Re: backing up two computers

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Jo-Anne wrote:
I've used the verify/validate function, which takes forever (and the more backup images on the drive, the longer it takes, since it apparently can't validate only the current image--or so people on the Acronis forum say). However, some people have reported that even validated images sometimes don't restore. One way to check--and I haven't done it yet--is to mount an image and copy some of its files to the hard drive to see if they open OK. At least that gets closer to a true restore.

Jo-Anne

"Big_Al" <BigAl@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:exhvmMw$IHA.2072@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jo-Anne wrote:
Thank you, Al! Actually, images are what I'm doing too--with Acronis True Image. You can do incrementals with this program. I'm guessing that Dave is cloning his drive; hence one image per drive (or, I've been told, per partitition). I like the idea of being able to put multiple images on one external drive and can only hope that they restore OK in an emergency.

Jo-Anne

"Big_Al" <BigAl@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23yOXT$v$IHA.2072@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jo-Anne wrote:
Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23Rae5Zr$IHA.3648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All imaging is of the current installation, and totally replaces the original it overwrites in my case.

--
Dave

"Jo-Anne" <naples@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:eCkeGgX$IHA.4740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you, Dave! Are all your backups full ones, or do you do incrementals too?

Jo-Anne

"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:uxmpRnT$IHA.5048@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jo-Anne" <naples@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ujg7QFL$IHA.1036@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm currently backing up my desktop XP SP3 computer to two external hard drives with Acronis True Image. I'm planning to buy the program for my new laptop as well (currently XP SP2 but will install SP3 soon). How do others handle backups from two computers? Do you dedicate separate external drives to each computer or do backups to the same drives from different computers? If the latter, do you just store the backups in different folders?

Thanks much!

Jo-Anne

Currently, I am only using one PC. However, I sometimes boot off an insertable hard drive.

For the onboard, I use one external hard drive for image backups.
For the external, I use yet another external hard drive for image backups.
In each case, I keep the original installation as an image at the root of each external backup hard drive.

Further, I use 5 separate folders for each week of the month on each external hard drive for backups. As a result, I have a month's worth of image backups at all times.

Using DriveImage 7 and firewire for backup external hard drives.
--
Dave


Note Jo-Anne, he is imaging the drive, not doing backups of files and folders. An image is IMO, a much simpler and thorough way to backup. If he was doing backups, you could do incrementals too.


There is a verify function, not sure if it does much, but I've had the same question. I use ATI to backup my AMD machine before SP3 since AMD processors had a big SP3 issue. I tested that image to make sure. I was paranoid, it was my wife's PC. I'd be dead if I messed it up. :-)



You should try. I did and image for SP3 and then tested it by restoring a single image folder with about 20 sub folders and images. All of the thumbs.db files in each folder were corrupted. Everything else was okay. And I got permission issues on each and could not remove them. Using ATI of course. Still, luckily I put it on a spare drive and wound up formatting it to get those files off. Never tried to solve the issue since format was too simple at this point.

.

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