Full Backup

[skylive5]

In case of catastrophic HD failure. Is there full HD backup software out there for windows xp that is trustworthy? One that would allow a full recovery to a new HD?

 

The reason I ask is that I have a bunch of programs that I use pretty regular and they were bought over the Internet and I have no CD of the program.

I don't want to go out and buy them again in case of total HD failure.

[skylive5]

And one more backup question....

 

Can I paste and copy Drive C to an external HD and use that to restore a new HD?

 

Drive C is the drive I use only for programs and the OS.

[Clubfoothead]

And one more backup question....

 

Can I paste and copy Drive C to an external HD and use that to restore a new HD?

 

Drive C is the drive I use only for programs and the OS.

 

Havent had to find out if it'll actually work but I've got a 1 TB external hard drive that I copied all my stuff to it. I was able to right click, copy and paste several "programs" to the drive. For example, I copied the whole itunes to the HD. I can play the songs anytime but it feels like the itunes software is running from the C drive still and not off of the H drive. After spending 2 days fixing my computer, the IT guy at my office has requested that I stop "experimenting" around with the computer.

 

In other words, hopefully someone else who understands computers can help you. Now if you ever need your shoes shined, I'm yer boy.

[rocknrobn26]

And one more backup question....

 

Can I paste and copy Drive C to an external HD and use that to restore a new HD?

 

Drive C is the drive I use only for programs and the OS.

 

The answer is NO, as the files the OS uses are dynamic and cannot be copied using that technique, so don't waste your time.

REAL BU s/w can copy those files. They can also do incremental (daily, weekly, etc. of just files that changed).

 

I've used Acronis... in the past, but never needed to see how well it worked (no crashes). Considering updating it as the ver. I have won't do Vista.

There are also online solutions, but they have fees and I've read where they can take days to do an initial back up.

More info later, as I am considering the same as you 'cept mine will need XP & Vista support.

[Clubfoothead]

The answer is NO, as the files the OS uses are dynamic and cannot be copied using that technique, so don't waste your time.

REAL BU s/w can copy those files. They can also do incremental (daily, weekly, etc. of just files that changed).

 

I've used Acronis... in the past, but never needed to see how well it worked (no crashes). Considering updating it as the ver. I have won't do Vista.

There are also online solutions, but they have fees and I've read where they can take days to do an initial back up.

More info later, as I am considering the same as you 'cept mine will need XP & Vista support.

 

 

So I was right? Itunes can find the songs off of the extrenal hard drive, but itunes itself is still running off of my C drive?

[skylive5]

The answer is NO, as the files the OS uses are dynamic and cannot be copied using that technique, so don't waste your time.

REAL BU s/w can copy those files. They can also do incremental (daily, weekly, etc. of just files that changed).

 

I've used Acronis... in the past, but never needed to see how well it worked (no crashes). Considering updating it as the ver. I have won't do Vista.

There are also online solutions, but they have fees and I've read where they can take days to do an initial back up.

More info later, as I am considering the same as you 'cept mine will need XP & Vista support.

 

I was sure it wasn't going to be that simple... *sigh*

 

Thank you sir..... I will go check out the acronis.

[evil_gop_liars]

Disk imaging software should do what you are looking for as long you are only changing the HD. I've tried Norton's Ghost, Acronis and R-Drive. The one I liked the best is R-Drive.

[Ursa Majoris]

There used to be a program called DriveImage. I imagine it's still around but any imaging program should work fine.

[ts]

While obviously not a complete backup solution (you want one of the drive imaging tools mentioned above for that task) as an interim backup option until you get something more robust in place - assuming that when you bought your applications from the i-net (meaning you have no CD with the sofware on it) you downloaded the installer file to your local drive rather than just choosing "run" or whatever to "install on the fly" from the web site where you made the purchase, you should just be able to copy that installation file (usually a zip file, rar file or exe file) over to another computer or even to a flash drive - then if disaster strikes, you can reinstall the lost application using the saved installer files.

[Ursa Majoris]

While obviously not a complete backup solution (you want one of the drive imaging tools mentioned above for that task) as an interim backup option until you get something more robust in place - assuming that when you bought your applications from the i-net (meaning you have no CD with the sofware on it) you downloaded the installer file to your local drive rather than just choosing "run" or whatever to "install on the fly" from the web site where you made the purchase, you should just be able to copy that installation file (usually a zip file, rar file or exe file) over to another computer or even to a flash drive - then if disaster strikes, you can reinstall the lost application using the saved installer files.

This. I have a folder called Downloads that I back up like any other data folder.

[rocknrobn26]

Disk imaging software should do what you are looking for as long you are only changing the HD. I've tried Norton's Ghost, Acronis and R-Drive. The one I liked the best is R-Drive.

 

What was it about R-Drive that you liked better than Acronis?

[Kid Cid]

I used to use Symantec Ghost to create an exact image of the hard drive. If you have multiple computers on a network, it can be configured to recapture that image nightly. Probably overkill for what you want to do though. The safest (and perhaps easiest depending on your comfort with swapping out hard drives) bet is to just buy another hard drive, load XP onto it, then put it aside for safe keeping. Then copy everything else onto DVDs. In event of failure, put the new hard drive in and reload volatile data from DVD. Just make sure to keep the DVDs current.

[skylive5]

Thank you everyone.... appears that I have some things to look at and decisions to make.

[Ursa Majoris]

One other thing.......when you get your imaging program, take an image and do a restore to another drive. This way you can be confident it will work when the poo hits the fan.

[evil_gop_liars]

What was it about R-Drive that you liked better than Acronis?

 

I had a laptop drive I was trying to swap out and for some reason Ghost and Acronis images would not work So I tried R-Drive and it work fine. Ghost as a back up is very nice though and Acronis disk partitioning programs are top notch.

[Caveman_Nick]

If it might ever matter to you, this functionality is built into the Mac OS

[untateve]

I use Carbonite. It costs me about $55 per year but the back up is done automatically.

[rocknrobn26]

I use Carbonite. It costs me about $55 per year but the back up is done automatically.

 

That's online storage, correct?

How long was the initial download?

Does it copy the OS?

Have you had to use it?

 

Sidebar:

 

Did you decide on a laptop? FWIW...I saw the LT that I recc'd to my friend and it is very sweet.

Let me know.

[untateve]

That's online storage, correct?

How long was the initial download?

Does it copy the OS?

Have you had to use it?

 

Sidebar:

 

Did you decide on a laptop? FWIW...I saw the LT that I recc'd to my friend and it is very sweet.

Let me know.

 

Yes, it's online storage.

 

I'm not sure how long the initial back up took as it did it behind the scenes while I was working.

 

I don't know about he OS but I don't think so.

 

I've used only a couple of times when I had accidentally deleted a file I needed from my computer and my recycle bin.

 

re: laptop, I went with the one I posted about. So far, it's working great. Of course, my prior laptop was 7 years old so this one is much faster.

[evil_gop_liars]

Carbonite is nice but it will not back up network drives.

[Square]

I use Carbonite. It costs me about $55 per year but the back up is done automatically.

I'm about a day or two away from starting a Carbonite account and backing up my 1TB drive on my home desktop ( I have a 320GB drive with the OS installed on it). I lost one HD a long time ago and the only thing I really gave a crap about was all the digital pictures I lost. It sucks to lose wedding/honemoon pictures to a HD crash. Since then I've always copied them to both drives and kept my most important stuff on my second HD so if the OS dies, I can just reinstall it and copy it over from the other HD. Sky, you can always get one of those external HDs (I think Western Digital has a "one touch" system that is supposed to be user friendly). For me though, i think $50 a year is probably worth not having to sweat losing all my chit. Fire, buglary, whatever... I'll always have a copy off site.

[T_bone65]

We use Acronis at work and it is a breeze to use for imaging.

[Gonkis]

We use Acronis at work and it is a breeze to use for imaging.

 

 

+1, been solid for us, as well.

[skylive5]

In response to several....

 

I keep only the OS and installed programs on an unpartitioned Drive C.

 

I have two internal HDs (C: 233gb - and a partitioned 500gb) and two external HDs (500gb each) that I keep things like documents/spreadsheets, music, pictures, etc. on.

 

The reasoning behind wanting a backup software is for the OS and installed programs. If Drive C fails I want to be able to go buy a new HD and be able to replace everything without having to worry about getting programs I got from the 'net that I have no install disks for.

 

So anyways... I have Acronis and Ghost both. So I am good to go.

 

Thanks everyone.

[cdrudge]

You need to figure out what you want your backup strategy to be. Do you want to protect data files that can't be replaced or entire drives and all configured options?

 

Many of the online services like Carbonite or Mozy are good to keep an offsite backup of certain data files, but they don't make great disaster recovery options as they won't backup an entire drive including operating system and allow you to do a load from scratch. By default some file types may be excluded. I read over the weekend that Carbonite won't automatically backup executable but that could have been an incorrect or outdated blog post.

 

Imaging programs like Ghost can backup everything and recover from scratch, but they can be inefficient and if you are restoring to new hardware, things might not work as you expect it. Plus I don't believe you can selectively restore only certain files or folders, but I may be wrong.

 

I personally don't worry too much about the OS and Program Files as much as do personal data files and irreplaceable digital media. If I had a hard drive crash, I could have a reload in under an hour or two of most of the programs that I use on a daily basis. The previous 10 years of family photos, videos, tax records, email, contacts, etc would be impossible to replace.

 

For programs that I've purchased over the internet with only electronic copy, or disc images from my MSDN subscription, I keep those on a network drive that I also occasionally backup to an offline drive. If a drive goes south and I need to restore, it may take longer to restore 20 individual programs then a one-touch restore, but I have all the originals still. If I ever upgrade, move to a new computer, etc and need to reload the program, I can easily do that while a drive backup alone wouldn't allow me to do that.