System Backup Archival Method Question and DMA Help

[GD695372]

I recently bought a second WD400 40GB hard drive for the purpose of backing up my systems. I'd like to use some sort of an archive method such as a rar archive. I tried using RAR archives, but unfortunately RAR doesn't seem to compress very well when dealing with such large volumes. I need some sort of archival method that is reliable, and has good compression. It would also help if it didn't take more than a day or so to backup a 35gb partition. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

I tried to setup the second WD400 to use DMA in device manager, but upon rebooting the setting was once again disabled. The first WD400 has DMA enabled. I have 3 free DMA channels, soo it shouldn't be a problem finding a free channel. The os is Win98 FE, although it's changed to SE since a recent windows update.

 

[n0cmonkey]

You have 35GB of data that you need to backup and you are trusting it to a single hard drive? You are nuts!

 

[GD695372]

To answer you comment, I'm trusting all my data to each harddrive upon which I use it and to my backup drive. Therefore I will have 2 copies of all my data. That's not nuts IMHO.

I see no need for a second backup. Why would I need 3 copies of my data? The 35gb partition is only part of what I want to backup. I want to backup a 35gb partition a 4gb partition, a 7gb partition, and 2 more 4gb partitions ideally. I can do without backing up the 3 4gb partitions. I'm using a harddrive to backup the data because I trust the harddrive as a media with a long lifetime, and the ability to write and rewrite data as many times as I'll ever need it too. It's also a very easily ported medium. Hey, it's even fast. IT's also the cheapest solution that I have.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< I see no need for a second backup. Why would I need 3 copies of my data? The 35gb partition is only part of what I want to backup. I want to backup a 35gb partition a 4gb partition, a 7gb partition, and 2 more 4gb partitions ideally. I can do without backing up the 3 4gb partitions. >>



So you do not have 35+ GB of data? Just put all the data you want to &quot;backup&quot; into a backup directory, tar gzip (zip/rar/whatever) everything and then put that file onto the backup machine.

 

[GD695372]

It's not a backup machine. It's an extra hard drive that I'm going to use to backup everything on my system(s)(depending on how much I can reliably compress it).

I have an 11.5gb hard drive w/ a 7gb fat32 partition that I want to backup the other partition ont he drive is a linux partition which I backup all the important stuff from to the 7gb fat32 partition on the drive(and thus all the important data fromt hat partition will be backed up witht he 7gb partition).

I also have a 40gb hard drive with a 27.4gb fat32 partition on it that I want to backup. This drive also has a 4gb NTFS partition that I want to backup as well.

I would like to backup all of the above-mentioned partitions onto a second 40gb harddrive(same make and model WD400) that I have recently purchased. This backup drive has a single 37.2gb fat32 partition on it that I plan to backup the afore-mentioned partitions onto. To do this I will need some sort of a compression scheme. I would like to make an archive for each partition that I backup. I would also like to be able to update these archives without starting from scratch each time I want to update the backups. The compression archiving method would also have to be reliable(obviously).

If there's still space ont he backup drive, I would like to backup 2 4gb partitions on another system that I have to the backup drive. One of the partitions is NTFS and the other is fat32.

I would like to be able to perform the backup and restore from win98 or win2k(either would be fine and both would be a plus).

I already tried using rar archives on best compression and using the max dictionary size, but this method yielded less than 1% compression and took several days to produce a backup of the 27.4gb fat32 partition.

Any questions, comments, suggestions?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Try winzip. And remember compression is a crapshoot.

 

[GD695372]

Compression is a crapshoot? Will winzip work well with such large archive sizes?

Do you mean that compression is an easy way to corrupt data or that it's simply not feasible with such large volume sizes?

I'd naturally test the archives after creation/updates.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Compression is a crapshoot? Will winzip work well with such large archive sizes? >>



Second question answered first: No clue. I don't use winzip anymore.

First question: The amount of compression you will get from ANY program is limited. I believe compressing binaries will not provide as much compression as ASCII files. There is no technology tht will allow you to compress how much we would all like without losing data.

 

[GD695372]

ASCII files?

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< ASCII files? >>



text. How much DATA are you planning on backing up BTW (not the size of the partitions the data is on but the data itself)?

 

[Deanodarlo]

I use a HD for backup, and cdrw, so went out looking for the perfect free program. And here it is - the perfect program for all your needs and it's FREE!

TaskZip

 

[GD695372]

WEll the partitions are only aobut half full all-around, but I would like to be able to use this setup right up to the point where the partitions are all pretty much full.

 

[risen]

I use partition magic drive image and like it alot. As far as speed, it backs up at about 125 meg per minute. And if you want to verify the backup it takes another minute per 125 meg. There are limations though, you have to back up everything on the partition. Also you can do mutiple partitions at a time. You can restore individual files if needed. Also you create a boot disk so you do not have to reinstall windows to restore. I usually just keep system files on my c drive which is usually about 1 gig. I have restored and been up and running in 15 minutes after a problem. It seems very reliable. I have had it about 6 months and it never has messed up. It does cost money to get it though. I think about 35-60 dollars depending upon if you get it on sale. It is probably not your case but I have read that if you use the hard drive software to format the drive because your bios does not support it, drive image will not recogize it. Also if you are dual booting with partion magic boot magic and you are hiding the second drive, using drive image will messup the second boot partition. It is in their readme material for boot magic and I have experienced it. They have a demo but it is limited so that it just shows you what it can do. You can get it at http://www.powerquest.com/freestuff/trials/index.html

As far as compression. Sometimes it does good sometimes not. Usually my c drive will compress 2:1 but other drives are not near that. I would say 1.2 to 1 at most.
Hope this helps.

 

[rockhard]

If you can afford a tape drive of some kind you could always use windows backup utility?
Using &quot;Differential&quot; you would only need make one full backup, then whenever you feel necessary you can do the differential to keep you up to date.

 

[GD695372]

I prefer using a hard drive as the backup media. The media has a longer lifespan. It has a better data transfer rate. It's cheaper for me. It's also very reliable. Plus with the hard drive if both copies are damaged in some sort of freak fire or something data recovery may still be possible.

Tape disks burn more easily than hard drive platters melt.