ipod and fresh windows install

[phillyphan]

I had to reformat and reinstall Vista Home Premium. I backed up the iTunes Music folder before I reformatted then copied it back in the same place after reinstallation. I then imported the library from this folder. What do I need to do next before I can properly sync what is on three different iPod nanos (2nd Gen)? Thanks.

 

[DAB]

I never had to do anything, I simply take my iTunes folder and back it up. Then I take it and put that same folder right back where it went. When I open iTunes all my stuff is there including the configuration from my last sync. So when I plug it in it doesn't know I reformatted my hard drive. It just thinks I am doing another sync.

 

[phillyphan]

I never had to do anything, I simply take my iTunes folder and back it up. Then I take it and put that same folder right back where it went. When I open iTunes all my stuff is there including the configuration from my last sync. So when I plug it in it doesn't know I reformatted my hard drive. It just thinks I am doing another sync.

I forgot to backup the various playlists that everyone had in their iPods. Do I just recreate them? Thanks DAB!

 

[DAB]

Yeah at this point that is all you can do! My playlist are saved as part of the iTunes Folder.

What did you do just drop the folder into iTunes and let it copy the files? Because this doesn't import the configuration or anything.

 

[ProperModulation]

If you don't keep your actual MP3s in the Itunes folder, make sure they are on the machine at the same path they were at before you reformatted! I don't keep my files in the Itunes folder since my library is pretty big and I don't need multiple copies hanging around.

 

[DAB]

Actually I think you found out the very reason you should allow your files to be copied to the iTunes folder. Then delete them from elsewhere! I only have one copy of all my music and video files. It makes life so, so much easier and also, I keep a backup of the iTunes folder on my home server to make sure I am covered should something happen. It has come in handy a few times especially with me playing around with Win 7 these days.

Copy and paste and I am all done!

 

[phillyphan]

Thanks. I thought copy and paste would be done for me. However, we have success now! I just took one of the kid's iPods and created a new playlist from the songs in the iTunes library then synced it. Pretty simple. I'll do the same for the other two iPods in the house.

 

[phillyphan]

Windows Backup and Restore Center

Now that I've gone through the trouble of reformatting and reinstalling Vista, I am looking for a way to create a backup image that I can fall back on if I ever need it. It was disheartening to learn that the Windows Backup and Restore Center feature is not included with Vista Home Premium. What is Microsoft trying to pull? This is not right in my opinion.

I have Norton Ghost for XP but I would prefer not to have to buy it again. I have a big external HD that I would save the backup image to. I don't think I can do it with Ashampoo Burning Studio 8 or Roxio 9 unless someone knows otherwise. Is there another way I can do it with what I have? Or is Carbonite the way to go?

 

[DAB]

What kind of computer is it, I know some of them include recovery software. You take my Samsung Netbook for example. Samsung Recovery III software, it works great. It will take a snapshot at any given point and burn it to 2 to 4 DVD depending on how much stuff you add. I recently switched to Win 7 and decided I wanted to go back and BAM 20 minutes I had done a full restore and it had all my software loaded and allowed me to take up exactly where I left off. I also created one of Win 7 in case I decided to go back to that. Which low and behold I did do.

I also have Windows Home Server which creates a image and is updated every night and it will allow you to do a restore from any given point as well.

HP makes a nice recovery program as does Lenovo.

When I was running Vista I had Vista Business and it includes the Microsoft Backup program, but I found it slow, slow, slow, did I say it was slow.. my gosh it would take hours to back up and hours to restore. Microsoft doesn't do backup very well, so not having it is likely a blessing.

 

[ProperModulation]

Now that I've gone through the trouble of reformatting and reinstalling Vista, I am looking for a way to create a backup image that I can fall back on if I ever need it. It was disheartening to learn that the Windows Backup and Restore Center feature is not included with Vista Home Premium. What is Microsoft trying to pull? This is not right in my opinion.

I have Norton Ghost for XP but I would prefer not to have to buy it again. I have a big external HD that I would save the backup image to. I don't think I can do it with Ashampoo Burning Studio 8 or Roxio 9 unless someone knows otherwise. Is there another way I can do it with what I have? Or is Carbonite the way to go?

I would bite the bullet and get another copy of Ghost. Even though I don't like spending the cash, I have a copy on all my machines for backup purposes. I have it set up to ghost regularly and to store multiple copies of the images on my network. It seems like a pain, but it will all be worth it when you need to restore for whatever reason and it only takes an hour instead of many hours. I've had to do full restores a few times due to bad HDs and Ghost was a real life saver.

Leo Laporte has also talked about Drive Snapshot (Drive Snapshot - Disk Image Backup for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/X64) so it's probably good too.

Carbonite is a good idea, but it's not a substitute for ghosting. It is good for backing up data files like music and pictures, where ghosting is great for backing up your boot and programs drive. You do keep your data separate from your operational drive right??? I use Carbonite as an offsite backup for my data files and have not had any problems with it, although I have not really needed to use it for any major restoration jobs. If I ever REALLY need to use Carbonite, it pretty much means my house burned down and my local backups are toast!

 

[DAB]

Carbonite is a good service and it is very, very reasonably priced too. However, like you said it is a back-up service, not really a ghosting or imaging service to do a total restore of your system.

 

[phillyphan]

Thanks guys! I used the HP Recovery Manager to restore the laptop to its factory settings. It was fast but there were hours of updating after that to get the machine up to date. So I guess Ghosting an image from this machine is the best answer. I think Ghost 14 is the latest version. Can you install it on more than one PC? I do have an external HD that I have some files backed up on but that is about it. It sounds like Carbonite is a good idea too for a catastrophe. I'll have to think about that.

 

[ProperModulation]

Thanks guys! I used the HP Recovery Manager to restore the laptop to its factory settings. It was fast but there were hours of updating after that to get the machine up to date. So I guess Ghosting an image from this machine is the best answer. I think Ghost 14 is the latest version. Can you install it on more than one PC? I do have an external HD that I have some files backed up on but that is about it. It sounds like Carbonite is a good idea too for a catastrophe. I'll have to think about that.

The Ghost license is only for one PC as far as I know. I've had to buy it for each of my Windows PCs. Last time (18-20 months ago or so) I searched around for a coupon code and was able to get it for around $50 instead of like $70. Not too bad of a deal.

For me, Carbonite is cheap insurance against a catastrophic loss. So for $50 a year I have a way to retrieve my photos and docs if my house were to blow up or wash away or whatever.

 

[phillyphan]

I backed up our XP Pro desktop machine with Ghost 10.0 that I had bought a few years ago. The only problem that I ran into was that when installing, it overwrote my LiveUpdate program with an older version so that Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 stopped updating. I had to uninstall both SEP and Ghost then reinstall Ghost then SEP to make sure I had the current version of LiveUpdate.

I bought a new copy of Ghost 14.0 on eBay for $25 after shipping. I will install this on our Vista laptop then back it up.

Thanks for all the help.