Not@home wrote:
Jerry wrote:
My machine is old, 12 yrs to be exact. I do believe my hard drive is
dying. Wouldn't mind keeping my monitor, but would like to increase
memory,
speed, etc. And, specifically would like all my information put on
the new
system. I really like Outlook Express, but have heard it is not available
anymore.

In other words, I need some words of wisdom regarding what information I
should be looking for. And what should I steer clear of?

As you can tell I really lack computer knowledge.

thanks


I've read all these postings; quite a chore. But I want to set out what
I think I have learned. For my laptops, I have external hard drives
that I use for, among other things, backups. On this particular Dell, I
have a Western Digital hard drive, and have their software set to back
up everything weekly. Alas, I think all they do is back up the data,
and because I use uncommon software (Wordperfect, Seamonkey [son of
Netscape], F-secure AV, etc.) they don't seem to know where to put the
data when I ask for a restoration. So this charming Dell, which I
actually like, with Vista, has eaten two hard drives, and when I send it
for repair, they put in a new hard drive, and reinstall Vista, and that
is it. I am supposed to reinstall my programs and data, which is a
hassle, since I don't remember all my programs, and the restoration
service doesn't seem to work well. In anticipation that my current hard
drive will die before I do, I want a way to put my current setup on a
new hard drive.

It seems to me that making a disk image (which disks, C only, or C and
D?) with disk wizard, would be a good solution. I haven't looked for
disk wizard yet, it might even be somewhere on my machine. So my
question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning
program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it.

I did some more research. I found disk wizard at a Seagate site, but
buried in the manual was the caveat that it worked only if you have a
Seagate drive; crap. I then noticed that it is a version of Acronis
tweaked for Seagate, so I tried a search for Western Digital disk
wizard, and found another version of Acronis, tweaked for Western
Digital. Tomorrow I'm going to look for Toshiba disk wizard, since my
backup and my wife's pcs have Toshiba external hard drives.

I have only a 300 GB hard drive (I misspoke about my D drive, it is an
optical drive) and 1TB external drives. I had been using the external
drive to keep some data (pictures, music, word processing documents)
that I have no space for on my C drive, and for backup. So now I have
copied that data back to my C drive (it is stuffed tighter than an
unnamed politician's pants suits) in preparation to erasing and
partitioning the external drive, and using the disk wizard to make an
image in one partition, and storing my excess data in the other. I
think then I'll be in pretty good shape unless we have a fire. I've not
been comfortable about storing data in the cloud; it would protect me
from fire, but I worry about third party access. Maybe I'll eventually
make my own cloud in the garage.

Thanks for the information.

|
| Although with UEFI replacing BIOS booting, the legacy
| partition table is pretty much history, having been
| replaced by GPT (GUID partition table).
|
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

I'm not entirely clear about that. My understanding
is that UEFI supports standard MBR partitioning, and
that GPT partitioning is not necessary except to
access beyond 2 TB per partition.

I know that BootIt supports partitioning of GPT but
not booting from it. XP, which I'm using, also does not
support booting from it. What I'm not clear about are
the longterm ramifications, but my impression is that
I should be able to boot XP on future systems by
using MBR partitioning.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 11:42:15 -0400, "Not@home" wrote:

Jerry wrote:
My machine is old, 12 yrs to be exact. I do believe my hard drive is
dying. Wouldn't mind keeping my monitor, but would like to increase memory,
speed, etc. And, specifically would like all my information put on the new
system. I really like Outlook Express, but have heard it is not available
anymore.

In other words, I need some words of wisdom regarding what information I
should be looking for. And what should I steer clear of?

