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| 23 JAN 2006 at 12:55pm |
AjSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 278
Joined: 25 JAN 2005
Status : Online | I was? It is true that System Restore can restore a given simple driver for something like a modem or somesuch if you specifically set a Restore Point before installing a given device or new driver for a device, but System Restore will not automatically create a restore point for Signed Drivers and it can't be counted on to restore all drivers to just the way they were in some situations as indicated by the following:
'Solutions to more complicated problems can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base by clicking Search the Knowledge Base and entering System Restore and a few keywords that describe the problem. For example, 'System Restore Does Not Restore Printer Drivers to Original State' details what to do if System Restore fails to restore printer drivers'
Yes, it's not automatic, although you can arrange for restore points, set them yourself, and windows will quite regularly do them.
This problem only occurs with certain drivers, when you install a new driver, and is easy enough to fix.
I'm going to have to ask you to stop putting words in my mouth. I never said disc imaging software wasn't useful:
I'd recommend Partition Magic, creating a partition to save backups to on a single hard drive instead of buying an external one(unless you're planning to anyway). For the average user, DVD-RW should be fine for any work you need to back up.
My second post on the matter. I have presented issues with using disc imaging with an external hard drive, mainly for recovery of hard disc failure, which is one of the purposes of RAID 1.
Originally Posted By Caroline (23 JAN 2006 11:08am)
I checked out the software in an electronics shop and found Norton Ghost and Partition Magic both for $129 each. If I've followed the conversation here correctly I don't need the Partition Magic because I already have two hard drives. But I've started putting stuff onto D drive. Do I need to empty it to partition it to keep the ghost image?
And can someone please tell me exactly what a ghost image entails? It surely can't be a complete copy of the C drive and all the little programs on it because that would be too big.
I also saw an interesting toy that appeals to me. It was a pen for altering photos - does anyone have one and is it any good? Can you use the pen to draw around a shape in an image and cut that image out?
My C drive is 40Gb and my D drive is 80Gb - do I need to partition the D drive anyway? Is there a foolproof way for an idiot to do that?
- You don't need to partition if you already have two drives, but you probably should.
- I'd strongly recommend True Image over Norton Ghost, it's faster, and usually cheaper.
- Partition Magic will probably be useful to you. I recommend separating your drives into space you want your applications and OS, and space where you want your content and work. This protects you against file (system) corruption, and makes it easier for you to use True Image or Ghost. This does come with some risk, but then so does disc imaging going to wrong in a few ways, but you can't protect yourself against everything without going over the top.
- It's a complete copy, but it has some compression techniques, but the ratio is not that good.
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 1:07pm |
AjSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 278
Joined: 25 JAN 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Lurker01 (23 JAN 2006 1:04pm)
RAID may help you if one of your devices fails due to a hardware fault or data corruption. It won't be of any use if you install a faulty driver or otherwise screw up your system and need to return it to a previous state as it doesn't back up data.
That's basically what I've been saying, yet be careful with your usage of back up, because it does back up data, it's only what data it backs up that is different.
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 2:34pm |
SusanGuild Master
Posts : 5485
Joined: 13 OCT 2002
Location: 0
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By alkis21 (23 JAN 2006 7:57am)
Susan, back to your initial post; in my experience, when internet suddenly stops working, most of the times it's because the firewall settings have changed. I was beginning to suffer from information overload.
Nevertheless, I'm now back online. I also have LOTS of catching up to do.
I miss my Bubba: 1986 - 2006.
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 8:11pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline (23 JAN 2006 11:08am)
I checked out the software in an electronics shop and found Norton Ghost and Partition Magic both for $129 each. If I've followed the conversation here correctly I don't need the Partition Magic because I already have two hard drives. But I've started putting stuff onto D drive. Do I need to empty it to partition it to keep the ghost image?
And can someone please tell me exactly what a ghost image entails? It surely can't be a complete copy of the C drive and all the little programs on it because that would be too big.
My C drive is 40Gb and my D drive is 80Gb - do I need to partition the D drive anyway? Is there a foolproof way for an idiot to do that?
