Is there an backup external drive for restoration?
in [Hardware]
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From: Kerry on 31 Mar 2008 13:30 Is there an external hard drive on the market that makes the restoration process easy (especially when considering I have 2 internal hard drives, but only one that has programs installed)? I would rather not have to burn a boot disc each time, and the less steps the better. Ideally, the backup drive would backup data from both my internal drives knowing which data came from which drive, and know which drive has the programs that need to be restored in case of failure. Can't this be done in one simple process? I do not have firewire, so I think I would need to attach via USB. I currently own a Maxtor 250GB External Drive that backs up files easily but I can never remember the complex process needed to make a CD that will restore the system to how it was (e.g. all programs are reinstalled etc.) after my internal hard drive(s) fail. The manual is absurdly confusing due to equivocal terminology. From what I've read, Norton Ghost is confusing too. The more complex this method is, the less I trust that I did it right. The process is made even more complex by the fact that I have 2 internal hard drives with more than 250GB worth of data so I have to tell it to only backup and restore part of my system. Thanks, Kerry
From: Calab on 31 Mar 2008 21:25 "philo" <philo(a)privacy.net> wrote in message news:e_Odneh5N4A43GzanZ2dnUVZ_u-unZ2d(a)athenet.net... > > "Kerry" <kbrownk(a)gmail.com> wrote in message > news:e90ce289-ca25-4d80-bb1d-319fbaa5d796(a)d62g2000hsf.googlegroups.com... >> Is there an external hard drive on the market that makes the >> restoration process easy (especially when considering I have 2 >> internal hard drives, but only one that has programs installed)? I >> would rather not have to burn a boot disc each time, and the less >> steps the better. >> I currently own a Maxtor 250GB External Drive that backs up files >> easily but I can never remember the complex process needed to make a >> CD that will restore the system to how it was (e.g. all programs are >> reinstalled etc.) after my internal hard drive(s) fail. The manual is >> absurdly confusing due to equivocal terminology. From what I've read, >> Norton Ghost is confusing too. > You may want to look at Acronis True Image > you may find it more "user friendly" than "Ghost" I also vote for Acronis True Image... It can do a system image without having to shut down Windows. You can also schedule backups to occur automatically. What size are the drives in your PC? You might find it adventageous to remove the 250gig from the Maxtor enclosure and install a 500gig in it's place. Once you've done that, you can use the 250gig for your system. Depending on how old your current drives are, you might see a nice speed boost.
From: sandy58 on 1 Apr 2008 05:01 On Mar 31, 6:30 pm, Kerry <kbrownk(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Is there an external hard drive on the market that makes the > restoration process easy (especially when considering I have 2 > internal hard drives, but only one that has programs installed)? I > would rather not have to burn a boot disc each time, and the less > steps the better. > > Ideally, the backup drive would backup data from both my internal > drives knowing which data came from which drive, and know which drive > has the programs that need to be restored in case of failure. Can't > this be done in one simple process? I do not have firewire, so I think > I would need to attach via USB. > > I currently own a Maxtor 250GB External Drive that backs up files > easily but I can never remember the complex process needed to make a > CD that will restore the system to how it was (e.g. all programs are > reinstalled etc.) after my internal hard drive(s) fail. The manual is > absurdly confusing due to equivocal terminology. From what I've read, > Norton Ghost is confusing too. > > The more complex this method is, the less I trust that I did it right. > The process is made even more complex by the fact that I have 2 > internal hard drives with more than 250GB worth of data so I have to > tell it to only backup and restore part of my system. > > Thanks, > Kerry E-mail on the way, Kerry.
From: Kerry on 1 Apr 2008 15:27 On Mar 31, 9:25 pm, "Calab" <mys...(a)csd.ca> wrote: > "philo" <ph...(a)privacy.net> wrote in message > > news:e_Odneh5N4A43GzanZ2dnUVZ_u-unZ2d(a)athenet.net... > > > > > > > "Kerry" <kbro...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message > >news:e90ce289-ca25-4d80-bb1d-319fbaa5d796(a)d62g2000hsf.googlegroups.com... > >> Is there an external hard drive on the market that makes the > >> restoration process easy (especially when considering I have 2 > >> internal hard drives, but only one that has programs installed)? I > >> would rather not have to burn a boot disc each time, and the less > >> steps the better. > >> I currently own a Maxtor 250GB External Drive that backs up files > >> easily but I can never remember the complex process needed to make a > >> CD that will restore the system to how it was (e.g. all programs are > >> reinstalled etc.) after my internal hard drive(s) fail. The manual is > >> absurdly confusing due to equivocal terminology. From what I've read, > >> Norton Ghost is confusing too. > > You may want to look at Acronis True Image > > you may find it more "user friendly" than "Ghost" > > I also vote for Acronis True Image... It can do a system image without > having to shut down Windows. You can also schedule backups to occur > automatically. > > What size are the drives in your PC? You might find it adventageous to > remove the 250gig from the Maxtor enclosure and install a 500gig in it's > place. Once you've done that, you can use the 250gig for your system. > Depending on how old your current drives are, you might see a nice speed > boost. I didn't consider that my external drive may have a replaceable internal drive inside it. My C and D drives are 150 (the one w/ all my programs) and 250GB respectively, so this idea may work. Are you proposing the following: Get a new 500GB Maxtor backup, put the image from my current 150GB C drive on it, replace the 150GB w/ my old Maxtor 250GB backup, and then "recover" my C image onto the new 250GB C Drive. Sounds risky!
From: Calab on 1 Apr 2008 17:20
| > I also vote for Acronis True Image... It can do a system image without | > having to shut down Windows. You can also schedule backups to occur | > automatically. | > | > What size are the drives in your PC? You might find it adventageous to | > remove the 250gig from the Maxtor enclosure and install a 500gig in it's | > place. Once you've done that, you can use the 250gig for your system. | > Depending on how old your current drives are, you might see a nice speed | > boost. | | I didn't consider that my external drive may have a replaceable | internal drive inside it. My C and D drives are 150 (the one w/ all my | programs) and 250GB respectively, so this idea may work. Are you | proposing the following: | | Get a new 500GB Maxtor backup, put the image from my current 150GB C | drive on it, replace the 150GB w/ my old Maxtor 250GB backup, and then | "recover" my C image onto the new 250GB C Drive. Yes... except you don't need to replace the whole external unit. You just need to swap out the drive inside. | Sounds risky! Why? Once you're done you'd still have your 150gig drive intact to go back to if something goes wrong. |