Re: Backup failure due to Windows "protection"?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

Anna wrote:

"chicagofan" <me7@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
Oh, I definitely want to back up my *entire* system, and that's why I bought this external hard drive. I don't want to be *at the mercy* of another PC shop, as I was last year. I thought the Maxtor would help me do that... simply.

I have an 80 GB hard drive, but only have 15* GB [*corrected]... in use. The Maxtor is 60 GB. I'll appreciate any advice on how to do this
... hopefully without buying additional backup software. TIA...


Barbara:
Everything was going fine until the final part of your last sentence when you said "hopefully without buying additional backup software.". While there are some "freebie" programs available that purport to do what I'm about to describe to you, based on the experience we've had with them we cannot recommend them because of their excruciatingly slow performance and frequent erratic behavior.

Using a disk imaging program to perform the direct disk-to-disk cloning process is relatively simple to undertake, reasonably quick, and best of all -- most effective. You mention that your system contains only 10 GB of data at this point. Assuming you have reasonably modern computer components (which I'm sure you now have in your system) you could figure on the disk cloning operation to take somewhere between 10 to 15 minutes - give or take a few minutes. Obviously as your data increases so will the disk cloning operation take somewhat longer.

I have a 2.66GHZ processor and 512MB DDR RAM. It took less than 15 mins. to backup my files [excluding the Windows system directory] with the Maxtor.

Hopefully, I can find what changed ALL of my .dat files to "OPEN with Media Player Classic"... fix that and this drive's software will work as intended. I found this out last night. :\ I do a lot of dumb things, but that is not something I would have done [intentionally]. I rarely ever use MPC, and only have it to hear/see the occasional Real Player *only* media.


There are a number of commercially available disk imaging programs available. One of the more popular ones is the Acronis True Image program (Home Edition) - see
http://www.acronis.com . I see Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832200204) is selling a boxed version for $30 (incl. shipping). The program is quite easy to use along the lines I described above. Acronis has a 15-day trial version available for download - see http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

Unless you're "dead-set" against purchasing a backup program, give the Acronis program a try. If you want, I can provide you with step-by-step instructions to use this program for direct disk-to-disk cloning.
Anna

I read a lot about Acronis and other backup programs before I bought this drive, so I know it is highly rated and widely used. :) However, since the software came pre-installed on this Maxtor drive [everything was supposed to be automatic and pretty much was], I'd rather not try something else, until I've straightened out my system and given it a *fair* test. I could probably make a *real* mess. ;)

I don't have a clue how I will get those .dat files back to their correct state, because my XP restore points don't go back far enough. There wasn't a choice to restore to default/s, but I do know HOW to change the files individually, I just don't know WHAT to change them to in all cases. :(

Anyway, unless you can tell me a place I haven't looked in XP, to restore my ..dat extensions to their correct "OPEN with" instructions [default], you've done all you can. :) I appreciate all of your advice, and if I am unable to get the Maxtor software to work, I will be back to take you up on your kind offer to help me with Acronis. Thanks again, so much... especially for the additional New Egg info. :)

Barbara
.

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