Has anyone got suggestions for backup prior to carrying out work on a computer, for example before you carry out a wipe and reload of the OS, drive replacement/upgrade etc... To date, I’ve normally just slaved the drive to my own pc and copied the data manually, then do a backup of my drive (just in case). Do the work and then copy everything back over. I keep the data for about 1 month (sometimes more if requested) again just in case something goes wrong such as drive failure... I like the idea of doing a image copy but slow to trust it...
Backup procedure prior carrying out work
- Thread starter rainking
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ajc196
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Every machine I touch gets a full image backup with Acronis Workstation. That way I can restore the whole OS, pull out just files, convert to OS to a virtual disk, mount/scan the archive, or perform a Universal Restore of the image to a new machine if the old one is trash.
Image backups, especially Acronis, give you way more flexibility in repair options.
Image backups, especially Acronis, give you way more flexibility in repair options.
onetech4all
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Why don't you just perform a clone and slave the hard drive? That's what I do!
I think it's a lot faster!
Not a big fan of images, as you can tell; I am a fan of virtual machines.
But in a case of spyware/virus removal I do a clone to a hard drive.
Why don't you just perform a clone and slave the hard drive? That's what I do!
I think it's a lot faster!
Not a big fan of images, as you can tell; I am a fan of virtual machines.
But in a case of spyware/virus removal I do a clone to a hard drive.
onetech4all
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rainking, you should keep doing what you're doing, it's what I do. I also keep the clones for about a month, plus I can always hook it up to any machine I need, without worrying about images.
You will find a lot of advices about these procedures on this forum.
rainking, you should keep doing what you're doing, it's what I do. I also keep the clones for about a month, plus I can always hook it up to any machine I need, without worrying about images.
You will find a lot of advices about these procedures on this forum.
vdub12
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I use DriveimageXML on UBCD4WIN. I image the drive across my network to my file server. I have a 1Tb drive that I store the images on for a month.
It works very well and by using UBCD4WIN you can browse the image and just restore individual files if you want or image the whole drive back. The only down side is if you are imaging to a new drive if the drive is not the same size or bigger it will not image back.
I had a drive a while back that was just a few kb smaller then the original and it would not image back. The way I avoid this is I resize the partition before I image it that way if I am imaging it back to the same size drive I don't have to worry about this limitation. The downfall is in this situation chances are the drive is failing if you are imaging back to a different drive of the same size and some failing drives will not survive the partition resize procedure. So just make sure you take an original image before you try and resize the drive.
Time is another aspect. A standard image with a drive that has about 30 to 40Gb will take about an hour. However, a small image thats in the 3 to 5 Gb range will only take about 15 minutes. The worse to date was a packed 500Gb drive that took 4 hours to image across my network. At the time though I had unknowingly used a Hub instead of a switch to up-link my tech bench to my file server. Since fixing this and installing a switch my backup times have greatly improved.
It works very well and by using UBCD4WIN you can browse the image and just restore individual files if you want or image the whole drive back. The only down side is if you are imaging to a new drive if the drive is not the same size or bigger it will not image back.
I had a drive a while back that was just a few kb smaller then the original and it would not image back. The way I avoid this is I resize the partition before I image it that way if I am imaging it back to the same size drive I don't have to worry about this limitation. The downfall is in this situation chances are the drive is failing if you are imaging back to a different drive of the same size and some failing drives will not survive the partition resize procedure. So just make sure you take an original image before you try and resize the drive.
Time is another aspect. A standard image with a drive that has about 30 to 40Gb will take about an hour. However, a small image thats in the 3 to 5 Gb range will only take about 15 minutes. The worse to date was a packed 500Gb drive that took 4 hours to image across my network. At the time though I had unknowingly used a Hub instead of a switch to up-link my tech bench to my file server. Since fixing this and installing a switch my backup times have greatly improved.
raventech
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same method here.. indeed it is flexible.. ive been using acronis for 2yrs of my service, and im well satisfied of it.,
Martyn
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Is this the version you use? So you can back multiple images onto a usb external hard drive?
http://www.acronis.co.uk/backup-recovery/workstation/
http://www.acronis.co.uk/backup-recovery/workstation/
onetech4all
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Acronis or Ghost from the Hiren CD. It has always worked for me.
Acronis or Ghost from the Hiren CD. It has always worked for me.
RegEdit
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In my invoices I ask if they have critical data that they need backed up (yes or no). Even more specifically, I also ask if they have secure data that needs to be backed up (such as Internet Explorer passwords, encrypted files & folders) which would be lost if the computer is or should become unbootable even if the drive is healthy.
onetech4all
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The OP is asking if he should do a backup of the data before he works on the hard drive, and the answer is almost always! He wasn't asking about encryption or IE passwords. He is worried about data loss; passwords can be retyped. I rarely see people encrypting anything on their computers or servers.
You can check the clone and see if it boots with the original hardware, just to make sure you still have a bootable clone OS, before you work on the original hard drive.
The OP is asking if he should do a backup of the data before he works on the hard drive, and the answer is almost always! He wasn't asking about encryption or IE passwords. He is worried about data loss; passwords can be retyped. I rarely see people encrypting anything on their computers or servers.
You can check the clone and see if it boots with the original hardware, just to make sure you still have a bootable clone OS, before you work on the original hard drive.
C
Coffee is good :)
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I could picture you filling up that hard drive considering you store a month's worth of images on it. Does it ever get full? What happens when it does?
Also, wouldn't it be faster and better to just use Fab's program to copy their data instead of copying every single thing?
What are the odds of you destroying someone's data? From the very beginning I have never lost anyone's data nor did anything that would cause data to be lost. I don't even know how I could destroy their data considering I don't touch it with anything.
C
Coffee is good :)
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--- So what you're basically saying is this:
You can store an image on any size hard drive. The image MUST be the same size OR bigger than the hard drive that it gets installed on (e.g. a 500 GB image is obviously not going to fit on a 320 GB hard drive.)
-- And if you wanted to reduce the size of the image so that it can fit onto a smaller drive you have to reduce the size of the partition that is being imaged.
Sound right?
vdub12
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The drive I store my images on has hit about 800Gb before, I have yet to fill it completely. The average image size I store is 20 to 60Gb. At some point I am going to build a file server with freenas that will be 8+Tb but I also plan to offer remote backup at some point also. If a situation ever came up to where i filled my current drive up I would just buy another one. I use WD Blue drives and they are about $100 for a 1Tb.
The size of the data does not mater, if you want to put 100Gb of data from a 500Gb drive on to a 350Gb drive you must resize the original partition to under 350Gb. Once you image it to a new drive you can resize it again to fill the new drive.
MasterTech99
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We will generally do a clone to a workstation or scratch drive when we want to back a customer's data up. We do not make a habit of backing up every system that we work on. My techs are expected to close about 10 tickets per day so time becomes an issue. I do, however, think that it's a good idea for independent techs that don't have an established business to back them up.
We have a disclaimer on our work orders and our techs are professionals that do their best to respect the customer's data. In 20+ years it has only become an issue a handful of times and no customer has ever gotten damages for lost data.
We have a disclaimer on our work orders and our techs are professionals that do their best to respect the customer's data. In 20+ years it has only become an issue a handful of times and no customer has ever gotten damages for lost data.
