Hard drive recovery(Vanity)

vanity | 12/8/2004 | chuckles

[chuckles]

I have had to format C: so many times, I need a new way to get my computer back quickly. I have a dial up connection so updating my Windows packages and Norton virus definitions and other such stuff is a real pain. I have tried several backup meathods and none so far are satifactory. I would love to be back up in a few hours instead of days with all my software installed with the proper serial numbers with all the updates and settings that I like, down to my wallpaper and file locations. I want one of those restoral disks like the name brand boxes have so I can just reboot with the CD in the tray and be done.

I know somebody out there has the answer I'm looking for. Norton Ghost worked like I want when I was using 98, but since going to Win 2000 and then XP, it doesn't work. I will be doing it this weekend.

[ScottM1968]

Along with all the stuff mentioned in the thread, I would encourage you to run CHKDSK with the appropriate option(s) when you crash. Bad indexes can cause further corruption of access to other files.

NTFS is rather robust (you are formatted NTFS, right?) but not perfect. I would love to see a journalizing FAT similar to mainframes, Sun workstations, and the later Novell server software. It handles crashes as perfect as possible.

[ScottM1968]

Actually, that is not true. ZoneAlarm quarantines attachments even should they execute.

[A CA Guy]

I only access my many E-mail accounts on web pages and use no go between programs like Outlook Express.

The services both free and fee that I use for Email have automatic virus protection on Email and they won't send it if it is there.

I'm far more than lucky though. I often am called out to fix businesses messes when they infect the hell out of themselves.
I can clean the stuff out, find the culprits in the registry or elsewhere and fix everything.

But, it is far easier on stand alone machines often to do what I wrote in my first post.

Have a great night.

[konaice]

Having a non-crashing computer is not worth leaving behind every application one can buy at a Best Buy or similar store.

Spoken like someone who has OBVIOUSLY never tried it.

BUY?

It comes with every application you would ever want! There's nothing more to BUY?

Just a Partial list of packages included:

http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/features/new.html

[ScottM1968]

I have used it and programmed on multiple Unix-based systems over the years (AIX, NeXTStep, Solaris, Unix, Linux, Silicon Graphics Unix).

I looked at your list and it speaks for itself. There's almost nothing for the consumer under Linux. But thanks for the link.

There is a greater wealth of useful programs for consumers for my old Atari ST than under Linux for the home user.

Just because programs are free doesn't mean they are worth it.

You sound like a Linux zealot. Get over it.

[Stoat]

[JoJo Gunn]

All those MS updates you get are still in the cache after you install them, unless you have the browser set to empty the cache on closing. They'll have long names with a [1] after them. Copy them to a folder and burn them to a CD. Since you always have some that needs to be downloaded and installed first, save them accordingly, such as "set One" or whatever. Then go back and get the rest and put them in another folder, etc.

The easiest way to recognize them, of course, is going to the update site with an empty cache to begin with.

Those are self executables, by the way, where you do the usual double click to get the install started.

I'm not positive this will work with XP, so someone pipe up if otherwise. I know it does with '98 and ME, though, and you'd think it would since you're using IE.

[backhoe]

Here are some links:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1143957/posts
Everything on my hard drive got destroyed

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138212/posts
HELP, My Windows XP just died

http://www.overclockers.com/tips676/
"Drive Imaging for Data Safety and Backup!"

Within those links are more links you can use. Be sure to look for them.

If you can afford it, and external backup HD is a good idea, but be sure the backup is clean and free of malware-- best advice and forum is here:

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?s=262d844129208feb8b0cf5b0186a32f6&act=SC&c=4
SWI Forums

A down & dirty solution? Get a spare drive & clone it-- after you get rid of the malware in the original.

[the_Watchman]

I agree with most of what you said except: Don't rely on an external drive since performing a restore might require installing the OS and drivers first unless your BIOS can access it directly. An internal hard drive is preferred.

You are correct that a "cold" restore requires using media that the BIOS can use to boot. Some software does not recognize external USB even if the BIOS could boot from it. The problem with internal drives is that one form of system failure is a power spike from the power supply. One of my friends had this happen and NOTHING on the machine worked afterwords. Unfortunately, this could wipe out both copies.

As an aside, the Backup utility of XP Pro is not too bad. It doesn't compress, but it will save your entire drive WITH registry and installed software. It will also configure to allow verifying the saved content as soon as the copy is performed. What, you say you never do that? Well, having spent over 30 years in the computer business I can tell you that you don't want to find out that the backup is unreadable AFTER the primary copy has gone south! Been there. Done that.

Individual files, or the whole shooting match can be restored. Shortcomings are that documentation isn't all that complete. One of the Microsoft "gurus" describing it suggested that "the best place to keep the backup was on a separate partition of the same drive". Occasionally, even the "experts" say things which are downright ditzy.

XP Pro, you say! Most of us have XP Home. Well, it turns out that MS included the backup utility on the XP Home install CD under a directory named "ValueAdd" or some such name. Just run the ntbackup.msi file and it installs itself. I did this on my home machine two nights ago. The readme file informs you that the ASR function won't work with XP Home. This means you will have to install a working version of XP Home if you need a full disk restore. Then you can restore over the fresh install picking up all the rest of the intsalled software as well as the XP updates. When you are faced with rebuilding your entire system, this is a minor price to pay.

