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Sorry Greg, but
Seems to me you are trying VERY hard to justify (OK I'll be kind) defend your article to make your article appear to be useful. It clearly isn't.
Advantages? Zero Zilch. Zip IMHO
Disadvantages? Many.
There is no speed advantage - it is still the same relatively slow read/write as your HDD (setting up a VHD in RAM or a SSHDD is something else again).
Saving ANYTHING IMPORTANT/CRITICAL to the main HDD is a waste of time, as the HDD is arguably the least reliable part of a computer these days. I've had my share of HDD failures. Total images+incremental have saved my arse each time. Yeah, yeah - you DO say to copy this VHD image/files out to external storage. BUT why go to all that bother?
Anyone with a Mac and reading your article, would be rolling around splitting their sides with laughter. As I understand it it's called 'Time Machine' wifi-ing seamlessly to a NAS device. Built in to OSX. Zero set-up by the owner. Back-up every 5 mins if you wanted to. Plus, plus, plus ...
But back in PC-world ...
There are heaps of programs out there that do a similar job as 'Time Machine' and provide a better and automated way of creating complete images and incremental back-ups. (I use O&O Disk Image on XP - works for me) If my laptop had eSata, I'd be using that, but until I get another laptop, I'm stuck with USB2. I run Disk Image overnight, so it's not a problem.
Desktops don't need external HDD's - just add another one internally - and that's the neatest and fastest solution. Why bother with a VHD?. Create a bootable image onto this added HDD then do incremental backups. Set your programs to use this extra HDD as a 'temp" drive/folder. It's that simple.
BTW, this only protects against HDD failure, but not fire or theft.
I use an external HDD that is same type as my internal laptop HDD (2.5" SATA). The ONLY reason I use an external HDD with image+incrementals is so I don't lose everything if my laptop is stolen. Using a VHD seems to me to be a complete waste of time and an un-neccessary added layer of complexity in this case.
IMHO I'd file your idea of a VHD under DoBUTIA ("Don't Bring Up That Idea Again") if I were you ....
Advantages? Zero Zilch. Zip IMHO
Disadvantages? Many.
There is no speed advantage - it is still the same relatively slow read/write as your HDD (setting up a VHD in RAM or a SSHDD is something else again).
Saving ANYTHING IMPORTANT/CRITICAL to the main HDD is a waste of time, as the HDD is arguably the least reliable part of a computer these days. I've had my share of HDD failures. Total images+incremental have saved my arse each time. Yeah, yeah - you DO say to copy this VHD image/files out to external storage. BUT why go to all that bother?
Anyone with a Mac and reading your article, would be rolling around splitting their sides with laughter. As I understand it it's called 'Time Machine' wifi-ing seamlessly to a NAS device. Built in to OSX. Zero set-up by the owner. Back-up every 5 mins if you wanted to. Plus, plus, plus ...
But back in PC-world ...
There are heaps of programs out there that do a similar job as 'Time Machine' and provide a better and automated way of creating complete images and incremental back-ups. (I use O&O Disk Image on XP - works for me) If my laptop had eSata, I'd be using that, but until I get another laptop, I'm stuck with USB2. I run Disk Image overnight, so it's not a problem.
Desktops don't need external HDD's - just add another one internally - and that's the neatest and fastest solution. Why bother with a VHD?. Create a bootable image onto this added HDD then do incremental backups. Set your programs to use this extra HDD as a 'temp" drive/folder. It's that simple.
BTW, this only protects against HDD failure, but not fire or theft.
I use an external HDD that is same type as my internal laptop HDD (2.5" SATA). The ONLY reason I use an external HDD with image+incrementals is so I don't lose everything if my laptop is stolen. Using a VHD seems to me to be a complete waste of time and an un-neccessary added layer of complexity in this case.
IMHO I'd file your idea of a VHD under DoBUTIA ("Don't Bring Up That Idea Again") if I were you ....
Posted by ian3880
14th Jun 2010
