External Storage (backups) - BEWARE

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I've been going thru some unpleasant things again with my pet; my PC.

To make a real long story short:

I found myself in a point-of-no-return reformat situation. Years back this turned out to be real agonizing, as I never backed-up anything. Then I started to do this, with CDs.

And lately, I found out about external HDDs, such as
"MY BOOK" by Western Digital. I bought and have been using two of them, and up to the reformat issue.

But I figured, NO SWEAT, cuz I had been saving critical things all along.

Mainly, PROGRAM FILES; MY DOCUMENTS; EMAIL and, of course, many music files.

After reformatting, I plugged back in [USB] the MY BOOKS.

Guess What? All Windows-related stuff was gone. Ka-put. I didn't lose any music files. But I lost a lot of other data that was under Windows, I guess.

Uh, I threw a few objects around the trailer, but that didn't bring any lost items back.

I'm sure it's my fault. I read or heard somewhere about saving a snapshot when saving to a storage unit. But I didn't pay much attention.

I figured, you put something on the unit and fuggetaboutit.

What went wrong gang?

The whole idea of "saving" something has now left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm convinced, tho, that I screwed-up somewhere.

Please help; so this farce doesn't happen again.

Thanks all...Chiipper Confused

_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Chip, who knows what happened or why it lost the data. This is not normally an issue with hard drives. Have you searched the drive to make sure you didn't miss something? If it's not there I would more suspect it was never transferred to start with.

I use Acronis "True Image" to backup my hard drive - the entire hard drive to an external USB connected drive. SO FAR no problems and I've had to restore my hard drive twice, due to Roxio incurred problems (don't use Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 on Vista) trying to redo Roxio (the complete restore was the easy way and in both cases I had done a complete back up two days before so I didn't really lose anything).

It's OK just to back up user data, E-mail account, etc but it's just as easy to do a complete hard drive backup. And, a full backup each time, not the incremental backups as that can be confusing and take much longer to restore.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Hi Jack,

I periodically checked My Book. Actually, I was only using one, at the time of this reformat. The 2nd My Book, believe it or not, was to back up the back up.

Anyway, at this point, all Windows folders etc. were right there.

I don't know how to search the drive anymore than what I see in front of me.

ACRONIS - what do you do with this? Click one button and your entire PC HDD is transferred to the 'external'? Why can't this simple thing be done with MY BOOK?

OH GREAT! I just bought a new DVD/CD internal drive, and, ROXIO
Easy Media Creator 9.0 is what is running the drive. I was unaware of this when I bought the drive. At CompUSA; who are going out of business. It was on sale. Another sucker shot.

So how much does Acronis True Image cost?

Also, I went to burn a CD when the new DVD drive was installed, and ROXIO leaped up front and burned the CD. It burned it at probably the highest rate possible. There were no tabs to allow for controling the burn speed.

The CD played alright on my PC, but did not play in my truck on a $99.00 JVC player.

God, isn't there any end to this aggravation?

Thanks, Jack...

Chipper Sad

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Thanks Wiz,

I went to your site and read about Acronis.

I'll probably get it, but I have a few questions:

1. Both MyBook HDDs are now in FAT32 format. Should I change this over to NTFS (only other option)? Maybe FAT32 caused all the Windows files to vanish?
If I do make the switch, will the files on the HDDs be affected or vanish? Not sure which way to go here.
It's confusing.

2. How will all this HDD storage be affected when I'm forced to go to VISTA. Big problems here?

3. I have two ext HDDs. Can Acronis send stuff to both at the same time?

4. Can I turn off the ext HDDs, and when I turn them back on, will Acronis pick up where it left off?
The reason for backup in the first place is because I read here on the forum that sooner or later everyone's PC HDD will give out. Seeing that the ext HDDs will give out too, I guess, why not leave them off [extend their life] and transfer stuff maybe once or twice week?

OK - that's enuff questions for now.

No need to get back soon. At your leisure.

Regards,

Chipper Confused

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

The FAT32 to NTFS converter I mentioned in my previous post is apparently run from the command line. Rather than post the long instructions here, all you have to do is go to Start > Search > and type in: CONVERT and press Enter. The first result will be a link to read - "Convert a volume to NTFS, from the command prompt."

If it was me I would move the important files off that drive and just reformat it into NTFS, then move the files back.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Hi Wiz,

I'm finally getting back on with the forum. I know there has been a problem with accessing the forum.
I got nervous, just as many here, have.

Well, thanks so much for your responses. I'm going to have to digest this for a day or so.

You've, now, raised more questions than you've answered. But that is what this forum is all about.

I'll be back.

Best regards,

Chipper Confused

_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Hi Wiz,

I just checked out Search>Convert and 21 files were listed, where only 3 were Windows related: CONVERT/Windows1386, CONVERT.EXE0FA9B8/Windows PREFETCH, and convert/Windows System 32 - this one quickly flashed the black DOS screen and then it vanished. The other 2 had flags that said it couldn't find the correct program to open.

I know I saw some conversion screen once within MyBooks and I'm trying to re-find it, but without success, sp far. I'm not sure if I got install CDs with the MyBooks.

Chipper

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Wiz,

In the meantime I went out to WD and in FAQ they advised to go into Disc Manager, which I did. I found my 3 drives listed C, J, & K and was able to reformat (J) to NTFS. So that part is done.

Now I have to move everything back to J and reformat K. I think it took 20-30 minutes.

In a few minutes I'm going back out to your site and purchase Acronis.

Don't worry about the misdirections. I appreciate all you do for me, and many others, here.

Chipper Smile

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

OK Wiz,

I've got Acronis now, and I'm rarin' to go.

I've been reading up a bit on it, and it's a little extensive; so maybe you could suggest a few quick things to get me going?