For media, I suggest buying an external shell which accepts raw IDE drives and plugs in with USB2.0. I bought one from Fry's Electronics for about $60. Don't skimp, the plastic ones fall apart. I also bought a couple of huge drives to slap into the case. Now I backup my laptop and my desktop to this external.

Since it's unplugged most of the time, I don't need to worry about the power surge problem.

As an added bonus, you can use the better cases for a DVD drive. You will find that the internal DVD drives cost less and if you put it in the case you can use it for multiple machines.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[the_Watchman]

Don't count on it. One of the most ubiquitous virus attacks came from a Word Macro several years back. It is possible to embed virus code within postscript files, just never seen in the wild. ZoneAlarm is NOT an adequate replacement for virus protection! Period.

[backhoe]

"All those MS updates..."

More advice:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mosaddique/How%20to%20get%20Windows%20Updates%20to%20your%20local%20hard%20drive.html
Procedure to download your OS updates from Windows Update to your local hard drive

[konaice]

I have used it and programmed on multiple Unix-based systems over the years (AIX, NeXTStep, Solaris, Unix, Linux, Silicon Graphics Unix).

I looked at your list and it speaks for itself. There's almost nothing for the consumer under Linux. But thanks for the link.

Nothing there for the consumer?

Consumers don't use web browsers, email, word processing, wireless networking?

They don't listen to music or ball games, or watch DVD videos, or stream videos from the Net, or burn picturs of the kids onto CDS?

Consumers don't build web pages, use instant messagers to chat with contacts, or use realtime Voip to talk with friends, or put their budgets in spread sheets, rip CDs to mp3s, play multiplayer games over the net?

Well shucks. I guess consumers really have no need of computers at all then. So I'd say just keep on reformating that hard drive, installing those virus scanners and paying uncle Billy for crapware, and THEN pay extra for Word and Excel and keep on gloating about what a Cool system you have.

[the_Watchman]

So you ARE using virus scanning, but it is supplied by the email provider. Your original post would lead people to believe that they could toss their Norton's in favor of ZoneAlarm. I didn't want anyone to come to that conclusion.

My last infection came from visiting a web site purporting to sell equipment for people who are sight impaired. Both my father and my mother-in-law are blind. At first visit to the site, Norton kicked up a fuss and complained that there was a trojan.

I didn't think too much about it until my next system scan when Norton informed me that there was a trojan RUNNING on my machine which it could not identify. So it detected the incursion, but did not prevent the infection. The trojan was delivered from active content from a web page.

Once I knew there was a problem, I located the executable from the task manager. I located the registry key which caused a loading program to start it. I hand cleaned the mess. It was difficult because Norton was unable to kill the running program and I was unable to delete the executable while it was running. They have flipped the security flags on the files so I had to go into administrative mode to delete the launcher.

The running program was collecting candidate email addresses from my machine and mailing them back to an address in Russia. The launcher program was written in C++ in an Russian company which was formed after the disolution of the USSR. The stated purpose of the company was to gather information to help new business work through the new Russian bureaucracy. Apparently, that included gathering email addresses.

One of the lessons to be learned here is that even though XP service pack 2 is GOOD at preventing inbound attacks. It does NOTHING about accesses initiated from your machine. If I had had Zone Alarm running, then it would have blocked the virus from sending my information back to their Russian cohorts.

[chuckles]

I have a decent machine(a little old) but reliable enough. Some of my software is buggy. I can't use my scanner without a HUGE hassle because it doen't have the XP driver. I have to use a kludge to get it in after much ado(poop). I have stock charting progies that are only windoze( have tried Linux with Wine( tHats another format job) Have had various programs go buggy that wouldn't uninstal correctly or reinstall. I do need a battery backup for the 3-5 power losses per month in the stix I live in, but XP has been pretty good at recovery.

I admit I experiment with alot of software and then try to get rid of it when I check it out or it crashes. I want to know what XYZ does even if I don't use it or need it. I would like to learn Linux, even though I would still have to have Windoze on some machine. I have extra hard drives and have backed up on them, but restorals change the drive letters and xp won't even boot after the restoral(yes, I do the master slave thing)I didn't have this much trouble till I went to 2000 and XP. They are too picky. I have used Drive Image 7 and Ghost 2003( not 9 yet). Both had problems restoring. One hardware problem may be my HPT366 driver is very dificult to get loaded while installing and may be missing during restoral.( or some problem related to the driver.

Like I said, my main goal is to have a CD that BOOTS and goes from there to the end just like the big boys. If they can make em, I can make em. I will just get a clean install with all the upgrades and take an image of that and be at least that far the next go round. Just updating the Norton virus takes an hour and 2 re boots. After Roxio install and-upgrades, another re boot. All these upgrades have to come from a dial up. Microsoft is the only one that lets you download the upgrades to disk for repeated use.

[AmericaUnited]

Best solution, get a raid

Now that will work. A perfect mirrored copy of your virus destroyed drive. :)

[chuckles]

Slipstreaming almost cost me a format c: weekend. I made some kind of mistake and it ruined my XP. After several hours of fighting I was able to uninstall the SP2 and then re install later. I was trying to make a slipstream CD in a folder to burn and it actually changed my files in my wnnt\i386 folder.

I know trying this stuff is dangerous, I just want to recover more easily.

[dennisw]

Service pack 2 for XP is available as one big 173mb download over here--->>>

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

[Florida native]

I slipstream with AutoStreamer. It works great!