Posted by RickinVA on 10/27/08 5:55pm
Msg #268344
Pay attention
This maybe should be in the Leisure forum, but I think it belongs here.
In Feb, 2008 I bought a laptop with Vista installed. I realized my mistake in February, but it was too late! My desktop had what appeared to be a terminal problem, so I took it in for repair, and the (guru) said it might take a week. Unwilling to wait that long to resume my business, I went to BB and bought a Laptop that I thought would help me replace the desktop. It had Vista Home Premium pre-installed. (Mistake number 1) I fought with it and cried, and swore at it, and did everything but throw it into the fireplace! (Would have done that except for not having a fireplace.) I sold it in August. I bought a laptop from Dell in May, with XP on it, and it was delivered in about 2 days. If I had known that little bit of info, I would have done that in the first place.
Anyway, I bought it, hauled it home and commenced to install the junk I consider required. I have an app I think is excellent call Acronis True Image. I have never had to use it, but I backed up the laptop to it in May. I proceeded to the few closings I got and backed it up again in August. In October, (yes, this month) my HD went bad. I had a failure in accessing anything and called Dell. They determined that the HD was dead, and said, in the best Philippine accent they could muster, that it was bad. They sent me a new one.
That is great! They can send me a HD that is exactly what I got when I bought the machine! (Wait a Minute! What about all the Good stuff I had installed on the OLD HD? Tough, I was told. But we can give you what you bought! So, they sent me a new HD and I was less than enthused, but I was resigned to re-installing all those priceless apps and, of course, I would loose all the stuff I had saved for those 5 months, including my entire checkbook and the spreadsheets I had made for the great signing business I had created!
Well, today, I received the hard drive. I had a number to call for help installing it, which I used, but it was pretty straightforward so I really didn't need it, but all my 'stuff'', data and checkbook and stuff, wasn't going to be on it. Philippine guy said "(just re-install. Everything will be fine!) RIGHT!
So, I said to my self: Self, you got that image backup, Use it. So, I did. It worked so slick I couldn't believe it. All the important spreadsheets, Money 99 files, all the programs, the desktop Icons, (and probably the gremlin that caused the HD to fail in the first place) were back. But just to August, which was the last image I had made. AND, none of the junk programs that come with the computer were still there, 'cause I had deleted those in May! I LOVE ACRONIS!! I just have to recover the stuff I hadn't copied to the Desktop 2 weeks ago!
You people that don't back up, heed your papa, of suffer the consequences! And remember, a back up will NOT reinstall your programs. An imaging program will!
Rick
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Reply by PAW on 10/27/08 7:20pm
Msg #268348
Image backups are fine until you need to install to a different model hard drive. Images are just that, a bit-by-bit image of the drive. Also, if you change hardware platforms (different motherboard, chip sets, video controller, etc.) an image restore may cause more damage than you would want.
It is always best to do complete backups on a regular basis. Also keep installation disks handy so you can install all the applications again. Granted, it will take some time, but unless the two systems are identical right down to the BIOS, firmware and chip sets, a regular file-by-file backup is the best way to go.
There are many backup programs on the market that can be scheduled to run as often as you want. I recommend doing a weekly full backup and daily incrementals, keeping at least three weeks worth of backups available. I also suggest either a remote hard drive or an online backup service.
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Reply by MW/VA on 10/28/08 9:01am
Msg #268412
Re: Anyone care to give us a lesson?
I wasn't up to speed on backing up, either. I had been (I thought) backing up my QB on a CD (found out there was nothing on it). I recently got a device called a "Clickfree" for backup. Timing was right on. Started having HD problems. My IT friend actually created an "image" of my HD on his computer, and then transferred it to a new HD. In the meantime I got a new desktop, and he transferred it again. I was one of the lucky ones & got it done before the HD crashed. It would have been a nightmare to lose all my business accounting on QB. I learned a very important lesson. Since I'm not very tech savvy, I purchased the "Clickfree" on one of the home shopping channels. Talk about timing, it saved me, and I'm glad my "gut instincts" had nagged at me about backing up.
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