Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
June 20, 2005
Volume 1, Number 1 -- Monday, June 20, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
2. BACKING UP YOUR DATA
Sometimes that applied to backing up a drive onto a bunch of diskettes and running out of diskettes. Other times, it applied to actually using the backup diskette itself, instead of copying the data to the hard drive and then using the file. This was the guaranteed way to make the same dumb mistake with the backup copy ;).
In today's world, there is one tool on which I rely for backing up individual files, and that's Karen Kenworthy's Replicator program. At my house, it backs up the data files that are on my notebook, my desktop, and my wife's desktop to different machines. Most of these end up on my Linux computer that functions as a file backup site and a web development platform.
KarenWare.com is Karen Kenworthy's site and the home of the many Visual Basic programs she has created, including Replicator. Karen's programs are free for personal, non-commercial use -- otherwise, they require the purchase of a license, which is very reasonably priced ($30 for the CDROM including shipping and the including a license for use on one computer).
Replicator is designed to copy files and directories -- to another directory on the same hard drive partition, to a directory on another hard drive partition or another hard drive or another computer. It even checks and updates only if the files have changed. I have mine set to do the backups during the middle of the night -- Replicator runs automatically. If it has any difficulties, it logs the problem and then completes its scheduled tasks.
Check out Replicator for fast, easy backup of your data files. It may save you from disaster. More likely, it will save you from a temporary brain freeze. It's nice to have last night's backup when you just wiped out the original.
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3. BACKING UP YOUR SYSTEM
I remember my son getting a tank warfare game, which he thought was a lot of fun. Until he exited the game and rebooted. Windows would no longer go into 800x600 mode. It was stuck in 640x480, even when it said that it was running in 800x600. The ultimate fix was to reinstall Windows.
You can guess part 2, I'm sure -- I finished late at night, went to work the next day, and by the time I got home, he had reinstalled the game and destroyed the system again.
Drive imaging came to the rescue. This time, I told him to keep his hands off until I told him he could touch the computer again. I reinstalled Windows. Reinstalled all the drivers. Reinstalled the basic software (Word Perfect, Netscape Communicator, and some others). Then, I made an image of the drive using Drive Image.
The next time I needed to reinstall Windows on his computer, it took me 10 minutes, including booting the floppy disk to start the process. All that basic system data fit on one CDROM -- those were the good old days.
In the Windows XP world, we can do similar image backups of entire disks including multiple partitions, writing them directly on bootable DVD's or even external USB drives. Norton Ghost and Symantec Drive Image 9 (which is rumored to be the replacement for the aging Ghost product) can do this, although they are very Windows-centric.
A couple other options are Acronis True Image ($50, http://www.acronis.com) and TeraByte Unlimited's BootIt NG ($35, http://www.terabyteunlimited.com). You can also restore individual files from either True Image and BootIt NG.
Acronis True Image is imaging software only, but it allows you to do full images backups and incremental images, too. Acronis True Image can even back up your system while you are actually running, which a normal backup program can not do. Most backup programs require that that Windows system files be "closed" before they can be copied.
BootIT NG is a multi-function package, which functions as a boot manager, allowing you to boot multiple different operating systems from one computer and which also does partition imaging, but it runs before Windows ever boots. BootIt NG has a free download accessory that will restore individual files from within Windows and a related program that will perform backups while Windows is running (Image for Windows, $28). Bootit NG will also make images of Linux partitions.
Check out some drive imaging software. It may be a pain to remember to do a system backup, but one day, you'll be glad you did.
Continued in Part 3
Volume 1, Number 1 -- Monday, June 20, 2005
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Copyright © 2005 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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