Community weekly poll: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups?
- 10/26/06 10:11 AM
Have you ever had to use any of your file backups?
by Marc Bennett - 10/26/06 10:11 AM
Have you ever had to use any of your file backups?
Yes, to restore my operating system to its original state. (Please note how many times.)
Yes, to restore my operating system to an earlier date. (Please note how many times.)
Yes, but only to restore specific files. (Please note what types of files.)
No, but I make backups just in case.
I don't make backups.
Many times...
by John.Wilkinson - 10/26/06 12:04 PM
In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
On my primary systems it's usually just to restore individual files that become corrupt or accidentally deleted. However, on my test rigs I have to restore using a Ghost backup at least once a week for various reasons, almost always stemming from installing alpha/beta software.
John
A couple times
by bknowledge - 10/26/06 1:52 PM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
Once I had to reset my system to the default factory settings because of corrupted files/beta programs and documents that were accidentally deleted. My system came with a hidden section on the HD for system restores and I also backup to DVD, better safe than sorry.
True, but in my opinion, OEM setups are a waste of time
by robnan - 10/30/06 4:37 AM In reply to: A couple times by bknowledgeOEM's come with junk, junk and more junk. As soon as you get a new computer you should format it, consolidate all the nitsy-bitsy "backup and recovery" partitions into one, reinstall your OS and only install what you need. Then back up files onto CD's when you need to. Don't bother backing up your operating system, what's the point in being all sentimental about an OS?
Manufactor makes the difference!!
by bknowledge - 10/30/06 10:24 AM In reply to: True, but in my opinion, OEM setups are a waste of time by robnanThis is true for some systems especially Dell but that's why I like eMachine. Their systems hard drives only has two partitions, one main & one recovery. The programs included are mostly full versions and useful except of course the antivirus, firewall and dialup internet which are 30day trials which I uninstall.
I backup everything because it's less of a headache and saves time down the line.
Ashamed to say..
by mkcjrc - 10/27/06 3:39 AM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
Ashamed to say, but how do you back up your operating system? It sounds like something I should do.
Interested in your response you got on backing up System
by helenw4 - 10/27/06 4:25 AM In reply to: Ashamed to say.. by mkcjrcI am also interested in how to backup my system. So you are not alone. If you received any responses, would appreciate it, if you would share it with me.
Thank you kindly,
Helen.
do not be ashamed to say that man...
by lassean1 - 10/27/06 4:29 AM In reply to: Ashamed to say.. by mkcjrcIt is important to make a ghost image of your Os. I have had to use it many times after accidentally deleting a ntldr file or something. Without the proper help from a pro, you will not be able to restore the ntldr file. this is done in Dos. So you may have to rely on the OS "ghost" copy. I say "ghost" cause that is what it is just an image of your existing OS. You pick the software...Norton's "ghost" or I like to use Nero it is very easy I did it on my very first time. also When I tested it out. I made sure that I would not miss a single file on that partition. Basically backing up the back up. If this sounds like jibberish probably is.
What I am saying is get an external HD...Back up all important data files on that. PICS, Bills, Music, stuff you find important in life... Then hopefully you have at least 2 or 3 partitions on the your Hard disk drive. then back up stuff you can live without but you may want to have it at a later time...After basically you have stripped down the OS try re installing the ghost image over what you have now on your OS that you want to test.
BTW you want to make a full copy of your OS before you start moving any files and stuff around...This will ensure you that the reinstalled image of your OS will be the one you wanted and fully intact. I hope this helps man. It is early in the morning here in Las Vegas the city that truly never sleeps.
There is no need to back up your OS
by robnan - 10/30/06 4:33 AM In reply to: Ashamed to say.. by mkcjrcBacking up your OS in my opinion is a complete waste of time, power and Gigabytes. Do what I do: Copy the Windows Pre-Installation state files onto the Root of the Hard Disk and use them if ever in a disaster state.
