Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: FullLeatherJacket on April 13, 2009, 11:47:28 am
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Chaps
I am a little apprehensive about the HDD in my venerable Packard-Bell. It's quite old and creaks a touch these days when it boots up (I know just how it feels).
We back-up all data files regularly onto a Seagate FreeAgent USB drive, but if the whole shebang goes pop then it's gonna take me an eon to load all of the programs and update them onto a new hard drive or machine. Think of loading Windows XP Home SP3 for a start.........and then there's Office, AutoCAD, CorelDraw, Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc etc ad nauseam.
I think I need to have a second hard-drive which is an exact mirror of the present one in terms of applications, operating system etc. I've heard that Norton Ghost is one type of software that will do this, but I've had annoying experiences of Symantec before and I'd rather spend our dosh elsewhere.
Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?
FLJ (aka Mr B Wildered)
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Have a look on
www.majorgeeks.com
and you will find a few, some freebies, some shareware.
I personally favour Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5. I got it as a freebie offer, but its well worth the asking price. Others swear by Acronis, but I never got that to work. Thats the nice thing about shareware, you get to try it first.
It takes about 25 minutes to do a backup of the system partition, and about the same to replace it. The storing time is relatively painless as I pick a time when I can leave it to do its own thing, and the 25 minute recovery is vastly better than the week or so to build from the ground up.
Still, you suit yourself......... ;)
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FLJ,
Another to go for is Norton Ghost, used in the past when like you my HHD died able to transfer to a new HHD.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=1898
Riggers
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If you have a FDD in your PC I can lend you a copy .... :-)
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FLJ....I use a WD [Western Digital] 1TB external HD.....@ my home office .....it comes complete with MEMEO software that does exaclty what you have asked for......it mirrors your :C drive ....just plan & program what you want & it does it - I also use a 4GB Nano flash drive here
In my work office I use a WD [Western Digital] 750 GB external HD but without the MEMEO software .................Derek
OK sorry....that black vertical book looking thing to the right with the blue vertical light is the MY Book external drive ......
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Here it is .....I purchased the 1TB drive 13 months ago for AUD $299.00....they are now AUD$199.00 O0...still cheap insurance........Derek ....just read the world wide PC review book reports & you will see that these WD units came out :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :police:
With respect to backup times......with Memeo...as soon as you close the .file......a copy is sent to the external HDD....there is no delay....there is no need to complete a dialy backup O0
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Having had at least 2 HD's go and almost lost all my work files - now set up using 'BackupMy PC' - it does nightly backups to a external drive. Once daily I run a clone to an external that I take home at night using 'Casper' - newer /similar to Ghost. My PC fellow set these up and I use a similar sysyem at home. Cost of these has dropped significantly - the clone gets you up and running without having to find/reload the original cd's.
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Time to buy a new computer,
With the prices of modern laptops starting at arount £350, and you'll be amazed at the speed of a new machine
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I use goodsync for scheduled daily backups, here:
http://www.goodsync.com/
Ian
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If you use the latest version of Ghost, you need it installed on the image - we bought it at work for cloning disks (legally I may add) and never used it once we found this out (we want to do software distributions) - have resorted to using Acronis True Image - True Image Echo Workstation (£50) is the one that best fits the bill as it allows you to do a "bare metal" recovery. Don't bother with the "Home" product as it is a backup only option.
Wom
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I agree with Wombat. Acronis True Image does what it is supposed to. I have used it for a good while now and even put it to the ultimate test by deleting my C Drive and re installing it from the backup. Excellent product..
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I agree with Wombat. Acronis True Image does what it is supposed to. I have used it for a good while now and even put it to the ultimate test by deleting my C Drive and re installing it from the backup. Excellent product..
I didn't get where I am today by disagreeing with Wombat...........
Many thanks chaps.
FLJ
(I wonder if he has a "private" copy %))
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You may think that, I could not possibly comment.... ;D