Nearly had a big BOO BOO!!Hi, I Need a suggestion for SYSTEM BACKUP

[JohnS]

Hi

I nearly had a nightmare of mares today just because I shifted a couple of files to see if I did not need them .i put them back and a lot of things went wrong In a chain reaction one after the other.
I decided to take a chance and reinstall a system Image I made from windows 10 as I have not done an image since Norton Ghost.
I got as far as advance options and then win 10 could not find my usb drive with the Image on.
I then decided to take a hard look at my afternoons bungle and eventally after four hours got all things up to speed again.
I try not to fiddle too much!!!! I think you have to do a command prompt to get the drive letter if win 10 cannot find It,but I did not feel confident enough to try It out.

Well since Norton ghost has gone, I am stuck for the most ultra reliable System Image maker.
Has anyone got any great ideas for the best system Image program on the market??????
I want to fool proof myself in future
I would be gratefull for any suggestions from others experiences.

all the Best
John

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

From the Mixcraft side of things, if you need to move projects and files around, click on the File menu and select "Copy Project Files To..." That option ensures that you're getting all the files you need to open a project in the same place. It's great for backing up and archiving your work.

Greg

[outteh]

I use Western Digital external drive and backup software. Once you set it up it's good to go. Various sizes and versions, just Google it.

[JohnS]

Hi

I do not mean copying mixcraft files as I do that anyway.
I would like to know from people's experience what system image program Is the easiest and best and reliable.
At some point most people change computers and would like to carry everything lock stock and barrel to the next,.
For me I need to back the lot up just In case i get something terrible go wrong and you know what sods law is !!

I use to have Norton Ghost and that was a terrific sys backup program and never failed me.It was easy to use.
make a boot disc and name a drive to recover and click.You were then done.
Norton Ghost does not work on Windows 10 anymore.
There are so many out there like Acronis and free ones and I would like to know which has the highest reliability

[ovation99]

The most efficient disk copy software I've found is Farstone Drive Clone because it FULLY supports UEFI Bios and GUID partitions, which is used by Windows 10 and 8 and 8.1.
It's not free but you do get a fully functional 30 day trial.

I have tried others, but not all the partitions have been copied. I think from memory there are 5 or 6 created under W10

[JonInc]

I used Ghost 2003 way back when. Since then I've moved through the free versions of Paragon, Acronis, and Macrium, finally settling on (home version) EaseUS TodoBackup. To be honest, they all worked for me with no problems, even the free ones. But I do strictly backup images (and restore, of course). If you want to clone your drives (I think it's a waste of space, but to each his own), I can't offer any experience with those products. But again, backing up and restoring images worked fine.

I suggest trying the demos to see which is the best fit for you.

Also, I recommend that whichever you choose, make a bootable media (CD, DVD, flash drive), and use that to boot from when backing up and restoring. All the countless problems and failures I read about are from people trying to run their backups with Windows up and running. Well, the solution is simple. Don't be lazy. Shut Windows down and use the bootable media. I've done this literally hundreds of times and never seen a failure.

[JohnS]

Hi

Thanks to all repling
Yes, when I had Norton Ghost, It save my machine a few times,but sadly not compatible with Windows 10.
I have come up with AOMI a free backupper and It looks simple enough to get the hang of.
easUS looks good as you pointed out,but have not tried that yet.
With Aomi i will do a trial run on my other computer ,not my music one to see if all goes back.
Eventually I will have to chage my music computer about another two years down the road and when I buy a new one,I do not want to load everything from scratch as what I have now runs smoothly.
It would be great to just transfer old to new or be saved fom a lost cause.

All the best
John

[AHornsby]

The problem is in knowing when the computer is going to hiccup. I'd believe that just about anything you do to automatically back up is going to eat up compute cycles ALL OF THE TIME.

I had a program once that would backup only the files that had been changed since the last backup which seemed to be the least obtrusive choice and much faster.

Moving system files around wasn't a software fault.

If it's more space you need then there are some nicer USB HDD's for cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Ba ... %3AToshiba

-h

[JohnS]

Hi Mr Hornsby

What I am seeking is the best software for backing up my whole music computer system Including the operating system which is windows 10.
I have a couple of terrabyte drives for storage so that is not an Issue.
I tried backing up the system using the win 10 built In backup system Image and made a boot disc.
I tried to go to the final part before restoring the system Image and a box comes up saying It cannot find the back up drive and it also blanked off the check box to search for the drive.
That is no good for me and It seems not that reliable If win 10 image backup starts messing about.
I also made a backup system Image using AOMI backupper all ok until I wanted to make a boot disc.
Press the button to make boot disc and It tells me to install aik file,which is something windows 7 uses not 10,and you have to get a separate program like Nero to burn an Iso file then make a boot disc.Sounds like trouble to me ,so I am discarding Aomi. Have not tried the others yet .
My only wish Is to get a program that was reliable as Norton Ghost.It never failed.
To get all backed up and at later stage you have the option of transfering to another computer lock, stock and barrel.
It makes common sense to have a system disaster proof as It takes a good week to get a music set up right on a computer or maybe longer.

All the best
john

[outteh]

Here is an article on some alternatives to Norton Ghost. They look promising and might be worth a trial test!

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-crea ... ton-ghost/

[JonInc]

I also made a backup system Image using AOMI backupper all ok until I wanted to make a boot disc.
Press the button to make boot disc and It tells me to install aik file,which is something windows 7 uses not 10,and you have to get a separate program like Nero to burn an Iso file then make a boot disc....

Again, I'd take a look at the commercial versions of the programs mentioned earlier.

Make sure you create the bootable media first, and test it as well. Sounds like you waited until you needed the restore before finding out you couldn't make the disc.

It's been a few years since I tried the free ones, but I know the commercial versions can create a bootable disc, with nothing extra needed (except the media -- DVD, flash drive, etc).

[JohnS]

Hi jon

I have not reached a point of no return yet.I am testing until I reach the final button push to see If all works before taking a plunge.Everything is ok my end ,It Is the just In case scenario.INSURANCE!!!
If all went wrong it would take an age with loading soft synths codes and old uncleTom cobbly and all.
Windows 10 recovery is terrible as I saved an image only to find on recovery screen that only the dvd drive is found.
It Is the same thing on both of my computers ,so It must be a Microsoft problem.

I will have to see which is the easiest paid one to operate and buy.
I do not want to go Into command prompts and rocket science
All I want Is save a system Image to a terrabyte hard drive and recover finding the correct pathway to the Image and press enter.
Norton Ghost was the best but sad to say not compatible wth flaming windows 10

All the best
John

[outteh]

John, on some computers in order to boot from a different device you need to go into your bios setup (usually F2 on startup) and adjust your boot device and order. Change it back after successful boot and reinstall. I

[JohnS]

Hi Outteh/TOM

To boot a boot disc you have to use the dvd drive and some computers you have to change In the bios to choose which drive to boot from by moving to top of list.
In my case the boot disc booted up to the choice screen win 10 and you press troubleshooting and recover ,which then takes you to the screen where the drive with Image on (Usb hard drive) should be named and ready to go.But It was the dvd drive named and I could not change It.
I also got through to the same point by using recover and re-starting the machine. same thing again.
The same scenario on my other computer If I go through the same motions.
I have one computer for music only and one for general use like word,home movie editng etc Internet MP3 and flac file grabbing!!!.I use my torrent!!

all the best
John

[outteh]

Copy your dvd overall to a USB drive or download another Win 10 install and put it on a USB. I had to do this to recover my Win 10 install after an update to it screwed everything up.