T42 Disk Imaging Questions

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I need some advice please...

I've yet to implement any kind of backup procedure and having had a few scares recently i think it's about time I did.

I'm planning on buying a 2.5" external USB drive (probably the WD Passport 320GB).

I want to create regular images of my 60GB drive in case the drive fails or my T42 gets stolen (heaven forbid!!)

I seem to remember reading that Norton Ghost had problems with IBM's hidden recovery partition. Is that true? Is Acronis True Image a better solution? Is the latest version (11 I believe) any good?

Have i got the right idea in general? Does backing up to an external 2.5" drive work? If my 60GB drive fails, will I be able to recover the image from a 2.5" external drive to put on a new drive?

What about if my laptop gets stolen? Will I be able to use the image on a new laptop? I assume the new laptop would have to be a Thinkpad (the IBM-specific software such as Access Connections, Battery Maximizer etc would mess things up on a non-Thinkpad right?). And would it have to specifically be a T42? And a same spec T42 at that?? I assume so but correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm planning on going on a long-term road trip around the US with my laptop soon which is why I'm concerned about the theft issue.

Any input much appreciated :]

[richk]

The answer is more complicated than the question. I am assuming your disk was originally built with the T42 recovery disks, not the T40/41 disks which also work on T42. (I also thing the T40/41 image was used on early T42 machines when they were made by IBM) When you look at the disk under control panel/administrative tools/computer management/diskmanagement, if you can see the recovery partition, you have no problem. If you cannot see the recovery partition, than what I tell you is wrong and you should post back.

Until recently, I used a T42 as my primary laptop. With the normal T42 recovery partition, I used Acronis to make a clone, which I saved. I also downloaded Rescue and Recovery, version 3, which I used to create a backup of the machine. That allowed me to backup only changes at a later time and go back to any version. Every few months, I deleted the backups and started fresh. As far as using the cloned disk in another machine, it will work best in a T42. The recovery stuff won't work right in an earlier machine and later machines (T43/T60) use a different hardware abstraction layer, and, while your machine will probably boot, some things don't work quite right.

[egibbs]

I also use Acronis with R&R on my T42p, and find that they work well together. Acronis can do incremental backups as can R&R, and either of them will allow you to browse inside a backup and select only the files you want to restore.

You may be wondering why we use both. I don't really trust R&R, having had some issues with previous incarnations. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice tool with some very nifty features. If I need to do a restore it's the first thing I reach for. But if it ever blows up in the middle of a restore I want to know that I have a Plan B.

Ed Gibbs

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OK thanks. I can indeed see the recovery partition in Administrative Tools.

When you say you use both R&R and Acronis, does that mean your backups take up twice the space? You have two seperate images?
What's the advantage of using both rather than only Acronis?

Thanks

[egibbs]

I use Acronis to backup to a network drive only and R&R to backup to the local disk and the network. The backups do take up twice as much space on the network, but I've got over a TB now on my home network, so that's not a huge issue.

You could certainly use Acronis by itself, but when it comes to backups it's always a good idea to have a Plan B. You could use Acronis with the built in Microsoft backup if you wanted, but R&R is free and has some nice features that MS Backup doesn't have.

Ed Gibbs

[user17600]

Or you could get your TP to the desired "perfect" state and use Knoppix or another live CD and "dd" the entire drive (including the restore area and MBR) to archive this ideal of perfection...

I have done this on a number of TPs, for archival purposes, for installation of new drives, or simply to blow away pesky software installations (e.g. Turb*tax). Works best with a USB HD but can also be configured across a network drive.

See http://www.google.com/search?q=knoppix+dd