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Old July 6th 13, 02:58 PM posted to uk.media.radio.archers,alt.comp.blind-users,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
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Posts: 5,291
Default (OT for some:) backup scheme that restores without user input?

(Achtung: cross-posted. So that I'm not accused of doing it underhand.)

All you backup enthusiasts:

I'm looking for a backup mechanism which backs up the C: partition of a
Windows XP system to an external (USB-connected) drive, which also
offers to make a bootable CD, which when inserted, restores the
backed-up partition WITHOUT ANY USER INTERACTION - or, with only a few
keystrokes which can be memorised _and don't change or depend on what's
on the screen_.

This is on behalf of my blind friends, who use XP with speech and
Braille output - which doesn't work if they've screwed up the OS
somehow. So what they need is a way of restoring to a working system
that involves nothing more than putting in a CD and cycling the power.
(They could leave the BIOS set to boot from CD first - yes they are
aware of the potential malware aspects of doing that.)

Other things that would be nice, but not important (except the first
one):

Free or cheap

looks after the backup disc in a way that deletes the oldest backup when
there's not enough space to do a new backup

can be set to do a backup and then turn the computer off
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If it's pretentious, then at least it's not the sort that wears a horned helmet
and shrieks about trolls. - Stuart Maconie in Radio Times, 14-20 November 2009.
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