Backing Up a Complete Hard Drive
By Bob Lafave, Tampa PC Users Group
boblala@ij.net
Over the years, I have tried different programs and methods to back up the computers that I have used and have never been completely satisfied with the results until now. I have tried programs that run in the Windows environment and programs with which you create diskettes to use in a DOS mode and have run into different problems.
I have used PowerQuest programs that you use from DOS and had created images that I was unable to use to restore the data when needed or to use in the Windows environment. I have used the Windows Back Up included with Windows versions as an extra which was not installed in the latest versions but included on the installation CDs, but could not use it to restore a complete system if a hard drive decided to die. I have used Veritas Simple Back UP and NTI Drive Backup, both of which work in the Windows environment but, after making a backup, presented me with problems when trying to restore. Even the Windows Restore feature that is in the latest versions is not what I needed. This restore feature WILL NOT restore from a hardware failure; nor can you restore SPECIFIC Information that you need. Restore is designed to help you RECOVER to a previous time if you installed a program that did not work or created other problems. You can recover your system to a time before the problems began. And Restore has problems itself in that conditions have to be present that take you to a useful time.
I had about given up with trying to find a reliable method that would work with an LARGE amount of data on the hard drive and work fairly quickly to create the image. I wanted a program that would create an image that could be used to restore the hard drive easily in the future in case a complete restore was needed. And lastly, I wanted a program that allows access to the data from inside the Windows environment and lets you restore or even change parts of the data. So what do I do to ensure I am now protected, and how do I keep it simple enough to be quick, convenient and accurate?
I found Norton Ghost 2002 version 7.0.0.411 that came with Norton System Works 2002 Professional. This program is what I have been looking for to back up a whole hard drive. It is on the System Works installation CD in a separate folder and can be installed by itself without installing any other programs if you choose to do so. The program is also available as a stand-alone program and is $49.99 online at Norton. If you search at other sites, it is anywhere from $25.00 to $68.00. If you look at System Works, it is $69.95 for the 2003 version and between $15.00 and $49.00 for version 2002. The Norton site was all I could find for the 2003 version. My choice would be to find Norton System Works 2003 and use the parts that you need and feel safe using. The 2003 version includes GoBack® 3, Personal Edition by Roxio™, Norton Ghost™, Norton CleanSweep™, Norton Utilities™, and Norton AntiVirus™. The 2002 version I have was a gift so I definitely am using the parts that I liked, which in 2002 included WinFax Basic.
The program takes up only 5.56MB of hard drive space when installed and is in C:\ Program Files\ Symantec\Norton Ghost 2002 folder. The two individual icons that are put on the Start Menu after installation are Norton Ghost Boot Wizard and Norton Ghost Explorer. To use the program, you must first use the Boot Wizard to create a diskette to use to create the image in a DOS mode.
The Wizard takes you step by step and includes a help button to explain each step. You can make choices that allow you to create the image to a hard drive, CD R/RW, or USB connections. Instructions for a peer-to-peer network and making a CD bootable are also given. The Explorer is used to view the image that is created and to restore information, along with other data manipulations. You can restore an individual file(s) or folder(s) to a new folder you specify, you can add new data to the image, and you can change information and then replace it back into the stored image. This is all done inside the Windows environment. But in order to do a complete restore, you need to be back in the DOS mode. A pdf manual is installed to the directory and is accessed from the Explorer Help menu by clicking the choice for Implementation Guide. Along with the normal Help files in both the Boot Wizard and Explorer, this manual will tell you just about everything you need to know. If you do have a problem you can go online to Norton support and carry out troubleshooting with their tech support via email. I had a problem that was not listed in their knowledge base that I could find, and I used Norton Online Support to find a solution.
The problem that I encountered was the creation process would incorrectly identify how much empty hard disk space was available on the storage hard drive. I was trying to create an image of about 8 GB and had over 40GB of empty space but I was receiving an error saying I did not have enough room on the storage media. Norton support instructed me how to collect the information they needed and what commands would be used to gather the information and had me download a utility to help in the gathering. After they looked at what I sent, support explained to me that the problem was because the hard drives I was using were of the same size. I was told how to override the check of space by using a “ command line switch,” and everything has worked great. It took three days of correspondence, but I got the correct answer without a charge.
The method I have used since then as I build a computer for someone or create other full system back-ups is:
If the computer does not have a second hard drive, I use an extra that I install in it temporarily; this is needed as storage. I could use the program to burn the image to a CD R / RW, but I have found that if you have an error in the process you have to restart at the beginning. If you are going to span a large number of CDR’s with the image, you only have to find out one time that if the CD blank you are using is defective you have to start all over. In other words, if you need to make 15 CD’s and you put in a bad CD blank after 14 are made, or your computer burps, you have to start over and waste lots of CD blanks. You can control compression of data so you can save some space. I also have an extra CD burner that I use when needed for the next part.
I create the image using more “command line switches” that break the data into 700MB chunks that will burn to each CD blank. After I create the entire image, I can then burn each 700MB file and not waste my time or blank CD’s.
I now have an image at a point in time that can easily be restored.
For weekly backups now on my computer, I now use Ghost. If you want to do this you must have a separate hard drive to which to back up the data. If you look in the ads, you can get a second hard drive cheaply today. The destination storage of the image must be different from the storage location of the image that you are creating. I usually take less than an hour to create a full backup of around 8 GB and have not experienced any problems as I had with the other programs. The program limits the size of the images to no more than 2 GB before it will span to a new section, but this only means that you get more files that end in a .ghs extension. As an example: my backup is named FULLC and the first section is called FULLC.gho and the next section is automatically named FULLC001.ghs … and so on until all information is included in say the Nth CDR which would be FULLC00N.ghs.
These files are all recognized by the Ghost Explorer as the backup FULLC and allow for data manipulations if needed. Now when I stupidly delete files I can just go to Ghost Explorer and restore the individual files easily. u