[JAYNO20]

i was wondering if this hard drive backup backs up EVERYTHING on the hard drive... and if so if my computer ever crashed would i just be able to put the disc in and have it install everything back to the way it is now or how exactly does this work?

[Courtneyc]

No. Nero Backup is a backup program just like any other. It cannot back up files that are opened. Unfortunately, at any moment, there are dozens of critical files that are open on your system. A backup program is actually designed to backup important files that you can't afford to lose or that would require extensive time to recreate. They aren't designed to restore your system.

However, there are programs designed to do just that. Norton Ghost comes to mind. This program will restore your system to the exact condition it was in when you create the Ghost image.

What I do is install the OS and all the programs I normally use. I then update everything on the system, then I Ghost it. I Ghost it approximately once every 2 months. I use an ordinary backup program to back up my data.

If my system ever gets damaged, or, as recently happened, my hard drive conks out, I restore the image, then restore my latest backup. It's like I never lost anything.

Courtney

[JAYNO20]

so norton ghost creates an image of the hard drive? and lets say my hard drive did crap out what exactly would i have to do in order to restore my computer to normal?

[redoak]

Another highly recommended "imaging" program is Aronis' "TrueImage," which I use.
It is best to store the image backups on an external hard drive that is only connected to your system when it is being used to create a system backup. I also use the 'XHDD' to store the backup of data files.
{redoak}

[JAYNO20]

i just got norton ghost 10, but im not exactly sure how to use it, i created a backup of my hard drive which took like 10 dvd discs..., but what would i do if i needed to backup my system if it ever crashed?

[Uriel-TOF]

According to this link, it can backup an entire drive. I haven't tried it yet; but I aim to.

[GeneK]

The Nero backup is not an imaging program. It does not copy EVERYTHING on your partition/hard drive as true imaging programs do such as Nortons' Ghost or Acronis True Image. Those programs create a mirror of the drive [everything: the good, the bad, the pretty stuff, the ugly].
Gene

[Solei]

Originally Posted by redoak

Another highly recommended "imaging" program is Aronis' "TrueImage," which I use.
It is best to store the image backups on an external hard drive that is only connected to your system when it is being used to create a system backup. I also use the 'XHDD' to store the backup of data files.
{redoak}

I completely agree with redoak.
I use Acronis True Image for making a full HDD backup.
It's really high quality product.

[JAYNO20]

what do u do with the backup it makes? the one i made took way too many dvd discs.. is there a better way?

[Solei]

JAYNO20,
I have an external HDD for my storage. I always keep there my backups. But I also have a DVD copy of my OS partition.

BTW I've just downloaded new True Image 9.0 upgrade. Now it can write to DVD easier.

[Noyb]

Originally Posted by JAYNO20

what do u do with the backup it makes? the one i made took way too many dvd discs.. is there a better way?

May I ask ... What was the size of the Partition you were backing up ?
Yes ... the better way is to use an external Hard Drive.

Don't know about Ghost .. but with Acronis True Image ..
You can recover your system, or mount the recovery image as a "virtual drive" and extract specific data from it.

Acronis True Image … the Free trial is fully functional for 15 days.
For $30 @ newegg.com

[Noyb]

Originally Posted by Solei

.... I've just downloaded new True Image 9.0 upgrade. Now it can write to DVD easier.

Seems to be a problem mounting the DVDs as a Virtual Drive in the new version.
If you try to recover using the DVDs ... let me know about it here ...
http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-...ge-update.html

[JAYNO20]

i basically wanted to back up my whole hard drive (i have 2 80gb's RAID 0 together so technically 160) but i've only used about 70 gigs of it... i know its gonna take up a lot of room to back it up so i probably will get an external HDD, but if my hard drives took a crap and i had to restore that backup off the external HDD how could i do that?

[Noyb]

Not sure about the Raid 0 configuration .. but it shouldn't be a problem.
Acronis will make a compressed backup Image file of your Partition.
This compressed file is about 50 > 60% of the occupied space.

To Recover .. You install the Acronis boot disc ... (if the system is non operable) ... and turn the computer on.
This will boot the computer and run Acronis. From there, you just tell Acronis where to get the Image file to recover from (like from an external HD or other Partition) ... and go take a short break.

Personally .. I store my Data in another Partition.
This way, All I have to Backup or Recover (as far as the system is concerned) is My C: system Partition.
My data partition will stay unchanged and is backed up differently.
This keeps the Acronis system recovery images Small .. and has several other advantages.

Can you Partition a Raid 0 config ???

[JAYNO20]

yeah im pretty sure u can, but i dont want to do it that way i am going to get an external drive to store my backups on... which version are u using?