Backing up a hard drive [Archive]

bhxtyrant

January 27th, 2007, 02:22 AM

Hey guys,
I have a bit of a problem and dont know what software to turn to so was hoping for some suggestions.

Heres the deal.i am about to look at a friends PC.The problem is lately the PC has been acting really weird when the PC is turned on after about 20 minutes it shuts down.I think this is due to a ton of spware and possibly a virus not to mention about a years worth of not really maintaining the PC to keep it clear of worms and virus's.I am planning to just do a format and start fresh as the PC is really full of junk.

The problem is my friend has a ton of purchased music and video's on the PC that needs to be backed up.I have a spare hard drive that i can use to transfer the files onto but since the PC shuts off at random this would be difficult to do in windows.So is there any software out there that will run from a floppy or CD-rom that will let me either transfer selected folders or even make a full copy of the hard drive onto another without the use of windows itself?

Thanks

FastGame

January 27th, 2007, 03:09 AM

If the drive is FAT32 you can use a Linux live CD to move the files, or put the HD in your PC and move them....make sure you have a good AV if drive goes in your PC.

If the PC shuts off as you say it could be hardware ????

phishhead

January 27th, 2007, 03:42 AM

you could always boot up with a ghost cd and make an image of it on the spare hard drive. Then use ghost explorer and extract his music. or boot to a bartPE cd and move them over.

thraxed

January 27th, 2007, 07:50 AM

why dont ya just put both hard drive in your machine

bhxtyrant

January 27th, 2007, 10:39 AM

@FG
Unfortunatly it's a NTFS but you are right it could be hardware but everything i have tryed (testing processor,memory,ect) all turned up clean so i think it's just a case of a screwed up windows installation.

@phish
I have thought about using ghost but i dont use the program so dont have a copy.but if it's the best option i may have to grab one.As for bartPE that doesnt ring a bell to me care to explain that one? :)

@FG and thraxed
Puttng the drives in my PC is a little easier said then done as my friend lives pretty far away.When i checked it out last time i took a trip to there house so bringing there PC back would be a bit difficult since i don't drive.

Tanglefoot

January 27th, 2007, 11:53 AM

Symantec do a free trialware version of ghost at

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost10

Curio

January 27th, 2007, 15:51 PM

So many solutions,

here's a few

1. Repair install windows
2. Secondary Windows install
3. USB Hard disk and BartCD (My favourite)
4. USB hard Disk and Acronis True Image/Symantec Ghost
5. Dat Drive and Acronis (second favourite)
6. Connect to laptop via ethernet and BartCD/Acronis

There are myriad combinations of these methods depending on what you are trying to save and it's relative importance.

bhxtyrant

January 27th, 2007, 17:38 PM

Hey Curio,
Yep already thought of the repair install of windows i was planing to try that first to see if it's any help.
Secondary install of windows is a good idea but i was trying to save that as a last resort because it would be the most time consuming.
The combination of a USB HDD and a backup utility was the option i was going for but i wanted to find out what was the best utility for making the backup.I use Acronis on my PC but i have yet to use Ghost or BartPE.

From the looks of it i think BartPE might be the easiest way as from what i read it seems like the easiest way to transfer only select folders.Thanks guys any other suggestions would be great as i wont be doing this until monday.

Quick question about BartPE,from what i read just to make sure i understand correctly once i download the exe i can then use the windows install CD to make a bootable version of windows on a CD-R. Correct?And if so does it matter what version of windows?For example if i make one using my Windows XP pro CD will i run into any issues since my friends PC uses XP home?

rik

January 28th, 2007, 15:40 PM

FastGame

January 28th, 2007, 16:06 PM

You can also boot to a Knoppix cd and get to all his data. Run it as a Live cd, it is able to read NTFS so no problems there...

It will also automatically mount external USB drives and allow you to save the data to them.

I just used this method about 3 days ago using the latest Knoppix version. Worked like a charm.

Knoppix download (http://www.knoppix.org/)
Guess I should have gone into more detail when I said "Linux LiveCD" They read NTFS but do they write to NTFS reliably ?

Anyhoo your USB Drive is the plan, its FAT & not NTFS :D

bhxtyrant

January 28th, 2007, 16:24 PM

Thanks rik and FG,
Im about to download knoppix now play around with it a bit.One question im looking at the download page and i see many downloads ranging in dates i assume the newest date is latest release?

On the USB drive im still thinking on which way would be easier.I have a spare hard drive im going to use and an external USB enclosure but i could either use it or just connect it as a slave inside the PC.Whichever works best :D

FastGame

January 28th, 2007, 16:30 PM

Better idea...USB flash drives are small and I don't know how much data you need to move ?

