What do you do to restore after a crash?

[JKConey]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was stored
on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to get it all
right. There's so many different backup choices out there, but which one do
you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most complete one out there?
One that will include all settings, as well as desktop icons?

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore,
no safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I
found myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that
was stored on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days
to get it all right. There's so many different backup choices out there,
but which one do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most
complete one out there? One that will include all settings, as well as
desktop icons?

I have 2 Caviar 500g black drives.
Every week I clone C to E using the free WD hdd software.
It runs from CD and bypasses the o/s.

 

[Unk]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was stored
on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to get it all
right. There's so many different backup choices out there, but which one do
you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most complete one out there?
One that will include all settings, as well as desktop icons?

Here's what I use to great success:

Get a 2TB hard drive as a backup drive.
Norton Ghost the boot drive to the backup dtive as a FILE. Backup once a month.

I use Norton Ghost v11. In Windows, it has a "Ghost Explorer" which lets you copy files off the
ghosted file. (Great for recovering damaged files)

If you have a meltdown, use the bootable cd to ghost the file back to a new drive.
Boot from the new drive.

The 2TB drive will let you save about 5 ghost files (depending on the size of your boot drive)

Unk

 

[Bob Hatch]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was
stored on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to
get it all right. There's so many different backup choices out there,
but which one do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most
complete one out there? One that will include all settings, as well as
desktop icons?

I open the drawer, take out my latest clone and install it in the
computer. Less than 10 minutes and I'm back in business.

It's the best, quickest, easiest and most complete one out there. It
includes all settings, as well as desktop icons.


--
I respect that you have an opinion. Don't confuse that
respect with really giving a crap what it is.
"Anon"
http://www.bobhatch.com
http://www.tdsrvresort.com

 

[charlie]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was
stored on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to
get it all right. There's so many different backup choices out there,
but which one do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most
complete one out there? One that will include all settings, as well as
desktop icons?

The first thing we do is to try and determine what caused the crash. We
usually use a bootable DVD with various utilities that are independent
of the installed and not booting operating system. Then, after finding
out any hardware problems, and hopefully fixing them, a bootable windows
DVD is the next step. At that point, assuming that there is properly
working hardware, anything from a system "repair" to a full blown
restore from a Windows home server daily backup is possible.

 

[Bob Henson]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was stored
on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to get it all
right. There's so many different backup choices out there, but which one do
you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most complete one out there?
One that will include all settings, as well as desktop icons?

Acronis True Image works a treat - you just backup regularly
(automatically here, and it sends me an e-mail to say it's done it) and
in event of a crash restore your operating system, run the backup, and
all will be exactly as it was before. I've had to do it a couple of
times on my laptop when I was experimenting with XP settings (easily
screwed up) and it worked just fine. I can also use it to produce disk
images of my Linux machine across my network onto a Windows free
standing drive.

--
http://www.galen.org.uk


It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have
learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first." - Ronald Reagan

 

[Roy Smith]

Acronis True Image works a treat - you just backup regularly
(automatically here, and it sends me an e-mail to say it's done it) and
in event of a crash restore your operating system, run the backup, and
all will be exactly as it was before. I've had to do it a couple of
times on my laptop when I was experimenting with XP settings (easily
screwed up) and it worked just fine. I can also use it to produce disk
images of my Linux machine across my network onto a Windows free
standing drive.

I agree with you! I too use Acronis True Image Home to make backups of
my PC's onto a network attached storage device. Acronis has saved my
butt a few times and has made replacing a drive an easy process.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 5.0
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 8:14:33 AM

 

[Rob]

I agree with you! I too use Acronis True Image Home to make backups of
my PC's onto a network attached storage device. Acronis has saved my
butt a few times and has made replacing a drive an easy process.

I also recommend True Image Home. For the original poster:
You can make a bootable CD once you have installed True Image.
The CD can then be used even if your boot hard drive has been
replaced. You boot to the CD and read the backup image from
(say) an external USB hard drive, then restore that image to
a brand new main drive.
You can easily update the system image whenever you want (eg every
day, so you won't lose more than a day's work.)
HTH

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was
stored on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to
get it all right. There's so many different backup choices out there,
but which one do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most
complete one out there? One that will include all settings, as well as
desktop icons?

