Looking for help to back up everything EXCEPT Windows Vista OS

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Cindy62707, Oct 5, 2008.

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  1. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I was thinking of buying Acronis True Image software to rescue me from a problem that developed with Vista Home Premium. But after just having a chat with Acronis he said Acronis would not fix my problem. I was hoping someone here might have some ideas to help me.

    I lost my ability to print in Landscape mode and through many hours of telephone time with Microsoft they determined that some OS files were corrupted. A REPAIR of Home Premium did NOT fix the problem so they wanted me to do a destructive recovery. I have too many months of work and too many different applications added to this computer to do that. I upgraded to Vista Ultimate because they thought an upgrade might work saving me from a reformat and clean restore. It did not :mad: I still have the same problem.

    So I guess I will have to do a destructive recovery but I do not want to spend HOURS installing back all my applications, updating them, and then restoring the data files. Hence looking at Acronis.

    In reading about it, it says I can back up applications with it saving time from having to reinstall them and update them if anything ever happens to the computer HOWEVER in reading the online manual I could not find how I can save ALL my applications WITHOUT backing up my corrupted Vista files at the same time.

    Acronis chat says this is not possible. Does anyone know of any way to accomplish what I need? I want to back up EVERYTHING EXCEPT the Windows OS, do a clean install of Vista, then put all my program applications and data files back in place. I could not find my exact scenario any where in a search.

    Thank you in advance for your time!
    Cindy
     
  2. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

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    The only thing that can transfer programs without the OS is a program like laplink pcmover. I've used it before and it transfer most of my programs. It won't transfer your firewall or antivirus programs. It will make a "moving van" folder on the source OS and when you have the new OS installed you unpack the "moving van" into the new OS. This will transfer everything including the registry entries needed for the programs to work. There website will have a list of all the programs it can transfer.

    But any important files (like picture/videos/mp3's etc) I would backup seperately. It wouldn't hurt to also backup your system partition with an imaging software. Just in case something goes wrong at least you can go back to your original configuration.

    Have you tried reinstalling your printer drivers? Usually a repair installation of windows will fix the OS, but it won't fix a driver problem.
     
  3. Xpilot

    Xpilot Registered Member

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    If not already done I suggest you double check all your printer settings. If nothing is amiss then reinstall the printer software along with any graphics program you may be using.
    After an OS repair install it is very unlikely that any faults remain there.

    Xpilot
     
  4. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Did Microsoft ever suggest using a Windows Restore point? If you knew approximately when the problem occured, a Windows Restore point with a prior date might have fixed it.
     
  5. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    Using Restore might have worked a long time ago except that I allowed the computer to install Vista SP 1 right after the problem started and SP 1 wiped out all previous restore points so I could not go back to anything. :mad: I mentioned this great irritation many times when talking to Microsoft over the past month and the only response the Indian dialect on the other end of the phone kept saying is "SP 1 deletes all previous restore points"... "I KNOW that, that is what I just said" I would tell them in return but I could not get them to understand that MS should not allow SP 1 to do this...wasted breath as I don't think they ever understood.

    There has got to be a way to fix this problem without having to reformat my hard drive or at the very least not having to reinstall all applications and updates to all my programs individually. I am really hoping someone knows how this can be accomplished.

    Thanks for taking the time to read my post!
    Cindy
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2008
  6. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I will do a search for laplink pcmover...I anxious to see how much it costs and how easy it might be to work with. I am fairly experienced with computers but self taught so I don't want to proclaim expert knowledge. I have some private industry type programs too so I hope it would take them too.

    In addition to the SP 1 I mentioned in reply to Dwndrty I also updated the printer drivers too but that did not work (BTW...the printer prints fine from another computer ...just not the Vista computer). The reason apparently was the fact that it is not the printer or it's drivers...it happens in Notepad and Wordpad too...it happens in print preview before it even goes to the printer...it happens in MS XPS writer too...the MS tech can verify that there are corrupt files that did not get repaired but he could not find the files in a log that he ran.

    Thanks for the hint on laplink pcmover...it sounds too good to be true but I hope it is. Acronis sounded too good to be true and it turned to be too good to be true.

    Thank you for the news on laplink pcmover!
    Cindy
     
  7. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I would certainly first beat to death the print driver software and application suggestions by Xpilot and jonyjoe81.

    I'd try the printer on another PC before going further with tearing the OS partition asunder. If the printer doesn't understand the command to go into landscape mode or can't for any reason , it doesn't matter what you do elsewhere.
     
  8. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I didn't want make my original post any longer than it already was but I guess I should have mentioned all the failed "fixes". I deleted the printer from the Vista computer (it prints through my 2 computer network to an XP computer that has the Samsung printer attached to it.) and reinstalled it. The problem remained.

    I physically attached the Samsung printer to the Vista computer but the problem remained.

    A text word document can be converted to a pdf document then it will print in landscape. A picture will print in landscape.

