• Categories

Vanilla 1.1.4 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

 
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2016 edited
    FalkirkBairn wrote
    I am looking to revamping my backup system and wondering if anyone could recommend a good program. Free or not too exensive would be ideal and one that does incremental backups would be good too.


    Backups to what, Alan? The cloud? Another hard drive? Another PC?
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
  1. Backing up to external hard drive. I hadn't considered backing up to cloud. This is for regular PC backups. My music backups I do manually.

    I have at last bought some 2TB external drive, so I will separately looking for help to transfer 900GB of music from one external drive to another via a laptop.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  2. For simple tasks you can use Synktoy.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  3. I really have 2 jobs I need to do. The first job is to set up a regular backing up schedule. I am currently using Dell's own software but I am unsure just how useful it is or whether it creates a proprietary backup file that would require another Dell machine to get back at the data. I am thinking that other software would not be limited by proprietary issues and it would be possible to do incremental backups.

    My second need is to move my 900GB worth of music from a 1TB to a 2TB external hard disc. Martijn, I know you offered me help some time ago with using RoboCopy (?) and I may still need that help (though I see it is possible to use a user-friendly UI with RoboCopy. But, I am also wondering how best to transfer the data. Should I transfer the data to the laptop from the old drive and then - as a separate process - move the data to the new drive. Or can I move the data directly from one drive to the second, with the laptop being only a conduit through which the data travels?
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  4. If you can connect both drives (the old and the new) at the same time, I would suggest doing that - and then simply copy the contents across. Not sure why RoboCopy needs to be involved. I would avoid copying from drive to laptop to other drive. It will simply take twice as long.

    I hope you have usb3 ports and compatible hardware, as that would make the copying a lot faster. Otherwise... you're in for the long wait.

    You could look at Windows' own backing up software. I've never really bothered with schedules, I tend to do it manually every now and then. I'd be surprised if Windows didn't do incremental back ups, but you never know.
    www.synchrotones.wordpress.com | www.synchrotones.co.uk | @Synchrotones | facebook | soundcloud | youtube
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2016
    Synchrotones wrote
    Not sure why RoboCopy needs to be involved.


    Because it is incredibly robust and versatile. And because it makes one-on-one copies: no compacting, no proprietary format, nothing. It's just a copy. Doinga manual copies has caused me no end of grief in the past, as copies tend to stop (when e.g. a file changed in the meantime), and then you can start all over again (it won't resume where you left off).

    Windows backup is easy, but it still uses a proprietary format. It cannot restore individual files, just full images (as far as I know). It does not do incrementals. And it will not include all files (there are automatic exclusions).

    So for file (one-on-one copies; no compression considerations) backups I always use Robocopy.
    For system or (full) partition backups I use an industry standard backup program. Used to be Ghost, but since Windows 7 Acronis or Paragon are my go-to choices. (But they're not free, of course).
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
  5. Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will attach the donor drive and the receiver drive to the laptop and just copy over. Unfortunately, I only have the one USB3.0 port on my laptop so the rate-limiting-step will be the other USB2.0 port - a long wait is on the cards. Hopefully, I can do this overnight.

    I'll try RoboCopy to copy the files over. Martijn, if I connect up the two drives and give you the paths for the donor drive and the recipient drive, could you produce me a script that would copy files/folders over in order to mirror the contents of the donor drive? Once I have the files on the new drive, I may tidy up the folder structure to something more systematic.

    As for system backups, as I may have said, I am using Dell's software at the moment. In the past, I have used Acronis' True Image. But that was on my old laptop and so I am not sure whether I can still use this on this more recent laptop. I need to check if I am able to re-download the old software and re-install it on this computer. I have the original purchase/registration emails so I need to check this out.

    Thanks guys.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2016
    FalkirkBairn wrote
    Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will attach the donor drive and the receiver drive to the laptop and just copy over.


    Yeah, that's definitely easiest (and, in fact, there's no good reason to do it any other way).

    Unfortunately, I only have the one USB3.0 port on my laptop so the rate-limiting-step will be the other USB2.0 port - a long wait is on the cards. Hopefully, I can do this overnight.


    Overnight is doable, but with USB2 definitely count on 7-8 hours for that kind of amount of data.

    I'll try RoboCopy to copy the files over. Martijn, if I connect up the two drives and give you the paths for the donor drive and the recipient drive, could you produce me a script that would copy files/folders over in order to mirror the contents of the donor drive?


    Sure thing. Easy-peasy.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
  6. And we're off!

    Sweaty palms at the moment as I start copying 820GB of music to a new 2TB external hard disk. It may be overkill but I bought three of these disks and plan on having 3 full copies of my music. Two backups and a third for everyday listening use.

    Here's hoping everything goes smoothly.

    A big thanks to Martijn for the help.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  7. I have a puzzle that I am hoping someone may be able to help me with.

    I have transferred my 156,464 music files from one external hard disk to another and there seems to be no problems. BUT, when I scan the folders for the music files in MediaMonkey I only have 154,664 tracks in my library. I am 1,800 short.

    Anyone have experience of why some of the music tracks are not being added to my library?

    I have scanned both the old external disk and the new external disc and I get the same result: there's 156,464 files of music but I am 1,800 short. I haven't been able to assess whether it is the same 1,800 tracks but I am assuming that it is. So, it seems that the problem is specifically related to a subset of files.

    Could it be that these files are 'protected' from being scanned? All my music files are a mixture of purchases from places like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes but I don't know if the missing files are store related (and I currently don't know if the missing files are mp3 or m4a or a mixture of both.

    One thing I do know is that I am missing some files. And, despite it only being 1% of my total music, it is really bugging me that these files are missing from the library.

    So, anyone any ideas of what the issue might be?
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  8. A question.

