backup question

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Over a year ago I installed a security package called “Folder Lock” – it does something to selected folders which effectively hide them from the system – one has to come in thru their interface to “unlock” and be able to work on folders. This is an absolute necessity to me, I can’t have client’s data laying around for anyone who logs on to see. The package works extremely well – with one exception. After the install – the win2000 backup option did not work ( the backup starts ok, but abnormally ends before finishing) – I pursued everything I could think of to get around the problem, to no avail. The outfit that supplies “Folder Lock” will not acknowledge any problem with backup and recovery. After trying everything I could think of – I gave up and moved on with my life. OBTW – If my suspicions are correct – I expect to have the same problem with other backup packages – I have not attempted any other packages due to this belief.

I have an external USB 500 gig hard drive and periodically I copy libraries to in the hope that in case I need them – I can access them. I definitely can move / copy / zip libraries in either direction – outbound to USB or inbound to my C drive with no problems. This background brings me to my question.

Assuming that some day I have a catastrophic loss of my C Drive – my plan is to use all of MS Win2000’s releases to regen and rebuild my operating system on either a new C drive or a new box. I can easily rebuild my old library structure from the external USB drive – everything (all executables) are in the Program Files directory entry. Will I need to Re-install all software to access the executables – or would it be possible to rebuild the Program Files directory from the USB and access the programs? I suspect this hinges on whether or not there are registry entries that need to be rebuilt. It seems to me that if the executables are accessed as normal directory entries and have addressibility to their own unique library entries – that this approach “Might” work.

I don’t expect anyone to know for sure if this will work, but I would like to get others ideas to see what kind of things I might run into – needless to say once I have a catastrophic loss – I will do whatever is necessary to rebuild – even if I physically have to reinstall everything on the system.

Thanks

Tom

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Although there are still some applications that will work when you copy their files into a folder, the large majority won’t work if you do that – they need to be installed properly (this involves registering DLLs etc.)

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I’d recommend you try a different backup product such as Acronis True Image. They have a free trial. This product and others able to to image your system. I’d try the back up and then restore to a different PC. That way you can make sure the backup process worked properly. Another product along similar lines is Boot Manager, Partition Manager, and Drive Image Utility – BootIt Next Generation.

Joe

--Joe

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Consider to acquire Norton Ghost or similar program which creates an “image” of your hard drive instead of backing up files.

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