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Full backup of your PC hard drive


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Hey, I tried backing up my PC (WinXP) with Dantz Retrospect, which I use for my Mac. However, for the PC, it didn't seem to work, instead providing a snapshot rather than a full back-up. I want something that I believe is called "drive imaging".

 

What are you guys using? Why do you like it?

 

I would be backing up to an external hard drive.

 

BTW, I have my files backed up already. What I am looking for is something really reliable that backs up everything so that I can wipe the entire C: drive if necessary and restore it with my back-up. And yes, I know that Windows XP has a system restore. Is this advisable? Thanks.

 

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/maintenance/tp/backup_software.htm

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I don't know how this would work on the PC and a bootable partition, but you may want to ask at http://www.superflexible.com/index.htm

 

I use it on my Mac. I don't like that there are no release notes for new versions, but it seems to work fine and version 5 is supposed to be a big improvement for the Mac.

 

When it comes to my Startup partition, I back it up with Carbon Copy Cloner. It's advisable to stop working with large files or applications that use large databases while cloning the startup partition this way. Ideally you will want to do this while starting from a CD/DVD or for quicker operations a separate startup partition. I don't know if there's something similar for the PC.

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I found this for the PC:

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_backup_pc.php

It has a "Disk Imaging Disaster Recovery" which may be just like cloning the drive.

 

Prosoft makes some good/very good products. I don't like their expensive upgrades, and although I have 4 of their applications I doubt that I'll upgrade them. It's been years since I've used Dantz, so I can't compare them.

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I want something that I believe is called "drive imaging".


What are you guys using? Why do you like it?

 

I'm using Norton Ghost 2003. I don't particularly like it (but I don't dislike it either), it's what was recommended when I was looking for the same thing you are. I wasn't actually looking for something that I could use to restore the computer's drive after re-formatting it, I wanted something I could use to replace the drive (physically) if the primary drive failed. I got a drive that's the same capacity as the working drive, connect it to the computer via USB, and just let it run for a few hours.

 

I've tested it once, doing what I planned - replacing the (still working) drive with the clone, booted up, and tried working off it for a couple of hours. It worked. I found a program or two that I had to re-register - apparently the program detected that it was on a physically different drive than when it was first installed, but that was a no-hassle procedure.

 

The only annoyance, and this is not a Ghost problem, but a PC hardware problem, is that if there's anything USB1 connected to USB port, the port will run at USB1 speed (and the program reminds me of this). I have a Steinberg license key plugged into this computer and apparently that's a USB1 device, so I start up Ghost, it reminds me that it's going to run slow because the bus is running at low speed, I quit the program, unplug the Steinberg key, re-start Ghost, and then it's happy.

 

And yes, I know that Windows XP has a system restore. Is this advisable?

 

Windows Restore won't replace having the working drive cloned on another drive, but it's a good thing to create a restore point before installing a program that you aren't sure about, or that you know you''re just trying and will un-install. What it seems to restore (and I'm not sure this is actually what it does or all it does) is to restore the Windows Registry to what it was when the restore point was created. So if you un-install a program and it leaves some registry entries behind, going back to the restore point you remembered to create (the hard part) before installing the program will get you back to where you started.

 

Normally System Restore runs automatically, once a day (I don't know how it decides what time to run) but it can be disabled. I think it's a good thing more than a bad thing.

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There are two approaches to this.

 

The first, and most recommended, is what every server, mainframe, and PC is provided with when new. The "Full System Backup". This gives you the ability to backup and/or upgrade your system easily. Restoring to a different disk type and size is easiest with this method. Windows has the built-in "ntbackup" utility for this purpose.

 

The second, and for some reason the most popular, is imaging the drive. I use this method for cloning drives. The downside to using this as a backup is that it uses way more time and space than the ntbackup solution.

 

In IT circles, cloning is preferred for creating large numbers of identical workstations.

 

Anyways, the cloning tool I use is the unix/linux "dd" tool. I have linux LiveCD's and thumbdrives that I boot with to do this.

 

 

For all my own laptops, servers, and workstations, I use the built-in backup tools. They will work on the OS regardless of RAID, mirroring, or whatever. Imaging only works with JBODs.

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Well, I have ONE Seagate external drive. I can't remember whether it came with something called Bounceback Express or not, but I see a folder on there that says that. I really don't remember. I just want something that is rock-solid, and have no problem paying for it if that's what it takes. I saw Clonezilla, but it looks like it has an awful lot of steps, maybe not the most intuitive thing for me.

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