Re: Restore vs Backup

Nero is far more than an imaging app, thus far superior. You apparently
have a different idea of what a disk image app is supposed to do than I do.
Nero does indeed have a function to burn an image to disk. If you mean
something like Norton's Ghost as an imaging app, this function does the
exact same thing. I am not enthralled with Nero myself, but it is far
better, more versatile in general than Norton's Ghost.

I already have Norton's Ghost incidentally, it is probably the only Norton's
app I would trust to use, but I do not want to burn an image of the entire
HDD. Although I am aware that an image is the "standard" way to make a
perfect recovery, it suffers from the limitation that it is, as far as I am
aware, a snapshot. Imaging is not a problem if you are on a network, where
you can image the HDD regularly to network storage, but on a small
stand-alone business system I must back up to DVDs or else buy a very
expensive high-capacity external HDD.

I was simply seeking a functionality similar to the emergency rescue
functions of the earlier Windows versions. After reading up on it in
several further articles and such in the MSKB and Technet, I can see why it
has been changed for XP such that it is much more difficult to do a
practical emergency recovery backup, although I did find some articles that
indicate it is possible if very impractical.

I will probably never have a HDD failure anyway, so it is really just a
tinge of paranoia from my earlier days with less reliable PCs. I know how
to boot up XP to a command prompt, and how to use System Restore from a
command prompt to restore to the last save, which should take care of almost
all disasters; that Windows function has saved my skin a few times quite
well. I know how to recover a backup copy of the registry from that command
prompt, too, should that be the problem. I guess if I just backup my data
regularly, I should be safe enough; if the HDD crashes to the point where
it cannot recover that way, I guess anything else would be useless anyway.

It is not so much that I want to do things my own way, it is just that I use
my PC for my business, and maintenance of it is not my primary function in
life. If my only job was maintaining it, I would just do the backups in the
manner you say, regardless of the time and labor involved.

Thanks for your help.

--
Pete B

"Ted Zieglar" <teddy.z@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eERhiZBKGHA.2900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nero is not a disk imaging application.

You seem to be stuck on doing things your own way. I wish you good luck.
--
Ted Zieglar
"You can do it if you try."

"Pete B" <petebarnes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ecadn34JGHA.1728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well, I already have imaging software installed, I have Nero (I would not
use a Norton's product ever again even if you held a gun to my head :=)
They are crap IMO... but that is a topic for another day). I may just
try
a
custom sslection of the folders and data I want, along with the sys state
components; that option seems to provide for making a boot floppy as
part
of the task.

In any case, it seems what you are saying is I am out of luck. Oh
well....
It is a shame that MS dropped the ability to easily make an emergency
rescue
disk like we used to be able to do with earlier versions. Even that
piece
of OS art known as Windows 98 SE had that function.

I probably will never need it, it is just something that, until now, I
always maintained. BTW this is for my new PC for my home business, not a
network machine; making images is not as easy a task on a single machine
stand-alone system as it is on a work station, but Nero can do it.

--
Pete B

"Ted Zieglar" <teddy.z@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eus6nA3JGHA.2336@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your goal is best achieved with disk imaging software. Some popular
choices
(no order is intended):

Norton Ghost 10

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/backup_recovery/ghost10/index.html

Acronis True Image 9
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Image for Windows http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html
--
Ted Zieglar
"You can do it if you try."

"Pete B" <petebarnes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e4K5Xo2JGHA.3728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OK thanks. Maybe I am not being specific enough as to what my purpose
is
in
all this, it is pretty simple. I want to, essentially, back up my PC
to
the
point where, if it totally crashes, say with a BSD when I try to boot
up
that will not let me boot up. I want to be able to do an emergency
boot
from
a floppy or bootable CD and then restore my system to whatever state I
had
in that backup. I want to back up all my data files and all the files
and
info that WinXP needs to get me back to the state I was in when I made
the
backup, so I can recover from the crash.

Backup wizard gives me an option to save all files and info which it
says
it
will follow the save by then creating a boot floppy, but that is not
what
I
want because it tries to save everything on the HDD. I don't need to
do
that, I just need to save the dynamic personal data and the Windows
recovery
stuff. If I lose the software apps itself, it will be a pain but I
can
always go back and reinstall all of those, so I don't need to save
that
30GB
of files for the programs themselves and such.

I can do the Backup Advanced, where I select manually, and select the
Automated Sys Rec Wizard but that tries to save the whole partition.
Or
I
can select the Backup tab and individually select the folders and the
system
state components, but does that follow with a boot floppy creation if
I
do
it? Seems to me that would let me select exactly what to save, but I
still
may not be getting all that I need to recover from a failure.

It was easier in the old versions of Windows, you could just tell
Windows
Setup to create a bootable CD and it would do the rest. This XP
method
seems highly complicated. That is really my whole goal here. So
what
should I do?

And I surely wish MS would make the Backup util so it would save
direct
to
a
DVD-R or DVD-RW drive.....

--
Pete B


"Bert Kinney" <bert@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%232mp$TtJGHA.648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Pete,

<Snip from the following article>
System State data includes the following:
Boot files, including the system files
Files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP)
The registry
Performance counter configuration information
The Component Services class registration database

Windows XP Resource Kit: Backing Up and Restoring Data


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/c14621675.mspx#EFAA

What's restored and what's not using System Restore:

* Restored
Registry (note: some current values will persist)
Profiles (local only?roaming user profiles not impacted by
restore)
COM+ DB
WFP.dll cache
WMI DB
IIS Metabase
Files with extensions listed in the Monitored File
Extensions
list
* Not Restored
DRM settings
SAM hives (does not restore passwords)
WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not
restored)
Contents of the My Documents folder(s)
Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File
Extensions
list
Any file with an extension not listed in the Monitored File
Extensions list
Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore

(hklm->system->controlset001->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup
and
keysnottorestore)
User-created data stored in the user profile
Contents of redirected folders

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org



Pete B wrote:
Thanks, Ted. What I specifically was wondering about, though,is
backup of the system state components in Backup, not the whole
Windows installation (or is that what system state components
means).
Backing up my whole Windows installation would, I presume, require
a
lot more than just the system state components, right?

What specifically is included or not included in that group called
sytem state components in Backup? Are there other things that are
saved/restored with the System Restore util that would not be part
of
that selection? Understand I am talking about doing a custom
Backup,
where you select exactly what is backed up; one of the selections
under advanced mode is the system state components.

Of course, I suppose I might find some of the answers by reading
the
technet article :=).

Which I just did. But I am still not clear what the difference is
between Backup and Sys Restore in this respect. Is it better to
use
System Restore or Backup before, say, installing a new software app
that one does not know all that well?


"Ted Zieglar" <teddy.z@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:efzmGrdJGHA.964@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good question. When you backup your entire system, you include
your
entire Windows installation. A restore point only contains the
registry and certain
key system and user files.

"Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows
XP"

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx

--
Ted Zieglar
"You can do it if you try."

"Pete B" <petebarnes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23yE%233TdJGHA.312@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What is the difference in WinXP Pro between saving a System
Restore
point,
as compared to saving a system backup using the Backup utility to
save the
system state components? Other than the preference of Backup to
use
external storage media, I mean....

Is there any KB article or Tech info that describes exactly what
each utility does in detail like this?

Thanks

--
Pete B










.

Relevant Pages

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