[dba-Tech] Petulant PC

Steve,

I decided to try True Image 10.  I have just had all I can stand from
Symantec, their tech support is about as bad as it gets.  True image is
available through NewEgg for $35 including shipping.

My biggest issue with this stuff is actually trying a restore.  I read one
service site that said "never do a restore over existing data" (they were
talking images here).  The reason is simple, if the restore fails you have
hosed whatever chance you might have had of getting the original data
recovered.  

Of course that means getting another disk large enough to perform the
restore on, and of course in the case of a laptop, which will physically fit
in the machine once you are done recovering the backup.

I was reading a side by side review of Symantec's product and True Image.
The author stated that he was a die hard fan of the Symantec product until
the latest versions started creating corrupt backups.  While the product
would say that things failed in the LOG FILE, it never actually said so on
the screen, so the only way to know whether you got a good backup was go
read the log file.  Which of course the average Joe will not think is
required.  In fact the author was burned and discovered this when his backup
was corrupt.

Anyway, I am going to do this stuff once I get my software.  Get a good
image of both my laptop and my wife's laptop, then get both backing up
critical data.  I have already moved my family photos off onto the Raid 6
system, and have a backup area out on that machine for raid protected
storage.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com 
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Steve Erbach
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 9:45 AM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Petulant PC

John,

Right you are.  I'm going to look into Casper XP.  It's only $50; can't
afford RAID arrays at the moment.  I don't want to go through this stuff
anymore.

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI

On 6/4/07, jwcolby <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com> wrote:
> I'll tell you, I spend more time on stuff like this, which is exactly 
> why I am trying to get my house in order.  A good RAID backup platform 
> and a good backup / imaging program will go a long way.
>
>
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
> www.ColbyConsulting.com