question about backups and restore

bword

bword

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I have a big misconception about backups,recovery's, and restores. I have a situation where im working on a laptop with a potentially nuke situation. Id like to be able to save the important files but unfortunately there kind of all over the pc not to mention theres a few programs installed that is important. Now he said he saved all his important stuff already but Id like know how to save things just in case. I know how to drag and copy stuff onto a external HD but what if I miss something. Im familiar with restore points and was wondering is there a way to take a snapshot of the pc with its current files and installed programs. Restore the pc from scratch and the then put it back ezactly the way it was when I took that snapshot.
So I opened the restore utility and selected restore ALL files and chose to save to my external HDD cause its a huge file,its doing it now and its gonna take a while. Am I barking up the wrong tree for what I want?
 
is there a way to take a snapshot of the pc with its current files and installed programs. Restore the pc from scratch and the then put it back ezactly the way it was when I took that snapshot.
Click to expand...

Yup, I think what you want is software to create either an 'image' or a 'clone'. The terms are often mis-used, but generally an image is what you want (where all actual data is backed up), whereas a 'clone' is a sector-by-sector copy of the entire drive (which is forensically sound). This can be done for free or paid, things to search for would be: Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, DriveImage XML, Roadkils DiskImage/RawCopy, GhostForLinux, DD (a linux tool), or any other tool
 
There's lots of apps that will do this. Acronis is probably the most popular paid one

If you're looking for free try clonezilla.
http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/

In both cases you boot off cd (although usb is possible too) and image the drive onto an external drive. It is as you said a snapshot of whats on there. To put it back on just boot off the cd again and load the image back from the external drive. Its definitley the best way to go for a full backup.
 
I think that's what i'm going do I gotta read into ghosting. Thank you guys for clearing that up. Now what if you have a nasty virus will it be included in the image also??
 
Well maybe this won't solve my problem but it's good info thanks for shedding some light. I'd hate to ghost it and bring anyvirus back onto the computer.
 
I very rarely do the cloning/ghosting thing (except for data recovery) but I always take two copies of the clients data (even my hdd's can fail!)

someone I know always clones the client's HDD cos it's handy if the customer refuses to pay - he can then clone their system back to exactly how it was before the job started!
 
how big are the image files?
So if you have a customer with a issue where you cannot get the OS no matter what you try, there is no way to save the data? Ive read something somewhere about running windows on another HD and then working on the corrupted one threw the good hdd? Only problem is that I dont own a pc tower yet just a laptop. Not to mention what do you do with a laptop HDD its not like there the same size and connection as a pc tower hdd right? Is there a way to have a usb connection from a good pc to a bad one and just access the HD only?
 
Last edited:
bword said:
how big are the image files?
So if you have a customer with a issue where you cannot get the OS no matter what you try, there is no way to save the data? Ive read something somewhere about running windows on another HD and then working on the corrupted one threw the good hdd? Only problem is that I dont own a pc tower yet just a laptop. Not to mention what do you do with a laptop HDD its not like there the same size and connection as a pc tower hdd right? Is there a way to have a usb connection from a good pc to a bad one and just access the HD only?
Click to expand...

Image file size is dependent on how much data is on the HDD you image.

If the HDD is fine and you need the data off of it, then you can just put it in a working computer as a second drive and read the data.

I can not imagine any situation where working with a bad HDD will cause a good one to fail. That is silly.

You need an SATA/IDE to USB adapter to access a HDD without a computer to put it in. They can be purchased for fairly cheap, Here's one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Laptop SATA drives are normal SATA connectors. The IDE ones do require an adapter:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203012

Here is a USB adapter that can apparently also read 2.5 IDE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017
 
awesome suggestions, im def gonna read more into those adapters and buy one asap. Im gonna burn the linux cd and test it out looks like a good thing to have. And you said the hdd should pop up unless the hdd is totally fried?
 
Yup. If its in the adaptor it will appear as a Local Disk.

If you use puppy, it will show in the bottom left of the screen (might be sda1 or hda1 or similar). If you double click the icon it will start the disc mounter which should look something like this:

http://help.artaro.eu/images/winxp/xppuppy24.jpg

You may see a few different choices depending on how many partitions are on the drive. Choose to mount your partition and a folder will open with the contents of the drive.
 
well right now im currently on the linux cd on the laptop that wont boot up at all. I see the folder she asked to try and save. Im having issues trying to copy files over to my external hdd so im gonna try to copy it to my sd card via adapter. I cant tell if its frozen at some point the progress bars arent really there but if i can save this ladys pictures and reload the OS im sure shed be happy. However is there a way to run windows from a cd and then run chkdsk

ps im trying to copy the pictures but when its done it says in red there 363 errors thats alot of errors lol, i just keep getting the same failed to copy error any ideas? I might try ubuntu next
 
Last edited:
bword said:
ps im trying to copy the pictures but when its done it says in red there 363 errors thats alot of errors lol, i just keep getting the same failed to copy error any ideas? I might try ubuntu next
Click to expand...

It has now become a data recovery job. You more than likely will not get those pictures with the error.

If they don't care about possibly trashing their chances of getting the pictures, you can try HDD Regenerator. It might make it possible to read them again but if the drive is physically damaged somehow, this can kill it.

From there, it becomes how much are they willing to pay.
 
could you post exactly what the errors are saying? Can you see the pictures in the folder? Can they be opened and viewed? Did you get any of the pictures back?

Try creating a new file on your sd card first to make sure the permissions are ok and it will allow to put stuff on ther in the first place.
 
i booted up using ubuntu off the cd only and was able to see the HD and I copied the whole folder to my external HDD which I was able to view a few and see most if not all are not corrupted which is good. My other issue is when attempting to install XP it says uknown device and sees nothing to partition at the blue install screen. I know the HD is active and working otherwise I wouldnt have been able to retrieve that data. Man im confused :confused:
 
Is the cd of xp you are using the one that came with that pc?

If not, it may not have the sata drivers for that pc.

You will need to download the sata driver for that model of laptop. Then use nlite to slipstream in those sata drivers which will result in a new iso for you to burn. You will now have an xp disk which has the sata drivers for that nodel of laptop and if the hdd is ok, it should be available to install xp onto.
 
MrUnknown said:
Image file size is dependent on how much data is on the HDD you image.

If the HDD is fine and you need the data off of it, then you can just put it in a working computer as a second drive and read the data.

I can not imagine any situation where working with a bad HDD will cause a good one to fail. That is silly.

You need an SATA/IDE to USB adapter to access a HDD without a computer to put it in. They can be purchased for fairly cheap, Here's one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Laptop SATA drives are normal SATA connectors. The IDE ones do require an adapter:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812203012

Here is a USB adapter that can apparently also read 2.5 IDE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017
Click to expand...

Or you could get a SATA HDD Dock like this one here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4259603&CatId=2785

This one isn't the greatest, I'm sure there are better ones out there, but you get the idea.

This was on my Christmas Wishlist; obviously I was on Santa's naughtly list, cos I didn't get it .. wrote him a letter n all !
 
DarDar said:
Is the cd of xp you are using the one that came with that pc?

If not, it may not have the sata drivers for that pc.

You will need to download the sata driver for that model of laptop. Then use nlite to slipstream in those sata drivers which will result in a new iso for you to burn. You will now have an xp disk which has the sata drivers for that nodel of laptop and if the hdd is ok, it should be available to install xp onto.
Click to expand...

no its not the same cd so im gonna look into the sata drivers. Im pretty sure that HDD is okay seeing how it mounted fine running on linux.
 
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