installed replacement HD after a crash ? If not, what will ?
Thanx,
Bob
OS Backup
by The Fly - 10/23/05 10:34 AM In reply to: Backup of multiple PCs by Bob BlochYou cannot just "backup" the OS. There are programs available to do drive images which do allow you to transfer your whole drive from one drive to another. I notice in some posts Acronis is mentioned and seems to be the one of choice. I have not used any of these types of programs so I cannot give any informed information about using them.
Syncback does support backing up from and to just about anything and it is free. Syncback will copy whaever you want to have copied, but, as mentioned above, a copy of the operating system and programs will not work. They must be installed unless you use one of the drive imaging programs.
Unless you are doing this a lot (you have a number of computers, are a network administrator, etc.), it is not that bad to go back to the original install CD. You can get a free SP2 CD from Microsoft and you would not need to install SP1 first. You will need the backup (or copy) of your personal data files and your install CD or download for your programs to install them. To me it is not worth the price for one of those programs to image my drive to use once in 12 years. That is how long I went before I had to do this. Of course, it could happen at any time, but to me (I have just two computers on a small LAN) it just isn't worth what it would cost to purchase one of those programs. I had the new drive up and running with the OS installed within a couple of hours. It will take a little time to get all the programs reinstalled and your personal settings adjusted, but it is not a hard process. The real important thing is to have a usable copy of all your data files or they will be lost. If you have the original install CD, the SP2 CD and your program CD's, the only thing that can be lost is your personal data. Just make sure you have a copy of your data files resonably up-to-date. The most reliable media is CD-R. If you have so much data that you need to write out to DVD, make sure you do a single write and finalize the disk or it may not be readable on a different DVD drive if that would be required for some reason.
Hard Drive Backup Methodology
by bronze32 - 10/21/05 11:16 AM In reply to: Hard Drive failure by rjcarterWe are a small (4 person) proposal shop for government contractors, and our documents are our lifeblood. We use a three-layered system of backups.
1. Mirrored Hard Drives on the server. We use an older pentium III machine with two 60 GB HD's in a RAID array for our server (Windows 2000). It was cheap insurance, and all of our work is backed up and current. It has already saved us once. The RAID card cost about $50 and the extra hard drive (a duplicate) was about $80. Everything else we had on hand.
2. Backup to another machine on the network with extra capacity. We keep a backup of all our working and older proposals on the server, but once a month we back the entire folder (about 10 gig) to another computer on the network. This ensures that even if the server crashes and burns (i.e, the power supply kills both drives), we have a ''live'' electronic copy.
3. Backup to DVD. About once per quarter, we make backups onto DVD of the proposals folder.
We are considering using a single, large, partitioned USB drive to make images of each of the workstations so that if one of the individual workstation computers dies, we can be up and running quickly without having to reload all the OS and programs again. We just haven't decided on a software program to do this task.
Mirroring a Hard Drive
by Jane in KC - 10/21/05 5:57 PM In reply to: Hard Drive failure by rjcarterExactly what do you mean by the above, please? Are you now backing up the backup? Or are you referring to backing up the original?
I also have a Maxtor One Touch (sounds like the same as yours), but I am using it with its software to back up my C drive every night rather than using it to store original content.
Is it your position that the external drive used as a backup also should be backed up ("mirrored")? I would think that would depend on the value of your original material, but I may just not understand what you're saying. Thanks.
mirroring
by brucegme - 10/22/05 3:57 AM In reply to: Mirroring a Hard Drive by Jane in KCmirroring is the process of connecting two hard drives so that the data is saved (or "mirrored") to both drives concurrently.....I often recommend this technique to my small business customers as a way of insuring uptime for critical applications...
in the past, it was necessary to use a separate adapter card that controlled both drives, but many newer mother boards incorproate a controller in the board chip set....most often utilizing the new SATA interface
These controller cards are often called "raid" cards since they are essentially an entry level version of the cards that handle multiple drives for file servers and other high end workstations... raid arrays of multiple drives allow data to be stored on more than one drive at one time so that should any drive in the array fail, it can be removed without shutting down the server...these arrays usually are also configured so that data can be streamed from more than one drive at a time decreasing access time for heavily used data...
a simple mirrored drive arrangement can be coupled with "hot swap" bays which allow the removal and replacement of either drive wiithout shutting down the system...most mirrror systems allow you to install a replacement hard drive in the hot swap drawer, close the drawer, lock it in, and the controller card will automatically mirror the surviving drive in a short time..
Just sharing. RAID 1 never saved anyone in 20+ years.
by R. Proffitt - 10/22/05 5:41 AM
In reply to: mirroring by brucegme
I've been in this game for 20+ years and no RAID 1 (mirroring) saved anyone's day. When the data corrupted or the OS corrupted, both drives corrupted.
This is not a viable backup plan.
