Confused

I've just acquired TI 9.0 Bld 3567. I have Windows XP Pro, SP1. My confusion is with the backup info on this forum and in the User Guide. I think my application is pretty straight forward. I wish to prepare "full backup", "Disk Image" of my boot drive (C and the Image file should write to a second disk (F of the same characteristics. The purpose being to provide for recreating my system and data to either the boot disk, or it's replacement, in the event of a disaster.

My confusion begins with discussion of this "Boot Recovery CD". I understand I must create this for use in disaster recovery but there is also talk of using it to perform the backup? I do not see this specified in the User Guide. Can I simply execute the backup under normal Windows operation or not? If using the "Recovery CD" for backup is not actually required then is there some benefit to using it anyway?

 

I always backup from within Windows. The process can run in the background and can be based on a schedule. It is a great way of backing up because you don't even have to be there while it happens. Others feel more comfortable, to my mind with no good reason, in backing up by first booting from the recovery CD and doing the process manually outside Windows.
If your backup is of the whole of your main HDD the best way to run a recovery is to boot from the recovery CD and restore to your replacement drive. Bear in mind that this hopefully will be a rare event and if it involves a breakdown of your C drive you would not be able to start from Windows in any case.

Xpilot

 

Thanks for the reply. That's what I needed to know.

Another point of confusion is with this "Secure Zone". I've read in the Forum that it's only needed with a one disk system but I think the User Guide says something about needing it in order to perform a Recovery Disk operation. Do I really need this feature or not?

 

Frankly, I would stay clear of the "Secure Zone". It seems to cause a lot of issues, and not good ones, at least with the earlier versions. What it is supposed to do, is really irrelevant in your described method of creating an image...the so called 'secure area' is a "partition of sorts" on your main or *only* hard drive for storing images that is basically hidden. It is supposedly protected from corruption in the case of malware 'infection' of the drive.

If you have another hard drive installed, that is the best place to store your image backups. You do not need to create more problems by creating a 'secure zone' on a separate disk.

...Allen

 

No, it is not necessary. When you bootup the Recovery CD you will be able to see your disks and images. Like you said its real benefit is that it can create a partition to hold backups if none exists. It also will automatically delete backups by a set of rules which deletes the oldest if there is insufficient space in the Secure Zone (SZ). People who do automated backups apparently find this handy. The SZ partition is hidden from windows so it isn't going to be accidently overwritten; this is what makes it secure. If your drive goes bad and the SZ is on that drive then there is nothing secure about it at all!

TI has a Startup Recovery Manager that you can enter by pressing F11 on bootup. To use this the backup must be in the SZ. However, this feature also modifies your boot record which may cause problems with other utilities that modify the boot record. I also prefer to have a plain XP MBR.

A downside of the SZ is that backups have to be managed within TI; you can't see them in Windows. This means you can't copy a backup to DVDs later if you want to.

I never use the SZ. I prefer to just place my images on a second drive and copy one to DVD when I think I should (in case the computer catches fire or is stolen).

 

A Secure Zone is optional. You do not need it when backing up or restoring. I actually use the Secure Zone in a slightly non-standard way and it a perfect gem. I have my backups safely stored in a Secure Zone on a second HDD. Management of these backups is completely automatic as the Secure Zone holds the images on a FIFO basis which is just what I need.

Xpilot

 

Okay. Thanks everyone for the info. That should get me going. :

 

Your reason and implementation is the perfect way to use the SZ.

 

A caveat to new users: This second HDD with Secure Zone on it, should not be an external (detachable) HD, since problems may arise if the computer is booted with the external, carrying the Secure Zone, unplugged.