Is it possible to clone/copy the hard drive - if so what is the procedure?
or it possible to backup the complete drive regularly which would mean that in the event of a crash it is possible to get the machine back on line quickly
Hard Drive Copy
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Bill Rutherford
- eCabinets Beta Tester
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Ian,
Check out the following website: http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/smb/retroforwin I have been using this product for about four years now. We have a client copy installed in the router (and every other computer in the office) Every night all computers are backed up onto a Western Digital USB hard drive. I keep two drives in rotation, one here doing a weeks backup and the other at home. That way even in the event of a fire or robbery the worst I am doing is putting 1 weeks worth of data at risk. Ideally I should have five drives and swap them every day, keeping four at home and one in service but that seems a bit overkill. I had tried tape backups but the dust (even in the office) kills them, also with the removable hard drive if you need to restore a single file it is very fast.
Hope this helps.
Check out the following website: http://www.emcinsignia.com/products/smb/retroforwin I have been using this product for about four years now. We have a client copy installed in the router (and every other computer in the office) Every night all computers are backed up onto a Western Digital USB hard drive. I keep two drives in rotation, one here doing a weeks backup and the other at home. That way even in the event of a fire or robbery the worst I am doing is putting 1 weeks worth of data at risk. Ideally I should have five drives and swap them every day, keeping four at home and one in service but that seems a bit overkill. I had tried tape backups but the dust (even in the office) kills them, also with the removable hard drive if you need to restore a single file it is very fast.
Hope this helps.
Bill Rutherford
North Woods Manufacturing
Full service CNC Machining
and Edge Banding
http://www.northwoodsmanufacturing.com
North Woods Manufacturing
Full service CNC Machining
and Edge Banding
http://www.northwoodsmanufacturing.com
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Greg Cannon
- New Member
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- Joined: Sat, Apr 07 2007, 10:07PM
- Location: Upland, CA 91786
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You've got a choice of:
a)Backing up the files
b)Cloning the image
If you backup files, generally files that are in use do not get copied. Since your SuperControl Operating System is Windows XP, that means that the critical files, like the registry, don't get backed up.
Advantage: Easier to recover individual files.
Disadvantage: In the event of a complete crash, you will have to reinstall Windows, the Thermwood software, any service packs or updates that are needed and then determine what files you would like to restore from your backup. You willeventually get back in business, but you'll be down for a couple of days.
If you backup the image, you are making a complete bit level snapshot of the drive. That image can be restored to a new drive of the same size or can be used to migrate to a larger drive.
Advantage: Everything gets backed up and can be restored with a simple tool. In the event of a complete crash, getting back in business is fairly painless. Since you are restoring a snapshot everything, you don;t have to dig out all of the original installation disks.
Disadvantage: Youhave a collection of bits, not a collection of files. Restoring a single file is cumbersome, although some of the imaging applications have a nice GUI to help.
If you choose to backup the image, checkout Norton Ghost. While Norton has managed to screw up most of the applications that they aquire, this one still works and works well. It can be scheduled to backup automatically. You can then save the image files to a CD, DVD or post them to an offsite location.
In my day job, I'm a Software Developer. I am issued a new computer pretty regularly to keep up with my developemnt tools. We snapshot the old one with Ghost and restore to the new one. I can now migrate to a completely new laptop in about an hour. Even if the new hardware is not the same as the old, Windows Plug-n-Play adapts to the changes fairly seamlessly.
Just my 2 cents worth.
a)Backing up the files
b)Cloning the image
If you backup files, generally files that are in use do not get copied. Since your SuperControl Operating System is Windows XP, that means that the critical files, like the registry, don't get backed up.
Advantage: Easier to recover individual files.
Disadvantage: In the event of a complete crash, you will have to reinstall Windows, the Thermwood software, any service packs or updates that are needed and then determine what files you would like to restore from your backup. You willeventually get back in business, but you'll be down for a couple of days.
If you backup the image, you are making a complete bit level snapshot of the drive. That image can be restored to a new drive of the same size or can be used to migrate to a larger drive.
Advantage: Everything gets backed up and can be restored with a simple tool. In the event of a complete crash, getting back in business is fairly painless. Since you are restoring a snapshot everything, you don;t have to dig out all of the original installation disks.
Disadvantage: Youhave a collection of bits, not a collection of files. Restoring a single file is cumbersome, although some of the imaging applications have a nice GUI to help.
If you choose to backup the image, checkout Norton Ghost. While Norton has managed to screw up most of the applications that they aquire, this one still works and works well. It can be scheduled to backup automatically. You can then save the image files to a CD, DVD or post them to an offsite location.
In my day job, I'm a Software Developer. I am issued a new computer pretty regularly to keep up with my developemnt tools. We snapshot the old one with Ghost and restore to the new one. I can now migrate to a completely new laptop in about an hour. Even if the new hardware is not the same as the old, Windows Plug-n-Play adapts to the changes fairly seamlessly.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Clone Hard Drive
Thanks for the advice -