Bob
External HDD & Sync Toy
by jahan - 10/21/05 6:37 PM In reply to: Backup payoff time. I lost my main machine's hard disk. by R. Proffitt
The HD in my tower is a WD Raptor and has a 5 year warranty, so I have been fairly complacent about backing up until......
Had a scary experience recently after leaving the PC on over night, downloading some large files. I think I might have been hacked. AVG found a suspect file in system32 and deleted it. Won't bore you with the details following that, but it was a wake up call to back up properly (I had backed up to DVD some 6 months earlier).
Checked out the price of a good external HD and got a WD 80G 7200rpm for AUD$165. The place where I bought it recommended MS Sync Toy (sorry, no URL as they emailed it through to me). This is working a treat. Now I have moved everything I need to backup to My Docs and run Sync Toy daily. It's really quick and simple.
OK, you scared me; I backed up; now what?
by FredS - 10/22/05 2:22 AM In reply to: Backup payoff time. I lost my main machine's hard disk. by R. Proffitt
I loaded a copy of Acronis True Image and followed the directions to make a bootable back-up CD of my system. Now I've got the CD but I don't know what to do with it - specifically how to check that it will work when I need it.
First, how can I check to see if this CD I made is really bootable? If I need to adjust my bios to boot from a CD, how do I do that?
Next, how can I see if the bootable CD contains all the data on my existing computer? The recovery CD only has about 10 MEGAbytes from a 20 GIGAbyte hard drive that is half full (10 gigabytes). Is something missing?
Thanks.
Hot flash: I wrote too soon?
by FredS - 10/22/05 4:59 AM In reply to: OK, you scared me; I backed up; now what? by FredSMy first step earlier was to select the "Create bootable rescue media" tool on one of the Acronis menus. I mistakenly figured that would image my computer to a bootable back up CD.
Next, when I tired "explore image" from a different Acronis menu, the CD I burned previously had only 10 megabytes of files, and no Acronis ".tib" files. Evidently all I did earlier was to create a bootable CD (if even that?).
Now I guess I must actually image my hard drive. I just saw the note that it will take nine blank CDs to image the drive. This needs a trip to the store, first.
When I start this imaging, do I use the first CD I made - the hopefully bootable one - first?
I don't use acronis
by bob b - 10/22/05 7:20 AM In reply to: OK, you scared me; I backed up; now what? by FredSbut I do use an image prog of a different flavor so see if any of this fits.
I put the prog on a couple of floppies, just because it fits my boot order.
The process is.
Boot from the floppy.
Select create image.
Input>C
Output>cd writer
Hit go
I then get a msg asking if I want to make the cd bootable. (not in exactly those words)
I select no, you may want the cd to be bootable, your choice, it's used during the recovery/restore phase.
If I had 10GB of data to image I might question whether cd's at 700MB each was the best choice for output media, perhaps dvd's would be a better fit.
Done w/1 false start . . .
by FredS - 10/22/05 10:04 AM In reply to: I don't use acronis by bob b. . . so I figure I got away with only minor injuries <grin>. I completed the image on 8 CDs and then verified the data on each so they wouldn't be corrupt should I ever need them.
You're right about media efficiency - you'd almost have to use DVDs on any newer, larger hard drive.
I still don't understand that boot CD function, but I'm glad I finally got my drive imaged. Probably sleep better, too <g>. Thanks for the help.
Git'R Done, backups the cheap way!
by Impreza WRX - 10/22/05 6:27 AM In reply to: Backup payoff time. I lost my main machine's hard disk. by R. Proffitt
I have a titanic-sized FireWire Har Drive I use to backup files with. I use BartPE to boot the system, then I simply erase the backup partition and do a drag 'n drop of the entire hard drivecontents, hiden and system files included. That way, if the Hard Drive fails, I can simply drag and re-drop to a new one, and walla, instant restoation!
Hmmm Maybe solve the NTLDR problems
by jsclark - 10/22/05 1:49 PM In reply to: Git'R Done, backups the cheap way! by Impreza WRXIn the process of loosing my 200gb drive to ''NTLDR Missing'' error message, unable to fix with relace of that file and NTDETECT.com, I formated a spare duplicate maxtor drive, installed same WXP-PRO SP-2. I can get to most files by roundabout thru ''mycomputer'' then to drive, so know partition table is good. As yet have not had any luck on extensive email files. Will continue with recovery this weekend. All together is some 30gb of programs and data on disrupted drive. I have lost 9 hard drives in last 5 years and am getting too old to repeat same process of rebuilding data files. 3 times the bios in the CD drive was corrupted at same time. Backups were inaccesable. 1 was a drive failure, 8 were ''OS SYSTEM MISSING'' or NTLDR error messages. Never had any luck with ''RAID'' unless was just a hard drive failure and disk set in a drive failed to spin.
Question; I have hot-swap trays for both drives. Can I just use the drag and drop process for a daily backup to the second drive, then remove for safe keeping? Tell me more about ''BartPE''. tnx John
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