[RachelW]

Hello, folks. Happy New Year!

I just formatted my hard drive and reinstalled XP Pro (and thank you so much for those great directions in the how-to!!!) because I got infected with Luder.A and NOTHING Worked and the consensus was that this was the only solution. (The person who was helping me opened the bad file, which, I might add, AVG AV said was JUST FINE, and had a clean image that he said he was going to restore to, because he couldn't find an alternative.)

I had no backup, (yes, I know) so I lost everything. Hence the belated attempt to make a clean image of my brand new system (I installed XP, installed the 70-some Windows updates, went to Sony's site and found the original drivers and installed them, and found some driver updates, and installed them, and put in my AV and Antispyware).

The problem is, I can't seem to get it to write the backup of everything to a DVD. I don't have a tape drive, and the system seems hellbent on writing my backup to floppy disks, thumb drives, or my iPod.

Anyway, after you stop laughing at my admitted folly, I'd appreciate any help. Here's what happens:

I start the backup and click on Back Up File and Settings in the Backup Wizard
I say I want to Back Up All Information On This Computer
In Choose A Place to Save Your Backup, the only devices that appear in the drop down are my floppy drive, and a bunch of thumb drives, and my iPod.
So I hit Browse
I OK the popup telling me that I do not have a floppy in drive A
I select my CD/DVD write drive, enter a file name for the backup (Backup)
I hit Next and get a box that says "The backup file name could not be used. "D:\Backup.bkf" Please ensure that it is a valid path, and that you have sufficient access."

I am posting this here because I am too ignorant to know whether my issue is with Windows Backup Facility (or my ignorance thereof), or whether it's a problem with XP not recognizing my CD/DVD RW drive for some reason. (This error message is the reason I never got around to backing up my system before the virus and wipe.) I WAS able to write a DVD when I made an automatic recovery DVD and CD long long ago (on the XP Home that came installed with the computer), and I can write CDs, both data and music, just fine. In fact, I bought XP Pro because I could never get the NTBackup (the one that doesn't come with XP Home unless you have the installation CD, so you have to get it from the manufacturer's site) to work either.

I have:

A Sony VAIO desktop, Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz and 2.79 GHz, 512 Ram
Pioneer DVD-RW DVR106D (there was a driver update for this on Sony's driver site that I installed)
Windows XP Pro that I just updated from Windows Update

Any help would be tremendously appreciated!
Rachel

Edited by RachelW, 01 January 2007 - 10:23 AM.

[Advertisements]

Download and install this to check the PC will write to DVD

http://www.cdburnerxp.se/features.php

[Retired Tech]

Download and install this to check the PC will write to DVD

http://www.cdburnerxp.se/features.php

[RachelW]

Thank you! I wrote the backup to a file on my hard drive, and then used your recommended software to copy the backup.bkf file to a DVD. It appeared to write it just fine, but XP Backup doesn't recognize it when I try to point to the DVD in the DVD-RW drive I just copied to.

Anyway, when I click on My Computer, and click on the D: drive (the CD/DVD RW drive), it doesn't show any files on the DVD in there that I just wrote. When I put the DVD that I just wrote on into my DVD ROM drive and click on it, I get the message "Windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows. I also tried to restore from it in the DVD ROM drive and got the same message.

So, I'm guessing this is a problem with the DVD-RW drive or its drivers? Should I move this to the hardware forum?

Rachel

[Retired Tech]

Are you backing up data / documents?

[RachelW]

I am backing up everything. I click "back up all information on this computer."

Rachel

[Retired Tech]

Register Paragon Drive Copy 8 Personal SE here

http://kb.paragon-so...product_id=1726

Download it here

http://www.vnunet.co...e-copy-personal

Ignore the 'time limited demo' reference

Replacing your tired old hard drive with a speedy, high-capacity model is one of the most effective PC upgrades you can make. Don't go through the tedious process of reinstalling Windows and your applications on the new drive, though: just run Drive Copy instead, and it'll clone your existing drive in the shortest possible time.

Once your new system is up and running, you can also use the program as a simple backup tool. Who wants to go to the trouble of using a file-based backup program, manually specifying files and folders, hoping (but never actually knowing for sure) that you're backing up all the information you need? Image backups are much easier by comparison, can be set up with just a few mouse clicks, and short of hard drive failure you can be sure no vital data will be lost.

There is the issue of backup time, of course. Cloning a complete hard drive will inevitably take longer then just a copying a few files. Drive Copy 8.0 Personal SE keeps this overhead to a minimum, though, by employing a combination of different techniques.

