Creating an image to backup my HD. some guidance please

happyhero

Hi, I have a Medion PC, running Windows XP home edition, which has the HD partitioned into 3. This gives it the ability to simply restore C: drive back to day one, if it all went wrong by the way this is set up, however as I have had this PC for a few years I am now tempted to get a External HD to back things up in case the whole drive failed etc. I have tons of photos and stuff on the HD and although I am backing some up to CD's it would be nice to have this external one to fall back on. I am thinking of external as I have a laptop that I would like to back up too. I think I fancy a 500GB USB2 or firewire if possible (PC has USB2 and firewire but laptop has only USB2).

I have read loads about creating disk images but still have some questions, please can someone help with some answers for me.

I like the idea of just creating an image of my whole C: drive so that if it went wrong I could restore it in a few minutes but how can you access the image if you cannot boot up on your PC in the first place ie if C: drive had major boot problem corruption or something similar?

Could I create several seperate images onto my backup drive, ie images of C: and E: drives and my laptop and maybe even an extra one of just my Documents all on the same backup drive and then pick which to use/retrieve?

If I wanted to keep backing up my Documents once a week would I have to do a new image each time or could I update the existing image?

Am I right you cannot do anything with the image itself you need software to use the image?

If I wanted to access a file in the image, is that possible or what would I do to get to this file in a say My Documents image?

Would I be better doing an image of C: drive but just copying the whole My documents to the backup drive for easy access?

If I copied the whole C: drive to the backup drive presumably I could access all the files but I could not restore my C: drive if it were corrupted with just a copy?

So is an image the preferred backup method?

Anything else you think I should be aware of?

What software would you recommend for working with images?

Any help appreciated.

ormus

for domestic users, backing up my documents regular on another hdd, and also making a cd/dvd copy should suffice. (ie 2 copies on differing media).

for business users: they should use a raid system of backing up. there are various different raid methods.
more details on the net. just google raid backup devices.

Reluctant_spender

Have a look at Acronis true image.

My understanding is that you can do a full image of your drive and then restore it from an external drive aslong as you have made a rescue disk.

You can then create backups as many time as you like full or otherwise - this may help - http://www.acronis.co.uk/homecomputing/products/trueimage/?source=google_uk_home&ad=ati&gclid=CJThtuOKy5ACFQUrlAodjGQOOw

superscaper

I agree with reluctant. Acronis True Image has rescue disk making tools etc. I'm currently using it in conjunction with a 500 "GB" Western Digital Mybook Premium which connects via USB2 or Firewire. True Image was definitely worth getting after using WD Backup that came with the hard drive and various free alternatives. It allows you to make a rescue disk of pretty much anything, floppy, CD, flash drive etc. By default it includes the entire true image program as part of the rescue disk as well.

happyhero

Cheers guys for all the advice, much appreciated, but can anyone answer my individual questions about working with images?

chuckles1066

happyhero wrote: »

Cheers guys for all the advice, much appreciated, but can anyone answer my individual questions about working with images?

BootItNG

You can use TBIView from the same site to extract individual files/folders.

wacko911

Sorry didnt read your whole post, but basically what you want is a boot disc with some imaging software on it.

Hirens boot CD comes to mind, its about 50MB and has ghost and other imaging utils on it with support for USB drives. Google it, download and burn the image file to a CD then boot the CD on startup and select Norton Ghost, you should be able to figure the rest out from there.

Oh and for critical stuff that cannot be replaced e.g. family photos (and < 2Gb) use a free online automated backup service. I recommend idrive.com. Just pick the folder eg my photos or my documents and it will backup any changes daily. (Handy for university coursework - I seen too many drives fail)

esuhl

I agree with the recommendations for Acronis TrueImage - it's one of the few programs that I have actually paid for (rather than finding a free alternative).

happyhero wrote: »

I like the idea of just creating an image of my whole C: drive so that if it went wrong I could restore it in a few minutes but how can you access the image if you cannot boot up on your PC in the first place ie if C: drive had major boot problem corruption or something similar?

Not sure I quite understand the question, but... If your hard drive fails, you probably WON'T be able to back it up. The idea is that you back up regularly, so that when your drive fails (and it will eventually) you only have to roll back to the most recent backup.

Before you can use the backup, you'll need to sort out the problem that caused your hard disk to fail. Either format it and reinstall Windows, or if the drive is physically damaged just replace it.

Because you'll need Windows in order to install Acronis and recover the image, there is little point in backing up your Windows installation itself - you really just want to back up your personal files. I have windows installed on my C: drive, and use the drive to store my personal files, including the "My Documents" folder. By just backing up the drive, my data are safe and I'm not unnecessarily backing up Windows files that can simply be reinstalled.

happyhero wrote: »

Could I create several seperate images onto my backup drive, ie images of C: and E: drives and my laptop and maybe even an extra one of just my Documents all on the same backup drive and then pick which to use/retrieve?

