Backup paranoia?

[ninebob]

Dell Dimension 4600
3.06Ghz
512Mb
80GB HDD (37GB used)
Win XP SP2
Various peripherals

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OK, my short question is: Format or No Format?

The long story is:

This is a system I bought just over 3 years ago. It was fine for the first year, then started slowing down. This was before I discovered anti-virus, anti-spyware and so on. Once I (thought I) knew what I was doing, I formatted the whole thing, and having realised I'd omittted to backup all my drivers etc, it took me weeks to get the whole thing working again. Since then, it's generally been fine.

The last few months, however, it's been playing up. I now have Avast as my virus protection, I have a router which acts as a very good NAT barrier, I have Windows Firewall permanently on, and I run Ad-Aware and Spybot once a week. None of these show any problems, but the whole system is starting to "fall over" with alarming regularity. I've even had the dreaded BSOD on more than one occasion recently, which I was used to with my last system (98SE) but I'm told is indicative of serious problems in XP.

The big issue with all this is that I take my computer out 2-3 times a month to use when I'm DJing. "Mixmeister" is probably the one piece of software I use more than anything else (except Firefox). Now, even that won't run without crashing out, so essentially I can't work. I've tried un-and-re-installing it, but with no success - it hangs every time.

My question then, is this: is there a way of downloading all my XP updates and patches so I can reinstall from scratch without having to get them all from Windows Update? My reason for asking is because my XP disc is completely legit (OEM) but it's from 2003 and therefore predates even the SP2 update.

Also - obviously I have something like 15,000 mp3s which it is critical to me to save. I have copied them onto DVD-Rs, but with a system I know is unstable how can I verify that they've been backed up satisfactorily?

Any advice is welcomed... particularly from Igorian as you've been a star to me in the past.....

Cheers,
Simon

 

[Igorian]

The last few months, however, it's been playing up. I now have Avast as my virus protection, I have a router which acts as a very good NAT barrier, I have Windows Firewall permanently on, and I run Ad-Aware and Spybot once a week. None of these show any problems, but the whole system is starting to "fall over" with alarming regularity. I've even had the dreaded BSOD on more than one occasion recently, which I was used to with my last system (98SE) but I'm told is indicative of serious problems in XP.

The BSOD can provide useful information as to the nature of the problem. I don't suppose you noted down any of the text and register information? If you can reproduce the problem, post the details.

My question then, is this: is there a way of downloading all my XP updates and patches so I can reinstall from scratch without having to get them all from Windows Update? My reason for asking is because my XP disc is completely legit (OEM) but it's from 2003 and therefore predates even the SP2 update.

You can create an updated XP installation CD by downloading and extracting the service pack files to a folder and then using a program like Nlite to perform the slipstream.

However, first you need to determine what the problem is. From the information you have provided, it could equally be a hardware issue.

The big issue with all this is that I take my computer out 2-3 times a month to use when I'm DJing.

From what you say here, I would perform some basic checks.

Open the case and carefully check that everything that can be plugged is seated correctly.

Next I would either perform a full disk check from the XP recovery console, allowing it to repair any errors it finds, or I would download and run the hard drive manufacturer diagnostics.

I would probably also test the RAM at this point.

As I mentioned earlier, the BSOD information would be helpful in narrowing the cause. (Sometimes)

Also - obviously I have something like 15,000 mp3s which it is critical to me to save. I have copied them onto DVD-Rs, but with a system I know is unstable how can I verify that they've been backed up satisfactorily?

The only positive way is to restore them to another location and see if they work.

Any advice is welcomed... particularly from Igorian as you've been a star to me in the past.....

Thanks, Invoice is in the post.

 

[sm1thson]

Also - obviously I have something like 15,000 mp3s which it is critical to me to save. I have copied them onto DVD-Rs, but with a system I know is unstable how can I verify that they've been backed up satisfactorily?

it would be quicker and easier to buy an external usb hard drive to store them on, although there is some expense in this its not wasted as you will then also have a backup should your hard drive die.