Best Backup/Restore Solution For My Situation?

[Enigma]

ok, i have the 2008 R2 install and am about to reinstall ubuntu linux x64.i finally have everything nearly perfect and the way i want it to be, now i want to make a backup of my pristine system before i manage to ruin it again, as i always do, which always results in me reinstalling. I’m aware that R2 has a server backup feature and i’ve enabled it. but after doing a little research i found that this tool cant mirror a linux partition. I also have Acronis True Image Home 2010 installed, but i’m not sure it can do the job. On a side note, i’ve also tried hacking the MSI installer files of both the 2011 and 2012 versions of Acronis but it wont install, it gets all the way to the end of the install and just before finishing it rolls back everything. I’ve already tried tricking it into thinking it’s not running on Server and that succeeded. I looked into this and discovered that a few other users on this forum have had this problem awhile back.

But anyway, i’m going to be dualbooting, but i’ll be replacing the MS Windows loader with the open source GRUB loader, which can boot both OSes. I’ll also be using Daz Loader to activate Server. the way it will work is, i choose R2 from the GRUB menu, and then GRUB hands off control to Daz, which then boots R2. So what i need is a complete backup and restore solution that can not only make an exact 1 to 1 mirror image of both the Windows and Linux partitions, but it also needs to be able to mirror GRUB and Daz. i basically want to be able to restore my system with both OSes and have things as if nothing has been reinstalled at all, if you get my meaning.

And another thing, which is totally unrelated but persistent, is that when i attempt to run or install certain apps i get a message saying that SPP.dll is missing from my system. I have tried using the regserver command to register both of the SPP.dll files (there are 2) but it doesnt seem to work, the errors still come up (even though regserver succeeded). the apps still start but the error persists regardless. This only happens after i install the R2 Bluetooth stack, and the System Restore feature by Halladayrules. i can fix it by doing sfc /scannow at a DOS prompt, but then System Restore and BT stack “reset” themselves, at which point i have to reinstall them again to make them work correctly, and then the error comes right back. any solutions?

Also, how to disable Server Manager at logon? tried changed a Reg key after reading an article on google, but it still comes up when i log in.

Thanks for any advice!

[halladayrules]

Clonezilla is a nice open source solution very similar to Norton Ghost.

To disable server manager – Open Server Manager. Scroll down to where you see stuff like “Remote Desktop” “Server Manager Remote Management” “Product ID”… right above Security Informatoin…you will see a box called “Do not show me this console at logon” Check that.

[Enigma]

i just finished using CZ to make a backup of my laptop’s HD. too bad i didnt use it to do the same thing with the external HDD that crashed 🙁 . in any case, CZ is good, but only for whole disk backups. you have to backup an entire drive (or an entire partition) or nothing at all. plus it wont let you mount it as a virtual drive so you can pluck individual files/folders off of it. i plan to use CZ probably on a weekly basis. but i also need something that can mirror both Windows and Linux as well as the boot sectors, with options both incrementally and differentially, on a daily basis that i would perform just before sleeping at night. System Restore is ok but only for Windows, plus it has a few major flaws that i dont like, and the version for R2 cant be accessed outside of Windows, like from the Windows install/repair discs. have also looked into the Acronis version that was created for Linux, cant find a cracked copy anywhere though. and am stumped as to where to look for an open source equivalent that has everything i need for daily backups. As for Windows Server Backup, i’m not sure if i’ll be utilizing it or not. Any advice?

Update at 3:38 PM: I also just noticed that the drive isnt showing up in the BIOS either. i keep a slew of USB bootable recovery softwares on hand that i use for everything from data recovery, secure data wipe methods that use NSA/CIA-style methods such as 32 passes overwrite method, 2056 bit encryption of *sensitive* data that could get me into legal trouble, hacking, etc. none of those tools are able to detect the drive. how in hell am i supposed to recover data from a drive that cant be seen on any machine or any OS, but yet supposedly the drive isnt damaged. on a side note, linux is suddenly failing to detect the drive at all. this has me stumped, and yet i cant afford to lose alot of the data. in any case, much of the data is of a highly illegal nature, so i suppose if i cant recover it then it least my conscience will be clear knowing that it’s gone forever 😈 😆

[halladayrules]

SyncBack is a really simple to use freeware with a GUI that supports scheduled file backups as well as synchronization. With synchronization, you could backup a folder to say your external drive and the directory structure would always mirror the backup location you selected. So if you have File A, File B and File C on your internal, you would see File A, File B, and File C on your external. The minute you delete File C, you will see File A and File B on internal, and File A and File B on external. It’s like mirroring a drive…without the RAID. As usual (like many other file backup utilities) it supports the ability to restore files from your backup.

[Enigma]

I’m just not getting how i can do daily backups of both Win and Linux plus bootloader is all……..

[halladayrules]

@Enigma wrote:

I’m just not getting how i can do daily backups of both Win and Linux plus bootloader is all……..

I see. Windows does not recognize the filesystem of Linux at all, unless its set to FAT, so if it was possible to back up both you’d have to do it in Linux. If you wanted to create a imaged-based backup of your Windows machine you most likely have to do it in Windows. However for File Backups in Linux you might be able to manually select your Windows Folder by specifiying the full path in the Linux Utility.

Say for example: /dev/sda1 is your Linux Partition]
/dev/sdb1 is your Windows Partition

You might navigate to /dev/sdb1/local disk c/Users/Enigma/Documents to backup the Documents folder… and so forth.

Because file structure of both OS are unique you are probably better off finding a package specificially for Linux and a separate package unique for Windows and backing them up to the same destination (different HDD, external HDD, network share, etc). Especially if you involve any registry settings I would highly recommend it this way.

Windows stores configuration files about settings, applications, etc. in the registry.
Linux stores all its configuration files in text files in mostly /etc.

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