Mirroring My Hard Drive

[Erwin Schroedinger]

First off....I've done a Search but such is my computer knowledge that I don't see anything to answer my question.

So I'll just ask.

Moved to Broadband and it's quicker, but so is the rate at which my PC becomes infected with Diallers and bugs and......well you probably know what I'm talking about.

Got Norton suite (if that's the term) installed, but it doesn't protect me from disaster and re-formatting every few weeks.

Re-formatting and reinstalling all my software (Windows, ATI graphics, CD burning, printer, scroll mouse, scanner etc etc etc) takes for ever (well....ages anyway).

So here's the question ---- how do I reinstall the software using a spare hard drive as a tool? What I mean is, I have a spare hard drive with all the software installed and I want to use that as a "Master Copy" to re-install everything in one step onto a re-formatted drive.

BTW, the spare hard drive is currently on my desk. The cables are all available for fitting a second drive inside the PC and I'm familiar with Master and Slave (but maybe that's another story :E )

Hope that all makes sense. :O

[Flybywyre]

So here's the question ---- how do I reinstall the software using a spare hard drive as a tool?
You don't................
Instal the spare HD and then use one of the many copying tools such as "Acronis True Image" to completely transfer an identical image of your main HD on to the spare one.
Takes about 3-4 minutes........brilliant !
regards
FBW

[Conan the Librarian]

Norton is often bundled with Norton Ghost, which does just what you need. Another thought is to go to the HD manufacturers website and see what utilities they have there - Let's face it - if people have a grim time doing the job, they ain't going to buy many other hard disks, are they?

Now - This bit perplexes me. Confirm that you are running Norton Anti Virus and either (but not both) the Norton Firewall or the Windows XP SP2 Firewall? Are these and Windows fully updated?

The thing is that the threats and Gremlins you have described, should be picked up and toasted by Norton, or any other anti virus/firewall package. You don't want to be copying all of this crud onto Dsik 2 or your problems will copy over as well.

An additional thought is to get hold of a good and free anti adware/Spyware suite. Look at the "Diallers" thread in this forum. In fact, it is on this page!

If that lot does nothing, it is back to the anal probe.

Let us know how you go on and don't forget to feed the Cat.


Conan

[Stoney X]

Erwin, please take this critisism in a positive way. If you are having to reformat your system every few weeks, even though you have a firewall and an anti-virus installed and running, then might I suggest that you will benefit from attending a course or getting a book about basic PC management? With the packages you have you should not have to be worrying about how best to restore your system. A good anti-virus, a working firewall and a bit of common sense is all that is needed to protect your system.

Use your new hard drive to back up 'My Documents' and any other folders where personal info is stored, e.g. the outlook express folders. That way you are protecting yourself against a hard disk failure or accidental deletions.

Regards
Stoney

[Conan the Librarian]

If you are going to reformat at any time in the near future, if you haven't twigged this one before then take note.

The delights of a reformat are much more buttock clenching if your personal data is likely to be lost. Does your PC just have a C drive? If so, when you reformat, then all is potentially lost, should you screw up or have a bad crash. A very good way around this, is to partition the disk when you next reformat and make a new "D" partition or drive and if space permits, maybe an "E" drive too. All of your operating system, bells whistles, etc. goes onto C. Personal data goes onto D or whatever. Should you ever need to reformat C again, then all of your data remains untouched on that new partition. It is just the C drive that gets fried at your command - unless you choose to format the other partitions too.

I am sure that you are most likely, already set up this way, but if not, it is a very good move, while you are at it.

There are two types of user. Those that have lost data and those that are going to lose it.

Get all of your Anti V/Windows/Firewall updated first and get MS Anti Spyware or similar on your system.

Here to help if we can.


Conan

[Erwin Schroedinger]

OK, thanks for the advice guys!

I've ordered Acronis Trueimage and I'm doing all the other stuff advised as well.

You can't say I don't take advice!


Hopefully a future free of bugs and viru"%$^$&%(*^%&$&^*£$%£$ *FIZZ* (only kiddin) :ok:

[newswatcher]

Norton recently invited existing users of their Internet Security 2005 product to upgrade to their "Spyware" version for 10USD. Did this yesterday.:ok:

[Spinflight]

I've done a fair bit of spyware / virus checking for friends and colleagues. In many cases the worst affected systems were supposedly protected by Norton products. I took well over 100 virusses off one system of which a fully updated Norton contributed 8 to the total.

I'm not sure that mirroring your hard drive is the answer you're looking for though Erwin. Any nasties that affect your primary drive are likely to be present on your image too. I can see that you're thinking that a backup wouldn't have the virus on it but a lot of these critters only come to life on a certain day or day of the month...

You simply need better security. I'd recommend Outpost as a firewall and AVG as your antivirus. However if the problem is as serious as having to reinstall every few weeks then it sounds as though you need a dedicated Unix firewall.

They arn't expensive to buy else make your own if you have a spare stack about.

[newswatcher]

spinflight, it really depends how you install and operate Norton. I have done Norton scans on other PCs, allegedly "protected", with similar results. I like the fact that you can get a whole set of tools together rather than adding piecemeal. Norton is sometimes accused of being slow, but I have yet to experience this.

ZoneAlarm and PC-cillin seem to be the most recommended software products in this area.

[Spinflight]

I guess Norton's main crime is not to be idiot proof then. :O

Then again if you make something idiot proof, someone just creates a better brand of idiot.

[Erwin Schroedinger]

Hmmm, Norton bothers me too. But I'm no expert.

The idea with Acronis is to have a separate hard disk, not exposed to the net and not installed whilst surfing. I've got some caddys which I've just dug out from a dusty corner and discovered the "cable select" option works OK on my oldish hard drives (no master/slave jumpers needed - the IDE cable dictates which is which. Easy.

So I run on only one disk, exposed to the net.

The other disk is for everything else and also acts as a non-exposed back-up. It takes 2 mins to swap disks with the caddys.

If the net disk goes t!ts up, I use the second disk in a second caddy slot to copy a fresh image with Acronis. I always (well, nearly always) copy favourites and net saves nightly to CD, so they're easily reinstalled/safe.

Just saves me spending 3 hours reformatting and reinstalling. Acronis will do it in as many minutes (fingers crossed).


The best laid plans of mice and men.............. :\ :uhoh:

[Conan the Librarian]

The original problem remans though. If your second, third or fourth disks are not exposed to the net, then fair enough - but they are exposed to disk one, which, if compromised by the net or any other threat, is going to back up to - Yep! You guessed it!

A solid A/V and Spy/Adware regime, is going to keep your feet dry far better. Stay updated and run Anti Virus and Spyware scans every night at dark o clock and the the other really smart move, is to forget Internet Exploder and use Firefox or Opera as your main browser.

While we're at it, your Router is secured isn't it?

Conan