Solved Personalized Image-Backup Strategy Advice please?

[Miranova23]

Well I'm on my bro's Vista laptop right now. Be back at the desktop later on. So in the meantime, could we just say...

Okay, step 1- OS & apps on C.

Then?

 

[mjf]

I understand ISOs, but I've never seen a TIB before. So, you're saying that this .tib is not an image backup?
So, I suppose... Is there any other way I could have a User Profile (on C) direct to my folders (on D)? The only catch there is, can it be done without using only the precustomized User Folders? I have no use for most of them.

Tib stands for True Image Backup and it's Acronis's image file format.
Windows has vhd - virtual hard disk
Macrium has mrimg - macrium disk image

I'm still not getting your problem fully. You can operate folders outside of the Windows library structure. Apologies if this is trivial...
eg. K:\Entertainment\Jazz Music
You have a folder on drive K: called "Entertainment" and a sub folder called "Jazz Music". You can drag and drop, Robocopy, folder image (with paid imaging). Backup using third party file/folder backup programs.
Whatever you want.

Just keep your profile on C:

 

[Miranova23]

I'm still not getting your problem fully. You can operate folders outside of the Windows library structure.

I'm not talking about libraries. That's a whole other issue I can't stand for myself, though it's a great tool for me to make sure my mom & siblings stop losing things.
& well, yes, I could always navigate to Computer>D>Mira Nova>My Videos, or what have you. But, it's crazy to keep renavigating into D:\ every. single. time... It's the same reason so many people have used Kari's tutorial to simply move the actual User Profile there, and likewise Brink's similar tutorials.

But if it's going to cause problems trying to back up the system, I'm thinking now it is worth it to look into other ways to redirect the User Profile to my folders on D. :huh:

 

[Miranova23]

Oh, & thanks! I couldn't think of what TIB could even stand for.

 

[Wishmaster]

I agree with everyone else, keep the profiles with the OS.

In fact, I would say, anything that needs to be installed should be with the OS as well.

The only exception is perhaps Games, which could be installed to a secondary drive.


As far as your User folders, you can just make a folder wherever you want it to store the DATA (Music, Videos, etc) and then in your libarary list just include that folder.
Or, move the location of that particular folder.


If you set it up like this, you can have Acronis make a full disc(or partition) image of your OS drive.
It will be ONLY the OS and installed applications, so should be fairly quick. It only cares about whats on that partition or disc, and doesnt matter where the rest is. So keep that in mind, and make a back up plan for that stuff as well.
((Macrium will do this as well))

As far as restoring, you will have the option to restore everything, in its entirety, OR... A specific folder or file to the same or different location.
((Im not sure if Macrium will allow you to single out files/folders from a image))

This way you will be covered no matter what may happen.


Then, as I do, you can set a different backup schedule for other folders and discs.

 

[Miranova23]

I agree with everyone else, keep the profiles with the OS.

In fact, I would say, anything that needs to be installed should be with the OS as well.

The only exception is perhaps Games, which could be installed to a secondary drive.


As far as your User folders, you can just make a folder wherever you want it to store the DATA (Music, Videos, etc) and then in your libarary list just include that folder.
Or, move the location of that particular folder.


If you set it up like this, you can have Acronis make a full disc(or partition) image of your OS drive.
It will be ONLY the OS and installed applications, so should be fairly quick. It only cares about whats on that partition or disc, and doesnt matter where the rest is. So keep that in mind, and make a back up plan for that stuff as well.
((Macrium will do this as well))

As far as restoring, you will have the option to restore everything, in its entirety, OR... A specific folder or file to the same or different location.
((Im not sure if Macrium will allow you to single out files/folders from a image))

This way you will be covered no matter what may happen.


Then, as I do, you can set a different backup schedule for other folders and discs.

Yes, yes, yes, but no to libraries.

But how can I "move the location to that particular folder?"

 

[karlsnooks]

WIN + F! key combo |type the word LIBRARY

Reading the material there will be of benefit to you.

WIN is the key with the Microsoft flag on top

 

[Miranova23]

I've already looked into libraries and they're not for me. I keep my folders very organized. I know they can be altered to include/exclude certain folders, but still.

I know that there are ways to redirect the User Folders. I just can't figure out how I should have the User Profile redirect where my folders are.

 

[karlsnooks]

Libraries are for you. They are ideal for you.

