> -----Original Message----- > From: Dinner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 3:27 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Yay Vista! > > Speed claims aside, Dave's sorta got a point. > > Backup/restore has been a PITA on MS for a long time. > Since The Registry, I reckon.
My actual response to Dave only seems to have come through on the archive (I think the list was having problems yesterday) but I agree in it: Apple does a great job with backup. They control the hardware: that gives them a huge edge and they take full advantage of it. But it's still true that Dave was both exaggerating (for really no reason) speed claims. More directly he was also comparing totally different cases. He copied an external drive to another: the process for this is essentially the same for PCs and Macs. Then he reinstalled his OS to a working machine. He cloned his configuration: something Apple makes very easy. It isn't all that difficult in Windows: copy the C drive to an external drive and then copy it back after you reinstall... although I don't know why you'd go through that trouble when it's easier to just back up to the C: drive to the external drive and restore it using the boot disc. In my case the machine was hosed: disks gone. I didn't want to reinstall my OS (I didn't need too in any case). I wanted my old system back. In an honest comparison than I think it would be a nearly identical experience: simple backup to the external drive, simple restore from boot disk (or, again with Apple's hardware control, perhaps a restore directly from ROM). Of course the Apple hardware can apparently do all this five times faster... but that's beside the point. ;^) His other complaint was about the use of the VHD format. I'm happy enough to admit that it may not be for everybody - but I still think it's an amazingly elegant solution. The VHD format is open (under MS OSP) and utilities and tools are plentiful and the number is steadily rising. Heck I can even convert the file to a Parallels image and mount it on a Mac! ;^) Now let's be clear here tho': this is "full backup" - which is a block level backup of the drive(s). EVERYTHING (even deleted items, hidden files and so forth). You can't really store such a thing as "just files". Vista also offers a more general file-level backup system - this backs up to a plain-jane, everyday ZIP files (obviously usable by any system you like). MS is really leveraging the VHD format: they're delivering beta/trail software (such as Office 2007) as virtual machines for example. They've made all the tools free and opened all the formats. In short MS has adopted a very open, very portable style of backup this time around. It's not even large (Virtual PC 2007 is only 30 Meg... jeeze, iTunes is 48 meg!). It works exactly as I want it to and that's all I said first time around. It clearly doesn't work as Dave would like which is, of course, fine. The process he described (which failed to address my situation at all) didn't impress me much either (except for the transfer times which were just - seriously - unbelievable). It's the "Rain on the parade" mentality that bothers me. We've had these discussions before but Dave can't understand how people can be happy unless they're happy like he's happy. It's a character thing. As I age it's becoming clear that, more than anything else, the thing keeping me from Macs are Mac users. ;^) Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion is delivering applications solutions at at top companies around the world in government. Find out how and where now http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/showcase/index.cfm?event=finder&productID=1522&loc=en_us Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:239564 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
