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I recently built a system that used the Biostar M7VIG Pro MB that also came with 3 OEM Norton programs. One being Norton Ghost 2003, well at least that is what it said on TOP of the CD. It was actually NG 2002 or 7.0. The bad thing about that is NG 2002 does NOT handle NTFS partitions. So now I am back to the drawing board:

I need some advice on which is the BEST, EAISEST, and STABLE backup program to use for backing up NTFS W2K HD's? I have a 40GB NTFS HD backing up to a 20GB NTFS HD. I see the top 3 players are:

1) NG 2003 (this is the 1st version that allows NTFS support)
2) PowerQuest Drive Image
3) Acronis TrueImage 6.0

Also I heard that PowerQuest will NOT support Drive Image 2002 if you are using service pack 3 for W2K?

Are there signifigant issues when backing up this info with this SP3?

Thanks!

First question... why not install SP4? it's probably the most stable SP build for 2K they've come out with.

IMO, I've used all three, True Image is the easiest to use, does a solid job and compresses pretty fast if you're using that function.

Norton 2002 will back up NTFS partitions, it just does it in a screwy manner. The issue is when it comes to restoring them. You can do it, just have to do a bit of research. Since you have 2003, this isn't an issue.

Drive Image 7.0 requires .Net 1.1, not sure if there are any issues with it and SP3.

For regular backups if you're going from HD to HD, just use the backup functionality that's built into Win2K.

FYI any time you do use any kind of compression with backups, you do increase the probability that errors will occur.

The kicker for all of these products is the introduction of support for RAID arrays that are using the Intel ICH5R Southbridge, at the moment there isn't any support.

tazdevl wrote:For regular backups if you're going from HD to HD, just use the backup functionality that's built into Win2K.

Thanks tazdevl!

I am new to the W2K pro environment so could you tell me how to use this feature?

What is the CORRECT and BEST way to make a backup of your drive? It does not sound like the W2K uses this image technique or compression for the matter. Is it a FILE for FILE copy?

Which one do you use?

If you use the W2K backup program will that restore the whole HD or just important files that you saved? Like an image can be used for diaster recovery.

Thanks for your help!

LOL, I haven't messed with Win2K for a while and my MCSE is pretty rusty.

Like I said, first thing is to install SP4.

Backup feature should be under System tools in the Accessories menu.

It does a straight 1:1 copy and can copy everything to do a full reinstall or things like specific files and folders. You just need a floppy to use as a recovery disk when you run backup

I'm a big fan of figuring things out for yourself. Try doing some searches on google and in the microsoft knowledge base.

There is a wizard interface, so its pretty straightforward. Just be sure you set the secondary hard drive as the destination.

I backup the My Documents folder nightly to a secondary hard drive, backup files that don't change too often once a month (MP3s, AVIs) to DVD and backup My Docs to DVD every week.

Using a second hard drive is a great and quick way to backup your data. Though if you have some stuff you don't want to lose, you want to be sure you back it up to a medium that is totally separate from your computer like a DVD, external hard drive, tape etc.. Otherwise a bad hard drive controller or associated driver, virus, hard drive going bad... could wipe your drives clean or corrupt the data.

tazdevl wrote:Backup feature should be under System tools in the Accessories menu.

another way in XP, and i think 2K too: My Computer -> right click the drive -> Properties -> Tools tab -> Backup Now button.