Backup

[ron238]

Hi Everybody

I wonder if anyone knows of any software which will backup WindowsXP (Home Edition) in the way that Unix tools can backup a whole running Unix system.

I want to backup my whole system, system files and other files which are "in use" or otherwise usually give error messages if a copy of them is attempted, to a bootable set of DVDs which will restore EVERYTHING to the way it was running when the backup was carried out.

I have not been able to find anything that does that (for Windows) other than tools that boot up into a separate "Operating System" so to speak, and make a copy or image of the whole system drive whilest it is not operational. That would do if there no other means of doing a backup, but I would prefer to do it the Unix way, if there is such a backing up of a live system and then, if it crashes, simply booting up on the first DVD of the backup set and selecting restore (or the whole system).

Thanks

[Coops]

I am not sure of any way of doing it because Windows locks quite a few files when the OS is running as they are critical system files that cannot be disturbed during operation or OS may crash.

Most people i believe use Norton Ghost to make System backups when they want to do a whole image and is probably the easiest way of doing it.

[Nox]

another vote for Norton Ghost, we use it at work. We also have some other stuff, but we just use ghost as we always have.

Nox

[ron238]

I am not sure of any way of doing it because Windows locks quite a few files when the OS is running as they are critical system files that cannot be disturbed during operation or OS may crash.

Most people i believe use Norton Ghost to make System backups when they want to do a whole image and is probably the easiest way of doing it.

Does Norton Ghost achieve this by booting into it, rather than Windows, and then backing up the non running, and hence not locked Windows OS?

If that's the case, then with the price of hard disks so low, I might as well get a spare hard disk and use one of the many partition copiers to copy the whole system patition C:\ on to a spare drive. That way, if I lose my system drive (which has happened to me before), or windows corrupts in an unrecoverable way (which has happened even more often), I can simply switch over to the spare hard disk, saving me a complete reinstallation of Windows and programs. Data can be backed up in the usual way to DVDs.

[Coops]

Yes that is how Norton Ghost works.

Yes you could also do that way using HDD but you may still run in to the locked file problem depending on what software you wanted to use to create your backup.

Of Course another option would be to setup a RAID Mirror if your system supports RAID. A lot of motherboards these days do so all down to how old your system board is.

[Kremmen]

I personally prefer Acronis True Image.

Never had a problem with it.

Had loads of problems with Powerquest Drive Image (all versions) which is now deeply embedded into Norton Ghost.

For my regular daily automatic data backups I use Microsoft's Synctoy, superb piece of software, and free.

[sicky]

Nortans ghost i used to use that be prepared for some space suckin as it mirrors ur hd

[Nox]

sort of, there are compression settings- you will get a complete mirror if you choose the 'forensic' option, other wise it will not take the entire HD in space, ie not inserting blank areas into the image. I've also noticed it ignores the pagefile too recently.

Nox