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How do you backup your system?
- Thread starter 64c2
- Start date
I'm wondering if Casper XP⢠can do that. I'm going to buy a backup software. The choice is between Casper XP⢠and Acronis.
Quote from winter:
Wow, that is nice and clean.
I believed you by the way (before the screenshot), I'm just surprised that it would work that way when doing an image backup/restore.
The disk has a capacity of 39Gb. There is about 2GB of data on the disk. The image was about 2Gb also. So to me this means that only the data is taken in the image and the empty spaces are not. If then you restore the image, all the data will be written as 1 block and all the previous open spaces will be gone. That is the only reasonable explanation i can find.
But i still don't understand that systemfiles were displaced. I always thought that moving systemfiles would end up in a corrupt system. I think Diskeeper leaves the systemfiles untouched.
I just did a test and i'm sure that the systemfiles are moved too. Originally they were split in two blocks and after thet restore all the files were joined togeteher as 1 block at the beginning of the disk.
I use Acronis also on professional banking software which is higly protected. The restore was perfect; i only had to refresh the certificates from the bank and everything worked as before.
Acronis is a superb product.
Actually I thought that the built-in compression on the image would result in the small image size (e.g. free space compress quite well).Quote from spike500:
The disk has a capacity of 39Gb. There is about 2GB of data on the disk. The image was about 2Gb also. So to me this means that only the data is taken in the image and the empty spaces are not.
The filesystem includes pointers to the files, so you cant just relocate a random data block without also changing other things. In order to move/compress files the program must understand them at the file level. I thought that image backup/restore programs treat the whole partition as one big binary blob without any real attempt to understand the filesystem structure within, thus the restored image would look identical to the original, fragments and all. I've never actually used Acronis to do a full image restore myself though, only backups (knock on wood). As long as it works.Quote from spike500:
If then you restore the image, all the data will be written as 1 block and all the previous open spaces will be gone. That is the only reasonable explanation i can find. But i still don't understand that systemfiles were displaced. I always thought that moving systemfiles would end up in a corrupt system. I think Diskeeper leaves the systemfiles untouched.
Diskeeper can relocate/defragment the page file, the MFT & directories but not while Windows is running, thus you must schedule a "boot time" defragmentation to move those around.
Agreed.Quote from spike500:
Acronis is a superb product.
I had a HD I installed xp on but as usual needed to call microsoft in India to get my 100 number code to be able to use it.
Instead I decided to try Casper and clone my regular use hd onto this new install of xp. It transfered all the info and i did not even have to call india. Do all these products work like this if you clone onto a new hd?
Instead I decided to try Casper and clone my regular use hd onto this new install of xp. It transfered all the info and i did not even have to call india. Do all these products work like this if you clone onto a new hd?
So what if you have a highly fragmented disk partition c:drive. You create an image of that partition. Do a quick re-format. Then restore the image. Would you now have a defragmented partition?
Not sure exactly how Acronis works. That might even be a faster and better way to defragment your hard drive if your partition is highly fragmented.
Not sure exactly how Acronis works. That might even be a faster and better way to defragment your hard drive if your partition is highly fragmented.
I'm not sure how Acronis works now that Spike500 related his experience with restoring an image (which I have never done with that product) however regardless I would personally never do what you are suggesting as a defragmentation technique because it increases the chances of major data loss (e.g. half way through the restore you get an error reading the backup image - now you are screwed).Quote from igum:
So what if you have a highly fragmented disk partition c:drive. You create an image of that partition. Do a quick re-format. Then restore the image. Would you now have a defragmented partition?
Not sure exactly how Acronis works. That might even be a faster and better way to defragment your hard drive if your partition is highly fragmented.
My advice: schedule the defrag to run continuously for several hours overnight automatically, either every night or once a week depending on how fragmented your drive gets. Personally I think the level of defrag that diskeeper provides is more than sufficient.
Great thread. Ya'll might want to check out Norton Ghost 10.0. I've just been reading a review in CPU magazine and they give it 4.75 stars out of 5. The "GoBack" feature sounds very interesting. Here's the article:
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/ed...01a.asp&guid=6398E331E883426A8C5A740A3406ECCA
Harold
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/ed...01a.asp&guid=6398E331E883426A8C5A740A3406ECCA
Harold
Quote from igum:
So what if you have a highly fragmented disk partition c:drive. You create an image of that partition. Do a quick re-format. Then restore the image. Would you now have a defragmented partition?
Not sure exactly how Acronis works. That might even be a faster and better way to defragment your hard drive if your partition is highly fragmented.
Just make an image and restore that image. That's all; don't reformat or do anything else.
I have several harddisks so i will test it when i have the time to do so, and let you know the results.
Making an image and restoring it should be without any risk. I do this on a daily basis and never had any problem whatsoever.
Of course that's no guarantee, but you will never be 100% safe. Your harddisk can crash, yur PC can explode...... anything can happen.
But till now it has always worked perfectly well.