Computer Crash

[Duckjake]

For the third time now my HP Desktop has crashed wiping out everything even the operating system.

What good is the system restore feature in XP if every time the computer crashes XP gets wiped out as well?

 

[O]

I would take it to Data Doctors and see if they can recover it.
I had it happen to my Think Pad and they were able to recover evertyhing.
If memory serves me correctly at was about two hundred bucks.

 

[UncleChris]

Again, I cannot overemphasize the importance of, and ease of, backing up your hard drive.

For under 100 bucks (for most people), you can buy and install another hard drive that is used solely and only for backups. It's saved my sorry arse numerous times over the years.

 

[devilalum]

Again, I cannot overemphasize the importance of, and ease of, backing up your hard drive.

For under 100 bucks (for most people), you can buy and install another hard drive that is used solely and only for backups. It's saved my sorry arse numerous times over the years.

I did this too.

Do you know of an easy way to automate backup? I do it manually and often forget for a couple of months at a time.

I have 2 internal drives and I just want the C: drive to copy to the D: drive automatically.

 

[SirStefan32]

Assuming you have XP...

First, you'll have to install the backup utility.
-Put in your XP disk.
-click "perform additional tasks."
-Click "browse this CD".
-Click "ValueAdd/Msft/Ntbackup.
-Install backup utility.

Once you do that, your backup utility is going to be under System Tools
(start/all programs/accessories/system tools)
Click on the backup utility, and that will start a wizard.

-click "next"
-click "back up files and settings"
-tell Windows what you want to back up.
-select a back up location. (drive D, in your case)
-instead of clicking "finish", click "advanced"
-click "next"
-click "later"
-click "set schedule"
-tell windows when it should run backups.

And make sure you TEST your backups once in a while. I've seen simple shadowing fail.

 

[devilalum]

Assuming you have XP...

First, you'll have to install the backup utility.
-Put in your XP disk.
-click "perform additional tasks."
-Click "browse this CD".
-Click "ValueAdd/Msft/Ntbackup.
-Install backup utility.

Once you do that, your backup utility is going to be under System Tools
(start/all programs/accessories/system tools)
Click on the backup utility, and that will start a wizard.

-click "next"
-click "back up files and settings"
-tell Windows what you want to back up.
-select a back up location. (drive D, in your case)
-instead of clicking "finish", click "advanced"
-click "next"
-click "later"
-click "set schedule"
-tell windows when it should run backups.

And make sure you TEST your backups once in a while. I've seen simple shadowing fail.

Awesome, thanks.

 

[DeAnna]

Assuming you have XP...

First, you'll have to install the backup utility.
-Put in your XP disk.
-click "perform additional tasks."
-Click "browse this CD".
-Click "ValueAdd/Msft/Ntbackup.
-Install backup utility.

Once you do that, your backup utility is going to be under System Tools
(start/all programs/accessories/system tools)
Click on the backup utility, and that will start a wizard.

-click "next"
-click "back up files and settings"
-tell Windows what you want to back up.
-select a back up location. (drive D, in your case)
-instead of clicking "finish", click "advanced"
-click "next"
-click "later"
-click "set schedule"
-tell windows when it should run backups.

And make sure you TEST your backups once in a while. I've seen simple shadowing fail.

Ok, so once you've done that - if your computer crashes how do you access your backed up files? Or do mean you hook up your external to D? I have a thumb drive 1GB - I think that should be enoujgh, no?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Ok, so once you've done that - if your computer crashes how do you access your backed up files? Or do mean you hook up your external to D? I have a thumb drive 1GB - I think that should be enoujgh, no?

Are you trying to just backup files, or shadow your hard drive? If you are shadowing your drive, you use the "restore" setting. If you want to make a virtual copy of your entire hard drive, the 1GB isn't enough. If you just want to use your thumb drive to save files, just copy the files that you want to save over to the thumb drive. You can then access them directly from the thumb drive, or move them back to your hard drive, and access them like normal.

 

[devilalum]

Are you trying to just backup files, or shadow your hard drive? If you are shadowing your drive, you use the "restore" setting. If you want to make a virtual copy of your entire hard drive, the 1GB isn't enough. If you just want to use your thumb drive to save files, just copy the files that you want to save over to the thumb drive. You can then access them directly from the thumb drive, or move them back to your hard drive, and access them like normal.

SirStefan32's procedure while effective is more than I want. I just want an automated procedure for backing up all my files (mainly pictures and MP3's). I have about 30 gigs of this stuff and want an automated tool that will back up to a second internal drive on a scheduled basis.

 

[Duckjake]

I did this too.

Do you know of an easy way to automate backup? I do it manually and often forget for a couple of months at a time.

I have 2 internal drives and I just want the C: drive to copy to the D: drive automatically.

That's exactly what happens to me.

Stefan thanks for the info. The external drive goes on as soon as we get the original back up and running.

Ain't ASFN great?!?

 

[CardFan67]

SirStefan32's procedure while effective is more than I want. I just want an automated procedure for backing up all my files (mainly pictures and MP3's). I have about 30 gigs of this stuff and want an automated tool that will back up to a second internal drive on a scheduled basis.

http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/

 

[CardFan67]

For a freebie... I like some others for drive and folder Sychronization but they are not free.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html

http://www.techsoftpl.com/backup/index.php

http://www.mobiliti.com/mobiliti701.html

http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/

 

[DeAnna]

Ok, so I tried the back up utility just to back up all my docs into the thumb drive and said it could not be completed due to an error:

"Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "Backup Jul 2007.bkf created 7/22/2007 at 11:11 AM"

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:Catastrophic failure

Aborting Backup."

Any ideas what I did wrong??

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Ok, so I tried the back up utility just to back up all my docs into the thumb drive and said it could not be completed due to an error:

"Backup Status
Operation: Backup
Active backup destination: File
Media name: "Backup Jul 2007.bkf created 7/22/2007 at 11:11 AM"

Error returned while creating the volume shadow copy:Catastrophic failure

Aborting Backup."

Any ideas what I did wrong??

Did you do a disc defrag before doing a shadow copy? There could be a lost/bad sector that will not allow the shadow copy to complete.

 

[DeAnna]

Did you do a disc defrag before doing a shadow copy? There could be a lost/bad sector that will not allow the shadow copy to complete.

I just did a defrag last week and it said it didn't need one so I doubt that's it.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I just did a defrag last week and it said it didn't need one so I doubt that's it.

How long did the shadow copying take? How big is the hard drive that you are copying? How is the shadow drive formatted?

Wait, you said that this is a thumb drive, can you manually copy stuff to the drive?

 

[DeAnna]

How long did the shadow copying take? How big is the hard drive that you are copying? How is the shadow drive formatted?

Wait, you said that this is a thumb drive, can you manually copy stuff to the drive?

It never started 'cuz it gave me that error message. I guess I could manually copy all the files but kinda defeats the purpose of using XP back-up. Plus it takes much longer. Oh well.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

It never started 'cuz it gave me that error message. I guess I could manually copy all the files but kinda defeats the purpose of using XP back-up. Plus it takes much longer. Oh well.

Using thumb drives as shadow drives isn't the best way to make a backup. How big is the thumb drive? Is it the same, or bigger than the hard drive in your computer? If not, it will most likely have problems.

 

[DeAnna]

Using thumb drives as shadow drives isn't the best way to make a backup. How big is the thumb drive? Is it the same, or bigger than the hard drive in your computer? If not, it will most likely have problems.

I was only trying to back up My Docs - it's 1GB