ItDontMeanAThing
Full time employment: Posting here.
Best advice I ever received about backups was: Count the number of your external drives containing up to date backups. Subtract 1. Respond appropriately.
A tale of woe
- Thread starter imoldernu
- Start date
RetireBy90
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I had an old computer with disk was getting errors so I bought a new disk, downloaded Linux and dd to my usb and booted from it to copy old disk to new disk. Should have been able to copy, take out old disk swap with new disk and power up. BUT when I booted with new disk, it took first drive designation, and left old one with 2nd disk. I did copy of every sector from blank I formatted disk over old disk. Good thing I had backups of important files and a disk to reinstall but that is my oops story.
easysurfer
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There are HD imaging and cloning programs (Windows too) that are free 
.
In fact, one I know of is HDD Raw copy. HDD Raw Copy Tool is a utility for low-level, sector-by-sector hard disk duplication.
When working on disk recovery, a suggestion is to make a raw copy of the disk, the recover from the copy. Otherwise, poke here, prod there, run a utility there on the disk, and before you know, nothing is recoverable.
.In fact, one I know of is HDD Raw copy. HDD Raw Copy Tool is a utility for low-level, sector-by-sector hard disk duplication.
When working on disk recovery, a suggestion is to make a raw copy of the disk, the recover from the copy. Otherwise, poke here, prod there, run a utility there on the disk, and before you know, nothing is recoverable.
unclemick
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Toooo late. Just updated for free a few nights ago. Posting here with Windows 10.
Now I'm 'scart' aand looking over my shoulder!
heh heh heh - Seems a tad slower than my old 7 but so far so good.
Dawg52
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I'll only upgrade when I have to. Win 7 does everything I need.
Update...
Still have one computer running windows 7.
The other two are now disconnected and awaitng guru son, though I am not opimistic. So far, there are 515 million hits on windows problems. In many hours of looking every suggestion (solution) weems to be refuted by following posts.
The single seemingly optimistic resution was in a windows forum, where a clean install would be available with the computer code. Except... my code(s) were from the refurbisher, who no longer supports this.
Almost every "solution" requires a back up restore disk or partition...neither of which I have.
I can buy a new operating system, but the cost is more than what I paid for my refurbished computers. I won't spring for a Mac, as with my current run of luck and finicky fingers, I'd probably drop it.
As far as local paid gurus... hmmm... have talked with some of them, and I don't think they know as much as I do.
Am pretty sure that the linux prgram in the UBCD disk could fix the boot section, but I'll have to learn farsi, newspeak, or espranto to interpret the terms.
Have resurrected an XP/linux dual boot laptop and an old emachine with Vista. I'd get a mobile phone or use my tablet, but vision and peripheral neuropathy make small screens a no-no.
If DS can't fix the two bricked machines, I'll just buy two refurbs for about $130.
I am still pretty ticked that during this fiasco, my 2T hard drive can't be seen, except in device manager... (no letter ID or access) It still works, and files show up on my Sony media Player. Seems no one has a clue as to how to restore the drive identifier.
Based on what I've heard and seen on the news, and on-line, ther don't seem to be enough problems with Windows 10, to trigger a great amount of angst.
I'll just have to accept being part of the 1/10th of 1 percent.
Have dug through enough old drives, and CD's to reconstruct most of my most important files.
..............................................................................................
The one strange thing that really stung, was that on one of the computers, when I went to "RESTORE"... it actually happened. I used it for three hours, and rebooted five or six times, until it came up the same "missing File C:\BCD", that blanked the first computer.
Absolutely no... nada, zero help from Microsoft on that error.
Still have one computer running windows 7.
The other two are now disconnected and awaitng guru son, though I am not opimistic. So far, there are 515 million hits on windows problems. In many hours of looking every suggestion (solution) weems to be refuted by following posts.
The single seemingly optimistic resution was in a windows forum, where a clean install would be available with the computer code. Except... my code(s) were from the refurbisher, who no longer supports this.
Almost every "solution" requires a back up restore disk or partition...neither of which I have.