    The Vista computer printed fine with this setup since I got it back in January, then all of a sudden one day I got an error message when trying to print..."Active Directory Domain Services is currently unavailable" and I could not print at all even though it could "see" the printer.

    When I deleted the printer and reinstalled it, I no longer got that error message, and I could print Portrait like normal but Landscape prints as if in Portrait with a couple of inches of text missing from the left hand side of the page in Portrait on the paper.

    I'm guessing there are more things I've tried but just don't remember right now. I didn't mention all the "fixes" we've tried since none of them worked. I am resigned to the fact that I will have to do something drastic now since all the obvious things failed but I just don't want to have to install all the programs I have added to the computer and update them all.

    Can you tell how depressed I am?

    Thanks for trying...I am very open to all suggestions though as maybe it is something I (and a MS level two tech) have not tried in the past month with hours of work though!

    Cindy
     
  9. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    The printer still prints fine on the XP computer it is physically attached to. That has been my work around so far...send the landscaped document across my little network to the XP computer and print the document straight from there.

    The maddening thing is that it has printed fine from the Vista computer since the day I got it, then that stupid "Active Directory Domain Services is currently unavailable" appeared one day and things have gone down hill from there!!!

    Thank you for your thoughts!
    Cindy
     
  10. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    Question...is there any type of log that can be ran and posted here for someone to look at for manual repair of the corrupted files if we can find them?

    Cindy
     
  11. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I went and looked at laplink pcmover...the price wouldn't be bad if I truely owned it for all my computers....I can only use it one way on one set of computers (from one old PC to one new PC)... I would not be moving things to a new PC for this problem... I would be moving it from one PC to a backup hard drive and then back again. I am guessing that this would work. ... but would it?.... it says from old PC to new PC ... PERIOD. Maybe I would not be able to reverse it back from the backup hard drive back to the original computer.

    BUT I would not be able to use it to keep the programs up to date on my other desktop or my laptop which would be an extra bonus for spending the money but according to the web site I would have to rebuy the program for each of my own personal computers I wanted to use it on.

    Is there a recommended program to backup applications along with their data that I can use for all my personal computers? I understand the need for multiple licenses in a business situation ... but for my little home network?!

    Thanks,
    Cindy
     
  12. Xpilot

    Xpilot Registered Member

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    "Active Directory Domain Services is currently unavailable" when input into Google gives lots of hits.
    As I do not use Vista I cannot comment further though it may be that your solution is lurking there somewhere.

    Xpilot
     
  13. Shankle

    Shankle Registered Member

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    Is it possible to call the printer manufacture and talk to them about your printing problem? They might have a forum where you could ask questions. Also how old is the printer and could that be a problem? If the printer works on another Puter then my last suggestion is irrevalent. If I had your other problems I would go out an buy an external drive (oh say 200Gs in size) (western digital, probably $50) and load all my data and non OS programs to that exteral drive. Then format the bad drive and somewhere along do chkdsk to see if the drive has any problems. If everything seems ok then install your OS and all the programs from the external drive. Loading and unloading from the external drive is very fast.
    This external drive is also a good place to put backups from Acronis TI.
    It works very well that way.
    I sympathize, good luck.
     
  14. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

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    With laplink, when I used it I was upgrading a case/motherboard/cpu and hard drive on the same xp computer. At first I just try to restore an image of the backup I made to to the new equipment but it wouldn't boot.

    I would have to reinstall windows xp. I had several programs (sagetv client especially that if reinstalled more than once requires registry editing etc to fix) that I didn't want to have to reinstall. I made a "moving van" with laplink and save it on an external hard drive. Once I installed the new xp, I unloaded the "moving van" and unpack the programs. Sagetv worked right away on the new xp which was the main program I was worry about. All the other programs I could have reinstalled if needed but it save me time.

    Windows has it's own "easy transfer companion" but from what I read it doesn't create a moving van it requires a direct computer to computer transfer. Laplink would only be useful if you have programs that you lost installation cd/serial and are really important programs you need. I always prefer to reinstall all my programs fresh when I have to reinstall windows but in this situation I didn't want to spend weeks getting sagetv to work again.

    I think the problem might have to do with vista and your printer, even if you reinstall vista the problem might comeback after a while. It is very drastic to reinstall Vista to fix a printer problem.

    You might also want to try the demo of "fineprint" it's a program that comes between windows and the printer, from there you can make adjustments to how you want the print to come out, that's just another option you can try.
     
  15. hugo248

    hugo248 Registered Member

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    Cindy,
    (1) I would download Crap Cleaner & run it, it's Free
    You probably have Registry Problems....This Will Fix them

    Also: Acronis will Backup Files on your Computer, without Backing up whole Computer.

    Hope this Helps
     
  16. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    The problem also shows up in print preview before it even goes to the printer. And it does the same thing in Microsoft XPS printer too. And the printer prints fine on the XP computer. And it used to print fine from the Vista computer too until the problem started. The printer is less than a year old.

