I’m happy to report that my Backup/Restore strategy worked perfectly. What I did is make a small C: partition (15 gigs) afterwards I did a clean install of Windows and all the software I like. I set the my documents folder to the D: and made an Image of the C: after that. I figured the next time I wanted to totally reinstall Windows because of a virus, it running slow or whatever I’d use that.
That day came today and I almost forgot about that backup I made (starting looking for all my driver disks.) Instead I popped in the Acronis boot CD, then the DVD that had my backup on it and 30 minutes later I was back to a clean system (and watched TV while it worked.)
Very pleased with that. Just wanted to give a first hand report of using Acronis and it is/was very easy to use. I’d highly recommend it for Backing up and Restoring.
Data on my D: just gets put on to DVDs for now, but it’s mostly garbage I don’t need.
Is there any other software someone would recommend or swears by?
i have been using ghost since over a decade to backup both windows and linux partitions. it works extremely well with ext2 or ext3. i wouldnt use anything else, it saved my ass a couple of times.
it fits on a single floppy but it’s even better on a bootable custom. cd with extra software and utilities on it.
the best tool to prevent data loss is to use linux (moving your “documents” folder to another partition is usually recommended; the same can be done under linux by using a /home partition, it’s created by default on install by most distros, i guess). hardware failures can happen but are less frequent that windows’ crap outs
Yeah, I had a friend back home that reinstalled Windows every month just “because.”
Something weird happened to mine. The start bar looked like the windows 98 (it wasn’t a settings thing) and was just running slow (well, the slow part isn’t so weird.) After the restore it’s running like brand new again.
Acronis Can do Linux partions as well, and I did my Linux the same way (home on a separate partition.) I forgot about ghost. Ghost is from the old school .
yep but i’d bet it is the most used backup tool!
many people actually use it cos it’s fast. it’s convenient when governement agencies come and check if a company actually own all the softwares in their computers. never heard of that in TW but it’s very frequent in europe…
I use Ghost, too. It has also saved my ass. I’d say that Acronis and Ghost sound about the same from your description, MK.
I also have separate partitions for Windows and Data. That has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. Nice and clean separation so that data is not affected when reinstalling Windows.
You should check out a product called Deepfreeze to use in connection with your imaging software.
Once you get your computer exactly the way you want it, you “freeze” your computer. Once frozen, it doesn’t matter what you do to it: you can download viruses, delete essential system files, etc. All you have to do is reboot your computer, and SHAZAM! Everything is exactly the way you left it. I LOVE this software because it allows me to do stuff to my computer without worrying about messing it up: dowloading trial software or viruses, for example. (It practically eliminates the need for virus protection software because, if you do download something that’s screwing up your computer, just reboot and viola! You’re back to normal.)
Say you write an essay or create some other document you want to save on your computer. To keep your own files from getting deleted, you create a thaw space and label it as a drive letter. So everything under C:\ is frozen, but everything under N:\ (for example) is thawed, allowing you to save files without turning off deepfreeze. I just save everything to an external drive, then back up the drive every once in while.
I also keep a copy of my ghost image just in case. But out of the five years I’ve been using Deepfreeze, I’ve only had to re-image my computer once. And that was because I was screwing around and forgot to turn on deepfreeze before downloading a bunch of dubious, virus-laden crap.
I used to run a clean install every few months or so to make sure my system wasnt bogged down with stuff… Now I have my system dual booted with Winxp (ver. x86 & x64)… I use one boot for testing purposes (as well as other potentially risky fun stuff)… and I keep the other boot as clean [fast, efficient,etc…] as possible and only install what I need for it – this is for my day to day stuff. I haven’t had any problems with boggage yet… and I haven’t had to run a clean install on either boots for much longer than I had before.
As for data… I use an external usb HD to store important data for both boots. I prefer to store data on a physically separate drive… as opposed to a separate partition on the same drive… just in case the drive (and all partitions on that drive) goes down for whatever reason.
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