I can buy a new operating system, but the cost is more than what I paid for my refurbished computers. I won't spring for a Mac, as with my current run of luck and finicky fingers, I'd probably drop it.
As far as local paid gurus... hmmm... have talked with some of them, and I don't think they know as much as I do.
Am pretty sure that the linux prgram in the UBCD disk could fix the boot section, but I'll have to learn farsi, newspeak, or espranto to interpret the terms.
Have resurrected an XP/linux dual boot laptop and an old emachine with Vista. I'd get a mobile phone or use my tablet, but vision and peripheral neuropathy make small screens a no-no.
If DS can't fix the two bricked machines, I'll just buy two refurbs for about $130.
I am still pretty ticked that during this fiasco, my 2T hard drive can't be seen, except in device manager... (no letter ID or access) It still works, and files show up on my Sony media Player. Seems no one has a clue as to how to restore the drive identifier.
Based on what I've heard and seen on the news, and on-line, ther don't seem to be enough problems with Windows 10, to trigger a great amount of angst.
I'll just have to accept being part of the 1/10th of 1 percent.
Have dug through enough old drives, and CD's to reconstruct most of my most important files.
..............................................................................................
The one strange thing that really stung, was that on one of the computers, when I went to "RESTORE"... it actually happened. I used it for three hours, and rebooted five or six times, until it came up the same "missing File C:\BCD", that blanked the first computer.
Absolutely no... nada, zero help from Microsoft on that error.
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CaliforniaMan
Full time employment: Posting here.
+1
I did once have my backup drive die, just stopped working. Luckily my computer drive was still good. Now I use two separate backup drives. One is backed up daily, the other weekly. Am I paranoid? Most definitely yes.
audreyh1
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No, drives can fail. We maintain two separate time machine backups.
I lost my computer hard drive and the backup hard drive within an hour of each other. That week was fun.
easysurfer
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I got my data and OS (Win) automatically backed up to a separate drive. Scheduled daily via Macrium Reflect software. Plus, I do syncing of my data folder as needed (not automated). The goal is to make the the backup and recovery process not too intrusive, yet functional.
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Ouch. I have been making two backups on two different external hard drives every weekend. That redundancy gives me a (probably false) sense of being infallibly backed up.
Losing everything on one's hard drive is a devastating experience.
My new Windows 10 laptop is "out for delivery", so I'll probably back up twice again this afternoon just for GP, even though I did it on Saturday. Time to re-read the articles explaining how to tweak Windows 10 options in order to keep it from stealing bandwidth, transmitting my information unbeknownst to me, and so on. Honestly I think Microsoft must have lost their (collective) minds to have arranged the defaults as they did, since nearly everyone seems to object to the expanded invasion of privacy.
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NW-Bound
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Files that I care about are on 4 devices or more: laptop or desktop PCs, two Windows servers, a Buffalo NAS, an Iomega NAS, and perhaps another USB drive.
Ridiculous? Yes, it surely is. And I have not kept up the synchronizing between them. Darn! I want to be just a computer user, not running IT for the household. Ridiculous! And people think all this stuff is fun?
Ridiculous? Yes, it surely is. And I have not kept up the synchronizing between them. Darn! I want to be just a computer user, not running IT for the household. Ridiculous! And people think all this stuff is fun?
The 30 day option to go back from Windows 10 to the previous OS may tempt some to do that. I just wanted to make clear that the option that comes up on the first screen (Windows 10 or Restore) means that the "Restore"... is not System Restore, wherein previous files and programs are restored intact... but is a full restore back to the original operating system. Everything else is lost.
.....................................................................
A side effect of this Windows 10 problem has become a "fun" project for me. The problems led me to look through my hoard of computer"stuff"... going through the antique section of my garage and pulling out old computers to play with while pomdering the next move.
Have turned the den into a tech shop with all kinds of computers, peripherals and old hard drives etc. (special dispensation from DW for a week or so.)
Found all kinds of interesting stuff... old Emachine, w/Windows 3.11, an old 300 Baud modem, and the Hayes 2800 modem we used for years in our busiess. Fascinating... an old Windows 95 HP "laptop" runing Windows 95 and still operating. Can't figure out how to conect to the internet as the doohicky plug-in cable converter doesn't seem to work. That baby weighs about 12 pounds, and with the accessoies bag, would requre a luggage carrier for use as a business travel adjunct.
