[Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ? CD backups

[Robert Skinner]

Again, I agree with Herb.  There is one fly in the ointment:
Some software (notably Microsoft Office, Word, etc.) does not
backup properly, and if you lose your original hard drive,
you have to buy new versions of the products - if the product
is still offered.

As a result, I go one step further in the backup process 
with new computers.  I remove the disk drive from the new
machine before ever turning it on, and use Partition Magic
or Drive Copy to make a perfect image of the original disk.
I use an old "utility" computer to do this.

Then put the image in the new machine and fire it up.  The
original disk drive stays on the shelf, ready to source
another image if the first copy is compromised.  This is
perfectly legal under "fair use."

/Bob Skinner
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Herb Parsons wrote:
> 
> One other thing I'll mention on this, even though it's not Rhodes
> related (are computers part of "politics", "religion", or "jokes", or
> can they go header-waring free?) There was a time when computers came
> with a CD, or a set of CD's, that contained an "image" of the computer
> in it's "factory state". They also usually included CD copies of the
> software and operating systems. Little by little, the computer
> manufacturers stopped including the application software and the OS CD,
> and depended on the image CD, or the "system recovery" CD (same thing,
> different name). Now, more and more, the computer companies are not
> sending ANY CD's, but are depending on you, the consumer, to run a
> program that creates your own copies of the CD's. This will soon become
> the "norm" for any computer that contains a RW CD or DVD.
> 
> If you buy such a computer system, your first step as a new owner should
> be to run that program and create your CD's. Sort of like buying your
> new boat - one of the first steps should be acquiring a life jacket for
> everyone on board. You may be able to use it without doing so, but if
> you run into trouble, you may be sunk. So to speak.
> 
> Herb Parsons