Thread disappeared

[18seconds]

There was a thread in the hard drive forum about backing up the hard drive. It was very useful and I had asked a question in there. But it appears to have gone. I think it was a sticky. The address was http://www.techsupportforum.com/show...t=93846&page=2

Where has it gone?

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

Click on it again, I just did and it comes up fine.

[18seconds]

Tried clicking again and Shift+refresh but I still get this:



It's the same in IE.

[Zazula]

Tumbleweed, I just tried to follow the link and it says I do not have sufficient privileges to access this page. (?)
Maybe you can go there because you're a mod?

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

I don't know what is going on with this one, but anyway, copied it over for you and here is good old linderman's "sticky" information:

Data & Hard Drive Back-up Options

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATA BACK-UP WITH HARD DRIVES & SOFTWARE



If you are currently running your computer system without a proven back-up system you are playing RUSSIAN ROULETTE with your data and program applications. Most of us say if we lose our boot drive no biggie !! We will simply reformat our boot drive and clean install the OS ???? Yeah >>> true enough; then throw in hours of service packs, windows updates, anti virus updates as well as spyware engine updating etc etc etc

I usually set aside two full days from the start of a clean install to completion of all software updates, data re-importation, and personal programs preferences or tweaks as they are often refered too.

One very important pill to swallow; hard drives are fast becoming larger and larger and cheaper as they grow; the hard drive market is very competitive, actually over competitive in my opionion. Hard drive dependability appears to have fallen a long way down on the manufacturer's marketing strategy. I believe this theory is supported by the high volume of new drive problems experienced within the last year or so as well as reduced warranty coverage by some manufacturers.

Another consideration is the current complex computer configurations now available. Motherboards are feature rich nowdays, you have IDE controllers, SATA controllers Raid Controllers all packed into one motherboard ready to be used all in one configuration if desired. As we have all experienced with complex devices; the more options a device has the more problems that can occur. Hard drive failure or instability is far more common when using a complex configuration. SLI sytems now use dual video cards; as if one we havent all experienced enough headache with one video card's driver conflicts !! drivers conflicts can drop an operating sytem to its knees at any time and give you grey hair trying to isolate the culprit and restore bootability into windows.

I would like to ask how many of you reading this information right now would be safe if you heard your boot drive begin clicking then automatically just crash ???????? Many posters in this forum report "I just turned off my system and now it wont boot !!" or file system error messages are being reported / my drive disappeared or is inaccessible ???
Many posters have been successful using hard drive data recovery programs suggested by our tech staff; but these are not guaranteed means of recovery and offer no assistance for mechanical drive failure.
Please consider for the cost of purchasing one hard drive recovery software utility you could have easily bought a spare hard drive and cloned (exact bootable copy) your entire existing boot drive as a premier back-up. When problems arise you simply wont dedicate one single minute to recovery; but rather modify your boot order in the bios to begin booting from your cloned back-up drive much like we use a spare tire on a car; we dont use road side tire patch kits any more !!

Most forum members ask "What is the best method for data back-up ?"

There are many ways and many levels to which you can back-up and protect your valuable data and applications. There are entire drive back-up methods such as cloning, there are file and folder back-up methods, mirroring drives in a raid configuration. There is no one size fits all for back-up procedures and the level of protection you adopt should directly reflect the value of the data you are trying to protect. Your data could contain irreplaceable digital photos of your family, critical work documents (spreadhssets , auto cad drawings) , music files you have been saving for years, downloaded DVD movie collections ?????? etc etc etc

I will give you some options and ideas for different levels of data duplication, then end task of deceiding which method you adopt lies on your shoulders. All software programs or utilities I will suggest are easy to use by inexperienced computer users >>> noobies if you wish to be labeled ? There are many programs just as good, and maybe better that I will not be suggesting as they require a higher level of understanding and user interaction. One thing I hope you consider; backing -up data to a different partition on the same hard drive is a very limited protection factor >>> yes its a redundant copy of your valuable data but its bing stored for safe keeping on the same drive as the original ???? if mechanical failure strikes >>>> you lose and your safety copy is gone too !!
Another consideration many users tell me they employ is copying their data to blank Cd-R & DVD disks: this method can get expensive and clumsy especially for large files, the entire back-up process can be time consuming and expensive if you need to copy large files; another complex problem you will have with this method is learning how to span the data accross multiple cd-s / remember the more involved the process the less the chances you will maintain updating your back-up intervals. In my humble opinion using dvd and cd-r disks as your main back-up strategy is the least desirable option you will have presented to you in this presentation.

1) File & Folder back-up protection: If you are only interested in coping a limited amount of data say for example a large .pdf file or maybe a whole folder full of documents and or pictures. I suggest the freeware program Snap Back-up http://www.snapbackup.com the utility asks you to input the file or folder name and its destination >> then it requires you to assign a destination for the back-up file (another hard drive is best choice) The pros of this utility are very easy to use interface and only back-up exactly what info you desire; the cons >>> its limited to zipping (for compression) and unzipping of a file packet >>>> I believe Winzip for example has posted their file limitations here http://www.winzip.com/wzdic.htm
but please dont give up >>>>> this is an easy way to back-up what is critical to you easily >>> the best way to test ANY back-up is try it ! Thats where the confidence comes from in your back up method >>> when you back-up your data then practice retrieve it for use PRIOR to a failure you then know for sure you are protected !! or just maybeeeee discover you arent protected after all !!! :(

