Discussing System Restore

The one and only time I had problems with System Restore was when I had it turned on for all drives ( partitions ) C: thru H:.

Set it back to just C: and no problems since.

BillyBob

 

I like the idea of your using only 4G of your drive for Windows. I never selected that small a size for that partition because there are times that stupid apps insist on installing on the boot drive and don't give me a choice. I use 20G of my 120G on Drive 1. I have another HD and if I ever need more space, I will consider PartionMagic-ing that 20 down more
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Part of this thread referred to GoBack.

I used GoBack for a while. At one point, I had to format boot and reinstall XP. After that, I could not get GoBack to work. On boot, I got some kind of message telling me it failed to initialize and I had the choice of trying again or bypassing GoBack. The only thing that worked was discontinuing GoBack. It was then I discovered that the Devil Symantec had bought GoBack. The only help option I could find was their KnowledgeBase. The problem wasn't discussed there and I found no way to contact Symantec any other way. Since then, I will buy NO Symantec product. So.... no Norton, etc.

 

I know most recommend at least 6-8gb for the windows drive but 4gb seems to be working just fine for me. Keep in mind though, that I moved a lot of stuff off the system drive right from the very beginning. Pagefile, TIF's, email folder, My Documents folder, etc. . I've had it set up this way for two years now. When I first installed windows, I had a little over two GB's room left on the drive. After two years my free space is just under 989 MB's . It's sloooooowly shrinking and in the future I may eat crow on this one but the way it's going now, it's going to be a while before I have to do something with it. With partitioning software, it won't be a problem.

If I had it to do over again, I don't know if I'd do it different or not. I might go for a bit more space on the system partition but if I did I'd probably go for 5GB. I still don't think 6 or more is necessary but that's just my opinion. Certainly, if you didn't want to do any moving of things such as the pagefile you'd be better off sticking with a bit more. If I hadn't moved those things off the drive in the beginning, I'd easily have run out of space on the drive by now.

 

I think the cutesy-poo folders that MS has named My this and My that are second only to the operating system they tried to foist a few years ago called "Bob ". That fortunately, died a fast merciful death.

If I find I need the room and my Win partition is not filling much, I will then do a re-partition. Until then, I can live with this..

 

Hey All,

I have two hard drives and use Ghost 2003 (1 floppy) and Karen's Replicator also. Just replicate all important files from C:\Main to #2 drive folder D:\backup then Ghost both drives to a partition on C:\. (which is actually E:\Ghost). When I find drivers or programs I want to keep they go on D:\ .. so unless both hard drives fail at the same time I'm covered. I've never had the restore feature work for me on my system and dont need to allocate the resources for it. I have however used restore disk on other people's computers with limited success.

I'm going to try and use replicator on my system and copy to G:\drive which is Gmail's server using this neat utility that puts a drive letter in the windows explorer. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4405.html
Now that would be cool if it doesn't take to long.

Later
Rockit

 

Interesting idea rockit!

Please keep in mind the security concerns of storing your old tax returns and such to a site on the internet. I have a class of data that this would be an outstanding idea for, but i have another class of data that goes on a CDR and into a safe deposit box. Just something to think about.

 

Yahoo mail will give you 250 Megs of free space. With multiple accounts, you can accommodate quite a few files but I suspect 250 Megs will be ample for most people's personal creations.

Aside from the upload/download time taken, I don't see any real downside to it. Using broadband makes it tolerable. Security is ample if you trust what Yahoo says about it.

I've never lost anything by sending it there. I must say, I keep other backups however. I just view the Yahoo Mailbox as a complementary off-site option.

It also makes for easy file sharing with trusted friends/family by merely allowing them into the mailbox.

 

I couldn't agree more with both of you.

Surfer,
I use Yahoo for email and a few files and really like the fact I can access it from anywhere. And I prefer Yahoo over any of the online email services that I've tried so far.

I see you and Newt use GoBack? Is it Bloatware like most of Symatec's programs? Does it use allot of system resources?

Joe,
I don't keep ANY personal information on my computer short of my resume. I'm very careful to clear all temp files and cookies and have a script that does it automaticly everytime I shut down my computer. My Browser (Avant) clears all that stuff when you close it also.

What I'm thinkin is backing up stuff to gmail like Favorites, pic's, webpages I've created, sound files, icon's, ect..ect ..

For email .. I find gmail slow and not as user freindly as Yahoo so I'm just lookin for some way to use the gig of storage.

I don't have a safe yet but just got a DVD/RW so that is now a option.

If Yahoo wouldn't give the deceased solider's family his password. You'd think that anything you put in one of these accounts would be pretty safe.

I'll give it a shot and post back.

Rockit

 

I got mine from Roxio when they held the rights. I doubt it has changed much though.

I don't consider it bloatware but it does require some drive space to work its magic. It likes to have 10% of the drive space for maximum performance.

As for resources used, I don't notice it slowing anything down.

I must say it is the single best piece of bacon/hind quarter saving software I have ever owned. I wouldn't operate without it.

 

Wow, Zander...you can tell I've been away from the BBS because i just found this loooong thread!

When the person gets the message "unable to restore" sometimes that means there haven't been any changes to the system files SR monitors.

Everynow and then, while doing "housekeeping ", I'll delete all but the last restore point. Like Zander, I haven't got much use for old ones, and don't need a corrupt one in the queue on the rare occasion I might use SR.

Geri- somewhere in this thread you said you'd need 7 cds to do daily backups. I probably would too, but I just keep all my stuff on another partition, like Zander. The difference is that I have a bigger C drive, because I keep program files in it. The theory for me is that if I break XP I'm going to need to install all the software again anyway, and I'll probably want to set it up differently, too. Again, like Zander's situation, I have not had any security issues or other major problems, but that is because of the way I use my computer, and a large dose of luck.

My question with SR is why do some systems not automatically create points? I have never had trouble with any of the computers I regularly work on, but I see it all the time on the BBS. Why is SR so "undependable "? Mine are all within 25 hours of each other (I seldom shut down) and there are other choices from points created automatically when I "did something ".

I have learned to take MS updates on faith. Perhaps they were risky in the 9X days, but the last three years with XP have been painless, but then I do my own selections and installs of MS updates.

Just throwing out more to munch on. Zander- I've got a PM for you I've started 12 times and been interrupted. As soon as I throw these kids out the door into the sunshine, I'll try again (about your hides!)

Johanna

 

Or just get another hard drive. A 40 GB drive can be had for less than $50 and is insurance if the C drive gets hosed.

Regards - Charles

 

I agree Charles,
I bought these Hot Swap Hard drive enclosures from ebay a couple years ago and am looking foward to using them in my new computer. I won't be able to post anything about the gmail idea for awhile cause my ole gal (computer) got jealous last night of the new build and blew sparks and smoke out the back end Looks like it may just be the power supply but I'm not going to mess with it till after I get the new system up and running. Gave me a excuse to pull the hard drives and mount them in those swapable enclousers so I can retrieve the data. As I was typing this the doorbell rang and the case is here so on with the action !!

Later
Rockit

 

Charles,
Since I have been doing websites (which take a lot of set up time!) I have been using my external hard drive case and a spare 40Gig WD to do my backups, which I then store in a fireproof safe, away from the computer. I hate having to do the same work twice!

Johanna