I use Macrium Reflect myself. Others use Acronis True Image. There's
also a backup program built into Windows 7 that might do the trick for
you, although it tends to use up more space than either of the others.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was stored
on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to get it all
right. There's so many different backup choices out there, but which one do
you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most complete one out there?
One that will include all settings, as well as desktop icons?

Adding to the other suggestions (that are all good, IMO).

1. Like Yousuf Khan, I use Macrium to make "images" (the newest version
will also make clones, I believe). It is similar to the Acronis True
Image mentioned by others. It has a free version, but I use the licensed
version (not the latest).

2. I used to use Casper to make clones.

3. EASEUS makes several free programs, EASEUS Todo (also has a pay
version) and EASEUS Disk Copy. I use both.

Todo will make images and clones, and Disk Copy will make clones.

Whatever you use, back up to an external drive (or two or three) that
can be stored away from the computer so it won't be killed by an event
like a power surge or a virus.

Glossary:
Image: A file in a proprietary compressed format that can be read or
expanded by the program that made it. Not bootable, but the program
itself will have a way to make a bootable CD which you can run to
restore your drive (or a new one).

Clone: an exact copy of a disk or partition. Often one of these can be
put into the computer and used as a boot drive, i.e., put it in and
you're home free.

 

[Thip]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was stored
on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to get it all
right. There's so many different backup choices out there, but which one
do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most complete one out
there? One that will include all settings, as well as desktop icons?

Macrium Reflect (free) does the trick. I keep two backups on my 2nd HDD and
on a separate drive that is stored outside my home. One image is strictly a
fresh install of Windows 7, the other the latest image of my system.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

That situation is the one most people who enthuse about one backup
system or another don't usually _cover_ in their enthusiasm. Though
quite a few of the modern ones do come with the option to make bootable
media, those who sing their praises don't usually mention this important
aspect.

Best, quickest, and easiest are probably mutually contradictory; at best
you might be able to get two out of the three.
If you mean the icons themselves, then they're usually embedded in the
executable they call up. If you mean their positions, see below.
[]

I also recommend True Image Home. For the original poster:
You can make a bootable CD once you have installed True Image.
The CD can then be used even if your boot hard drive has been
replaced. You boot to the CD and read the backup image from
(say) an external USB hard drive, then restore that image to
a brand new main drive.
You can easily update the system image whenever you want (eg every
day, so you won't lose more than a day's work.)
HTH

For a far-from-best, but quick and easy, one, I use ERUNT, which
basically just stores a copy of the registry; restoring that will
_usually_ restore the missing functionality, including bootability, that
has been corrupted. However, you need a separate bootable something
(which gives you access to NTFS to get at and restore the corrupted
files). ERUNT's author recommended the BartPE method. Alternatively, if
your system is on FAT (will Windows 7 run on a FAT system?), a DOS boot
floppy will get you to where you can run the restore utility it makes.

For just icon _positions_ (which a registry restore will usually restore
anyway): My first choice, EzDesk, doesn't seem to work under 7, but my
second, iconoid, seems fine.

 

[Justin]

I'm talking about a crash, where you can't boot, can't do a restore, no
safe mode, or command prompt. When I had this happen recently, I found
myself restoring to factory settings, putting back my data that was
stored on an external HD, and then reinstalling progs. It took days to
get it all right. There's so many different backup choices out there,
but which one do you figure is the best, quickest, easiest, and most
complete one out there? One that will include all settings, as well as
desktop icons?

I don't.
I keep all of my important data files on a jump drive and I usually
reformat after a major crash.
For big files I have an external hard drive that has a Firewire 800,
eSATA and USB2 port. Formatted to exFAT so I can read & write on my PCs
and Macs. With the occasional Linux tossed in there.

 

[Aretwodeetwo]

I don't.
I keep all of my important data files on a jump drive and I usually
reformat after a major crash.
For big files I have an external hard drive that has a Firewire 800,
eSATA and USB2 port. Formatted to exFAT so I can read & write on my PCs
and Macs. With the occasional Linux tossed in there.

Me too. I see it as a chance to clean shop. Only happened twice in my lifetime.



I use a D: drive, a DVD, a portable HD, and a freebie online for My Documents,
the only thing I really care about.