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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: vireya who wrote (75179)	4/29/2011 10:06:06 AM
From: Cheeky Kid	Respond to of 110581

When I had that problem back in Jan 2010, I could not figure out why the images would not restore, I called it the Y2010 bug, cause images taken in first week 2010 would not restore on 2 computers, yet images created in last week of 2009 would restore. It baffled me, and I never did find out why they would not restore. I use True Image so much, creating and restoring, I had to make sure that I could still restore. I bot a new version of True Image and tested it out. I was VERY nervous when I was restoring, but all went fine, and never had a problem since then. If you don't test it, there is no use creating images. You are creating these images to save your butt in case of disaster, if you don't test it out, you will never know if your back up system is a waste of time or a life saver. My advice, create a new image, and restore it. PS I have been using imaging software since 1999, creating and restoring, and only had failed restores once, as mentioned above.

To: vireya who wrote (75179)	4/30/2011 3:55:20 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110581

Can you tell I've lost a bit of confidence here Yes I can. I have read the various posts from all the contributers [thank you all]. The picture is nearly painted (I think -g-). This how I see your image recovery problem and concern. I am no expert so please read any follow on posts. I do have some experience with recovering hard drive images though. (since 1998). It is a worthwhile thing to learn imho. The data on a Hard Drive on any PC can become corrupted for one reason or another. When the data is corrupted non of it is trust worthy so you may very well need to boot up the PC from a separate media. Every PC has it's own equipment and characteristics and the boot up sequence needs to make each bit work with every other bit. The system disk that comes with most software is generic. That is it can be put into any PC that is up and running. Therefore it is important when you use software like Acronis, you make a "recovery disc" or "emergency recovery disc" (it's just a name) that allows your computer to go through it's boot up sequence. This disk will probably be unique for your computer. [edit: One fine point. It's important your boot up sequence can look at the DVD reader first. You can easily do that anytime though by going into BIOS and making sure the boot up sequence looks at the DVD reader. Have someone do this (or show you how)for you if you feel unconfident in BIOS. It is easy but one needs to be also careful with BIOS] I use Acronis these days, and have a lot of programs and data stored on my PC's, so it's important I know the recovery works. I test it every now and again. I have the image data stored on a separate drive that I run up once a month or so. I occasionally restore an image so I know the system works. The last time I had to do a real restore was Jan 2011 when a large windows update went completely haywire. OK I do have a multi boot system, was dinkering with things, and may have made an error as well. The previous HD imaging software I used was Nortron Ghost. I still occasionally use it. I have version 14. It also has a generic system disk, and it is used as the emergency boot up disk as well. It is a bit "rinky dink" slow during boot up but probably is designed that way so it will boot up no matter which computer it is put into. It is important to verify that your image restore software works, and the only way to do that wipes your current HD clean, so faith in the system is needed. I would not even use windows software unless I had a trustworthy image restore facility available. I keep a selection of HD images for future ref. They go back more then a decade. All HD (hard drive) image restore programs only work once your PC boots up and can recognise and read where the image of your HD is kept. In Acronis (I am using Acronis 2010) go into "tools and utilities" and select "create bootable rescue media". This should create a disc that is bootable on your system providing the DVD reader is working. From there, if the HD where your image is stored can be read, you should be able to restore an image once it is verifiable. Yes, I would agree with the poster that suggested having your back up sequence include verifying the image once completed. These days the verification rarely fails as the quality of media is so high. Once it works it is all quite amazing really. I have 60 to 80GB compressed back ups and all the 1's and 0's are in the exact correct order so I can restore an image. Unthinkable a decade ago. Compressed images are a great way to store large amounts of data for archiving purposes, providing you can trust your storage media and your imaging software. I use external Hard Drives in caddies mostly, but still occasionally use a additional backup using an external USB connection. Archiving data means I can wipe most of the stuff off my PC that "I know I will never need anymore", and usually do a week or two later. You can neatly retrieve an individual file as opposed to the more risky step of wiping your hard drive clean during an image restore operation. It works for me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AMD Athlon 4 cores. Windows 7 64bit & XP dual boot. AMD Athlon 2 cores. Windows XP. 2 AMD Notebooks, one of them 2 cores. Both Windows XP. Always looking to upgrade, but always to last years technology. My brother finds his new Intel 4 core Sandy Bridge wonderous. What does anyone else think?