Make a Restore Point today

Just a cautionary note … System Restore can eat up hard drive space like crazy.

To store restore points, you need at least 300 megabytes (MB) of free space on each hard disk that has System Protection turned on. System Restore might use up to 15 percent of the space on each disk.

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I like the hotswap sata drives for this purpose. I just set my RAID’d drives to routinely backup to the hotswap and once they’re full, pop a new one in. TigerDirect and NewEgg have like multi-TB drives for like $100 bucks now. After a few months, I’ll reformat the oldest one & start again. Like TheDane mentions, I keep those spacehogs on dedicated drives away from my OS and stuff I need.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

hotswap sata drives

Gotta look into that.
I have Norton Ghost but haven’t learned to use it yet.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

I keep my data backed up and I have used System Restore a number of times and it has most always worked for me. I usually find a restore point that is not too far back but with the backup I can always restore the lost data anyways. And then life goes on.

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

XP…ick

Also, clean OS installs every 6 months to a year (and anytime something like this happens) are a better option. Just have a 2 TB HDD to backup so when something like this happens, you don’t care about what you “lose” by a reformat because it’s on your backup HDD.

@ TheDane

If you are using 15% of you HDD with 300 MB…it’s time to get a new HDD. 2 TB HDD can be found for $50-$60 new from newegg.

Also, if you have an SSD, make sure to turn system restore OFF…writing and rewriting like that and taking up valuable space is a bad idea.

Yeah, Cr1, they’re just like an old-school floppy drive that takes an sata drive instead of a disk, lol.

You just install them into an external bay. They even have a cool lock.

They you just eject them like a disk. Write the date on them and file them away.

2TB for $89 after a quick search at Tiger Direct
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5758911&CatId=4357

You don’t need the fast drives and I’m sure you can find one for much cheaper.
But if a backup is 300GB, a 2TB gives you 6 full backups, so what, $15 a piece?
Pretty cheap insurance.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

@seabiscuit—300MB? LOL!

I think the smallest hard drive in our operation (I own a software company) is an 80GB SATA on the receptionist’s desk.

Here at the office we backup data to either Intuit or Carbonite. At home, I store data, pictures, etc. on a removable that is also backed up to Carbonite.

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I use Acronis True Image. It offers many forms of BU including disk imaging where you can store images which include everything for a precise re-imaging from a CD/DVD, hard drive or online storage. Fast and foolproof.

-- Roger-R, Republic of Texas. "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" - An eyeball to eyeball confrontation with a blind person is as complete waste of Time.

I don’t bother with system restore…
If my pc ever mucks up that bad (not in the past two years), I usually know why, and usually do a fresh install of windows anyway. All my media is kept on a separate partition so the only thing on the OS drive is the OS. The shortcuts to documents, videos, pics, etc can all be remapped. The only pain of a clean install is reinstalling programs (though not a big deal), and letting windows do all the updates.

And +1 on ick for XP.
Win7 is light years ahead.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

This may be a little off the grid as to what you guys are discussing, but I have a question I need answered:

I have a Dell with Windows 7, and when I try to watch a video that’s either on here, or someone has sent me through an email, etc., the video keeps breaking up, jumping (?), missed words, etc. What causes it to do this? Is it trying to what’s known as “buffer”...It also does it on my wife’s laptop. She has a Hullet /Packard, and we’re running through NetGear WNT 1000 wireless router, if that helps any…...

What causes it, and how do I fix it….I’m not very computer literate, so any help would be appreciated to fix the problem….. Thanks, guys….

-- " Don't ever wrestle a pig in a mudhole....he'll be having more fun than you..!!

Rick—Just a WAG, but this sounds like a band-width problem, which translates to a slow connection. The video player ‘buffers’ data in an attempt to keep the playout as error-free as possible. What sort of connection do you have (e.g. DSL, cable modem, WiFi, etc.)?

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I’ve always been shy of back ups with interweb providers like Carbonite etc.

I have so much sensitive data. I have it as encrypted data on hard drives that I keep under lock and key in a hidden location that the best of burglars wouldn’t find. I have to pull a panel off my computer and plug ‘em into the ribbon connecter to access the data. It’s really a lot of exercise, but I don’t have a kick ass I.T. team, I only have me.
The swappable SATA drives sound like a great idea.

you are such a good salesperson
I just bought the WD two terabyte drive for $59 and a Star Tech bay for $16
Bot h on the Flea Bay

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

@TheDane

You said that each restore point is 300MB and that accounts for 15% of you drive…

I suppose you did say “free space” but still…

Gerry,

I have DSL, WiFi, and a modem box that is tied into the tower with 5 led lights that light up…well…actually only 4 work. The box has ethernet, DSL, and internet lights that stay on, plus the power, of course. The USB light is never on. It’s a Westell box, if that helps any….

I also have WIFI hooked up to my television with an LED light that stays on constantly.

-- " Don't ever wrestle a pig in a mudhole....he'll be having more fun than you..!!