Backing Up XP Pro

[olds]

I need a good, reliable, automatic back up system. I was using Go Back but it thrashed my machine. How is XP's back up or is there something better? I have 2 hdd's in my machine, I want to back up to the second one. TIA

 

[woodie1]

Fred Langa

This may be more info than you need/want but it's the best I could do.

 

[redshadow]

The simplest way to do it is with ASR (automated system recovery). You have to go to drive properties, then backup, then choose ASR. You'll do a regular backup but it will ask you to create a special diskette in the process. Once you have backed up to your second HD, you can restore your system to its backed up state by booting with the WinXP Setup CD, and choosing ASR when you're prompted. You'll need that diskette you made earlier. What will follow is that Setup will format the drive you backed up onto your second HD, it will install a bit of XP (about 5 minutes worth), and then restore your drive from the backup. During the whole process you don't have to lift a finger once you've put in the floppy disk.

Hope this helps,
Redshadow

 

[corkyg]

Why not just periodically copy one drive to the other and then only run one of them? There are a couple of ways to switch them - one using Treos2 and the other using mobile racks. The external key switches let you select the drive you want. I clone all my systems every week or sooner if there are major changes to software or OS features. All data files are kep on an external 1394 drive. If a drive goes bad, it is simply a matter of switching to the other drive. Takes about 2 minutes - beats the heck out of restoring from media.

 

[olds]

woodie1 That may be a lot to digest but I'll check it out, thanks.

redshadow Thanks, I didn't set that up before but I will now.

corky-g That's a great idea but I have 2 differents hdd's. A WD120 GB (8 MB buffer) and a Maxtor 40 GB. I imagine I would lose some performance but now I have an excuse to buy another WD1200JB. 😉