Back up your PC for disaster recovery

[Steve R Jones]

Hey Bill... Long time no see. Hope all is well with you.

[BipolarBill]

Hey Boss

Things have been...interesting. They are looking up a bit, which is a different trend lol. I'm OK.

I've missed the PC/IT world these last few weeks and will probably lurk a bit until the cobwebs clear and I can get the "lay of the land" again. Its just that the Gigabyte/Core 2 Duo/Win7 system I built 4 years has been absolutely bulletproof the entire time. That is, most definitely, a record. I can see it lasting at least 3 more, but I'm getting the itch again...

I hope that you, JP, Imperion, MidKnight and the gang are all doing well. I have to see if MK has exceeded my post total yet.

[Midknyte]

Wow. Long time no see.

Sysopt has been pretty slow lately. Mostly on VDR now.

[BipolarBill]

I see that - it looks like hardware has moved over there too. This forum is getting dusty...

[europanorama]

Hey Boss

Things have been...interesting. They are looking up a bit, which is a different trend lol. I'm OK.

I've missed the PC/IT world these last few weeks and will probably lurk a bit until the cobwebs clear and I can get the "lay of the land" again. Its just that the Gigabyte/Core 2 Duo/Win7 system I built 4 years has been absolutely bulletproof the entire time. That is, most definitely, a record. I can see it lasting at least 3 more, but I'm getting the itch again...

I hope that you, JP, Imperion, MidKnight and the gang are all doing well. I have to see if MK has exceeded my post total yet.

I have much older Giga which never let me down.
Your statement about your Core 2 Duo let me think about an update to win7 and 8gb on my newest ASROCK.
Paid version of Trueimage does not need westerndigitaldrive and has incremental backup option.

[bobchar]

I have much older Giga which never let me down.
Your statement about your Core 2 Duo let me think about an update to win7 and 8gb on my newest ASROCK.
Paid version of Trueimage does not need westerndigitaldrive and has incremental backup option.

What is the necessity to change an OS in this case? Could you share your opinion?

[Train]

08/04/2014 is just around the corner, which happens to be the end of the XP life cycle.

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecyc...=en-gb&c2=1173

Win 7 is much easier to use than Win 8 garbage.

[europanorama]

What is the necessity to change an OS in this case? Could you share your opinion?

Its just that the Gigabyte/Core 2 Duo/Win7 system I built 4 years has been absolutely bulletproof the entire time. That is, most definitely, a record. I can see it lasting at least 3 more, but I'm getting the itch again...

Plus the option to install a dualboot for ramdisk-installaton. See Ramdisk-threat.

[syso25]

Win 7 is much easier to use than Win 8 garbage.

[joshuapaul]

hi bipolarbill, thanks for sharing this.

[BipolarBill]

You're very welcome, joshuapaul

Certain details have changed with time, naturally, but the basics remain the same. I still use Acronis True Image, but I am very familiar with it. Some new users find it to be odd, of course - much like iPhone vs Android. These days, I would recommend ToDo. Here's a good breakdown of free imaging programs:

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/sof...ommend-1137924

One thing that has changed and must be considered at all times is ransomware. It can encrypt everything - even cloud data! It's best to use an external hard drive and then either turn it off or disconnect it between backups. You don't have to back up everything to recover from this sort of issue, really, but always back up your documents/photos/projects and disconnect. Reinstalling Windows is a breeze compared to losing everything

[europanorama]

Its chinese. be aware. also huawei router/smartphones is suspicious.

[joshuapaul]

Thanks for sharing complete guide.

[Inty19938021]

Another hot tip is to "move" your My Documents folder to a safer location than your C drive. This is stone simple. Right-click on My Documents and select Properties. The "Move" button is right there. Create a folder in the new location before actually moving it. Name the new folder "John's Documents" or whatever your name is so that it's easy to spot.

If you choose to move your Documents to another drive, it's a good idea to use MS Backup to archive it to another location on a regular basis. I actually store it on D and then back it up to the C drive on single drive system so that the documents are always in two locations at any point in time.

I completely agree with you. Storing files directly on your desktop (or C driver) can harm your productivity.

If you installed Windows to the C: partition and stored all of your files on the D: partition, your files on D: would be safe even if C: were wiped clean. The only way D: would be affected is if the physical hard drive itself was wiped or damaged.

One additional benefit of having separate partitions is that you can reinstall Windows without losing your saved data.

[MICHLANS]

This is a nice tool to restore any Windows system. thank you.