back up - a new strange novel experimentation

Respected techs, geeks, nerds, and dear fellow friends,

In the past i have always taken a backup of my valuable data and content on my pc by invariably writing on to a cd be it R or RE.

However, the problem that always arose subsequently was that I always find it very time consuming when ever i have to format my hard disk or reload the operating system (i use windows xp) for various reasons (say too much spyware or virus intrusion, deletion by mistake say of system files etc etc).

But I was in the past never able to take say back up of windows xp or for that matter any other program which was installed on my computer.

Now before i proceed further to come to my problem / question on which ur valuable advice / suggestion is sought...
I want to confirm that I understand the installation concept of programs properly...

First of all I am basically from field of finance and therefore have very very limited technical knowledge about internet computers and how it functions. I love internet and computers but as a total end user who is oblivious of what happens
internally.

Now to me installation of any program (say for example spybot search and destroy etc) means i download the SETUP box of that program from internet or a Cd and then double click (or run) that program to actually get it installed on my computer to get it work. In some cases however the setup box is not available and we have to run from cd directly ( eg windows xp).

BUT i was wondering how do we take back up of say those programs which we have installed by double clicking but for which later on the corresponding setup box or cd is not available ???????????????????????????

I understand that if we have the original CD or say the setup box we can reinstall program innumerable times but what say if ur cd is misplaced after installation of program or say setup box gets deleted after installation of the program.

In that case how can i take a backup of such installed programs on my pc for which i have no setupbox or cd ???????????????????

I am asking this bcz of following reasons...

1. I have lost my windows xp original CD and fear what would happen if i ever have to format my hard disk or reinstall windows xp...

2. I have over last 3 years used many accounting software and financial softwares and although they are installed on my pc...their cd is misplaced or the setup box is not there...

3. Over the years i have worked in many organisations and had the privilege of having costly financial software programs being installed on my pc for work and would not want to lose them in future (and i have no CDs or setup boxes for them)...

4. If i wish to transfer all my data and installed programs to a new hard disk from my old hard disk which i am currently using and which sounds a lot...(and i fear it may crash some day)...

I know i have written a very very long story but I definitely appreciate ur time, effort and patience and would be really grateful if someone can throw some light as to how such issues are resolved and what is the easiest / best way to get this around...

I know there are many knowledgeable and helping individuals on this forum and am sure someone will be kind enough to share his wisdom or experience....

Thanks again in advance...

Most sincerely,

sunando

sunandoghosh at rediffmail dot com

p.s.

a. i use windows xp
b. i use nero for back up of my cd

If I understand correclty what you want is to make a complete image backup of your system. To this you need a program similar to Ghost or Drive Image.

This make an image of your complete system (drivers - software - settings etc.) so that in the event of your having to "Re-install" your system everything is there. You must have a seperate drive or partition to this. It is also possible to write the image to CD or DVD disks (the program will span disks as required and notify you when to put another blank cd\dvd disk into drive)

Hope this answers your question(s)

My saved writeup:
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RECOVER USING BACKUPS
The easy way to recover from all software [including configuration] problems [without even having to discover the cause], is:

1) As you proceed forward in time, make backups of everything on your C: drive.
Do this at regular intervals, particularly before making software changes [un/installing programs or changing configuration] and keep a log of all this.
2) When you hit trouble caused by a bad configuration change and no hardware or software changes have been made, [use "scanreg /restore" in Win98, or a restore point in WinXP, to] restore a previous good configuration.
3) When the trouble involves more than just the configuration, and involves the files [including the configuration perhaps] but no hardware has been changed [this is important because the software must match the hardware], then:
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[color=red]Re-format the C: drive and restore your latest good backup.[/color]
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The software will "jump back" to the way it was when the PC worked.
If this doesn’t fix things, then it probably is not a software problem but a hardware problem.

[b]It helps if you keep the C: drive "lean & mean"[/b].
I move as much as possible off the C: drive [and keep it as small as possible].
The "Windows" & "Program Files" folders account for 95% of the used space on my C: drive.
All the data that changes day by day [or are considered vital] are re-homed on another physical drive [although another partition would do].
When I "jump back" I still have up to date:
a. My Documents. [Use “TweakUI” to move their home]
b. E-mails for all identities. [use the email client to move their home]
c. Internet Explorer Favourites. [Use “TweakUI” to move their home]
d. Temporary Internet Files. [use the browser (Internet Explorer) to move them]
e. Re-home the Windows Address Book as shown here [url]http://tinyurl.com/24q6l[/url] . Use the key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab FileName” to specify its new address. [Its normal home address [in Win98] is C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\(the name you gave your PC).WAB]
f. Any other storage of data files you wouldn’t want to “jump back”.

These can be backed up separately and more or less often.
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To respond to specific points:
"[color=blue]i have always taken a backup of my valuable data and content[/color]"
Best to backup whole partitions, probably to image files on a separate physical HDD or partition made for holding them.