2) CLONING: This little baby is my pride and joy!! Cloning is an exact copy of a whole hard drive partition; the actual cloning process can either copy a slave drive or copy an entire operating system boot partition. The cloning of your boot partition will allow you for example to copy your entire C-drive partition to another hard drive; that other hard drive if selected as such during the cloing process can be made bootable upon demand!!
There are many programs which accomplish this task; there is the famed Norton Ghost (probally the oldest of them) Acronis True Image ect My favorite child is XXCLONE xxclone.com (free for 30 days) This utility is my favorite because its kindergarten easy; simply go to their webiste and download the free trial version:
step 1: install the software after download
step 2: open the program to its interactive console you only have three things to choose here select the source drive (which drive you want to copy >>> this is usually the C-drive) then select the target drive: (the destination drive you want to use for your boot spare) then place a dot in the full bootable back-up option box
step 3: in the main console window >>> click on advanced options button and put the three check marks in the bootable options boxes for the boot requirements example check mark the boot mbr & boot.ini write ini etc etc etc
step 4: that's it !! click the start button and let it do its thing !! after the program prompts you to reboot you can either disconnect the power plug from the origianl boot drive and boot up from your new clone or just keep it as a spare but its ready to prove itself to you RIGHT now ~ ~ ~ just like you had a boot drive melt down >>>> try it >>>>> I never had a user write to me an tell me they couldnt figure it out !!

A nice feature of XXclone is no DOS interaction >>> its all perfromed from within windows & you dont have to clone to a drive larger than your source drive what this means is : if you are cloning a 10 gig drive with 6 gigs of data on it >>>> you could clone to a 6 gig drive or partition >>> most other software will clone empty space and all >>>> xxclone only clones your actual data !! you can also use xxclone to make once a week differential back-ups (differential means just the data that has changed since the last cloning) if desired >>>> xxclone is also far faster than most other applications.

Most new hard drives also come with software that can clone or copy your data from one drive to another drive / example = Maxtor has Maxblast Western Digital has Data Lifeguard Seagate has sea tools if you prefer you can request help from the forum members with assistance on using these "other" copy tools; we are always here to help !! :) All these drive tools are available for free download at the hard drive manufacturer's websites !@!


3: Drive or Partition Image http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/ I like and highly reccommend this back-up / restore program also as it is very easy to use; all the programs or methods disucssed here I have persoanlly tried and found to be VERY easy to use. This program is also free to try for atleast 30 days or more and needs no vodoo or propeller coming out of your helmet to use.
This utilty can make an exact verifiable image of your storage drive or storage partition as well as bootable OS partitions. It also has an easy to use interface with minimal user intervention & input required. Once again when using Snap Shot I highly reccommend storing your redundant drive image on a hard drive other than the drive you want to back-up; again I see many individuals with a large say 200 gig boot drive with multiple partitions and make regular back-ups to a partition on the same drive / "thats almost no back-up at all folks" !!! if a mechanical failure or total collapse of the file system (i.e. Fat 32 or NTFS) occurs your back-up dies also !!

I strongly suggest you experiment with Snap Shot >>> make an image of your storage partition >>>> then prior to a fialure practice restoring of bringing that back-up to LIFE and actually use it !! I have made an entire OS partition bootable with this utility as well as just data, music partitions redunant, its easy and nothing gives you a better sense of confidence than COMPLETE restoration without extensive loss of computer time !! This software can make restoration efforts after a crash as well as make usuable copies before a crash >>> making the usable copies before a crash is easier (no DOS) and lets you verify the process prior to your appointment with Murphy's Law !!
My only suggestion is make sure the location (partition) where you elect to store your image file is formatted with NTFS >>>> most all drive image files these days will be larger than 4 gig >>> as such Fat32 freaks out when trying to store and use a file larger than 4 gig. If this info is greek to you, please dont hesitate to ask more questions; we can discuss this more indepthly and point you in the direction of some easy to understand articles which will educate you on the differeneces of the common hard drive file storage concepts and limitations.


Summary:

I highly suggest you prepare yourself with proper redundancy. Remember many forum posters will be seen scrambling to use a downloadable data recovery software; they are great products !! but after you have completed your recovery process you are left with nothing from your investment of $100.00 or close to it !! And the recovery process wont help you at all with mechanical falure or future prevention of data loss !!

The best option without equal is spare redunant drives. In my opinion you are far better off running two 120gig drives rather than a single 250 gig drive. The two 120's can easily be set-up for REAL bullet proof back-up; the 250 gig single drive is vulnerable to mechaical failure therefore no back-up. Hard drives are cheap and substantially less reliable than they were in years past. You can buy great performance 120 gig IDE drives with spindle speeds of 7200 RPM 8meg cache that will deliver one outstanding reduant back-up solution either by cloning or imaging your important data. Remember the easier and more complete your back-up method the more liklely you are to update and maintain that back-up; nobody will stay commited to any method that takes hours to perform especially if the method requires alot of user intervention like (Cd's & Dvd's)


If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to ask. There is not such thing as dumb questions !! just dumb answers. You will find an abundance of helpful forum staff and members to assit you with your questions until you have achieved a satisfactory level of understanding.

best wishes and enjoy

Linderman
__________________

[Zazula]

Plus, same thing happened when I tried to follow the second link in this post by dai:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showpost.php?p=604244&postcount=17


(For a moment I thought I had finally managed to get myself banned...)

[koala]

I'm not sure why but the sticky has been moved to a hidden staff forum. Let us know if Tumbleweed's post is enough or if you need any more information.

[sinclair_tm]

it won't let me see it either, and i'm a mod. must be a team's area?

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

Is in the Hardware team area.

[Glaswegian]

Must be just you sinc, I can get there and see it fine. Probably because it's nothing to do with a Mac.........

[dai]

i have a request in for tips and tricks to be attached to the other section,so it will be visable to all and used for the stickies other than admin stickies