I even kept the RAM chips from many of the computers I upgraded when I was "fixin" for my Florida community friends. Two 64MB chips $75 in the 1990's.
My Coleco "Adam" finally bit the dust last year, and is no more,and the Sinclair is nowere to be found. My first 'advanced" Acer desktop cost $575 on sale at Computerland. Flying high w/128 RAM. Traded that for a broken Trailhopper cycle.
Have come to the conclusion that the reason that the reason that computers is still a profitable business is because, aside from hard drives and memory chips, there are absolutely no interchangeable parts in any computer. If anything breaks... replace... do not repair.
Ah yes... I digress, but "Tis an ill wind that blows no good"... Computers have become such a big part in life, that a lookback makes for an interesting experience.
.....................................................................
A side effect of this Windows 10 problem has become a "fun" project for me. The problems led me to look through my hoard of computer"stuff"... going through the antique section of my garage and pulling out old computers to play with while pomdering the next move.
Have turned the den into a tech shop with all kinds of computers, peripherals and old hard drives etc. (special dispensation from DW for a week or so.)
Found all kinds of interesting stuff... old Emachine, w/Windows 3.11, an old 300 Baud modem, and the Hayes 2800 modem we used for years in our busiess. Fascinating... an old Windows 95 HP "laptop" runing Windows 95 and still operating. Can't figure out how to conect to the internet as the doohicky plug-in cable converter doesn't seem to work. That baby weighs about 12 pounds, and with the accessoies bag, would requre a luggage carrier for use as a business travel adjunct.
I even kept the RAM chips from many of the computers I upgraded when I was "fixin" for my Florida community friends. Two 64MB chips $75 in the 1990's.
My Coleco "Adam" finally bit the dust last year, and is no more,and the Sinclair is nowere to be found. My first 'advanced" Acer desktop cost $575 on sale at Computerland. Flying high w/128 RAM. Traded that for a broken Trailhopper cycle.
Have come to the conclusion that the reason that the reason that computers is still a profitable business is because, aside from hard drives and memory chips, there are absolutely no interchangeable parts in any computer. If anything breaks... replace... do not repair.
Ah yes... I digress, but "Tis an ill wind that blows no good"... Computers have become such a big part in life, that a lookback makes for an interesting experience.
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W2R
Moderator Emeritus
I am in awe of your multiple backups! Even if they are not totally synched, that is still a great idea.
Imoldernu, have you checked your old CD's? Maybe you used to burn backups onto CD's like I did, back in the days before external hard drives were affordable. I have no idea whether or not they are still readable, though. And in my case, I think I tossed those ancient backups when I moved this summer.
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NW-Bound
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No. I think the time I spent moving files about could be better spent doing something else. And then, because I lost track of what I store where, I had to run an app to scan all the devices to make sure they match. That takes a lot of time, while creating another copy is done with a few mouse clicks, then letting the machines grind on it for the next few hours. Trying to find out later which is what takes a lot of time.
Oh, this photo is reported as being different between two storage places. Lemme see. Ah, I rotated one copy to portrait mode, while the other is still in the original landscape form.
I hate to be so paranoid. I should not have to be.
Oh, this photo is reported as being different between two storage places. Lemme see. Ah, I rotated one copy to portrait mode, while the other is still in the original landscape form.
I hate to be so paranoid. I should not have to be.
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W2R
Moderator Emeritus
I agree.
Hmm, all the time required is something I had not considered and that is definitely food for thought. I have already bookmarked a third external storage device for future purchase, to use with my new Windows 10 computer in addition to the other two external storage devices.
Right now, I can run CCleaner, scan with Malwarebytes and Norton, and then make backups from my laptop computer onto two external devices in less than an hour. This is fairly painless as I drink my coffee and check e-mail on my iPad, early in the mornings on weekends. I don't compare the backups at all, but instead just make new ones each time. (They are not huge, and I back up via USB 3.0.) Very low tech process but it works for me.