As you can tell I really lack computer knowledge.

thanks


I've read all these postings; quite a chore. But I want to set out what
I think I have learned. For my laptops, I have external hard drives
that I use for, among other things, backups. On this particular Dell, I
have a Western Digital hard drive, and have their software set to back
up everything weekly. Alas, I think all they do is back up the data,
and because I use uncommon software (Wordperfect, Seamonkey [son of
Netscape], F-secure AV, etc.) they don't seem to know where to put the
data when I ask for a restoration. So this charming Dell, which I
actually like, with Vista, has eaten two hard drives, and when I send it
for repair, they put in a new hard drive, and reinstall Vista, and that
is it. I am supposed to reinstall my programs and data, which is a
hassle, since I don't remember all my programs, and the restoration
service doesn't seem to work well. In anticipation that my current hard
drive will die before I do, I want a way to put my current setup on a
new hard drive.

It seems to me that making a disk image (which disks, C only, or C and
D?) with disk wizard, would be a good solution. I haven't looked for
disk wizard yet, it might even be somewhere on my machine. So my
question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning
program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it.
At the risk of being told I'm stupid again, I would recommend the
program I use for imaging and cloning hard drives. It is a program
called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works
better than Norton Ghost.
Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 12:56:04 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote:

| It seems to me that making a disk image (which disks, C only, or C and
| D?) with disk wizard, would be a good solution. I haven't looked for
| disk wizard yet, it might even be somewhere on my machine. So my
| question is, is this a good solution, and if so what is the best cloning
| program for the unsophisticated, and where can I get it.

There's a lot of information in the thread about that.
I use BootIt ($35). Bob_Villa posted a link to a free
program. You can research others, but you should
probably also do a bit of reading up if you're not
familiar with disk partitioning.

A disk can have primary partitions (normally up
to 4) and logical partitions. Any number of logical
partitions can be in an extended partition, which is
a kind of primary partition. Data and Linux can go on
any partition. Windows can only go on a primary
partition. (The terms really don't matter. They
could just as easily be choc, vanilla and strawberry.
You just need to know how they work.)

I usually put up to 3 primaries on a disk and then
fill the rest with logical data partitions. XP can get by
easily with 5 GB. Vista/7 will likely need at least 20 GB.
(The point being that if you do disk imaging you don't
store data on C drive where it can be lost. C drive is
the cab of your 18-wheeler. Data partitions are your
trailers. If you need to replace the engine you don't
want to lose your cargo.)

So, say for instance that you have Win7 on a 1 TB disk.
You could shrink C drive to, say, 60 GB, then install XP
on another primary partition behind C drive, then put
data partitions behind that. You can then dual boot Win7
and XP. All of that can be done with a typical disk
management program: deleting, resizing, creating partitions.
The part you need to understand is how to do that, in what
order, and why. Most programs will also let you hide one
partition from another, set the active boot partition, etc.

To keep it simple, let's just say you only want Win7
and you just want to image that.

Disk imaging is to make a compressed, single file copy
of a partition that can then be restored to any hard disk.
That's distinct from cloning, which is to copy one disk to
another. For reasons of practicality, it's best to disk image
when your OS is fresh and relatively small. If you can't
fit your image on one or two DVDs (or CDs for XP) then
it will be awkward to keep and restore your disk image.

You say you have C and D. Are they separate partitions
on one disk, or 2 separate disks? Either way, C drive is a
primary partition. Even if it fills the whole disk, it's formatted
as a partition. Disk imaging will make a copy of that *partition*.
If D drive is data you don't need to image it. Just back up
the data to CD/DVD/stick/etc.

In most cases, when you restore a disk image you'll need
at least as much empty space as the original partition took
up. That's another reason not to make your C drive
unnecessarily big.

What I do is to maintain disk images with software installed.
Then I periodically back up App Data settings like email,
address book, Firefox bookmarks, etc. (That's a whole other
topic. Programs can sometimes store data very obscurely
and you need to know where to find it.) I also keep many
data partitions, one of which is basic data that I want to
have backups of. I back that up regularly to CD. Other things,
like my graphics/photos partition, I back up less often.

As a further protection, I use two hard disks. Most of my
data exists in matching partitions on each disk. (Graphics1
and Graphics2, for instance.) I'm not using a RAID array.
Just redundant disks in case one goes suddenly.