    Does anyone know of a reliable program (and a reliable source) for extracting the product activation key for Windows Office 2013 from the depths of the computer?

    In the past I have bought 2 copies of this - one for my daughter and one for me. Rachel's migrating to a new PC and wants to take her copy of Office with her. I've found both emails that lists the product activation keys for both purchases but I want to check who has which version and the associated activation key before migrating.

    Thanks
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeDec 27th 2016
    Alan, to see the product key can be found if you go to the System overview.

    In Windows 8 and later, just type in "System" when you are in the start menu, and there you will see some options. Just choose "System" (not advanced system settings) and at the bottom of the window that appears there will be a product key.
    Kazoo
  9. Bregt wrote
    Alan, to see the product key can be found if you go to the System overview.

    In Windows 8 and later, just type in "System" when you are in the start menu, and there you will see some options. Just choose "System" (not advanced system settings) and at the bottom of the window that appears there will be a product key.

    How does that give me the activation key for the version of Windows Office 2013? All I can see the Windows Product ID.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeDec 27th 2016
    Ouch! I did not pay enough attention to your question and presued it was the product id of Windows. I completely missed the Office part. face-palm-mt

    I don't know how to find the full Office key though. I'm sure there's a tool for that. You can find the last digits of the number though, just as a check but that is not what you are looking for probably.
    Kazoo
  10. I have the activation keys for both versions and so knowing the last 4 digits would be enough for me to identify who has which version.

    Where can I find this in Office? And will this tell me the key rather than just the product ID?
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeDec 27th 2016
    This article describes the magic you need to do (section "Get the last five characters of the Office product key associated with your PC")
    https://support.office.com/en-us/articl … &ad=US
    Kazoo
    •  
      CommentAuthorFalkirkBairn
    • CommentTimeDec 27th 2016 edited
    That doesn't work.

    When I copy the following into command prompt:

    cscript “C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice15OSPP.VBS” /dstatus

    ...all I get is the following:

    Input error: there is no file extension in "C:Users[username]"C:Program"

    The "back slash" character isn't being shown when post the comments here.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  11. Alan,

    have you downloaded Office or did you install it from CD?

    Is your Office connected to a Microsoft account?

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  12. I downloaded the Office suite but it's not an Office 365 version. I do have an email account associated with my account but I can't readily see how I can get details of my downloaded Office 2013. All I see is links to how to use Office 365.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  13. If your daughter's Office is associated with her Microsoft account she won't need the key. She can activate the product using her account name and keyword. She'll then probably have to deactivate the copy for her old PC. That is done online. She doesn't need the old PC to do that.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  14. At least that's what the German MS support tells me.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  15. Captain Future wrote
    If your daughter's Office is associated with her Microsoft account she won't need the key. She can activate the product using her account name and keyword. She'll then probably have to deactivate the copy for her old PC. That is done online. She doesn't need the old PC to do that.

    I have read about this process but I had thought that, as the installation I had done is not an Office 365-based installation - where everything is done through the Microsoft servers and is monitored and requires a deactivation then reactivation - I think that there is no option for me to deactivate.

    I just have to uninstall the copy on my daughter's PC, and then redownload and reinstall it on the new computer. I would likely have to phone Microsoft to reactivate but I need the product activation key for this. If the new PC has some sort of version of Windows Office installed then I can use the key for this (?) But, I would have to phone them here too to activate. But, I want to be sure that I have the correct key with the correct version.

    The script that Bregt linked to should work - the path of the script is correct and the OSPP.VBS file is in the right place. I just can't seem to get the script to work.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorsdtom
    • CommentTimeDec 27th 2016
    You're getting to be pretty sharp on the computer.
    listen to more classical music!
  16. sdtom wrote
    You're getting to be pretty sharp on the computer.

    It doesn't feel like it!
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  17. An update for anyone who wants to have a laugh.

    The reason I couldn't get the Microsoft script to work is that the quotation marks copied over as part of the script are not recognised by the command prompt if I just directly paste the script from the website into the command prompt.

    When I pasted the script into Notepad and then changed the quotation marks to the quotation marks using my own keys, the script worked fine. Hurrah!

    But the last 5 characters of the product key that was given to me does not match either of the product keys I was sent in the email when I purchased the copies of Office 2013. Grrr!

    I'm off to check Rachel's version to see if the information I get from her laptop helps work out who has which copy.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    •  
      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeDec 28th 2016
    Ouch!

    But this is defenitely nearing point of resolve. wink
    Kazoo
  18. Bregt wrote
    Ouch!

    But this is defenitely nearing point of resolve. wink

    Yes, getting there. Though I can't fathom why the last 5 characters of the product key don't match. I am hoping that they match when I try out Rachel's computer.

    I know it's all to do with security but it shouldn't be this hard for a legitimate enquiry to be answered.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  19. Does anyone know how to go about checking Windows Update?

    I feel something's gone wrong somewhere - it hasn't automatically checked for updates since the last update in January and when I manually check for updates it just keeps checking...and checking...and checking.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  20. FalkirkBairn wrote
    Does anyone know how to go about checking Windows Update?

    I feel something's gone wrong somewhere - it hasn't automatically checked for updates since the last update in January and when I manually check for updates it just keeps checking...and checking...and checking.

    The Windows Update Troubleshooting tool seemed to be completely ineffective.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
  21. Not a computer but an mp3 player.

    My player is no longer recognised by my computer and there seems to be an issue flagged in my device manager but I get an error message when I try to update the driver, so I can't update the driver.

    I decided to reinstall the firmare on the player and started off the process for that but I needed a USB connection to reinstall the firmware. Can you see where this is headed?...I can't reinstall the firmware because the computer doesn't recognise the player.

    Anyone any ideas on how to fix things? I'd rather not lose my trusty Creative Zen 32GB player.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn