Backing Up Windows
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From: wilby on 31 Jul 2010 20:49 On 7/31/2010 12:48 PM, Microsoft Newsgroups wrote: > Could anyone tell me if it is possible to make and exact copy of my primary > (C) drive so that if I need to I have it available? > > Perhaps, is it possible to use the File Settings& Transfer wizard to copy > the drive to the other internal drive and then boot from that drive if > possible? > > > Use freeware version of Macrium Reflect. It will create an image of your C: drive on another drive (external is best). Now make the bootable Macrium CD and save it. If you lose your C: drive, install a new drive for C:, then boot the Macrium CD, and from there you restore the image mentioned in line one. Presto, you are right back to the point in time when you created the image. Your brand new drive is up and running. I make a new image every week or so and keep them all on an external drive. Wilby
From: Shenan Stanley on 31 Jul 2010 20:53 choro wrote: > Incidentally has anyone tried both Acronis and Paragon to see how > they compare? Probably. http://www.google.com/search?q=Acronis+vs.+Paragon -- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP -- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
From: Shenan Stanley on 31 Jul 2010 21:04 <snipped> NJITGS wrote: <snipped> > BTW- Since you used external hard drive as your example I thought > that now would be a better time than ever to mention that the drive > that I would like to make a backup copy of my primary drive with > operating system is also an internal hard drive. I would like to address just that part... This is my opinion - but I am betting many others who may either backup data for a living or just had experiences surrounding backups (good or bad) will agree: Having your backup reside internally (same system) is not a backup in truth. A backup is there in case you need to restore if something happened to said data. While there are many things that could happen that would not affect the other internal drive - there are many things that could. It is my opinion a backup should reside external to the machine - whenever possible - in a completely different physical residence (not even the same house when practical, at least in some protected area of the same house - like a fireproof/waterproof safe otherwise.) Sound like overkill? Won't if lightning fries your computer and both hard drives. Virus corrupts everything it can touch. The entire physical machine is stolen. Etc and so on... To me it's a lot like people who setup a mirrored 'array' and think their data is now safe - they are wrong, they just don't know it. ;-) -- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP -- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
From: Paul on 31 Jul 2010 22:54 Shenan Stanley wrote: > <snipped> > > NJITGS wrote: > <snipped> >> BTW- Since you used external hard drive as your example I thought >> that now would be a better time than ever to mention that the drive >> that I would like to make a backup copy of my primary drive with >> operating system is also an internal hard drive. > > I would like to address just that part... > > This is my opinion - but I am betting many others who may either backup data > for a living or just had experiences surrounding backups (good or bad) will > agree: > > Having your backup reside internally (same system) is not a backup in truth. > > A backup is there in case you need to restore if something happened to said > data. While there are many things that could happen that would not affect > the other internal drive - there are many things that could. It is my > opinion a backup should reside external to the machine - whenever possible - > in a completely different physical residence (not even the same house when > practical, at least in some protected area of the same house - like a > fireproof/waterproof safe otherwise.) > > Sound like overkill? Won't if lightning fries your computer and both hard > drives. Virus corrupts everything it can touch. The entire physical > machine is stolen. Etc and so on... > > To me it's a lot like people who setup a mirrored 'array' and think their > data is now safe - they are wrong, they just don't know it. ;-) > When, some time ago, I happened to describe the nightmare scenario, where a computer power supply puts out 15V on the 12V rail, and ruins *all* the hard drives inside the computer, I had one poster post back a reply, saying exactly that happened to him. So unfortunate incidents like that, have happened. It isn't just a theoretical consideration. That's why a hard drive in an external enclosure, disconnected when you're not using it, has some additional value. Because if the power supply fails in just the right way, it can ruin practically everything inside the computer. (The CPU and memory DIMMs typically survive such an event, other things don't). External disks are available with USB, Firewire, or ESATA interfaces. Any of those are options, as long as the computer case has the matching connector for it. USB2 is the most common choice on PCs. ESATA gives good performance, but isn't as common. Paul
From: pjp on 1 Aug 2010 01:06
"Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message news:i32nlr$30t$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... > Shenan Stanley wrote: >> <snipped> >> >> NJITGS wrote: >> <snipped> >>> BTW- Since you used external hard drive as your example I thought >>> that now would be a better time than ever to mention that the drive >>> that I would like to make a backup copy of my primary drive with >>> operating system is also an internal hard drive. >> >> I would like to address just that part... >> >> This is my opinion - but I am betting many others who may either backup >> data for a living or just had experiences surrounding backups (good or >> bad) will agree: >> >> Having your backup reside internally (same system) is not a backup in >> truth. >> >> A backup is there in case you need to restore if something happened to >> said data. While there are many things that could happen that would not >> affect the other internal drive - there are many things that could. It >> is my opinion a backup should reside external to the machine - whenever >> possible - in a completely different physical residence (not even the >> same house when practical, at least in some protected area of the same >> house - like a fireproof/waterproof safe otherwise.) >> >> Sound like overkill? Won't if lightning fries your computer and both >> hard drives. Virus corrupts everything it can touch. The entire >> physical machine is stolen. Etc and so on... >> >> To me it's a lot like people who setup a mirrored 'array' and think their >> data is now safe - they are wrong, they just don't know it. ;-) >> > > When, some time ago, I happened to describe the nightmare scenario, where > a computer power supply puts out 15V on the 12V rail, and ruins *all* the > hard > drives inside the computer, I had one poster post back a reply, saying > exactly that happened to him. So unfortunate incidents like that, have > happened. It isn't just a theoretical consideration. > > That's why a hard drive in an external enclosure, disconnected when you're > not > using it, has some additional value. Because if the power supply fails > in just the right way, it can ruin practically everything inside the > computer. > (The CPU and memory DIMMs typically survive such an event, other things > don't). > > External disks are available with USB, Firewire, or ESATA interfaces. Any > of those > are options, as long as the computer case has the matching connector for > it. > USB2 is the most common choice on PCs. ESATA gives good performance, but > isn't as common. > > Paul Gonna be that extreme (justified or not) might as well make it an external enclosure so after the backup is made you can take the disk out and put it somewhere for safe keeping given that a "hardwired" external drive still has some electrical components can fail which would make accessing the drive difficult where-as an enclosure just pop the drive in another one. |