Merle Nicholson’s fine article on backing up a hard disk by using a removable hard disk appeared in January’s "Bits of Blue" newsletter. After reading it, I was reminded I must backup my hard disk and better do it sooner than later.

In my case, I wanted to use a CD-R/RW to backup my hard disk on CD-R media. Although many software companies advertise the capability of backing up the hard disk to a CD-R, they hide the fact that they mean "only if all the data can fit in a single CD-R"! One of the reasons I bought the CD-R/RW was for backing up my hard disk, but now it looked as if I had to do a little more investigating. After asking Adaptec, the foremost company with CD-R supporting software, and inquiring on the subject in a couple related forums on the Internet, I was told the software for backing up to multiple CD-R’s is not available yet, but it is under development.

The reason I am writing this article is that I did backup my hard disk in multiple CD-R’s, and I will take you through it so you can use the information if you need to do something similar. But before I tell you how, let me tell you why.

Yes, I know, why should anyone bother? To buy the hardware, then the software, then to go through the learning process on how to do it and finally backup the hard disk. Bottom line: Spend $200-$300 and 10-20 hours. Then wait for the hard disk to crash, and nothing happens to the hard disk for years. Is it a waste of money and time? I think not.

From my personal experience I have been on both sides of the fence. First, from my first IBM PC to 286, 386, portables, etc. never backed up anything and never had a problem. But with my first Gateway 2000 Pentium I thought it was time to backup. I bought a Colorado 1400 MB tape and I made a point to regularly backup my disk. I never had a problem and consequently never needed to use the backup.

Now I come to my present system, a fast IBM Aptiva with plenty of resources, all kinds of system tools (Config Safe, PC Doctor, Norton Anti-virus, etc.), Windows 98, and an array of fine software. Did I need to backup such a solid system? Why should I, since I never had any problem before. Well, I found out the hard way that I should have backed up my hard disk.

After having my system set up the way I wanted it, which took many, many hours spread over many weeks, it crashed. It really crashed. No Config safe, PC Doctor, Windows 98 Startup Disk, or DOS could revive it.

The first indication was a message during booting up, "Cannot find VMM.VXD". But that was only the tip of the iceberg. The complete registry was all messed up and the Windows\System directory had only a small number of files left; all others were an indistinguishable rubble, a complete mess. There was no hope of restoring my hard disk. I had to start from scratch, formatting, reloading the software and then rebuilding my configuration. Luckily, most of my data were backed up in diskettes.

A couple of weeks later I found an entry in the "known problems" area of the IBM Aptiva Tech Support web page. It said the problem is due to the incompatibility of a particular scanner with the operating system software. I assume they meant the Windows 98 OEM software. I did not ask whose fault it was... I have a scanner but not from the same manufacturer. The fix recommended was to format the hard disk and reload Windows and all the software, literally start from scratch. Little consolation! Also, now there was a downloadable BIOS update to correct the problem. However, the cautious language used in the instructions left the door open for possible future problems. It said, in essence, that even after the BIOS update "if problem is repeated, please repeat procedure", and that left me kind of wary.

Well, it just happens that I listened to the PowerQuest people saying their "Drive Image" software can backup a hard disk to multiple CD-R’s. There were three conditions:

1. There had to be more than one partition, so as to be able to use one for a backup file.
2. The partition with the backup file could not be backed up.
3. The backup file, or image, had to be split into a number of sections, 650 MB maximum each, in order to fit in each CD-R.

My hard disk was a single partition. I could create a partition using Drive Image but because of some additional features I was sold on a second product for this from PowerQuest. Partition Magic creates additional partitions on the fly without destroying the data, as long as there is adequate free space on the disk. More information can be found in their web site http://www.powerquest.com.

It sounded good ,and the price was right, $30 each plus shipping, around $65 total, less than half the regular price. So I ordered the two programs.

In the meantime, while examining other alternatives, Merle informed me through the Internet TPCUG Discussion Group that he knew someone who had backed up his hard disk on CD-R’s using PowerQuest software and also using a Seagate backup program. I knew Seagate made the Windows 98 native backup program, but I had already written it off since it was not supporting CD-R/WR. What about an update?

