The perfect set of tools for backing up

As the title says I think I now have a perfect set of tools for the safe backup and recovery of all my data, programmes, applications and OS.

1. True Image 10

2. True Image 11

3. VistaPE disk and Mustangs invaluable Acronis plugins

4. Vlite disk - if you don't have a Vista installation DVD

With this little armoury I can do fast backups and equally fast recoveries. 99% of the time the recoveries work perfectly, however, I have had an occasional glitch with the dual Vista Ubuntu MBR being corrupted - this is where the Vlite disk is handy for repairing Windows startup.

I know it's dangerous to get blase about these things but I'm sure if others followed my example then they would sleep a lot easier at night.

 

My perfect set of backup tools for a PC is a bit more streamlined as far as backup programs are concerned.
I just use True Image Home Version 10. I have excellent backup and restore speeds and the way I use hardware makes it bullet proof.

Full backup images happen automatically every day to a secondary internal drive. The images, which are in a secure zone, are automatically managed on the FIFO basis.
I set the backup schedule to run at lunch time. The pop up icon in the task bar tells me that the task has started so that is when I take my break.
Once a week after lunch I withdraw the main hard drive from the PC in its caddy drawer and replace it with the eldest of two others which are kept safely away outside the PC.
The latest image is then restored to the replacement drive booted from the TI recovery CD. There is no need ever to run any image validations.
If there was a failed restore it is a simple matter to swap main drives back again and either carry on and ignore the problem or start over with a fresh image and restore.

I have no need for BartPE or other third party rescue CDs because I have no need for external USB or Firewire drives. The standard Acronis CD is used for restores from one internal drive to another. Because the Linux drivers work well with this configuration restores are actually faster done this way.

I use the same principles with a laptop though in this case I use an external drive to store images which I manage manually. Main drive swaps are simple to do but I normally only do this on a three month rotation. Data is kept in shared files on the main PC so more frequent backups are not needed.

Xpilot

 

I reckon most regular users have by now found a way of using whatever they have to be certain they are bullet-proof restorewise.

For speed and reliability I haven't found anything to approach VistaPE with ATI 11 and DD aboard. I have my VistaPE setup in a bootable partition on the internal SATA, and again in another bootable partition on the eSATA, and again on a bootable flash drive and also on CD. All of them are able to find anything that's attached or on the network.

I have no need to be repeatedly backing up my system partition and only do so about once a month, manually to a user folder on the NAS. I also keep one image on the NAS of the entire internal disk with which I can restore the partition structure. Key images are repeated to an external drive which is kept somewhere safe, as is the NAS.

For data I don't even use ATI at all. Having tried ATI, WinRAR, SyncBack and SyncToy I have finally settled on WinRAR and use Vista's Task Scheduler to run the backup profiles to the NAS twice a day.

So ppl could follow my example and sleep equally well. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

 

For people to sleep well it essential that whatever the methodology used it effectiveness is proved by performing actual restores. The safe way is to restore to a spare hard drive.

This is where my method is so robust. Regular restores are made which proves that all is well.
A failed restore can be shrugged off as a non-event. Not many other methods can do that.

Xpilot

 

Goes without saying.

 

Not to take issue so much as to stress xpilot's excellent point:

More than once a post turns up on this forum where somne reveals that they've never tried a restore and also, though less oftern, someone that had been backing up for some time and then discovered at the worst possible moment that the backups could not be restored.

So, it probably is a good thing to remind folks once in a while.

 

My perfect set of tools is an Iomega REV 120 GB internal SATA drive, TI10H, and a bootable CD with TI10H on it.

Upgraded to 11, it worked but had flaws that were never fixed.

Upgraded to 2009, total disaster, nothing worked.

I don't think I'll buy anything from Acronis again, been trying to get a refund on the 2009 upgrade and so far Acronis has chosen to totally ignore me.

With time running out, I think I'll just file a dispute with my bank and get my money back that way.

 

1.true image 10
2.boot corrector
3.vista installation dvd (if you restore vista)

That's all you need, theres workarounds for any hardware problems you might encounter. I have a bartpe for registry editing purposes, but never had to use it.

I have a 100 percent success rate restoring xp. As long as the backup image isn't corrupted, it can be restored. Never encountered a hard drive I couldn't restore.

 

Hi earthling, I have my VistaPE setup on disk which I can boot from. I too have an internal slave HD and I am interested how you get your VistaPE to boot from there. Any instructions would be appreciated.

 

Faust,

I use Grub4DOS on my internal, USB and flashdrives to boot VistaPE. If you already have the VistaPE CD setup using Grub4DOS (the default), then you're 99% there. You just need to install Grub4DOS to the MBR of the slave drive and copy your files to it. To boot it, just select to boot the slave drive via the BIOS or a boot menu.

You can get the general idea from my guides. The procedure is really pretty much the same for flashdrives, USB drives and internal drives (as long as the internal drive is not the "main" booting drive).

Create a Bootable VistaPE USB Hard Drive or Flashdrive

Create a Bootable Flashdrive Using Grub4DOS

Earthling may use a different method.

 

Faust:

I learnt how to set it up from MudCrab It's works so well I can't see me ever wanting to change it.