Actually, if you could maybe tell me what NOT to do; or be aware of this or that.

Thanks Wiz,

Chipper

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Thanks again, Wiz.

I got some work cut out for me.

I've been reading over Acronis, but I'll go over it some more before I get going.

Regards,

Chipper

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Hello Wiz,

It appears I may have hit a snag right off the bat.

I made 2 Bootable Rescue Media CDs. One was made in the DVD drive, and the other in just a CD/RW drive.

The drives are: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D SBOO (Roxio) - brand new drive &
LITE-ON LTR - 48327S PTS1 - OEM

The reason I made a second CD is the 1st one made in Roxio came out with only 20.1MB. Space required said 53.8MB.
There were only 7 icons:
BOOT MENU - a DOS black window appeared, then quickly vanished.
KERNEL & RAMDISK were in Creative Media Source files, and when those were clicked a flag said it couldn't recognize the files.

The other 4 icons were: BOOTWIZ/F11.CFG/MOUSE/SPLASHRUN

I figured maybe something was wrong with Roxio, so I tried the other CD drive and it too came out the same as Roxio.

None of the icons look like application or .exe icons, and 33.7MBs are missing, it seems.

Chipper Confused

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip;
I don't use Roxio, so I can't speak for or against it's having caused your problem. The Acronis Rescue Media Builder uses its own burning software, so Roxio, or Nero aren't required to create these CDs.

When you insert a recordable CD into a recording drive, Windows XP will pop-up a dialog box asking what you want to do. I advise selecting Take No Action, and remember that decision, then apply and dismiss the dialog. Then, try again to burn a rescue CD with Acronis.

Another thing I have found, is that you must Run As an Administrator to create a rescue CD in Acronis. Trying to do this with less privileges results in nothing appearing in the options windows, in the rescue media builder.

And, be sure you select the target as the CD/RW drive.

FYI: I just ran through this on my computer and had another bootable rescue disk in one minute. The program created a folder on the CD, named Recovery Manager, which contains these files:

Bootmenu.exe
Bootwiz.sys
f11.cfg
kernel.dat
mouse.com
ramdisk.dat
splash.run
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Wiz,

What you got on your 'burn' is exactly what I got.

I used a regular CD. Not a CD-RW.

I had NO OPTIONS listed in Rescue Media Builder.

I'm listed as OWNER; no other users have been created. I've done other things where Admn Prvlgs were needed and didn't seem to have any problem.

I know of that Windows XP dialog popup about 'what to do', but in either case it did not appear.

I may have disabled it.

Anyway, I have the same folder, Recovery Manager, and the same icons. Except they aren't responding.

How can I check to see if I'm the Administrator? I haven't bothered yet to create another user, after the reformat. As a matter of fact, I had a hard time dwnldng Acronis because Mastercard is now looking for yet another security code #. I had to go to my bank a few times to finally get this scurity code.
Admin Prvlgs must have been required there?

Chip

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Wiz,

I did have those 1st 3 Acronis options. They were all listed and checked off.

What I thought you meant by options was the next page - BOOTABLE MEDIA OPTIONS/Bootable Media Startup parameters. Nothing was listed here.

I don't have an Administrator password, and Administrator is not listed in 'The Following User'
in RUN AS. But CURRENT USER is dotted off with (PW\Owner) and "Protect my computer..."is checked off.
It said that selecting this may cause the program to malfunction. Maybe this is the problem.

I really don't wish to create a 2nd user account if I don't have to. I know you say it's safer, but it got to be a headache for me. I'm pretty thorough about running the ANTI THIS/THAT checks.

I tried rebooting by putting in the CD, but only the E:/ screen with the Recovery folder appeared. Not Acronis.

Is your BOOTMENU icon the square blue/white amplifier? Mine is.

Maybe I should uncheck that "Protect my computer" in RUN AS.

Chip

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Thanks Wiz,

OK, I'll create a real Administrator account; and then give the whole shebang another go.

I'm sure this whole problem is some little hangnail.

BTW, How can I get that popup "What Do You Want To Do?" window back up and running? Or do I really need it? I always thought it was a nuisance.

Chip

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Hi Wiz,

Well, this is getting real crazy now.

In USER ACCOUNTS, there are: Owner - Computer administrator & Guest - Guest account is off.

UA accounts would not let me set up an Admn account because there is alreday one. I tried changing OWNER to Admn but said there would have to be another Administrator to do this.

I tried deleting OWNER, but that procedure has to go thru another Admn Acct. But I can't create another Admin Acct. Do you see the Catch-22 here? This can really drive you nuts. As a single user, I don't see the use for this account stuff at all.

What if I put, say, ('s) around the new Administrator account?

Chip Confused

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Wiz,

I did as you said in Safety Mode, but when I clicked on ADMIN it said: "type your password". Of course I don't have one.

I came upon a site while looking to remove icon underlines; and it's a Windows XP Troubleshooting spot. While in there I saw a topic Admin & user passwords and it said: RUN/Control Userpasswords2, then click on Manage Passwords.

So I went there and tried to make an Admin account, but, to make a long story short, it looked like it would work, but my PC went into a retro basic mode, where the eMachines screen came up and many desktop icons were missing and it was a mess. I tried to "restore", but, alas, was denied because I wasn't the ADMIN.

Luckly, I went into Safety Mode and was able to restore back to Jan.31. Things are OK, now, except that on startup the PC goes from WELCOME to the desktop, where as it used to bring up the OWNER screen and I had to click on OWNER to open things up.

I'm sure glad the 'restore' worked cuz I feared I would end up back with what happened weeks ago and I had to reformat.

Chip Oh Well

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Wiz,

I'm just thinking ahead here, - Is it still advisable and/or critical to do a DEFRAG in SAFETY MODE? I have been.

Chip

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