What do I back-up?

Whatever you've generated file-wise that you want to be able to put back on, once you've reinstalled Windows. For starters, I'd recommend your complete Dell folder in C:, your Favorites folder (C:\Windows\Favorites), Address Book (C:Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book, or if you don't find it there, do a Find for *.wab and copy the little file that looks like a book to your backup media), then anything in My Documents and My Pictures that you want to keep.

If you're using Easy CD Creator to do a CD backup, this is quite easy. For example, find C:\Windows, and expand that into the right/large frame, and from there, you can drag and drop the whole Favorites folder into the target/record window. Likewise, if you expand C:\Windows\Desktop into the upper right window, you can drag and drop the complete My Documents folder into the Record window, and all of the contents will go on the CD.

If you don't have a CD burner, you'd best stick with the small stuff, as it would probably take a whole lot of floppies to back My Documents (and even the Dell folder, which can be 12 MB or more in size) and large files up.

As far as programs, you will want to reinstall them from the original media, rather than trying to copy something from the hard drive and reinstall those files on the new install. In the case of programs you've downloaded from the net, unless you saved the file you used to run the Setup routine when you originally installed something, you'll have to download them again.

Good luck!







"Annoy the boring."

Message Edited on 05/22/02 07:32PM by Goonboy

goonboy , whats your take on (on-line backup)?

http://www.backup.net
thanks, henryhll.

windows M E
8100 p4 1.3
256 mb rdram p.c.800..
n.a.v 2001
zone-alarm 2.6 362 free version
road runner broadband.
toshiba modem pcx 1100u
internet explorer 5.5- S.P.2
nothing else special.
but special to me.

I suppose if I had no other options it might be something to consider, but you have to be able to get the system on line to retrieve the data, which is a negative, and I'd be leery about "loaning" certain data to unknown persons, whether they say they can't access it or not. I remember a certain politician looking America in the eye not too many years ago, and deadpanning "Well, I'm not a crook." The record will reflect that he was being a bit less than candid in that regard. :-0 It's also not outside the realm of possibility that any data that's moved over the net can be accessed by virtually anyone, if they want it bad enough.

The other drawback would be not knowing if the outfit that's storing your data is keeping it safe from 3rd parties on their end, or whether or not it's going to go belly up the next day, which is what happened to Driveway and a few other companies that were offering such a thing a year or so ago.

I will be happy to store anyones' credit card information, social security number, and other private information on my system for free! My doctor and parole officer says my problem is gone...for now.

"Inspiration is the Mother of Invention. Desperation is its Father."

System 1:

Inspiron 4100
1.2 GHz-M
14.1 SXGA+
512 MB Crucial RAM
30 GB ATA 100 HD
8x Combo CD-RW/DVD
16 MB ATI Radeon
10/100 Ethernet
Compaq IPaq 11MPS Wireless Ethernet
Windows ME (Yuck) Windows XP now!
Bright Yellow Palm Rests
Office XP Professional

System 2:

Dimension 8200
2.4 GHz
768 MB RDRAM
40 + 100 + 60 GB HD's
Promise ATA 100 Controller
80 GB Firewire
16x DVD
HP DVD+RW
32x Que! USB 2.0 CDRW Drive
128 MB Geforce4 TI4400
SB Live!
17" Samsung TFT LCD Monitor
10/100 USB Ethernet
ATI TV Wonder Card
WinXP
Office XP Professional

good point, getting on line to retrieve, hard drive crashs, install windows,
impossible to get on line? whats there defence to that?
just a thought, thanks henryhll.

windows M E
8100 p4 1.3
256 mb rdram p.c.800..
n.a.v 2001
zone-alarm 2.6 362 free version
road runner broadband.
toshiba modem pcx 1100u
internet explorer 5.5- S.P.2
nothing else special.
but special to me.

If you have a CD-RW, you can back up your entire hard drive on CD with several pieces of software. This is the one I'm most familiar with:

http://www.stompinc.com/bump/bump-retail.phtml?stp

BackupMyPC will allow you to reinstall an image of your entire hard drive onto a freshly formatted drive if yours becomes corrupted or fails. This is called disaster recovery and is available in Windows 98SE. In Windows XP, disaster recovery is not available with the program.