Use the Knoppix CD to partion the drive, move the data to the new partion and reinstall on old partion. :)

Just to make sure things get moved safely, format the new partion FAT32, you can delete the new partion after you're done.

Or use the extra drive you have to do the same....

bhxtyrant

January 28th, 2007, 16:43 PM

I have to move around 40-50GB of music and video as well as some digital photo's and a few exe's so quite a bit as you can tell.So i dont think a flash drive would do it.My friend does have an external SATA drive 80GB used for backups but i am hesitant about using it as this happened once before and upon reinstalling windows it made me format the external drive for some strange reason even though it was already formated and partitioned.so this time to be safe i figured a slave drive might be the best bet.

Curio

January 28th, 2007, 17:56 PM

Forget all the other crap and use BartCD.

You need a corporate XP or 2k3 server disk to make the BartCD or it will give you problems.

It is totally customisable and uses NTFS natively - it is Windows after all. The basic version is cool but when you work out how to customise and add whatever programs you like it is totally awesome.

bhxtyrant

January 28th, 2007, 18:16 PM

FastGame

January 29th, 2007, 00:12 AM

Hey curio,

So basically it has to be corporate or server or it wont work?I have neither of those so thats a bit of an issue there.So i take it that i cant use my friends home edition CD either?

How about an XP pro SP2 volume edition?I have a friend who has one of those i could use if needed.
I don't know of any problems. I've made them with XP Home SP1 and they worked fine, just made one with XP Home SP2 and it works great on 4 PC's, moved 10g just to make sure :D

bhxtyrant

January 29th, 2007, 01:19 AM

Ok now theres a problem,I made a BartPE CD using XP pro SP2 tested it out on the PC in question all booted fine.Problem was it would not detect the external USB drive.So i figure ok i'll just erase the CD-RW and try out the linux solution i was wrong there.Upon shutting down the PC from BartPe i got an error and now the PC seems to be stuck in a continuous reboot loop.I even tryed inserting the XP CD to attempt a repair or format and once it gets to the option screen to select repair,install or exit PC reboots.I dont have a clue whats causing it so im gonna try out the linux solution tommorrow and hopfully i can transfer the files and format the disk after then do a fresh install of XP.Any idea's?

Conan

January 29th, 2007, 06:17 AM

It sounds like a hardware problem, either memory or power supply related due to the constant rebooting.

FastGame

January 29th, 2007, 10:52 AM

What Conan said......

Ok now theres a problem,I made a BartPE CD using XP pro SP2 tested it out on the PC in question all booted fine.Problem was it would not detect the external USB drive
Hmm, it detects USB drives (both flash & HD) on my PC's :confused: Are you sure the USB ports are enabled or good ?

[edit] can you take the HD out of the USB case and hook it up as slave to the IDE cable ?

bhxtyrant

January 29th, 2007, 13:01 PM

Hey FG and conan,
Yeah im thinking it's a memory issue i have some spare memory so im gonna try a few tests today.

Yep the USB ports are enabled and working fine but for some reason in the bartPE CD i only could see the CD-rom and C: drive but not (E:) which is the external.I'm going to try the slave method today but thats gonna be an issue since BartPE will no longer boot due to the PC restarting.

bhxtyrant

January 29th, 2007, 18:26 PM

:UPDATE:
It's looking more like a hardware issue now so i think this topic could be closed or moved.I did alot of testing on the PC today and here is what happened.

I formatted the PC afterwards installed a fresh copy of XP,all seemed well and the PC worked fine for around 4 hours during the time i set up internet access and various other hardware drivers.I then went to update windows to SP2 and began downloading it from windows update.Moments later the PC shut down and rebooted and once again began the never ending reboot cycle.I tryed 2 sticks of RAM (256MB) trying them together and sperate in each slot with no change.So now the only other things i can think of are PSU or Processor.This PC is a pretty old Dell 1300Mhz model 2200.So now its time for the owner to make a choice on what to do next.If anyone has any more suggestions i'd love to hear them :)

FastGame

January 29th, 2007, 18:48 PM

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5584791 :)

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5238475 :D

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5533608 :)

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5584790 :D

You can check out deals @DELL

Moved to hardware

phishhead

January 29th, 2007, 18:52 PM

could try memtest to determine if its a memory issue. other than that looks like a rebuild to me.

bhxtyrant

January 29th, 2007, 19:14 PM

Thanks guys for moving this,
@FG
They dont wanna go with another Dell as theres been so many problem with this PC over the years i been trying to talk to them about a custom build as in the end they will get exactly what they want and less hassle with dell tech support.

@Phish,
Already did memtest but since the PC keeps rebooting no matter if im running windows or a CD driven program so it can never get through a full test.