Bassman Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I wish to make a backup of my installation so that in the unfortunate event that I need to re-install FSX I can hopefully just re-instate all my add-ons etc without going thru all the individiual installs and setups. i.e. I have tried to identify all the folders that get changed by add-ons (I am not sure on this). Add-ons 0.99GB, Aerosoft 571MB, Effects 5.09MB, Flight-one 135MB, Guages 89.8MB, Orbx 17.90GB, OZx 3.17GB, OZx World 2.71GB, FSGlobal 2008 5.30MB, Simobjects 7.43GB Scenery 10.5GB. The reason I mention the sizes is because it appears to me IMHI (in my humble ignorance) that collectively the files are to large to backup to one DVD... Can someone please provide step by step guidance "for idiots" how one makes the required backup? Cheers Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost in Isaan Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Some you can and some you can't. I keep a 100% backup of everything (I know of) FSX on an external HDD but there are files hidden everywhere. Eg. After building a new OS based on W7 64 Bit as a dual boot with XP SP3 I installed FSX + Acceleration (which I had just bought). I thought I could take the easy way out by just copying my \...\Aircraft folder over and things like the Captain_Sim folder as well and my CS 727-100 would work --- no way obviously a hidden file somewhere so I had to go on line reinstall and activate using my receipt code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I can recommend Acronis True Image Home 2010 works a treat and I'd advice you to get a external HD, they are cheap as chips these days and use that to store your backed up images Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper31 Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 +1 for Acronis True Image 2010. In fact, I just finished backing up my entire FSX installation using Acronis, as I am about to go mucking about looking for duplicate airport bgls using Airport Scanner. I do this everytime I get ready to mess with the 'nuts and bolts' of FSX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 To back up you FSX you need do nothing more than make a complete copy of your existing installation and also copy the FSX files from your user profile. W7 in your user profile and XP users will find this under their Docs and Settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted June 10, 2010 Author Share Posted June 10, 2010 Thanks Maurice Sounds very simple. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 BUT for true Backup you need to do as Wolter has eluded. by using Akronis or Ghost or similar as these programs have the ability to make backups of system files while they are in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 I highly recommend Macrium Reflect. Use it to image your entire system onto another internal HD or an external HD. By imaging you have no worries - EVERYTHING is copied. If you need to restore then no need to reinstall apps - just restore the image. Another plus of the images is that you can mount them and they appear as normal in Windows Explorer. So if you need to access just a few files here and there you can do that. Heres a link to the freeware version that I use - it has no limits and the only diff from paid-version is that it doesnt offer incremental and differential backups. Acronis & Ghost as others have mentioned are also very good. http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 One of the things that people keep missing with backups etc is the fact that you OS and My Documents and Userprofile are the most important areas. I know I harp on about it but divorcing your OS from every thing else is the best insurance you can have. Having a 20-40 Gb C:\ and then D:\ , E:\ for flight and programing etc , make X:\ your DVD/CD so it NEVER CHANGES I got caught when a particular game wanted the CD but I had added more HDD's. Anyway by doing things this way your OS image is small and can be quickly backed up and restored while the rest of your programs and data can be just copied to a backup drive (forget about External, removable in a caddy is easier and faster BUT why not build a NAS from an old PC simply brilliant and for security worth it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arismac Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 It is nice to not even raise a slight sweat when FSX refuses to start saying that there is a fatal error. This happened to me about 90 minutes ago. In fact this is the second time. Rebooted my computer from the backup drive where Norton Ghost resides. Instructed Ghost to recover from my last recovery point and I am back up and running in just over an hour and a half. I am not even scared of giving the BIOS a few simple instructions now in order to switch boot drives. Easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bliksimpie Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Also use acronis. but I clone my whole system to another drive. If anything ever go wrong I just slot in the cloned hardrive. (literally 5 minutes) and I will be off flying again. Toooo much work to load windows 7, FSX and all addon planes and scenery... best buy I ever made was acronis...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Now you understand why Wolter and I are constantly on about making sure you have a good backup regime in place as this will save you a lot of angst and head scratching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilman Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 +1 more for Acronis. The ultimate protection from destructive virus, hd failures, etc. Except for the (often reported in blogs) bug that will only allow cloning to a same size partition (ie: won't allow enlarging partition during the clone process). This is not a problem for normal use, just when cloning to a replacement (larger capacity) drive, and is fixed using partition manager software after the cloning is complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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