It's only really your files that are important, and backing them up is simple. Yeah, okay, there's the big hype about Backup Programs but it is much easier simply to copy files using Windows Explorer onto a DVD/CD or Backup Drive. On my main system I hardly install any software, except what I need and have the Windows Installation files in the root of the drive. On my test/secondary system I do not, but it has an internal CD Drive so recovering would be much the same.
Backup is essential because, only files that are not backed up are lost when hardware/software fails.
I use Roxio Go Back
by tourist97 - 10/27/06 4:51 AM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
Roxio Go Back is now owned by Symantec, I believe. I have been using it for a while and have had to restore my system to a previous date or time about 10 times. I have also used it to restore a single file, but only once or twice. I use a USB external drive and backup my whole hard drive (C: drive) twice a week.
I use Acronis True Image, too, for backups
by tourist97 - 10/27/06 5:15 AM In reply to: I use Roxio Go Back by tourist97I use Go Back, which runs in the background and essentially stores each change made to the hard drive, so that the drive can be restored to a previous point in time down to the minute. Go Back, however, will only store a few days worth of data. Of course, the operating system must be up and running to restore the drive to a previous point in time. I have restored my hard drive to a previous point in time about ten times.
I also use Acronis True Image to backup the whole C: drive to an external USB drive, so that I can restore the whole C: drive, if the hard drive fails mechanically or will not boot. True Image stores an exact copy (an image) of the C: drive. True Image also allows you to restore just one file. I use True Image to backup the hard drive twice a week. I have restored my hard drive twice.
Acronis True Image Problems
by Feister Meister - 10/28/06 7:39 AM In reply to: I use Acronis True Image, too, for backups by tourist97I purchased, based on reviews, Acronis True Image 9.0 and would LIKE TO BACK UP MY SYSTEM for complete restoration purposes, but am having trouble at the start, as there is no documentation other than searching Q&A. May I ask what you use in Acronis for a restorable image (is it the Backup Wizard or the Clone Disk); I am having problems with their tech support people who don't have a great command of the English language. They also insist that I first use the Microsoft program Sysprep, which appears to delete the identity of the source computer=scary. Did you find that you had to use this program?
Use of Backups
by Rabbit20163 - 10/27/06 5:18 AM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
Over the last 10 years i've had occasion to fully restore my hard drive about 1.5 times per year on the average. This includes upgrading to larger hard drives. I find that the easiest thing to do is to restore on the larger drive, and then use partition magic to resize the partitions to take advantage of the extra space. This is certainly easier that reinstalling all the apps i have loaded, trying to remember how to set the defaults - and oh, by the way... who can find all their install disks??
As to an earlier version - the most classic case of this was when i installed some 'freeware' that proported to be an audio studio to create your own music CDs off of tape or disk material. The thing installed a virus that prevented booting windows. Efforts to disinfect the system failed. I finally had to format and go back to my month-old backup of the entire system. Later expermentation on a machine that i was building revealed that the virus wrote itself into the BIOS - thereby loading itself on each boot. After that i made a practice of making sure the flash EPROM pin that enabled flashing was NOT in the socket when i installed the chip. (This mb did NOT have a removable jumper to prevent flashing. All i had to do when restoring the entire system was to load the latest virus updates and i was good to go.
I usually use Norton Ghost to backup - writing to CDs. I do this about every 3 months or so - or whenever i've been doing a number of installs.
Cheers
Rabbit
all the time, too many to count
by tortoise7 - 10/27/06 5:46 AM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
I use Retrospect for incremental backup and Acronis (used to use Ghost but Symantec has ruined it) for imaging systems. Use both for my personal test beds and use Retrospect on client machines both PC & Macintosh. Also make Acronis to image machines I sell to clients that way I can quickly restore if they screw them up.
Many, Many times
by Boobly - 10/27/06 6:11 AM In reply to: Have you ever had to use any of your file backups? by Marc Bennett
Because of all the junk accummulated on a computer over time, every 6 months I reformat my hard drive and use my backup copy to restore the computer to the original configuration that I had when I created the backup copies.
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