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NW-Bound
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The multiple backup copies on the 2 Windows servers and the 2 NAS are intended to be duplicates of photos, MP3, financial records, etc... These can be accessed by a media player on the home network. I do not have all of them on all the time, else my electric bill would be higher than it already is.
On top of the media server duplicates, I also run complete backups (which include OS files) of my laptop and wife's machine onto one of the Windows servers. This server automatically mirrors all backups onto two different internal hard drives. Each backup instance is a full disk image backup, meaning the entire hard drive of my laptop can be restored by plugging it into the network, then booting off a CD rescue disk.
What is slick with this server backup is that although each backup instance appears as a full backup to the user, the software will not repeatedly store files that have not been changed, and in fact will even use a single copy for files that are duplicated among client machines.
So, I do not have to think about incremental backups vs. full backups. And the automatic duplication inside the server into two different physical HDs give the extra protection that is needed. I count this among the things that MS does well and correctly. Yet, they discontinued it!
On top of the media server duplicates, I also run complete backups (which include OS files) of my laptop and wife's machine onto one of the Windows servers. This server automatically mirrors all backups onto two different internal hard drives. Each backup instance is a full disk image backup, meaning the entire hard drive of my laptop can be restored by plugging it into the network, then booting off a CD rescue disk.
What is slick with this server backup is that although each backup instance appears as a full backup to the user, the software will not repeatedly store files that have not been changed, and in fact will even use a single copy for files that are duplicated among client machines.
So, I do not have to think about incremental backups vs. full backups. And the automatic duplication inside the server into two different physical HDs give the extra protection that is needed. I count this among the things that MS does well and correctly. Yet, they discontinued it!
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NW-Bound
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Another thing to add.
The Window server backup looks like a disk image backup to the user, yet he can peruse and retrieve individual files if he wants to. This is really slick. But for the files to be accessible to a media player or to another PC on the network, I need to have them on a NAS or a shareable directory on the Window servers. Hence, the multiple copies of photos and MP3s.
The Window server backup looks like a disk image backup to the user, yet he can peruse and retrieve individual files if he wants to. This is really slick. But for the files to be accessible to a media player or to another PC on the network, I need to have them on a NAS or a shareable directory on the Window servers. Hence, the multiple copies of photos and MP3s.
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
That sounds like a great set-up, NW-Bound.
I don't do a full backup at all, ever! But I don't do incremental backups either. I just fully back up the subset of stuff that Windows keeps under my username "W2R". I make sure that anything that I want to keep is stored there.
Any software can be re-installed either from disk or download, and I don't regard software configuration as a very big deal. Also I couldn't care less if I lost an old operating system. Bye bye, Windows 8.1!
I don't do a full backup at all, ever! But I don't do incremental backups either. I just fully back up the subset of stuff that Windows keeps under my username "W2R". I make sure that anything that I want to keep is stored there.
Any software can be re-installed either from disk or download, and I don't regard software configuration as a very big deal. Also I couldn't care less if I lost an old operating system. Bye bye, Windows 8.1!
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One of our sons is also our computer guru. He works in IT and always keeps up with the newest technology and software. Very handy to have him around when one of us runs into something we can't handle. Sometimes he just knows what search term to use, when my own searches didn't find the solution. He fixes just about anything for the cost of a home cooked meal.
Good luck, imoldernu. I hope he can get you back to where you were.
rbmrtn
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
When plugging in additional usb devices windows will/can reassign the letter assignments. You need to go into the computer management console, disk management and assign a letter to the drive.
You may be able to recover files from the format, assuming you have not been trying to write additional info to the drive. There are tools for doing this, try this one Recover files after format easily and safely
The UBCD ( Ultimate Boot CD )disk will not help with what you have done. The BCD error is because the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) has been corrupted. You need to get into a windows recovery environment or boot into repair this computer from the windows media. For this you can use any windows 7 DVD ( You can down load one ). More on BCD here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2004518
I would not do windows 10 upgrade online. And having the recovery media and backup is a must before starting any upgrade process. I would use the windows 10 media creation tool, Installing Windows 10 using the media creation tool - Windows Help, this will download the windows 10 files to an iso which you can burn to DVD and use that to install/upgrade from. Windows upgrades have not gone well in the past... I always did a clean install. But the free W10 is only available via upgrade, clean install requires product key.