    At this point I would just love to find a way to back up the installed programs and the registry without the OS and then restore them. I under stand the program applications have entries in the Registry to make them work. Would restoring the Registry after reinstalling the OS and the backup'd programs put the programs back in business without having to update them all over again?

    Thanks,
    Cindy
     
  17. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I have a program like that too that I used for a home based business. I've had it for years and it was updated many times with regular floppy disks when I subscribed to updates. I'd hate to have to recreate it! Actually it would be impossible as computers no longer come with floppies.



    The problem shows up in print preview before it even goes to the printer.

    In Preview the virtual paper looks like it is in Landscape but a couple of inches of print disappears on the left hand side (even though it is really still there).


    When I actually do print it, the paper comes out in Portrait with the print falling off the left hand side of the paper. And the print is the "visable" print in the Virtual Landscape mode (missing the other print from the left hand side of the document). Can you imagine what I am trying to describe?

    And the problem shows up in Microsoft XPS printer too.

    Any of this give you any more ideas?

    Thanks,
    Cindy
     
  18. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I tried Crap Cleaner. It didn't fix anything. And now I have this blank white box in the middle of my desktop background that won't go away when I refresh or change backgrounds. I imagine it will go away when I reboot...or at least I hope so.

    Thank you very much for the recommendation though...I will keep trying things while I try to figure out how to save having to reinstall those programs and their updates. I wish the laplink could be used in more than one computer in my home for my money though.

    Cindy

    Cindy
     
  19. Shankle

    Shankle Registered Member

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    Hi Cindy,
    In every program there are about a zillion settings.
    Have you tried looking in the help for the printer
    and anywhere else in the printer software for
    settings that might apply the portrait vs landscape?
     
  20. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Before I went to the effort of reinstalling all your programs, I would consider replacing the printer. Your time might be worth it.

    However, why not try installing a second or third version of the same printer and make changes to how you want the printer to be configured.

    I have two printers but I have about 8 variations as listed in my printer selection.

    My printer selection is as follows for my 2 printers.
    Lexamark Portrait-Normal
    Lexamark Portrait-Best
    Lexamark Landscape-Normal
    Lexamark Landscape-Best

    Deskjet Portrait-Normal
    Deskjet Portrait-Best
    Deskjet Landscape-Normal
    Deskjet Landscape-Best
    etc for my other printer as well

    I have adjusted the settings in each selection so I can simply choose the printer which will give me the effect I want and all the printer changes have already been done. I never have to make any changes to my printer regardless of whether landscape or portrait; or draft or normal or best print quality.
     
  21. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    The printer prints fine with the other computer (and used to print fine with this one until the problem suddenly appeared). MS says it is related to corrupted system files but they can't tell me which ones and a "repair/upgrade" did not fix them. I wish it was a printer problem...it would have been much easier to fix!

    Thanks,
    Cindy
     
  22. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    Hi Grover,

    The printer is fine. It is less than a year old and works fine on the other computer. It worked fine on the Vista computer too until this problem suddenly appeared.

    I've tried different "versions" manually and had the different configurations worked I would have saved the settings for future but nothing helped. The problem also duplicates on Microsoft XPS writer, and shows up in print preview before it even goes to a printer. Same for Wordpad and Notepad. So it is not a software issue with the program or a printer issue.

    MS says they can verify that it has to do with corrupted OS files but can't tell me which ones and a repair and an upgrade did not fix the problem.

    Cindy
     
  23. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    That was the first thing I Googled when it appeared but it never led me to any answer that would work with my problem.

    Cindy
     
  24. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Can you do the reinstallation that used to work with Win98 - all the apps and settings were picked up by the reinstall. IIRC, when I did a trial install of a Vista Upgrade DVD, it asked if I wanted a clean install or to leave all the folders on the disk. Would that have done it? I did the clean and wiped everything.


    If nobody quickly comes up with a magic bullet, I'm going to fall back on one of my favorite sayings, "Sometimes the hard way is the easy way!".

    Look upon the whole thing as a learning experience and the thing you have learned is that TI exists and can make archives of your system at any point in time that you can keep and revert to when necessary.

    Reinstalling is a PITA alright but if you are like most of us it can be a time to cleanup unused apps or apps that are used rarely and can be put back the next time you need it and that time may never happen. If you are as old as some of us, it will provide a brain refresh on why you have things setup the way you do.
     
  25. Cindy62707

    Cindy62707 Registered Member

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    I'm not sure what you mean by reinstall of Win98....
    It was Vista Home Premium and I did a "repair" of it that failed to fix the problem. Then I did a "upgrade" with Ultimate which also failed to fix the problem. A "clean install" will wipe the hard drive (which I will do next if I can find a way to back up all the apps to stick back one with one simple restore after the "clean install".)

    Cindy
     
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