Yes, I found an update in the Seagate web site, http://www.seagate.com. For $49 for Windows 98 owners, $99 for others, plus shipping, I could get a backup program that would support removable media, including CD-R/WR. It sounded perfect, and, since there were no conditions, I could backup directly on the CR-R and then use my CD-ROM to restore. I ordered it.

All along I’ve been concerned about restoring. A regular backup program works in the DOS environment. To restore, DOS has to recognize the device containing the backup file(s). The startup, or rescue, diskette contains the DOS program, but it also needed to contain the DOS driver for the device to be used to restore.

The PowerQuest documentation says to backup directly from Windows, using the Windows version of Drive Image and then, for restoring, using the DOS version of the same program. The instructions ask you to contact your device manufacturer for a DOS driver. In my case it was an OEM CD-ROM. However, as you might know, the Windows 98 Start-up diskette already has a generic CD-ROM driver and you can choose to have it loaded during boot-up. Seagate did not say much about restoring in their documentation, which is only available in their backup program’s "help" file, but I assumed I would find more information as I proceeded, so I chose to try Seagate first, since it seemed to be a straightforward backup program.

The Seagate upgrade, called Backup Exec, came on a single CD-ROM without any documentation, except basic installation instructions. I felt these instructions were not adequate because they did not say anything on system requirements, what changes will be made in my system, will it update the existing backup program or install an entirely new one. Right from the start I did not get the impression of a good and well-documented program. The Backup Exec was loaded by default to its own directory, different from the original Windows 98 Seagate Backup directory, so it is a complete stand-alone program.

The instructions for backing up to CD-R’s contained two steps:

1. Backup to a file on the hard disk.
2. Copy the backup file to CD-R.

Both backup and restore are executed within the Windows environment. That caused two concerns:

1. How Windows 98 will back itself up completely. Or will it?
2. I will need to load Windows 98 before restore.

In my case, Windows 98 OEM is part of a number of compressed files on a single CD along with all the other OEM programs, and they are automatically installed if you install Windows from this CD. So I needed another extra step installing all the original programs and then uninstalling the ones I did not want. This was not a pleasant task to look forward to. A lot of junk is loaded ‘free’ in today’s computers.

OK, I backed up to a file on the hard disk, in the same partition. I formatted three CD-R’s to ensure I had enough space for 2.2 GB of uncompressed files. I needed a little over 1.3 GB with compression. Looking at the size of the backup file I could tell it did backup Windows 98; however, during compare it generated an error report of a few Windows files it could not backup. This, however, was no longer important, since reinstalling Windows 98 will be required before restore. I assume they backup Windows 98 to include any updates, up-grades, and customization, but files in use could not be backed up.

The copying to the CD-R started normally. The CD-R/RW was recognized and started burning the backup files to CD-R at the normal 2X speed. But while I was waiting for the ‘Insert CD-R number 2’ message, I got an unpleasant surprise: "Error-The end of CD-R media has been reached unexpectedly. Copying has been terminated." The first CD-R stopped after copying 637 MB, and there was no recovery path. Seagate Tech Support next morning told me that not all CD-R/RW are supported. I was told the supported list did not include my Acer CRW6206A. I thanked them for the news and asked for an RMA number. The damage was $15 for shipment and registered return and two weeks wasted.

The PowerQuest packages came with very good documentation. Both Partition Magic 4.0 and Drive Image 2.0 came each on a single CD-ROM and each with a good printed manual. I also received BootMagic for use with multiple operating systems to enable switching among them. It sells separately for $15-$30, but it is included with Partition Magic in its CD-ROM and a separate smaller printed manual. I had never used any PowerQuest software before, but I had heard good comments about them. I expected everything to go very smoothly, at least this time. However, it did not quite happen that way.

I installed both programs, following the usual installation instructions, and generated a "Rescue Disk", actually a two floppy startup pair for each program. For obvious reasons, this is recommended before attempting to partition a hard disk to run Scandisk and Defrag. I did both. Also, there was a bold caution note to backup the hard disk before attempting to partition. I had no way of doing that. As a matter of fact this was to be the end result of the process I had just started. A little ironic, but I would not blame them for being extra careful.