A ghost image or drive image is nothing more than the storing of every single byte of data that is on your C-drive into one compressed humongous data file. (In practice the humongous data file has to be split up into several 2g parts in a Win98 system which you have because of FAT32 limits on file sizes). To do a drive image backup, all you do is install the Drive Image program on Drive C and run it, following the guidance of the wizard. It's usually a good idea to create a directory on Drive D called something like 'Backup Images' so that you can select that as the place to store the image file.
You shouldn't need to purchase Partition Magic or partition your drive since you already have a Drive D and knowing you to be the Goddess you are, you want to keep things simple. However, the other question is how much data you have stored on Drive C and Drive D- if you have a lot of data on Drive C, then your image files are going to take up a lot of Drive D space; if you have a lot of data used on Drive D already, there might not be space for them. It would probably be best if you transferred any portable stuff from Drive C to Drive D (ie. data that isn't program or Windows files) and clear out any large Temporary Internet or Temporary Windows directories. There isn't much sense in backing up useless data stuff.
If your Data-Used space on Drive C is less than 10-15g then you should be okay as far as the drive-image file size goes. If you use the standard compression (don't worry the wizard usually has the compression level set as a default), the drive image files will probably take up about 5-6g to store 10-15g of Drive C space.
As mentioned by others above, I tend to recommend Acronic TrueImage over Ghost also since you can simply buy it online and download- it's $49.95 USD, probably cheaper than the Norton Ghost, plus I think it's more intuitive than Ghost. Incidentally, Norton Ghost works just fine and doesn't take over your system or anything- that problem occurs if you buy the awful Norton System Works which often includes Ghost- It's better to just buy Ghost separately if you decide to go that route.
BTW: If your system is not working well at present, doing a Drive Image backup isn't going to fix anything. The best drive C image backup is best done when you system is stable, working smoothly just the way you want it- then when sh*t happens, you can get back to the original stable state.
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 8:18pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Aj (23 JAN 2006 12:55pm)
I'm going to have to ask you to stop putting words in my mouth.
Take your own advice such as with your 'Yes, I know you were mistaken about the drivers' which is the same way you often have responded when it was clear to everyone that you were caught being 95% on the wrong side of a discussion.
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 8:49pm |
AjSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 278
Joined: 25 JAN 2005
Status : Online | Originally Posted By SirDave (23 JAN 2006 8:18pm)
Originally Posted By Aj (23 JAN 2006 12:55pm)
I'm going to have to ask you to stop putting words in my mouth.
Take your own advice such as with your 'Yes, I know you were mistaken about the drivers' which is the same way you often have responded when it was clear to everyone that you were caught being 95% on the wrong side of a discussion.
It's often people like you that project themselves as being in the majority. It is time that you stop refering to yourself as everyone.
You're shifting positions more than a democrat, whatever suits your argument at the time is your argument. Your if-by-whisky debating is getting old, I have made myself clear from the beginning that I wasn't against the use of disc imaging, I was very specific in what I thought was a bad usage of it.
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| 23 JAN 2006 at 9:33pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4939
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Aj (23 JAN 2006 8:49pm)
Originally Posted By SirDave (23 JAN 2006 8:18pm)
Originally Posted By Aj (23 JAN 2006 12:55pm)
I'm going to have to ask you to stop putting words in my mouth.
Take your own advice such as with your 'Yes, I know you were mistaken about the drivers' which is the same way you often have responded when it was clear to everyone that you were caught being 95% on the wrong side of a discussion.
It's often people like you that project themselves as being in the majority. It is time that you stop refering to yourself as everyone.
You're shifting positions more than a democrat, whatever suits your argument at the time is your argument. Your if-by-whisky debating is getting old, I have made myself clear from the beginning that I wasn't against the use of disc imaging, I was very specific in what I thought was a bad usage of it.
Just as in P&R, you're determined to take me on even in situations where I've agreed with you. All I have to do is say black and you say white- it's as predictable as day following night. Well, that's just fine with me: you're like a little flea I flick off of my arm, but overall it's just a waste of your time and mine.
So, instead of starting all this off by dismissing my recommendation of using a drive image program (Ghost) in favor of RAID (a less appropriate alternative for the situation I was recommending a drive-image program for), you could have simply indicated situations where RAID might be useful because there are situations where it is useful. You brought all this on yourself.
The future ain't what it used to be!
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