It's 4:20 PM and I've had some very long days this week, with more to follow next week. Somewhere in there I did manage to make a Ghost backup of my system, the first in a long time. (It's getting time—and past time—to do a hygienic reinstall of Enna, though I don't know whether I'll manage it before the Ur-Guru arrives next weekend.) Meanwhile, my five automated file backup systems continue to … [Read more...]
FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 04-07-06: The Limits of Drive Imaging
The Ur-Guru, as I may have mentioned, practically has a data center in his home office. I’ve lost track of how many different computers he has, and the fact that he’s got multiple hard drives with virtual machines installed on most of them so he can test new software only makes it more complicated. He’s starting to run out of names for them, and he could create a wall-sized display with his … [Read more...]
FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 03-03-06: Unreliable Backups
Vindication is a bittersweet thing. For years, the Ur-Guru has told me, and I have told clients and readers of this column, that backing up the Windows operating system from within Windows is a Bad Idea. Copying any file while it’s in use makes it more likely the copy will be corrupted in some way, though it usually works all right with ordinary documents and images, at least if you’ve saved any … [Read more...]
Is Fastora ExBoot the Holy Grail of Backups?
"What I want," said a client after her hard drive committed suicide a couple of years ago, "Is a backup drive that I can just plug in and run my computer from." "That's what we all want," I said (after spending many hours reformatting her replaced-under-warranty hard drive and restoring her data from 1) the month-old backup CDs and 2) the new files on the laptop she'd rented while shipping the PC … [Read more...]
FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 5-20-05: Retrospect 7 vs. TrueImage 8 (and let’s not forget Ghost 9)
(Note: this post is late (and back-dated) because I was out of town over the weekend for my 20-year high school reunion and my mother is the only person in the country without an internet connection. Those of you subscribed to the e-mail list got your newsletter on time, though.) Last week I promised to check out TrueImage and Retrospect for those who don’t want to go the Bart-PE route of … [Read more...]