I have also read good things about Norton Ghost.

Whichever you select, check their Web sites for CD drive compatibility. You might also want to check the Dimension Backup/Removable Media forum for more information on the pluses and minuses of various solutions. Some find CD backups too slow. They are slow, but having one is a big time saver when disaster strikes.

Whether you decide to back up just data or the entire drive, DO IT. Having a backup is the difference between disaster and mere inconvenience. I speak from experience.





Message Edited on 05/23/02 01:35AM by nilo

nilo, for those of us who are interested, but not knowledgable in the back up procedure, is there a tutorial, or step by step instructions out there to help guide us through the process?
thanks in advance, henryhll

windows M E
8100 p4 1.3
256 mb rdram p.c.800..
n.a.v 2001
zone-alarm 2.6 362 free version
road runner broadband.
toshiba modem pcx 1100u
internet explorer 5.5- S.P.2
nothing else special.
but special to me.

What he said!! YEH, that's what I was trying to ask for.

One day at a time.

I'd suggest a combination of the documentation that accompanies the backup software/CDRW and any one of a number of reputable web sites out here. Fred Langa ( http://www.langa.com ) has discussed backup routines at length in several of his newsletters, and a Google search for "how to back up PC files" should yield a variety of choices.

For the most part, all one needs to be concerned with is data that has been personally collected/generated, such as saved photos, e-mail, audio files, Word documents, Favorites, etc. Once again, if you've saved the Setup files for downloaded programs, backing them up will save you the hassle of downloading them again. Saving the Dell folder will allow you to restore help files, etc., for your system. Saving logo.bmp and OEMINFO.ini will restore the graphic and system information that appears in My Computer properties.

I'm a big fan of just making an image of the whole darn hard drive. It takes longer, but you don't have to try to figure out what to save. The major reason I like this approach is that it has worked for me and saved me big headaches.

I respect the opinion of those who prefer to back up data only. Maybe I'm just not smart enough or organized enough. Since I have a dial-up connection, I'm not excited about installing Windows 98 from my CD and then going to Windows Update to download every IE upgrade, update and security patch . . . Abobe Acrobat . . . Windows Media Player . . . RealPlayer . . . Norton Internet Security . . . etc.

But any backup is better than no backup.

nilo, thats the question, how do you make a image? is there a step by step
tutorial, or something out there that could guide us( back-up unknowledglable
people) to properly back up our system?
thanks again in advance
sincerly henryhll.

windows M E
8100 p4 1.3
256 mb rdram p.c.800..
n.a.v 2001
zone-alarm 2.6 362 free version
road runner broadband.
toshiba modem pcx 1100u
internet explorer 5.5- S.P.2
nothing else special.
but special to me.

I think Goonboy pretty much answered your question, unless I missed something. Here's a link to a "backup" search at the Langa site:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=backup&sp-a=0008002a-sp00000000

If you decide to get a piece of software to back up an image of the entire drive, you'll get documentation with the software.

I'd suggest these three possibilities:

http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat2/ec_MAIN.Entry17c?CID=33565&SID=27674&SP=10007&PN=5&PID=336925&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=0

http://www.powerquest.com/

http://www.stompinc.com/bump/bump-retail.phtml?stp

Here's an excellent tutorial from Symantec on how to do various kinds of backup and cloning with their Ghost 2002 software:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/ghost/ghost_2002_info_tutorial.html

Be sure to check each program's compatible CD-RW drive list.

Also, do take a look at the Dimension Removable Media/Backup forum. If you read a few dozen posts there, you'll start getting a good idea of the pluses and minuses of various backup approaches, including the use of internal and external second hard drives.



Message Edited on 05/24/02 05:28PM by nilo

right, i missed goonboys reply, thanks for the links
sincerly henryhll.

windows M E
8100 p4 1.3
256 mb rdram p.c.800..
n.a.v 2001
zone-alarm 2.6 362 free version
road runner broadband.
toshiba modem pcx 1100u
internet explorer 5.5- S.P.2
nothing else special.
but special to me.