Do I need imaging?

Hello,

After used almost every AV & FW on the market, my current security setup now is:

- Malware Defender latest
- Sandboxie registered
- FD-ISR

As you see I do not use AV anymore.

My question is do I need an imaging program like Acronis or ShadowProtect?

I have plenty of space in my D:\ drive to create an image.
I feel that my windows installation is protected by FD-ISR, as I have an archived snapshot saved elsewhere that can be restored at anytime.

Actually if I use imaging that will be only for "My Documents" folder, containing word & excel files for my job, pictures, audio and video files.

 

You think I do not need imaging?

 

To clarify I do not want something like shadowuser or returnil.

What do I need in terms of backup-imaging, as an addition to FD-ISR for office-video-audio files.

 

I have to agree with ssj100.

After prolonged extensive use, harddisk drives wear down and tend to malfunction.

The best way of backing up your important documents and cherished pictures/videos is by copying them to an external hard-drive.

FD-ISR is sufficient. But you can opt for a system virtualization programs like Deep Freeze to maximize system protection.

 

thanks ssj100 & nomarjr3

 

A good imaging program is the most important application to have IMO. Not only for sudden HD death, but also any ISR application can fail due to conflicts or any other reasons. Lately some of these imaging programs are free, so why not take the opportunity to try them.

 

What do you mean by conflicts of ISR?

I use it for more than 3 years and never experienced any conflict.

 

can you restore your OS partition using the archived snapshot of ISR to a blank hard drive?
if so you dont really need imaging software.
you could use something like karen;s replicator to sync your data to an external hard drive.

 

Hi lodore, I don't know, but I guess no, I have never tried. I suppose that the drive must have at least a basic windows installation and FD-ISR instaled, in order that I restore the archive. This is not a big problem for me, as I bought a new and very fast PC and a basic XP installation doesn't take more than 40 mins.

 

My feeling is that an image gives a user the ability to have a complete and absolute method of recovery in the shortest amount of time. ISR software can also perform much/most of the same functions but not 100%.

In my case, I never bothered with an ISR app. And System Restore is turned off. I just create an image a few times a month and operate knowing that I can have a full recovery anytime I need it, no matter what conditions may occur...

 

You got it.
FDISR, that prince of utilities will restore from external Archive.

You are not alone.
Unfortunately there are reports of FDISR not being able to boot back to some snapshots sometimes:eg:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=238554
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=184009
Ergo, might need some other tools jic, prolly a mistake to rely on any single utility.
( unfortunately FDISR never came with a boot rescue disc and I dont recall anyone ever making FDISR compatible with any of the popular boot discs)
FDISR is an essential tool for me for boot to different system set-ups and testing, one of the best utilities ever imo, but: Not the rock bottom restore tool :-

Great succinct comment.
Encapsulates exactly why Imaging is an essential tool.

File syncing to external drive is another useful mid-level strategy
Back-ups of "digital memories" has been discussed elsewhere.
When you get into ISR/backing up/saving/syncing/imaging, there can be ermm; some redundancies at first glance, depends a lot on what you actually want/need, and redundacy should actually be built in.

Have a cruise through the FDISR forum for imaging threads, lots of really good threads there and here re imaging, syncing options and strategies.

You haven't really lived till that primary HD just goes pfftt, and all those back up strategies have just not quite been put in place yet.

Any number of users will be able to testify how HW has crapped out without warning or some SW has somehow borked their system with all those new 1's&0's

As you say, a fresh install can often be the go..but what about those photos, videos etc.?? What about all the carefully crafted snapshots in FDISR ??

Get an imaging tool.

 

You may as well get an imaging tool.
I recommend image for windows,paragon or shadow protect desktop.

 

I use Image for Windows for imaging my System Partition. I make a monthly Full Image to both another internal hard drive and bootable DVD's and I make a weekly Differential Image to the same internal hard drive as the Full Image. I use Syncback Free to backup any important files to a RAID1 Server.

 

Clonezilla-live is FREEEE and works for me. I backed up to my external Sata HD and restored from it with no problems. The restore took less than 1/2 hour.
It has to be run from a Live CD.

 

Thanks everyone for replies.

Money to buy soft is not a problem as this is my work's PC and the company pays for it, especially for security-backup purposes.

My new PC is a Quad 9550, with 4 GB DDR3 ram and:
- 1 HDD 1 TB SATA II @ 32MB (data, docs etc)
- 1 HDD 150 GB VelociRaptor (for operating system, which is WINXP)

Both HDDs are around 30% full, so I have plenty empty space.

Sorry, I should have post this at the 1st post.

Provided that I feel safe about the VelociRaptor with the OS (FD-ISR or if fails a quick format), now I am left to protect the drive with the data.

If I understand correct, to recapitulate, I need to buy a similar size external HDD, which will be used as a data backup (and OS maybe depending on the program). If I need only data backup I don't really need imaging, only a good sync program to always have my data sync-ed and thats it.

Another thing is that it is not recommended to partition the 1TB HDD and to use the partition as backup, because I have the risk of hardware failure, but not the risk of losing the data from the backup partition due to a virus attack.

Please confirm this, thanks

 

You can partition the disk but is never wise to backup on the same disk.
You can also to backup on an internal disk.
If the data is really important maybe you should consider buying a second 1tb drive and configure them as RAID-1 instead of using a sync program.

Panagiotis

 

i wouldnt reccomend anyone to use the crappy motherboard raid.
i think a sync program would be better tbh.
karen's replicator has never failed me.

 

I use Macrium Reflect Free to create a backup image that takes a few minutes every couple of days,I can see no good reason to cease doing so.

 

ok, one last question: the data on the HDD is consisting of files:

zip
rar
doc
xls
txt
ahk
mpg
mp3
etc

are these files under risk if I don't use AV?

 

Can you define "under risk"?

 

Hi Lodore,
You must be joking. Intel matrix raid(software raid) and jmicron(hardware raid) are far from crappy. Maybe you never really tested them (and I do not mean with ubuntu).
Raid-1 is far superior from sync apps, but anyway everyone has it's own preferences.

Panagiotis

 

A new virus passes sandbox and Malware defender. Can it destroy my files?

 

Doc, xls, txt, jpeg and mp3 are under risk. Some malware modify,encrypt or delete them.
If you do not use an AV, always backthem up on external drives.

Panagiotis

 

eyxaristo Panagioti