Best Backup Program
in [Windows XP Basics]
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From: Milt on 12 May 2010 17:19 David, I'm sure that many of the imaging programs are fine. I have been using Norton Ghost for about fifteen years, as best as I can remember. I make monthly new images and daily incremental backups. It has worked the eight or ten times I've used it to restore a corrupted or damaged HD. I'm now using Ghost 9 on two machines and Ghost 10 on another. I back up the images to a second HD, and then copy them to a 16 gig. thumb drive for off site storage. Milt "David" wrote: > I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. > > My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually > upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. > > I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable > external drive. > > I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive > to a different external drive. > > I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. > > Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. > > Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB > internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that > is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a > file if I choose. > > Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I > can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are > fine. > > . >
From: Daave on 12 May 2010 19:30 It looks like you missed Ken's other post where he said: "Glad to hear you say that, and I hope you're right and I was wrong." You seem to be confusing the terms image and clone. An image is one gigantic archive file (or it can be a series of such files) that contains the "essence" of the totality of what is on the hard drive. You can store this archive anywhere you'd like: on an external drive (but it would be non-bootable *in that state*) or on a DVD (or several DVDs, depending on the size of the archive -- even with compression, images can be quite large!) You can use the same software that created the image to restore it back to the same hard drive (or another hard drive in its place, say if the first drive physically dies). Once the image is restored, the result is a hard drive effectively identical to how it was when the image of it was made. Therefore, it would be bootable. If for some reason, you desire to make an exact copy of the hard drive directly to another hard drive, this would be a clone. If this other hard drive is in an external enclosure, unless it is eSATA, you would need to remove it and place it in the correct slot in your desktop tower (probably where the original one was). This drive would also be bootable. It's like an identical twin. Note that if you restore an image to a bare metal drive, the result is the same: something that is effectively an identical twin. Cloning is preferable if you do not want to take extra time to restore the image. You can configure your motherboard's BIOS to boot off an eSATA clone, even if it is not in the tower. With eSATA, the PC doesn't distinguish between internal or external drives. If you clone your drive to a drive that is in an external USB enclosure, it will only boot if you physically remove it from the enclosure and place it inside the tower. It will not boot from the external enclosure if there is no eSATA connection (despite what WaIIy stated). David wrote: > Ken: > > Perhaps you just wanted to argue with yourself. I don't know. In any > case, I used the wrong term. Does a mistake like that constitute an > arguement? > > The whole point that I tried to make is I want my external USB drive > to boot Win/XP PRO in case the main hard drive fails. I had thought > an image would require a second hard drive exactly the same. I am not > sufficiently well versed to know. In any case my main hard drive is > 150GB and the USB drive is 1TB. The 150GB drive is listed in my > paperwork as serial-ATA. The 1TB USB drive is an IOMEGA eGO desktop > USB drive in its own case, type unknown. > > Perhaps we could reinitiate this conversation in a more amiable > manner. I was hopeful you might have a solution to my real problem - > making the USB drive XP/PRO bootable. > > > > On Tue, 11 May 2010 16:50:32 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" > <kblake(a)this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote: > >> On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" <daave(a)example.com> >> wrote: >> >>> The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: >> >> >> I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, >> I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. >> >> >> >> >>> http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm >>> >>> http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm >>> >>> This does not sound like what you were asking about. >>> >>> From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your >>> external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your >>> motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, >>> then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. >>> >>> Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then >>> restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your >>> new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes >>> longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the >>> luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, >>> etc. >>> >>> Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. >>> >>> >>> David wrote: >>>> Ken: >>>> >>>> I do mean mirror, not copy. >>>> >>>> Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get >>>> the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means >>>> that the contents are the same, but the location on the second >>>> drive may not be the same. >>>> >>>> Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are >>>> the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive >>>> are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks >>>> which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a >>>> replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. >>>> >>>> I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation >>>> allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the >>>> manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the >>>> external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive >>>> in case c: fails. >>>> >>>> David >>>> >>>> On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" >>>> <kblake(a)this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program >>>>>> available. >>>>>> >>>>>> My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may >>>>>> eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a >>>>>> plus. >>>>>> >>>>>> I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable >>>>>> external drive. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for >>>>> RAID1, which is very different from backup. >>>>> >>>>> But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external >>>>>> drive to a different external drive. >>>>>> >>>>>> I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. >>>>>> >>>>>> Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a >>>>>> plus. >>>>>> >>>>>> Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have >>>>>> 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla >>>>>> backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the >>>>>> backup & retrieve a file if I choose. >>>>>> >>>>>> Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. >>>>>> If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple >>>>>> programs are fine. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Acronis True Image.
From: Unknown on 15 May 2010 13:52 Any professional in the know would be a liar if they recommended any Norton product. You had best go back to your dorm room and study. "ANONYMOUS" <ANONYMOUS(a)EXAMPLE.NET> wrote in message news:hscggi$75k$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... > David wrote: >> I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. >> > > > > Norton Ghost 15 or Norton 360; highly recommended by professionals in the > know. > > I don't take any advice from Microsoft Valuable Pigs or MVPs after their > name as some form of microsoft tag to isolate them from ordinary pigs not > eaten by jews and muslims. > > hth
From: Anthony Buckland on 15 May 2010 14:18 "WaIIy" <WaIIy@(nft).invalid> wrote in message news:g2hru5hsr4r8nu8ddd3nscveqmg2mtsslc(a)4ax.com... > On Wed, 12 May 2010 19:30:42 -0400, "Daave" <daave(a)example.com> wrote: > >>Cloning is preferable if you do not want to take extra time to restore >>the image. You can configure your motherboard's BIOS to boot off an >>eSATA clone, even if it is not in the tower. With eSATA, the PC doesn't >>distinguish between internal or external drives. > <snip> > > Another feature is the ability to pull a file off the clone if need be. Acronis True Image lets you mount an image as a partition, making it easy to find, read, copy or restore individual folders or files. Someone else might know whether other imaging programs offer the same utility.
From: Unknown on 15 May 2010 16:04
No, she doesn't resemble your mum at all. "ANONYMOUS" <ANONYMOUS(a)EXAMPLE.NET> wrote in message news:hsmrv5$f0r$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... > Unknown wrote: > >> Any professional in the know would be a liar if they recommended any >> Norton product. >> You had best go back to your dorm room and study. > > How's your mum these days? Is she still in jiggy jiggy business to > finance your drug habits? > > hth > |