Here I had another minor distraction. The documentation said if I had more than one CD-ROM installed, Windows 98 might not automatically assign the proper new drive letters to the CD-ROM(s), so I might not be able to copy to CD-R. I followed the recommended procedure and when I pre-tested, the assignment was incorrect. I disregarded the above and returned to my previous setting. This was probably my error, since I assumed CD included CD-ROM and CD-R/WR.

I started Partition Magic and got the initial screen. But as soon as I tried the first pull down menu everything froze. This was the kind of freeze no Ctrl-Alt-Del or Power-Off buttons could fix. It was a solid hang-up. I had to pull the plug out of the wall. Tried again, after making sure all other programs were turned off. The result was the same. I performed Scandisk and Defrag on the hard disk again and reloaded the program. There was still no solution.

Next morning the PowerQuest Tech Support, after examining the procedure, tried several times without success, then told me to use the "Rescue Diskette(s)" to start and open the program in DOS. That helped a little. We got to three steps before freezing. Then I was told I might not have enough conventional memory. We inserted a line in the Autoexec.bat of the Rescue diskette to load the program "high". By that time I was on the phone for 45 minutes and I told the tech to study the problem and either call me back or e-mail me with any suggestions.

I am sure this experience is not out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact, it happens so often that some of us have developed certain "defensive" or should I say "offensive" mechanisms. One of them is that we call again, hoping to get a different tech who will have a new idea. It worked. The other tech said I had to lock my hard disk, which is supposedly done by the program automatically. After that the program worked, although only in the DOS mode.

I have a 6 GB disk with 2.2 GB used. It is FAT 32. My cluster size is minimal, 4K, so there was no need for multiple small partitions. I decided to leave another 1 GB to the primary C: partition and make a new D: partition 2.8 GB to be used for backups, etc. You see, if I had a backup file of my C: disk in the D: partition when my computer crashed, I could have recovered just from that file alone, easily. So the strategy now was to leave the backup file in D: even after copying it to CD-R’s. This will give me additional insurance and facilitates making interim backups, since backing up to HD is very fast. I will need my removable media, CD-R’s, only to recover from a major HD damage.

The creation of the extended logical partition now went smoothly, and the graphical representation of the disk partition sizes and status was excellent.

Ready to backup? Well, not quite yet.

The last PowerQuest tech I talked to cautioned me to ensure I have the Version 2.02 update for Drive Image, especially if I am to backup using a CD-R/W. He assumed the version I received a week ago was 2.0 so I had to do a two step update, first to Version 2.01 and then to 2.02. Checking the version in the Windows 98 program showed 2.0 but in DOS showed 2.01. The updates were downloadable from the PowerQuest web site. Each update was compressed and large, a few MB and a few hundred KB, respectively. They were not self-extracting. The instructions called for downloading to a Temp directory, copying to the Drive Image directory, and expanding by using PKZIP or a compatible utility.

Checking the Windows program, it showed version 2.0 while the DOS showed version 2.01. Besides the question of what version I already had, I also found out there were three directories using the words, Drive Image. Anyway, the directory I chose was the one containing the application, exec file. The update 2.0 to 2.01 did not do anything to either Windows or DOS programs. The update from 2.01 to 2.02 changed a couple of important files. It was now obvious I had version 2.01 for both programs. In any case, however, I was interested in the DOS program, since that’s the one I would use for both backup and restore.

This is the end of the suspense. The rest worked just fine. I backed up the entire drive C: in a three part split backup file in D: using the high compression setting. Then I copied the backup file from D: to F:, my CD-R/RW drive, one CD-R each file part. The C: to D: backup took, approximately, half an hour and the D: to F: copying another 75 minutes. There were no errors and no more problems.

I do not expect problems with restore. The Windows 98 Startup Disk loads the DOS CD-ROM driver and the Drive Image Rescue Disk contains the DOS version of the program. Although I have not done the restore, I am confident the complete drive C: is restorable. I did check it as much as it is possible with a dry run. u