You may be able to recover files from the format, assuming you have not been trying to write additional info to the drive. There are tools for doing this, try this one Recover files after format easily and safely
The UBCD ( Ultimate Boot CD )disk will not help with what you have done. The BCD error is because the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) has been corrupted. You need to get into a windows recovery environment or boot into repair this computer from the windows media. For this you can use any windows 7 DVD ( You can down load one ). More on BCD here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2004518
I would not do windows 10 upgrade online. And having the recovery media and backup is a must before starting any upgrade process. I would use the windows 10 media creation tool, Installing Windows 10 using the media creation tool - Windows Help, this will download the windows 10 files to an iso which you can burn to DVD and use that to install/upgrade from. Windows upgrades have not gone well in the past... I always did a clean install. But the free W10 is only available via upgrade, clean install requires product key.
NW-Bound
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The Windows upgrade popup has been nagging me to go for it. I already made a full backup of this Win 7 laptop, but do not think I am going with this now. Prior to this, the upgrade software has already made a couple of botched attempt to download 2.7GB worth of stuff, and it does not give me confidence. The tales of other posters did not give me confidence either.
It does not look I would gain much with Win 10 to make it worthwhile. I may do it when I get bored with nothing else to do. I would be able to restore the disk image easily, so that minimizes the risk.
The darn software experience is different for every installation. The software is getting way too complex with all different permutations of hardware and add-on software, MS lost control of it long ago. You would think in the digital world with 0's and 1's, things would be predictable, or at least repeatable. Hah! It's like cancer treatments. Every patient has a different response. But why get treatments if you do not have cancer in the 1st place? I'd better stop now before I give Apple users more ammo.
It does not look I would gain much with Win 10 to make it worthwhile. I may do it when I get bored with nothing else to do. I would be able to restore the disk image easily, so that minimizes the risk.
The darn software experience is different for every installation. The software is getting way too complex with all different permutations of hardware and add-on software, MS lost control of it long ago. You would think in the digital world with 0's and 1's, things would be predictable, or at least repeatable. Hah! It's like cancer treatments. Every patient has a different response. But why get treatments if you do not have cancer in the 1st place? I'd better stop now before I give Apple users more ammo.
No, it just takes time, and I'd rather spend my time doing something else. Much of my hardware is a collection of oddball peripherals, and the hours sitting there loading and configuring software get old fast.
target2019
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
It might be prudent to take a look at the SMART parameters on a drive before going forward.The Windows upgrade popup has been nagging me to go for it. I already made a full backup of this Win 7 laptop, but do not think I am going with this now. Prior to this, the upgrade software has already made a couple of botched attempt to download 2.7GB worth of stuff, and it does not give me confidence. The tales of other posters did not give me confidence either.
It does not look I would gain much with Win 10 to make it worthwhile. I may do it when I get bored with nothing else to do. I would be able to restore the disk image easily, so that minimizes the risk.
The darn software experience is different for every installation. The software is getting way too complex with all different permutations of hardware and add-on software, MS lost control of it long ago. You would think in the digital world with 0's and 1's, things would be predictable, or at least repeatable. Hah! It's like cancer treatments. Every patient has a different response. But why get treatments if you do not have cancer in the 1st place? I'd better stop now before I give Apple users more ammo.
No, it just takes time, and I'd rather spend my time doing something else. Much of my hardware is a collection of oddball peripherals, and the hours sitting there loading and configuring software get old fast.
I've recently done that with half a dozen old drives. After seeing the statistics on these drives (used a utility under linux), I decide it wasn't worth holding onto drives that were failing, or expected to fail rather soon.
I set up an old box with mint or kubuntu, and it has available SATA and IDE connectors. I plugged in a drive to test, booted, and used various utilities to explore the different programs that test drives. Can't say I'm very experienced doing this, but it quickly showed me what's up with any given drive.
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