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Old July 7th 13, 08:22 AM 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?

In message , SixStringStu
writes:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
(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


My first thought was space. A C drive image is often times larger then

what
would fit on a USB thumb drive. I am not up on what all is available on

the
market, so that opinion is seriously dated.

I/we weren't thinking of a USB thumb drive, but a USB spinning drive.
You can get these at about 12 or 13 GB to the pound sterling for the
ones in the 250 and 320 GB sizes. I wouldn't use a thumb (flash) drive
for backup anyway, as I find they tend to die suddenly.

can be set to do a backup and then turn the computer off


I have a friend who is big into Linux. He reports to me that he owns a
laptop that has a dead hard drive. He somehow has the ability to boot

either
from the CD or USB, not sure which direction, then load the other

device.

Almost certainly loading the USB. Even a USB drive isn't a good idea for
use as main memory, but a CD-RW would wear out in no time (not to
mention would be painfully slow).

That's not a restore such as you are looking for, but it's close.


Not very. That sounds like a system where you always want it to boot up
to the same state, which is not really the same thing as a backup.

Aside from the previously mentioned size limitation question I'm

thinking
there should be a solution like what you are looking for. Good luck

finding
this and please report back on what you discover.


Will do.

Also, remind folks that XP will no longer have update service after

April of
next year.

Won't suddenly stop working though.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

All that glitters has a high refractive index.
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