Re: New year, clean install, any advantage to having applications on D: instead of C:?

On Jan 6, 2:03 pm, Daniel James <wastebas...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<news:633f9bf4-2f6e-4aa4-bfba-b18a0497ddb2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

, Jameshanle...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
in your favour(and mine - since I mentioned it first!!), the point
about the drive label would answer my criticisms.

You did.

And an argument against me would be the capacity issue. If backing up
(imaging rather) a big partition(OS+ data/prog-installation-exes), it
creates a big image.

I used to keep data that I wanted to back up regularly on roughly
DVD-sized partitions (actually a bit bigger than DVDs, but never
allowed to get too full) so that I could just burn the whole partition
to DVD as a means of backing up/archiving/transferring to another
machine. That works well ... but ~5GB per data partition doesn't feel
like much space, these days.

Imaging works well for larger partitions, partly because the image
files are usually compressed and partly because decent imaging programs
allow the image to be broken down into manageable (e.g. DVD-sized)
chunks. The disadvantage is that one need to run special de-imaging
software to restore the data, and can't just pop a DVD into a drive and
read its filesystem natively.


interesting..
I used to have directories
c:\backups\p\DVD1
c:\backups\p\DVD2
e.t.c.
up to around DVD5 !

Then I was bothered by not finding the programs because I did not know
or case what DVD they were on. So I copied all the folders and pasted
them as shortcuts, into "c:\backups\p\program shortcuts"

I cannot remember if I abandoned that directory structure.. (since now
I am only backup up < 2GB data, with mozy. Since some computers died
and I just have this little laptop)

But I did stop backuping up to DVDs.

I found it better to backup to hard drive.
For many, many reasons

- I have had one of my backup DVDs go bad (fortunately that backup was
in addition to hard drive, and my original was still fine).

- DVD RWs rather than DVD Rs are the only way to go in terms of cost.
But I have heard that CDRWs are unreliable, and I suspect DVD RWs are
too.
Heck, even my CD-Rs are unreliable, some work for a few years, and
them fail. I have had windows xp setup CDs fail mid installation due
to CD corruption. Fortunately I have had copies, because I expected it
and made a few in the techie bag.


And with CDs , and no doubt DVDs too, there is this "Factory" issue.
You can buy whatever make of CD or DVD, but all that counts is the
factory, and you can end up with ritek. And that is not advertised.
(Maybe imation tend not to use bad factories? I heard they are a good
make).

- It takes time, you have to keep coming back to the machine and
swapping DVDs. Like a poor way to be nostalgic about installing
windows 95 from floppy disks.

- Data comes in 2 parts. Program installation files , and
documents(txt,doc). The program installation files are largely fairly
static. In that they are an old collection, that is merely added to.
The only advantage of rebackuping up the static portion, would be to
refresh the storage medium. And I am not buying new storage media
every week. So, they should not be part of a frequent e.g. weekly,
backup.
(And the documents include a file with a list of all programs I have
anyway, that is v important, and easy to backup)

- DVDs or CDs, are not instantly/transparently accessible. It is good
for portability, taking them to "end users" in the family - in a
techie`s bag. And good for if I really need something.. But not for
frequent access.

They may be good for disaster scenarios.. But not because they are
more reliable than hard drives.. I have found them not to be so. But
because it is good practice to have different storage mediums. And,
portability, as mentioned.
But to be fair. Hard drives are also good for disaster scenarios, and
even portability. But I still use CDs/DVDs for portability. Maybe
because the risk is spread.

Hard drive backups seem to win on everything.. Reliability, Frequent
and immediate and convenient access..

Furthermore, a minor point. The optical media has not quite caught up
with HDDs or FDDs for add/delete capability, or to FDDs for
accessibility. CDs, I am not sure I trust Windows writing to them.
Using 3rd party software is not as nice, but it has been necessary for
reliability. You cannot really add/delete naturally with CDs/DVDs.
USB manages the read/write. But For accessibilityEven USB isn`t quite
there, you gotta click the thing and choose "remove" and get that
popup that it is safe to remove it. Never had that with FDDs. Not
that I would go back to 1.44MB. But that is just a minor gripe.


Bigger partitions can be backed up to DDS/DLT/AIT tapes or onto other
hard drives -- though none of this is particularly cheap. It will
usually be cheaper than recreating the data from scratch, though, even
assuming that that is possible.

I tend not to make images that often, I have taken te route of
reinstalling windows.

It's not just reinstalling Windows ... it's reinstalling and then
running update to get the 90-odd hotfixes <snip>

I would slipstream a cd that has it, make an ISO of it, make a few
CDs

I am not that big on windows updates anyway. What are they for?
securing IE and OE? Well if one is that bothered, one can use FF or
whatever.

Better still, I run Windows in a VM (under linux, as it happens, but it
could by under any OS (including another copy of Windows)) and I can
keep a 'virgin' copy of the Windows system ready to restore if needed.
That 'virgin' copy is backed up to DVD, of course.


Currently, I prefer it the other way around (at this stage of linux
and myself)..
Running windows, and keeping "linux" under dhimmitude (with cygwin)


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: System Restore Points in Windows 2000 Pro?
    ... > I have nuked and paved my Windows 2000 Pro system and everything is going ... Use standard backup procedures or a disk imaging/cloning ... > wide range of hard drives and removable media.† ... > I am using Norton Internet Security 2005, ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: Back up
    ... > techniques for Windows XP/Home. ... > Windows XP/Pro has a downright decent backup and restore wizard, ... All my PCs have two hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Back up
    ... > bundling backup software into Windows? ... >>> techniques for Windows XP/Home. ... All my PCs have two hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Unable to delete
    ... the Command Prompt to help with the typing. ... figured that out from a previous Windows Properties question I ... Since this is a system rebuild, I still need to get a full backup ... does not exist on the main drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: ntbackup will not start
    ... whenever you ask about XP-Home backup. ... backup techniques for Windows XP/Home. ... I told you that Windows XP/Pro has a downright decent ... All my PCs have two hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)