"[color=blue]I always find it very time consuming when ever i have to format my hard disk or reload the operating system[/color]"
When you are "building" your software [installing Windows, then programs], you should make a backup at certain key points along the way as follows:
1. When Windows installation is complete.
Restoring this would give you Windows alone.
2. Once all the programs are installed and all the configuration tweaks are complete.
Restoring this would give you a new, fresh system with all your programs and configurations.

"[color=blue]But I was in the past never able to take say back up of windows xp or for that matter any other program which was installed on my computer.[/color]"
Why not, and can you do it now?
I've lately been using the [free] "Image" program on the [free] "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD] to make backups of partitions to a special partition I made to hold them.

"[color=blue]i download the SETUP box of that program from internet or a Cd and then double click (or run) that program to actually get it installed[/color]"
Installation is done using a set of installation files.
In the case of Windows [and MS Office], what I do is to copy these files to a partition on my HDD and run the installation from there. Then I leave the files permanently in that position. which means they're permanently available, and if Windows ever needs any files it fetches them from there in an instant without ever asking for the CD.
In the case of free programs downloaded from the web, with installation files in a compressed archive file. I save all of those I ever use to a CD-RW disk together with notes in a text file of where & when they were got, and what the program does.

"[color=blue]how do we take back up of say those programs which we have installed by double clicking but for which later on the corresponding setup box or cd is not available[/color]"
I've never found a way to make a backup of a single installed program.
What I do is backup the C: partition, which includes ALL programs and the configuration files [the registry etc]. There is an expensive program that will migrate programs from one PC to another [cannot remember its name].

"[color=blue]but what say if ur cd is misplaced after installation of program[/color]"
You could copy the installation files onto a CD-RW disk on which you keep ALL the installation file sets [and drivers]. It's handy when they're all in one place.
I have them in a higherarchical folder system that describes what they do.
e.g. "H:\Downloads\Programs\Utilities\For GUI's\Windows\Capture screen,window\Gadwin PrintScreen 2,6".

"[color=blue]1. I have lost my windows xp original CD and fear what would happen if i ever have to format my hard disk or reinstall windows xp...[/color]"
Use "Image" to backup your C: partition when all's well. Do it soon.
Same answer applies to questions 2, 3, 4.
If you do use "Image", it can both backup and restore NTFS partitions, but the partition on which the image files are saved must be a FAT partition.
The easy solution to this practical problem is to install a 2nd internal HDD [it could be an older, smaller HDD], and save your backups to that.
We've been [on another thread] attempting to figure out how to use an external USB connected HDD for this, but haven't yet figured out how to gain access to it [from, for example, DOS prog's on the EBCD, or Ghost] using "USB for DOS" drivers.
If you save the backup files to a partition on an internal HDD they can be copied or moved to the USB HDD [and fetched back] from within Windows, but it means you need another [backup] method to install Windows to gain access to them.

To this you need a program similar to Ghost or Drive Image.
Just a general point is that Symantec (having taken over Power Quest) have withdrawn Drive Image as such. Their latest version of Ghost 9 is however effectively the original DriveImage that was taken over but can now be run from windows and image the hot partition without booting to DOS. So Ghost is now, as I understand it, Drive Image but called Ghost.

Ghost9 is around $70 to purchase and a biggish download and is only supported by Win2K,XP,2K3. ImageForWindows does just about everything that DI will do, is a small download, is FULLY FUNCTIONAL TRIALWARE and costs around $27. In my book there is no comparison.

LINKS
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html

Get yourself some blank CDs or DVDs and use one of the programs (there are others as well) to backup everything directly to them (nero not needed for this) including all your accounting stuff. Once you have everything safe in this way you can consider how you might "streamline" your current setup.

If I was in the position of being forced to replace my internal HDD [because it had failed] this is how I'd do it...

A. Take out the old HDD, then fit the new HDD and Partition & Format it.

B. Two methods to put Windows [+ Prog's] in place on the new HDD:
1. Use "Simple Backup" to restore a backup of C: from CD-RW disks.
2. Reinstall Windows using the Windows installation CD, then install all necessary drivers using 3rd party CD's. [Not nearly so good as 1.]

C. Boot into Windows, switch on the external USB HDD and copy "Image" backup files for each partition onto a FAT partition [G:] on the internal HDD. Shut down and reboot from EBCD [CD disk] and use "Image" to restore all the partitions C: D: E: F: [except the backup partition G:] from the image files on G:
Recopy the Windows & MS Office installation files into the same locations they formerly occupied on G:

Everything would be back up and running just as before in a very short time.

You may be asking yourself why I wouldn't just use "Simple Backup" to restore everything.
Well, I could, but if the contents get rather large it takes quite a lot of CD's to do the job, and takes quite long with lots of CD swapping involved.
In contrast, "Image" can save [and restore] large partitions [to a set of files in its own folder on a HDD partition], and do it quickly without swapping of CD's.