backup

[reptile]

Hi I would like to be able to back up and see what I've saved (cloning)I feel more comfortable with this. I have asked acronis support for advice and not received any reply. I will post the question here and see if anyone has a view. Product is acronis true image home 10

 

Hi I need very specific advice how best to use your product in 2 important areas.

I regularly add replace and change programs on my pc.Eventually I need to reinstall xp and all basic programs such as mobo drivers graphic card drivers and all 120 updates to xp as well as sp2 sp3.This takes a very long time.So I need advice here.

Firstly If I backup to another hard drive...I think the copy/clone drive option may be the best option (please tell me if this is NOT the best option),then I should be able to reinstall xp etc from the backup.It must be bootable without errors. If there is a better way of doing this please tell me.

Secondly I want to use this pc as a games pc so will need to back up all GAMES ,programs and SETTINGS, that again can be reinstalled to a new clean hard drive when I reformat every 4 months or so. What is the best way to do this in conjunction with the first backup question?

Thanking you in advance

reptile

 

[RandyL]

Hi reptile;

We have people that are familiar with the Acronis program so please wait while they advise you on what it can do.

 

How long has it been since you registered Acronis and contacted them?

It might take a few days.

 

However I fail to see why you need to reinstall Windows on a regular basis. Especially as often as every four months.

 

Are there issues that cause you to reinstall this often?

Perhaps we can offer advice on that.

 

What games do you want to back up?

Can't you just reinstall them?

It's usually simple enough to do.

 

XP for some time has shipped with SP2 at least. So only SP3 and additional updates should be needed. You should not need 120 individuall updates. SP3 should cover most of them.

 

My points are that I feel you may be over complicating things for no reason or have issues such as malware that this option will not solve.

 

What is the make, model and number of your PC?

Did it come with a driver or utility CD?

 

Answers to all of my questions will get you the best possible advice from the members so help us out please.

[Match]

Hi Reptile

 

Just read through your post, could you please tell us if you are using a Laptop model or a Desktop?

 

It sounds to me like what you could do with is two HDD's running in Mirrored RAID Configuration.

 

Have a read of this and see what you think.

 

Another thing to consider is do you really need to go to these lengths to Back up you computer? Yes it May take a couple of days to Download all the M$ Updates, but their again why do you need to do a fresh install every 4 Months?

 

If you were to set a Restore Point Just after you Install and Finish Downloading all the Updates you could just Use that to restore your system back without the trouble of formatting and installing?

[reptile]

Hi reptile;

We have people that are familiar with the Acronis program so please wait while they advise you on what it can do.

 

How long has it been since you registered Acronis and contacted them?

It might take a few days.

 

However I fail to see why you need to reinstall Windows on a regular basis. Especially as often as every four months.

 

Are there issues that cause you to reinstall this often?

Perhaps we can offer advice on that.

 

What games do you want to back up?

Can't you just reinstall them?

It's usually simple enough to do.

 

XP for some time has shipped with SP2 at least. So only SP3 and additional updates should be needed. You should not need 120 individuall updates. SP3 should cover most of them.

 

My points are that I feel you may be over complicating things for no reason or have issues such as malware that this option will not solve.

 

What is the make, model and number of your PC?

Did it come with a driver or utility CD?

 

Answers to all of my questions will get you the best possible advice from the members so help us out please.

 

sent tech support request 25/2/2009 and 2/3/2009 ...no reply to either

 

4 months may be an exaggeration but I do find adding and removing software corrupts the sys and eventually need to reinstall xp

 

xp home is early version ..every time I reinstall it takes hours to install updates

 

lots of kids games with saved game positions

 

home built pc

 

just need to be able to reinstall when I want quickly and easily without issues and without losing data settings and/or any corruption or worst of all cant backup

p.s. will also need to back up email, browser settings, photos, etc.

thanks Randyl

reptile

[reptile]

Thanks Match..using a desktop

thought of raid but wont that copy everthing warts and all. So I will have 2 hdd with the same errors!

If I use a restore point the early ones are deleted as newer points are added arn't they?

thanks I will read link

reptile

[Tootech]

I'd reinstall XP, update it to SP3, IE7, install all updated drivers and all security patches, then make a clone of your drive.

 

You can do that by creating a full drive image and saving to external media - eg hard drive, slave drive, or even DVD - an XP image I think is about 5 to 6 GB.

 

Create the Acronis bootable CD media and then when you need to rebuild using the bootable CD and your image file. You could even image back to a larger drive if you needed to increase capacity.

 

Secondly I want to use this pc as a games pc so will need to back up all GAMES ,programs and SETTINGS, that again can be reinstalled to a new clean hard drive when I reformat every 4 months or so.

 

Thats just a minefield, you could use incremental backup of your game save folders, then if needed reinstall your games on a clean drive, and use the backup folders. Couldn't say absolutely that it will work though.

 

Perhaps the best way would be to install everything - updates, games, programs etc and create an image of the whole lot as a clean system, and just regularly backup game saves and documents/email.

 

Downside is the image size, it may end up 10 to 15GB - then its really only feasable to backup to a second drive or external drive. That's ok though, it will work, just means buying a drive.