You are making it WAY too complicated.
With ToDo bgackup you can image or clone the complete drive, or any
combination of partitions. You can clone to a larger or smaller drive,
as long as there is not more data than fits on the drive.

And no - I won't argue the point with YOU.

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:05:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
...a program called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works

better than Norton Ghost.

Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.

I used Easeus and liked it...but after finding it was Chinese I removed it. But that's just me...

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 11:26:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 18:13:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa

wrote:



On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:05:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:

...a program called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works



better than Norton Ghost.



Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.



I used Easeus and liked it...but after finding it was Chinese I removed it. But that's just me...

What can you buy in the USA (or Canada) that isn't at least partly

Chinese??? Virtually every tool or appliance, every Radio, TV,

telephone, and even CAR has chinese parts in it.

Other than smart appliances...what would that have to do with my security? We're talking intrusive software here...bad or good!

On Thursday, April 17, 2014 7:20:33 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 03:50:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa

wrote:



On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 11:26:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 18:13:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa



wrote:







On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:05:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:



...a program called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works







better than Norton Ghost.







Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.







I used Easeus and liked it...but after finding it was Chinese I removed it. But that's just me...



What can you buy in the USA (or Canada) that isn't at least partly



Chinese??? Virtually every tool or appliance, every Radio, TV,



telephone, and even CAR has chinese parts in it.



Other than smart appliances...what would that have to do with my security? We're talking intrusive software here...bad or good!

Even a very large amount of "north american" software is programmed

in Russia, India, China,Pakistan, and who-know-where-else. Absolutely

NO guarantee it is not intrusive.

And the vast majority of "security equipment" is also partly or wholly

sourced from China. You just can't win.

No, but we can still make choices...

wrote:

What can you buy in the USA (or Canada) that isn't at least partly
Chinese??? Virtually every tool or appliance, every Radio, TV,
telephone, and even CAR has chinese parts in it.

The 50th anniversity Buck 110 knives are brin and bred inIdaho afaik.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 18:13:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa
wrote:

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:05:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
...a program called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works

better than Norton Ghost.

Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.

I used Easeus and liked it...but after finding it was Chinese I removed it. But that's just me...
What can you buy in the USA (or Canada) that isn't at least partly
Chinese??? Virtually every tool or appliance, every Radio, TV,
telephone, and even CAR has chinese parts in it.

On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 03:50:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa
wrote:

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 11:26:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 18:13:00 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa

wrote:



On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 8:05:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:

...a program called Easeus todo backup. It works better than HDClone, which works



better than Norton Ghost.



Their Partition Master is also an excellent product.



I used Easeus and liked it...but after finding it was Chinese I removed it. But that's just me...

What can you buy in the USA (or Canada) that isn't at least partly

Chinese??? Virtually every tool or appliance, every Radio, TV,

telephone, and even CAR has chinese parts in it.

Other than smart appliances...what would that have to do with my security? We're talking intrusive software here...bad or good!
Even a very large amount of "north american" software is programmed
in Russia, India, China,Pakistan, and who-know-where-else. Absolutely
NO guarantee it is not intrusive.
And the vast majority of "security equipment" is also partly or wholly
sourced from China. You just can't win.

On Thursday, April 17, 2014 7:34:43 PM UTC-5, wrote:

...in so many cases.

But not all cases! 8^p

On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 05:40:01 -0700 (PDT), Bob_Villa
wrote:




Other than smart appliances...what would that have to do with my security? We're talking intrusive software here...bad or good!

Even a very large amount of "north american" software is programmed

in Russia, India, China,Pakistan, and who-know-where-else. Absolutely

NO guarantee it is not intrusive.

And the vast majority of "security equipment" is also partly or wholly

sourced from China. You just can't win.

No, but we can still make choices...
You can make choices that make you feel good, but not any that make
any real difference, in so many cases.