MISS CHIEVOUS wrote:
Hey Guys,

This summer I purchased Symantec's PARTITION MAGIC 8.0 and GHOST 10.0
- in part to implement a backup strategy for use with two 500 GB PATA
drives I just came into. I've never before used _any_ backup software
(neither of these two Symantec products, nor even Microsoft's utility)
and I just experienced a scary boot event (described below) following
the install of the first of these two programs - PARTITION MAGIC - so
before I go any further with this new reinstall I thought I'd better
check in with the Professionals and . . . just review the whole
thing. I'm doubtful that PARTITION MAGIC is a program I even need;
the jury is still out on GHOST, since I'm now genuinely afraid of
using this software lol. I got these two Symantec products FAR (and
the two brand-new Retail Seagate Drive Kits for an astonishing $60
each without rebate, don't even ask heh) so I'll consider myself ahead
of the game even if you recommend I buy something else (software _or_
hardware). Your help and guidance will be _gratefully_ received.

snipped rest of message

It's a shame you didn't post before you went out and bought stuff. I've
been using bootitng from www.terabyteunlimited.com for a long time. It
will do all your partitioning, multi-os management and imaging needs. I
know you're not asking for all that but at around $30 who cares. They
also have a windows based version of imaging that you can run from
within windows and can safely backup the system you are using while you
do other things. Right now that doesn't do differentials. Another very
good one is Acronis, but I've never used it.
Image backups are fine, but I also use a file backup program for data
that permits differential. My system is a little complicated since I
also have added encryption using TrueCrypt (a freeware product) for
sensitive data.
Dave Cohen