Dell
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Ken Ibold
Final Approach
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Ken Ibold
I have four Dells at home right now. In fact, I'm typing this on one. If what you got is an Inspiron, you would be well served to get a backup USB hard drive NOW, as the Inspiron is liable to crap out without warning. Oh, and sometimes the keys fall off the laptop keyboards. And if you send it back for a warranty repair it just might come back with the key reinstalled crooked. On one of the laptops, we went through three motherboards, four keys, a power supply and a hard drive in the first 10 months of ownership.
t0r0nad0
Pattern Altitude
wow, you've got some bad luck. I am typing this on a Dell laptop that I bought nearly two years ago, it's sitting on a desk next to my work desktop that is also a Dell, and I've never had problems with either.
RJM62
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geek on the Hill
I agree on the backup drive. I make a bootable clone that can be swapped in and virtually eliminates downtime. But there are other methods. Whichever you choose, think backup.
Rich
Rich
I am sure that you have posted it here before, but I am notoriously poor at using "search." What do you recommend as the "bestest" bootable clone software/hardware combo?
bbchien
Touchdown! Greaser!
Agree with Mike. I've been using several versions over the last 3 years. Yes, the're Dells. Sigh.
RJM62
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geek on the Hill
It's largely a matter of preference, in my opinion. What's important is that you are thinking about backup.
Personally, on Windows workstations, I use Casper more often than I use Acronis True Image or any other drive imaging program, although I think Acronis is an excellent program.
I use Casper out of habit, because I can configure it to run automatically from within Windows, and because the copy is an exact, bootable clone (except for the pagefile and certain other files that are automatically re-created if the new drive is pressed into service). Recovery consists of swapping the cloned drive in place of the failed drive.
I don't consider Casper a complete or "perfect" backup solution, but rather a means of minimizing downtime. Most of my clients are small businesses, and being down one computer can be a big deal for them. With Casper, I can get the machine up and running in ten minutes or less in the event of a primary hard drive failure or if Windows craps out. There are no archives or images to extract. I just swap the drive and boot up.
For a laptop, I may not schedule the copy to happen automatically, especially if the laptop is only used intermittently. I put a shortcut on the desktop that refreshes the external clone when clicked, and then I hope that the user actually does it regularly enough to keep the clone up-to-date. I also put the external drive in the carrying case with the laptop with a card taped to the enclosure explaining that the drive inside is a bootable clone of the system drive, so if the internal drive dies while the client is traveling, any tech can swap the drive and quickly get the laptop up and running again.
If you choose this method, make sure that the external drive you back up to is, first of all, a laptop drive (I know, this should go without saying... but I've come across people who overlooked that detail); and secondly, that it has the same interface as the internal drive (SATA or PATA). Otherwise it won't fit in the laptop when the time comes to use it. It also should be the same capacity or larger than the internal drive.
I also recommend Files Anywhere or a similar network backup solution for truly critical files, in addition to whatever local backup method you choose.
Rich
Personally, on Windows workstations, I use Casper more often than I use Acronis True Image or any other drive imaging program, although I think Acronis is an excellent program.
I use Casper out of habit, because I can configure it to run automatically from within Windows, and because the copy is an exact, bootable clone (except for the pagefile and certain other files that are automatically re-created if the new drive is pressed into service). Recovery consists of swapping the cloned drive in place of the failed drive.
I don't consider Casper a complete or "perfect" backup solution, but rather a means of minimizing downtime. Most of my clients are small businesses, and being down one computer can be a big deal for them. With Casper, I can get the machine up and running in ten minutes or less in the event of a primary hard drive failure or if Windows craps out. There are no archives or images to extract. I just swap the drive and boot up.
For a laptop, I may not schedule the copy to happen automatically, especially if the laptop is only used intermittently. I put a shortcut on the desktop that refreshes the external clone when clicked, and then I hope that the user actually does it regularly enough to keep the clone up-to-date. I also put the external drive in the carrying case with the laptop with a card taped to the enclosure explaining that the drive inside is a bootable clone of the system drive, so if the internal drive dies while the client is traveling, any tech can swap the drive and quickly get the laptop up and running again.
If you choose this method, make sure that the external drive you back up to is, first of all, a laptop drive (I know, this should go without saying... but I've come across people who overlooked that detail); and secondly, that it has the same interface as the internal drive (SATA or PATA). Otherwise it won't fit in the laptop when the time comes to use it. It also should be the same capacity or larger than the internal drive.
I also recommend Files Anywhere or a similar network backup solution for truly critical files, in addition to whatever local backup method you choose.
Rich
Last edited:
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
I've been served very well by Dells, but I have the Latitude for my laptop. On our desktops, we have a network with redundant hard drives. We have had to re-boot the network from the back up drive once in just over 2 years of operation on that system. I do back up to an external HD on my laptop.
Best,
Dave
Best,
Dave