Question about system images

[whs]

Something like this would be the cheapest solution I can think of - unless you go with puny small which is not worth it. For cheaper you get mostly refurbished stuff.

Newegg.com - Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive WDBUZG0010BBK-NESN Black

 

[DavidE]

I'm a newegg customer and have been for many years, so that's where I look first for myself.
Some people I help have never bought online, and don't want to...
They hear the news about security breaches and don't want anything to do with entering personal/financial info online ...
I can't argue with their opinion ...

So for these folks I look for a local B&M store they can walk in, feel comfortable, and make a purchase.
Many of these people shop at Best Buy...so I check there...

Just looked and here are some external HDs at BB that might be of interest:
External & Portable Hard Drives : $50 - $99.99 | 1TB - 1.9TB - Best Buy

 

[whs]

Those WDs look good. I would stay away from Seagate.

 

[mjf]

The 500GB/1TB WD elements USB 3 (3 1/2") portables have been good performers for me.
I also have My Book Essentials USB 3 AC powered (desktop) externals. These are vertically mounted 5 1/4" with good ventilation. I would NOT select the flat 5 1/4" WD elements AC powered as the ventilation is non existent and they can overheat.
I have one AC powered Seagate external and wouldn't buy another.

 

[whs]

But Michael, he has a laptop. A 2.5" USB powered disk is probably more practical for him.

 

[pabuman]

Maybe you can try some third-party backup tool, I think aomei backupper is a good choice. Its free edition will meet your many needs

 

[mjf]

But Michael, he has a laptop. A 2.5" USB powered disk is probably more practical for him.

True as long as you aren't overloading your USB ports with other devices.

 

[whs]

USB3 ports have more power. But best is to run external SSDs. They use practically no power. I run two of them from a hub without problems.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Ok everyone, i just had a 1 TB WD My Passport Ultra delivered , i hope this will suffice .

I wanted to mention that when i tried to restore my computer with the Macrium rescue disk image it did not work , apparently i was missing the ethernet driver and some others although i did make a system image of everything.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I wanted to mention that when i tried to restore my computer with the Macrium rescue disk image it did not work , apparently i was missing the ethernet driver and some others although i did make a system image of everything.

I'd like to hear more detail about that.

Exactly what partitions you imaged, how far you got into the restoration process, what error messages you got, how you corrected it, etc.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I wanted to mention that when i tried to restore my computer with the Macrium rescue disk image it did not work , apparently i was missing the ethernet driver and some others although i did make a system image of everything.

I'd like to hear more detail about that.

Exactly what partitions you imaged, what partition you restored to, how far you got into the restoration process, what error messages you got, how you corrected it, etc.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Honestly I don't remember but I will watch carefully if I do it again. I do have another question though , is it possible to copy all your windows updates and just add them after a re format so you don't take hours waiting if starting from fresh ?

The other is how would you copy an updated version of your AV to install after a re format so you don't have to wait for that to update .

Thank you

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Honestly I don't remember but I will watch carefully if I do it again. I do have another question though , is it possible to copy all your windows updates and just add them after a re format so you don't take hours waiting if starting from fresh ?

The other is how would you copy an updated version of your AV to install after a re format so you don't have to wait for that to update .

Thank you

There's no easy way to copy updates and add them. I've heard that you can make your own ISO file containing the Windows installation files plus the updates and then burn that to a disk, but that's complex and I'd much rather just take the hours required to download the updates.

I don't follow your second question. AV is like any other application. If you do a clean install, you reinstall AV. If you restore from an image and the AV has been updated since the image was created, you would restore the image and then update the AV, just as you would with any other application.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Honestly I don't remember but I will watch carefully if I do it again. I do have another question though , is it possible to copy all your windows updates and just add them after a re format so you don't take hours waiting if starting from fresh ?

The other is how would you copy an updated version of your AV to install after a re format so you don't have to wait for that to update .

Thank you

There's no easy way to copy updates and add them. I've heard that you can make your own ISO file containing the Windows installation files plus the updates and then burn that to a disk, but that's complex and I'd much rather just take the hours required to download the updates.

I don't follow your second question. AV is like any other application. If you do a clean install, you reinstall AV. If you restore from an image and the AV has been updated since the image was created, you would restore the image and then update the AV, just as you would with any other application.

Thanks , I guess what I meant about the AV was , is there a way to copy an updated data base beforehand instead of waiting for the AV to update it self after you put a fresh copy down.

What I have always done is I updated with windows update while updating my AV , both seem to finish very close to the same time but it does take a long time .

I don't know if there's a better way.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks , I guess what I meant about the AV was , is there a way to copy an updated data base beforehand instead of waiting for the AV to update it self after you put a fresh copy down.

What I have always done is I updated with windows update while updating my AV , both seem to finish very close to the same time but it does take a long time .

"long time"??

I've never had AV updates take more than seconds. Maybe you have the world's slowest Internet connection or maybe you have some oddball AV that is slow to update for whatever reason? I use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Thanks , I guess what I meant about the AV was , is there a way to copy an updated data base beforehand instead of waiting for the AV to update it self after you put a fresh copy down.

What I have always done is I updated with windows update while updating my AV , both seem to finish very close to the same time but it does take a long time .

"long time"??

I've never had AV updates take more than seconds. Maybe you have the world's slowest Internet connection or maybe you have some oddball AV that is slow to update for whatever reason? I use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes.

Yeah, very slow connection , it's a broadband connection so not sure why it's so slow. It's Kaspersky AV 2014 and it finishes updating about the same time 170 windows updates have finished downloading lol.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Hi everyone , does anybody use the WD passport ultra external hard drive? I am unsure about the programs it comes with and are they worth using or should i use it another way ?

Thank you

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hi everyone , does anybody use the WD passport ultra external hard drive? I am unsure about the programs it comes with and are they worth using or should i use it another way ?

Thank you

I've never used one, but it's hard to imagine why you would need any of them.

Describe what they do if you want to, but I'd certainly think there would be equivalent and probably superior third party tools available at no charge.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Thank you, i believe WHS has like 12 external hard drives , hoping somebody can tell me what programs are worth keeping if any .

I will post a screenshot of someof them.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

What's the purpose of this drive?

Just for backup of original versions of files that are on some other drive, probably internal?


Or will it contain your only copy of some files?


Or?