Rich=s Ramblings©

Back in Olden/Golden day days of computers we used to backup our files onto 160K 5 1/4" floppy disks. As the media progressed from 360Kbyte 5 1/4" floppies to huge 720K 3 2" disks, then to the big guys of 1.44Megabyte 3 2" disks files and programs became larger.

Now it is even more important to backup your files. My criteria for requiring backup is that if I would shed a tear or feel keyboard rage if a file was lost forever, then I always make sure I have lots of copies around on other media. So I will repeat for the umpteenth time.

BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!

With 120-200 Gigabyte hard disks almost being the norm, you can really accumulate a lot of garbage/files on your hard disk. You might want to think about how your going to recover if your hard disk all of a sudden sounds like an automobiles screeching brakes. That means a fatal crash of your hard disk.

Many of the wiser/smarter heads backup their critical files to CD-ROM or DVD-ROM on a regular basis. Even with a 4.7 Gigabyte DVD-ROM drive, this might not be enough storage. I have a procedure that works for me:

On each of my computers I have created a directory called AC:\My Documents@. This directory is where I have several sub directories where I store all data and word processing files. Using Microsoft Windows XP, the default directory where data is stored is normally located in C:\Documents and Settings\userid\My Documents. The userid is the name of the user you are signed onto the computer with. In some cases it would be administrator or in the case of some major computer manufacturers who pre-install your complete system, it could be called USER or OWNER.

One nice thing about computers is that you can change where files that you create are stored. In WordPerfect and Microsoft Office products, you can change the default location of these data files. Normally it is located under Atools|settings|preferences|file locations Aon your top menu bar in the program.

My method makes it easier to backup because all I do is backup the C:\My documents folder and it=s sub directories. . While your at it, you can create a sub directory there for all those files that you download from the Internet that are upgrades to your installed software. This will really help if you end up having to re-install your software in case of a hard disk crash. Also I keep the latest versions of ZoneAlarm and AdAware in this directory. I also have an attachment directory there where Eudora E-Mail puts all the attachments received and you have backed this up. Periodically I export the Afavorites@ from my browser to this directory so that I have a better backup in case of a failure of my hard disk.

Although there are lots of alternatives, there is a school of thought that with hard disks being so huge and cheap many people buy an additional large hard disk and only use it for backups or images. Some use a disk imaging program similar to Symantec=s Norton Ghost, or Acronis True Image. Both of these imaging programs allow for incremental as well as full imaging.

What I like about these programs is the feature where they create a complete snapshot of your hard disk at a point in time and write the image to a second drive. Both will also write to CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. They create images in real time and without having to exit Windows XP. An added advantage is that if you decide to buy a larger hard disk, the program will copy your existing hard disk to the new larger disk. Then you can replace the old C with the new larger C drive..

Symantec bought out the PowerQuest drive image product line and for those who are not using Windows XP, the Ghost 9 retail box comes with a copy of Drive Image 2003 which operates in a DOS type mode. Installing Ghost 9 went quite smoothly as I already had the .NET updates to my Windows XP If you don=t have the .NET update, the ghost cd-rom will install it. I use Ghost 9 and it does work. I also bought Acronis True Image 8.0 and like it. Each has strengths and weakness=s which will vary from user to user.

My preferred method:

I have an external 160 Gigabyte Western Digital hard disk that connects to my laptop via either USB or Firewire. I can create a Ghost image of my laptop=s C: drive on the external Hard disk. These programs can compress the data so that it takes up less space on your backup device..

Several times I have had to restore individual files and directories from an image. Having this option gives me a warm fuzzy when installing some of the new software that could and sometimes mess=s up my system.

Ghost and True Image will allow you to extract files and directories from the complete image that you created earlier. As well as restore the whole hard disk.

Ghost 9 come with CD-ROM that is bootable and will allow you to access most any device including your network server. If you have huge amounts of data and write the image to CD-ROM disks at 700Megabyte each, you can have quite a few. Just don=t lose or damage one. Writing to DVD disks makes for less disk swapping when you have to do a complete restore. But as I said before, my preferred method is my external USB hard disk.

Acronis True Image version 8.0

http://www.acronis.com/

$46.99 on their site but check the web for special deals from other vendors.

Norton Ghost version 9.0

http://www.symantec.com

$69.95 MSRP but always check out the web for prices at the different retailers and sales.

I purchased both products and each has advantages and disadvantages.

Disclaimer: I also was a beta tester for Symantec=s Ghost 9 product. I ended up purchasing Ghost 9.0 for a couple of computers that I setup and gave to friends. Your mileage may vary.

For other products mentioned in my articles, I suggest you visit the CPCUG.ORG web site and under members, I have a web page listed that has the Web URL=s for most of them.

I highly suggest that you update the motherboard bios on your computer before you upgrade XP to Service Pack 2. It could possibly save you lots of aggravation.. Also, you might want to upgrade any video drivers.. Then go for it as I highly recommend the additional security features included in service pack 2 for Windows XP Home and Professional.

Teaser:

I must swear you to secrecy or my windows friends will probably give up on me, but. I read about the UBUNTU Linux release and decided to try it.

Background: I have tried to install a flavor of Linux for the past 10 years or so and have had miserable luck. something always fails, either the video card is not recognized, network card or sound is not recognized. I have a raft of Red Hat binders where I have tried, really tried to get it to work. I have friends on the dark side that continually tell me "try it, you will like it" so, I try and end up being frustrated. I will be reviewing Ubuntu Linux in the next couple of months. Watch this space <G>

http://www.ubuntu.com is the web site if your thinking about trying it. Or ask me, I have 5 or 6 CD-ROMs that they sent me to give away.

Rich Schinnell is a long time member of CPCUG, having been one of the founders who got it all started back in 1982. He ran a BBS for over 10 years and now has retired. (kind of) He does a bit of small business consulting for select clients on interesting problems.. He can be reached at schinnel@cpcug.org and by phone at (301) 949-9292.