I am running WXP with 4 partitions, and am looking for a backup solution chiefly for disaster recovery. (It is for use on a laptop which has a lot of installed programs, but very little data, and therefore my prime requirement is to be able to recovery quickly and easily from a total disk failure, without having to re-install and configure all the individuals programs.)
My objective is to find a backup solution which I can use to create a DVD back-up set from which I could boot, and from which I could then restore onto an empty hard drive the entire Windows system, partitions, programs and data.
I understand from Chapter 8 of the manual that I would be able to restore everything - although the process would not be as simple as my ideal of booting from backup DVDs and pressing a few buttons. But could you clarify whether the “Bart's PE for AISBackup” option is an alternative to the Chapter 8 procedure, or whether it serves an entirely different purpose? (I hope that this isn’t too naïve a question - I am reasonably proficient with PCs, but not an expert on backups!)
System Recovery methods
Bart PE may be used to restore a backup from DVD as long as the backup is on the same DVD when using a PC with one disc unit.
An alternative is to use a second computer (maybe a friend's?) to do the restore, this would require purchasing a 2.5” disk to USB or FireWire caddy and then transfer the laptop disk to the caddy, plug this disk into the second computer, use the AISBackup Tools / Open Backup Job From Media option to open the backup on the second computer and restore to the laptop disk. Using a second computer may make it easier to re-partition a new disk as you can avoid using the command line program DISKPART in favour of the Right Click ‘My Computer’ / Manage / Disk Management option to partition the new disk. A gentle reminder to make the boot partition Primary and Active or the PC will not boot. Actually once the primary boot partition is restored you can use the laptop itself to restore the rest of the partitions.
Instead of a caddy I purchased an 3.5" IDE / 2.5" / SATA to USB cable device (about £15 UK from e-bay) however, when connecting the 2.5" laptop disk I could not get enough power to the disk to get it to spin up. If anybody knows of a cheap and cheerful device like this that works please let us know. The IDE to USB converter was worth the money for the normal IDE / SATA to USB - the laptop disk capability would have been a great bonus.
Barry
An alternative is to use a second computer (maybe a friend's?) to do the restore, this would require purchasing a 2.5” disk to USB or FireWire caddy and then transfer the laptop disk to the caddy, plug this disk into the second computer, use the AISBackup Tools / Open Backup Job From Media option to open the backup on the second computer and restore to the laptop disk. Using a second computer may make it easier to re-partition a new disk as you can avoid using the command line program DISKPART in favour of the Right Click ‘My Computer’ / Manage / Disk Management option to partition the new disk. A gentle reminder to make the boot partition Primary and Active or the PC will not boot. Actually once the primary boot partition is restored you can use the laptop itself to restore the rest of the partitions.
Instead of a caddy I purchased an 3.5" IDE / 2.5" / SATA to USB cable device (about £15 UK from e-bay) however, when connecting the 2.5" laptop disk I could not get enough power to the disk to get it to spin up. If anybody knows of a cheap and cheerful device like this that works please let us know. The IDE to USB converter was worth the money for the normal IDE / SATA to USB - the laptop disk capability would have been a great bonus.
Barry
Hi Barry,
Regarding the lack of power for the 2.5" drive: I bought a miniature 4-port USB 2.0 hub for my notebook computer 3 years ago from a micro-innovations' retailer (costed then $24) . It has a jack for an external power source (5V 2.6A) for power-hungry USB devices that are hooked up to the hub.
I never tested the hub with extra power plugged in, but otherwise it worked fine. This may solve your problem.
I looked up their web site, but now they have other units. One unit with a power jack is at
http://www.mic-innovations.com/Details. ... ivity&sub=
with the related doc at http://www.mic-innovations.com/Support/ ... spx?id=626
Hope this helps,
Kob
Regarding the lack of power for the 2.5" drive: I bought a miniature 4-port USB 2.0 hub for my notebook computer 3 years ago from a micro-innovations' retailer (costed then $24) . It has a jack for an external power source (5V 2.6A) for power-hungry USB devices that are hooked up to the hub.
I never tested the hub with extra power plugged in, but otherwise it worked fine. This may solve your problem.
I looked up their web site, but now they have other units. One unit with a power jack is at
http://www.mic-innovations.com/Details. ... ivity&sub=
with the related doc at http://www.mic-innovations.com/Support/ ... spx?id=626
Hope this helps,
Kob