Yes. Acronis (and probably other imaging programs) allows you to back up just the partition/drive that you would like. I think the more recent versions allow you to back up individual folders rather than a whole partition.

happyhero wrote: »

If I wanted to keep backing up my Documents once a week would I have to do a new image each time or could I update the existing image?

You can either create a new "complete" image, or an "incremental" one, which just records the differences between the previous image and the current drive contents. Obviously to restore an incremental backup, you require the original complete backup and all subsequent incremental ones too.

happyhero wrote: »

Am I right you cannot do anything with the image itself you need software to use the image?

That's right - it's a bit like using Winzip. You gather a bunch of files together to make a single file - a Winzip archive or an Acronis image. To access the archive/image, you need the program which created that archive/image.

happyhero wrote: »

If I wanted to access a file in the image, is that possible or what would I do to get to this file in a say My Documents image?

Some disk imaging programs require the image to be extracted in its entirety to a new partition, but with Acronis you can mount an image, so that it appears as an extra read-only "virtual" drive. You can then examine or extract an individual file.

happyhero wrote: »

Would I be better doing an image of C: drive but just copying the whole My documents to the backup drive for easy access?

Possibly. You might like to use Microsoft's free program "SyncToy" to copy files to a backup folder. There's some useful information on this web page that discusses various backup techniques: http://tweakhound.com/xp/backup/1.htm. In my experience, image files are usually an accurate copy of the drive, whereas just copying files individually results in a few corrupted files every now and then.

happyhero wrote: »

If I copied the whole C: drive to the backup drive presumably I could access all the files but I could not restore my C: drive if it were corrupted with just a copy?

Again, not sure I understand what you're asking, but if you just copy (as opposed to creating an image of) the C: drive to a backup drive, before you could restore the copy you would need an operating system on the PC. You may be able to use a boot disk so that you can get to a command prompt, and then type a command to copy the files back to your original C: drive, but I personally find it easier to use image files, and just back up personal data, rather than Windows itself. If the C: drive fails, just replace the drive if necessary, install Windows, then restore the backup image.

happyhero wrote: »

So is an image the preferred backup method?

Generally speaking, yes. Images are usually more reliable copies, and are easier to work with. I think that creating a new image will be faster than just copying the files, and (as far as I know) you can't easily create incremental backups unless you are using image files.

happyhero wrote: »

Anything else you think I should be aware of?

Can't think of anything right now...

happyhero wrote: »

What software would you recommend for working with images?

I use Acronis TrueImage v8, which is easy to use and reliable. I think they're up to version 10 now, so a previous version may be cheaper to buy.

happyhero

esuhl wrote: »

Not sure I quite understand the question, but... If your hard drive fails, you probably WON'T be able to back it up.

Cheers for your comprehensive answer esuhl, just what I wanted. What I mean with my statement about restoring my PC after a major HD failure is this: Assuming the HD is still useable or putting a new drive in, as I have said I have read loads about images trying to learn, and I thought from what I read that by restoring my image of C: drive you were restoring the the C: drive at its most basic level and thus it would restore C: drive with Windows on it and all the boot information (see this link for what I am referring to, specifically where it says "Backup your entire PC") http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html

Thus saving you first installing Windows and all the associated setting you had set for it, thats what it sounds like reading the Acronis site but I am no expert and maybe I understood it wrong. It says things like restoring an image and being up and running in a few minutes after a HD failure, have I got it wrong or is that now possible?

There are also other references to this being possible on the Acronis site.

superscaper

happyhero wrote: »

Cheers for your comprehensive answer esuhl, just what I wanted. What I mean with my statement about restoring my PC after a major HD failure is this: Assuming the HD is still useable or putting a new drive in, as I have said I have read loads about images trying to learn, and I thought from what I read that by restoring my image of C: drive you were restoring the the C: drive at its most basic level and thus it would restore C: drive with Windows on it and all the boot information (see this link for what I am referring to, specifically where it says "Backup your entire PC") http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html

Thus saving you first installing Windows and all the associated setting you had set for it, thats what it sounds like reading the Acronis site but I am no expert and maybe I understood it wrong. It says things like restoring an image and being up and running in a few minutes after a HD failure, have I got it wrong or is that now possible?

There are also other references to this being possible on the Acronis site.

That's the way I think it means as well. The whole point of the recovery disc is that it allows you to run true image "without the OS" to you can restore the entire image, including the OS.

BTW it is now version 11 so 10 should be cheaper as well. I'm pretty sure you can get 11 cheaper by downloading and using the trial and then using the "buy" link from the trial. The price seemed to be the same as the upgrade price rather than the full price. In case you want the latest version which seems to have some nifty security and privacy features.

Reluctant_spender

True Image is cheaper to buy via Amazon that as a direct download.

Version 10 is £15 whereas Version 11 is £30
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-4545860-9249400?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=true+image&Go.x=0&Go.y=0