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Observatory PC backup

Euan

By Euan
in Imaging - Discussion

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Euan

Euan

Posted
Posted

I turned on the Obs PC last night to have a play with EQMOD and my XP install has went a bit corrupt (missing file). I think a repair install might fix it, but it got me thinking..

Has anyone tried out some backup software?

I have a Raid store in the house so I would like to do a full image backup, so that if my HDD dies or the install becomes corrupt I can re-image it to the last good know setup.

I could leave the obs PC on overnight after each session and schedule a backup each time.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

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michaelmorris

michaelmorris

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I have three types of back up for my observatory PC.

It has two hard disks. The original 160GB drive is partitioned into a C: and D: drives. there is a separate 200GB F: Drive.

C:drive has my windows XP installation and all the software installations. This is backed up with an image file created using Acronis True Image software. This is only back up is only re-done if there are signifcant changes to the programs installed.

D:drive has all the documents such as guidance, electronic manuals, spreadsheets, web site files, music and my processed pictures. This is back up onto a separate portable 200GB about once a month.

F:drive is where I save all my raw data from imaging such as CR2 and Jpegs from my DSLR and AVIs from webcam imaging. It also contains all the 'work in progress' on images. The original data is back up to DVD after every imaging session.

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arad85

arad85

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The SIMPLEST and best software I have come across to do image backups of disks is drive snapshot. See: Drive Snapshot - Disk Image Backup for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/X64

I use this to back up my main drives on a weekly basis. It compresses the data so I find my backups are typically half the space taken up by the actual files. It can take differential backups too which means you don't have to take full backups every time and two files (actually, two sets of files) are all that is necessary for a complete drive backup.

You can also mount the resulting backups allowing you to recover anything from a single file to restoring the whole disk (including the boot partition, so you can swap drives without having to reinstall anything).

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Euan

Euan

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Well for a small amount of data you can use Mozy online back up which works well in my view but not really what you are after..

I use my Raid store for all my images so that's not too much of an issue, really want to back up the whole OS

it wasnt the svchost.exe file that went missing was it?

It started with "ntoskrnl.exe missing or corrupt", the only difference was I had plugged in the transmitter for a new logitech rumblepad. Now I've unplugged it, I get a black screen with just the mouse cursor, it doesn't ever make it to the full GUI. Not even CNTL-ALT-DEL works even though the mouse moves.

I have three types of back up for my observatory PC.

It has two hard disks. The original 160GB drive is partitioned into a C: and D: drives. there is a separate 200GB F: Drive.

C:drive has my windows XP installation and all the software installations. This is backed up with an image file created using Acronis True Image software. This is only back up is only re-done if there are signifcant changes to the programs installed.

D:drive has all the documents such as guidance, electronic manuals, spreadsheets, web site files, music and my processed pictures. This is back up onto a separate portable 200GB about once a month.

F:drive is where I save all my raw data from imaging such as CR2 and Jpegs from my DSLR and AVIs from webcam imaging. It also contains all the 'work in progress' on images. The original data is back up to DVD after every imaging session.

That's a lot of backing up! I will check out Acronis. Making a master image and then doing incremental backups sounds like a good way to go

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Euan

Euan

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The SIMPLEST and best software I have come across to do image backups of disks is drive snapshot. See: Drive Snapshot - Disk Image Backup for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/X64

I use this to back up my main drives on a weekly basis. It compresses the data so I find my backups are typically half the space taken up by the actual files. It can take differential backups too which means you don't have to take full backups every time and two files (actually, two sets of files) are all that is necessary for a complete drive backup.

You can also mount the resulting backups allowing you to recover anything from a single file to restoring the whole disk (including the boot partition, so you can swap drives without having to reinstall anything).

Sounds good as well, I will check this out thanks

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arad85

arad85

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Glad you like it - I do!

Assuming you have enough spare disc space, just do differential backups until you the differential becomes big compared to the original. You only need to save the full backup and the latest differential.

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