8 replies to this topic

[denno]

Just got the blue screen, had to wipe and reinstall Win XP. Now back online, in the process of restoring iDrive backup, including various programs. OE is of course on the new install of XP, and I am using it. Question is, can I retrieve the e-mails and folder structure and address book, all presumably backed up, and get OE back the way it was. And how? TIA (and let me know if this is the right forum, or should be Windows or something else)/ denno

[Ztruker]

What program did you use to backup to the iDrive?

[denno]

iDrive is an online backup service.

[Lee]

iDrive uses a backup software program: http://www.notebookr...ure.asp?f=45635

iDrive can only restore what it backed up.

iDrive will have backed up your emails and address book if those options were ticked for backup, but OE folder structure I wouldn't have a clue about, maybe Rich knows (?)

[Ztruker]

Looks like pretty good info here: How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data

That should show you where the OE data is and what you need to restore.

[denno]

Yeah, OK. Guess I will wait till everything has downloaded and then see how this might work. Probably will have questions about restoring bookmarks and desktop and other structural things, if they do not reappear by themselves. I think I have about everything set to backup; I know there are Favorites files, and somewhere buried in the computer are files with 20-digit strings for names that are the e-mail backups. Why don't they just call them E-Mail Backup?

I am also wondering about a backup system that would just park the entire C drive on another HD, programs, desktop, and OS, ready to be installed in the tower if one fails.
One question would be, if there is some fatal corruption building in the first one, would the copy have the same flaw waiting to fail?

I kind of know there are programs and hardware to do this with. Things like "images." I also know they always seem to bollix my brains trying to read how they work.

Kind of sideways, I had a gig once for a couple of months delivering new computers to all the state police barracks, and setting them up, which meant running a CD and entering commands here and there. What I'm remembering is that techier folks were going around networking the statewide system. My memory of the process of networking is of two men and a woman hovering for hours around a monitor. I know time and tech have made that a simpler process.

Hoping backup is getting ever-simpler.

I'll scope around the forums and see where I might start a thread on that.

[I do like the online things, Carbonite and iDrive, that backup incrementally every day; but the restoration takes days].

thanks again

[Lee]

I am also wondering about a backup system that would just park the entire C drive on another HD, programs, desktop, and OS, ready to be installed in the tower if one fails.

Personally speaking, I think online backups are a waste of time (and $) because like you said, they takes for ages because your upload speed is nowhere near your download speed. Not only do you pay for online backup space, you also pay your ISP for all uploads to the online backup site and help use up you monthly GB limit.

The simplest way to backup is to move the location of your main folders (Docs etc.) so their contents all go automatically to another drive even though the main folders and their content look like they are still on C: drive. They are actually no longer on the same drive as your OS. This can be a large data partition or preferably a 2nd HDD in your computer. See How To Move My Documents Folder in Windows XP . This can also be done with your other main folders like Music and Pictures etc.

You can also use another drive partition or 2nd HDD to store a regular snapshot/clone image of your OS (think of it as the ultimate System Restore) on a separate drive. Not the perfectly safe option but a heck of a lot safer than having everything on C: Valuable docs. can be regularly burnt to disk (preferable) or at least copied to a USB HDD or even flash drive.

Call the 2nd partition or HDD drive DATA. If your OS ever goes pear shaped again like it did and you can't access it, it takes about 10 to 20 min to do a restore from a boot disk that you made from your image creator software. For a great free program check out Macrium Reflect (all I ever use) or for something more fancy the main ones are Symantec Ghost or Acronis True Image which seems to be the Tech. choice.

Edited by Lee, 20 February 2013 - 12:14 AM.

[denno]

I think I looked at Acronis once. Maybe even copied some stuff to an external drive.
I know one thing I worry about is lightning, which I got told some years ago had accounted for a dead HD. Hence, don't want the second HD in the same computer, and one reason I like to have a copy off-site. I know it's rare.

Anyhow, I will try to do some reading, and if I don't understand it then I'll ask for more help. I really get lost in the nomenclature and directions. clone ghost image partition huh?

What I want to do is have a totally backed-up, updated same as the C drive, HD I could either install in the computer, or copy entirely to a new or wiped HD.

thanks

p.s. I'm having device manager problems...lost my entire audio device...have posted thread in Windows forum.

[Lee]

I know one thing I worry about is lightning, which I got told some years ago had accounted for a dead HD. Hence, don't want the second HD in the same computer, and one reason I like to have a copy off-site. I know it's rare.

I'm sure every Tech and many members here have an ISO copy image of there OS drive stored on an external USB hard drive and like me, possibly an internal HDD too.

The main imaging software used to create the ISO image would be Acronis, but the simplest to use for a newcomer to imaging software would have to be the free version of Macrium Reflect, which I use myself as I'm all for the KISS principal (keep it simple stupid) with any software

Edited by Lee, 20 February 2013 - 01:40 PM.