Verification of Backup

[GER]

What are the steps for verifying that a backup will actually work in an emergency? I have made a complete backup of my C-drive to a USB external HD. I have also made a bootable rescue CD. However, when I reboot the computer with the bootable rescue CD in the drive, the computer boots to Windows XP from the C-drive instead of booting from the CD. I am using TI Version 10.0 (build 4,871).

[Ralphie]

You have to go into the Bios and set the boot order so that the CD (or DVD) drive is higher than the hard drive. Ideally the boot order should be:
1. Floppy drive (if any)
2. Cd (or DVD) drive
3. Hdd 0
4. Hdd 1
5. Any other boot device

The ONLY way to be sure your backup will work in an emergency is to do an actual Restore to a spare hard drive. There have been too many reports here where users get a good verification only to find that when it comes to crunch time the backup does not restore correctly.

[GER]

Ralphie - Thank you for your reply. I think I understand the need to change the boot order, but I'm not sure if I understand the "restore to spare HD" part. Does this mean that I should purchase a new HD and install it in place of my current HD and then try to restore to it? This is certainly possible, and I can understand that it would prove that the backup was viable....in fact, I would then have a "spare" HD on the shelf and ready to go. However, I was hoping for a less costly and time-consuming solution.

[foghorne]

Originally Posted by GER

Ralphie - Thank you for your reply. I think I understand the need to change the boot order, but I'm not sure if I understand the "restore to spare HD" part. Does this mean that I should purchase a new HD and install it in place of my current HD and then try to restore to it? This is certainly possible, and I can understand that it would prove that the backup was viable....in fact, I would then have a "spare" HD on the shelf and ready to go. However, I was hoping for a less costly and time-consuming solution.

It is a matter of confidence. The funny thing is after you have done this once, providing your hardware does not change significantly you should only have go as far as the verify. Technically, Ralphie is right that until you have tried a restoration, you really have no basis for assuming it will work. However, there are two sides to this. Just because a restoration works on day 1, it does not mean that on day 10 it has not corrupted and become useless (this obviously does not apply if you are holding a cloned copy to reduce downtime).

The bottom line is that you need to establish a degree of confidence in your system. If cost is an issue you should ask yourself how much is your data integrity worth, and remember that you could always try to borrow a disk to carry out a restoration as a one off test.

F.