By default the program doesn't copy unused sectors, for instance. And it also skips dynamically updated Windows files that are unlikely to be necessary on the new drive, like the paging file, hibernation file, and so on. You can change both of these settings if it's essential to have an exact drive clone, but otherwise they'll both help boost overall performance.

Alternatively, if you prefer the absolute minimum of hassle, then use the program's built-in scheduler. In a minute or two you'll have it configured to automatically run unattended backups every day, week or month, providing maximum data security for the absolute minimum of effort.

[RachelW]

I will run this as soon as I get the registration key. It's taking a while. Thank you!

Rachel

[Retired Tech]

Probably more options with it being a dedicated back up programme

Write new back up in its format

[Retired Tech]

Check the junk mail folder if the key doesn't show up soon

[RachelW]

It finally came, and I installed it. Now the message I get says "You have only one hard disk. To copy a hard disk, you should have at least two of them"

When I installed XP I can't remember it asking me if I wanted to partition my hard drive (115 gig). I would have. Originally it was a C: drive of 15 Gig and a D: drive of 98 or something. All the software was installed on the C: drive so naturally it ran out of space every time I breathed on the keyboard, so I repartitioned it to the reverse and everything was fine. I will have to see if I can find out how to do that again.

Thanks!
Rachel

[Retired Tech]

Aplologies for that, they released so may freebies, and I sent a link for the wrong one

This will do back ups

WinBackup 1.86

http://www.backupans.../freewinbackup/

The award-winning WinBackup 1.86 remains the obvious choice for home users and small and medium sized businesses alike. As one of the most efficient and reliable backup solutions available, WinBackup 1.86 guarantees 100% accuracy of restores.

Download the full and unlimited version of WinBackup 1.86 for free - rated "best backup software of the year" by Computer Shopper.

[Retired Tech]

If you then want to look at partitoning, Paragon Partition Manager is free at the moment

Register here

http://kb.paragon-so....jsp?opid=12353

Download here

http://www.vnunet.co...on-manager-2005

[RachelW]

Thank you, Keith. You've really gone above and beyond.

Now I remember why I have never done backups. A year or two ago, I got Sony Customer Support to email me NTBackup, which I installed. It couldn't find any backup media. I did a search on backup software and tried several different versions of what was out there, and none of those programs could find compatible backup media. Unfortunately, this is the message that the backup program that you suggested is giving me as well: No compatible backup media found.

I probably ought to have gone out and bought a tape drive, only the last tape drive I bought was an add-on on to this computer's predecessor, a Gateway with W98, and I could never get it to work either. I probably ought to have pursued this with Gateway, but other stuff was going on.

Anyway, when I bought this Sony, I bought it because I naively thought that having a DVD RW would let me make backups to DVD. There must be something very tricky about writing backup software for the home user to do these giant backups I guess. [I Googled DVD-106D with and without the hyphen etc, and haven't found anyone else with the problem I'm having, yet anyway. I'm sure the drive is out of whatever warranty it originally had. Anyway I'll keep looking.]

Only, this seems to be so easy for everyone else! I wonder if it's something inherent in my Sony, or if I go out and buy a device that works for other people, it will work for me. (Enlisting Sony customer support for help is a protracted and exhausting endeavor, but I could try asking them, only I think I have to pay now. This computer is 3-4 years old.) Maybe the backup software programs have suggested media. Hmm. I'll go look.

I'm sorry this hasn't worked out better. I appreciate your patience and politeness! (People get kind of irritated with those of us who don't back up our systems -- it's understandable, I suppose; it must get really tiresome solving problems that were easily preventable.)

Many thanks,
Rachel

Edited by RachelW, 02 January 2007 - 08:27 AM.

[Fenor]

Just want to add that the reason why you can't use Windows Backup to backup your information on DVD's, is because Windows doesn't have native support to burn DVD's. It only has the ability to burn to CD's. If you put in a blank CD and then tried to do the backup, it would let you backup to the CD.

Fenor

[RachelW]

Wow, I'm giggling. Thank you, Fenor, I had no idea. I think I may have tried that but I had a problem with the 2 gig compressed backup spanning multiple CDs I think. I spose I could waste a CD now, but I'd hate to waste a bunch. But, I COULD put a CD in there and see if the backup programs recognize that!

Hmm... The DVD-RW drive still does not appear in the Windows Backup "Choose a place to save your backup dropdown"

In WinBackup I get the message:

No compatible CD/DVD writer was found. Try using an alternate driver to solve the problem. For a list of supported writers visit [their site]
Then the Settings box comes up and wants me to select 1. Default ASPI driver, or 3 what they just call Alternate Driver 1, 2 and 3

Thanks!
Rachel

Edited by RachelW, 02 January 2007 - 08:51 AM.