They are one of the great advances over the XP days.

 

[nolakenoforest]

I agree with ppark1. You should leave the user profile on the C drive. It is part of the system files. If you ever need to restore using your system image, it will restore your profile at the same time. That way your desktop will be the same, your icons will be the same, your taskbar will be the same, etc and so on. It will restore all your mods at once.

 

[nolakenoforest]

Now, where are all my documents going?
First, on your 2nd internal drive create a folder called "Documents". This is where all your documents are going to go!
Now, open Windows Explorer (the second icon from the start button on the taskbar) and find the folder called Computer>Win7 OS (C:/)>Users>"yourname">My Documents.
Right click on that folder and, in the dialog box that opens, choose the "Location" tab.
In the box in the center, enter the folder you created in step one: D:/My Documents. Or, you can choose "Find Target" and navigate to where ever you put it.
Now, click the "Move" button.
This will move the folder "My Documents" and all the files in it to the D: drive. And, all your programs that are set up to save files to My Documents will save them to this new location on the D: Drive.

You can then do the same with the My Pictures, My Music, My Videos and even the Downloads folder.

This will put all your data onto the D: drive. Separate from the C: drive. The C: Drive is now your system drive ONLY! Use Acronis (or whatever image software you choose) to make an image of the C: Drive ONLY. And, make regular images thereafter.

Then, make an separate image of the D: Drive. This is your backup of all your data. It is separate from your System files.

That way, if your system gets corrupted for whatever reason, you won't loose your data. And, you can restore your C: drive without erasing all your data.

I like Acronis. It's pretty user friendly. I make a full image on the first week of the month and then make incremental images for the rest of the month. Most of the other image software mentioned will do the same.

With Acronis (and some of the others) you can "mount" the data image and navigate to individual files and restore them file by file. Sometimes that is nice.

Good luck!

 

[mjf]

@nolakenoforest
The recommendation to retain user profile on C: has been offered to the OP multiple times.
The directions to move user folders off C: using an appropriate forum tutorial was given in post #2.

 

[darkdisturbed]

mirinova,
Listen to those who with decades of experience.

You put your system on one partition.
Everything else on other partitions.


ISO is a format. What is on that iso depends upon the program that put it there. SOMETIMES an iso file with contain an image file, for example, the Win 7 DVD contains a wim which in tern contains several versions of Win 7 in it.


If you correctly put your system on one and only partition, then any of the backup and restore softwares will have no problem "imaging" your system and restoring your system without interferring with any of the other partitions. You can use the backup features of any of several backup programs to backup your data partitions.

Go to the WIKI encyclopedia site for more info on the ISO format.

It's personal preference on how someone structures the way their file away their documents.

On external hard drive - I keep my recorded tv shows that I delete once I watch, so no need to back those.

When I did a complete back up of my operating system on Tuesday, I did everything on my hard drive, (including the documents and Photoshop files) along with the software and settings. To me that's just easier doing it that way. On a daily basis I do back up my my docs, pictures and downloads onto an other external source.

 

[mjf]

It's personal preference on how someone structures the way their file away their documents.

Couldn't agree more. We are talking about Personal Computers after all.
I try to keep large amounts of static data off the partition I image the most so the imaging is smaller and faster.

 

[Miranova23]

It's personal preference on how someone structures the way their file away their documents.

Thank you!
I don't like libraries. They're great for controlling my mom & brother, but for my uses I'm too organized to add an unnecessary layer, worry if it's really going to the right places, and confusion. I inadvertently tried them when I first touched 7, and the OS made a terrible mess for me. There are many, many others who share my sentiments and we're doing just fine.

I have said a few times, that I am going to keep User Profile on C:/. I agreed with the arguments of the C system SSD speeding up AppData, imaging all mods & profile customizations, and not being dependent on 2 drives not failing.

I've decided to try to use symlinks. Hopefully it doesn't annoy me too much when I eventually alter my basic folder structure. Later I'll tackle getting rid of all the pre-packaged (or what have you) User Folders I don't use, but that keep reappearing. Another thread, another time.

 

[Miranova23]

This is what I meant. See? Symlinks to all my real folders. Seamless. The actual User Profile & AppData are still in C:\Users. I've done 3 image backups so far and all has gone relatively smoothly- even fast. Thank you all for the suggestions.