A week or so back I got to test the Back-up built into Vista Ultimate. Not due to any problems caused by Vista but, because of some Hard drive issues. I was using the on board Intel RAID controller on my ASUS P5W64-WS Pro Motherboard. This thing has been causing a little trouble for a while. So, hoping it would solve all my woes, I decided to get an above board RAID controller.

Anticipating trouble with the transfer, I decided I needed a full back up of my PC. This was too much to send up to Mozy so I started looking at the back-up built into Vista.

In Vista Ultimate There is a back-up option called "Complete PC Backup".This lets you back-up an image of your entire computer to multiple CD/DVDs or an external hard drive. It's surprisingly quick... It took 10 minutes or so for it to make the image.

My initial switch over to the new RAID controller went perfectly. No need for the back-up... That was until one of my drives failed. *sigh* The I had trouble. I did a couple of dumb things I won't get into here but, needless to say, I finally needed that backup I made.

Here's the cool part... Once I got my drive situation sorted out I was in business. To restore a "Complete PC Backup" in Vista to new disks boot to the Vista DVD. After it loads, you will see and option to "Repair Vista". Click that link and you will be taken to another page with the option to "Restore from a Complete PC Backup". Vista will then look for the back-up. So, make sure your external Hard drive is connected or the First disk of your Back-up set is in the drive.

Vista will then format/partition your disk to match the information contained in the back-up. When the restore is done the PC will reboot and Windows will be back to the state it was in at the time of the backup. This worked perfectly for me and I was extremely relieved when all was done. Here's the bad: I believe the "Complete PC Backup" is only available in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. So, you Home Premium users will need to upgrade to Ultimate to get this feature. Sorry.

So, If you've picked and poked at your Vista installation until something breaks, you got this nifty feature to save you. Well, only if you have Business or Ultimate AND actually make a back-up first. Otherwise... Well.. umm... oops.

The Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) service is a pretty good feature of Windows Vista. Windows XP offered a similar feature in a "Previous Versions" client that needed to be installed by the user. This allowed users to take advantage of the backups that had been deployed. Vista's Shadow copy is on by default for the "system" drive and is "built-in".

What VSS does is to write a new copy of the file. So, instead of replacing an existing file, VSS creates a new file in available space and points to the original location for previous versions. Shadow copies are created when restore points are created, about once per day.

Here are some instructions if you need to restore a "previous version" of a file:

1. Locate the folder that contains the file or folder that was deleted or renamed in the Windows File Explorer.
2. Right-click file or folder, then click Restore previous versions.
3. Double-click a previous version of the folder that contains the file or folder you want to restore. (For example, if a file was deleted today, choose a version of the folder from yesterday, which should contain the file.)
4. In the folder, simply click and drag the file or folder that you want to restore to another location in order to restore it to that location.

Like I said above, the VSS service is turned on by default for the System drive. If, like me, you have other disks in your box you can enable this feature for those disks as well. Follow these steps to enable or disable the VSS service for a drive:

1. Open the Control Panel. Click: start button ---> Control Panel
2. Click System in the control Panel
3. In the left hand menu of the System window Click: "System Protection"
4. In the new window you will see the options for enabling/disabling Shadow copies.

The Toshiba A305-S6843 Laptop

Recently I decided it was time to replace my laptop. My old Laptop was a Toshiba 4300 series. The laptop came originally installed with Windows 98SE, 800mhz PIII processor, 16 gig hard drive, DVD rom, 128 meg RAM. When I got this laptop originally it was "The stuff" so to speak. When Windows XP was released I upgraded the OS to Win XP Pro. Over the years, I maxed out the RAM (384meg) and swapped the 16 gig harddrive to an 80gig. And now this machine was "the stuff" again.

Well, after a life of about 7 years the machine was "showing it's age" So I decided it was time to update. Needless to say I was happy with the Toshiba so I decided to stay in that brand for the new machine.

I needed a laptop with a good fast processor, lots of RAM and Harddrive, Video with it's own memory, wireless N, DVD, Vista Ultimate, etc.. Basically a laptop that I could really "work" on and wasn't too heavy. Tall order, I know. But, after a bit of looking I came across the Toshiba A305-S6843 (at BestBuy of all places) and it nearly had everything I was looking for.

This laptop is packed with features.

It boasts:

• Intel Core2Duo T8100 2.1ghz processor, Intel GM965 Chip set
• 4 gig (4096MB) PC5300 DDR2 SDRAM
• Multi Format DVD+/- RW drive with double-layer support (spports Labelflash direct-disc labels)
• 15.4" WXGA TFT-LCD widescreen display with TruBrite Technology; native support for 720p HD content
• ATI Mobility Radeon - HD 3470 with 256MB
• 400 gig of hard drive space. (2 x 200gig SATA Drives)
• Builtin Webcam and microphone
• Intel a/b/g/n Wireless Wi-Fi Link 56k modem
• built-in harman/kardon Speakers
• s-video output and HDMI connection
• 5-in-1 bridge media adapter supports Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card
• i.Link (IEEE 1394) Interface with 4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
• Weighs approx 6 lbs. measures 1.5" thin.
• Vista Home Premium 64bit Edition

The only thing that didn't pass my requirements was the OS. I really wanted Vista Ultimate but, I can do the "Windows anytime upgrade" for $150ish to upgrade to Ultimate.

Here's the best part... the thing that really sold me on this machine. It was only $1099.00. In my opinion for the RAM, Processor and Harddrive that was an amazing deal. (Since buying this machine the price has increased to $1249.00. Still a good price I think)

Enough for the specs, here is what I think so far.

Pros:

• Quick booting
• Super fast operating (with 4gig RAM and a T8100 processor, it should be)
• Awesome Display, Movies, text, web all display very well
• Sound... Well, the sound is very clear and loud
• Battery life is decent, on average I get about 3hours or so per charge.
• Doesn't get very hot during operation. (my last Toshiba would burn your lap after a while)
• Quite operation - even when the fans speed up

Cons:

• Vista Home Premium 64bit - Would have preferred a pre-install of Vista Ultimate 64bit
• The glossy finish on the keyboard gets a little "slick and greasy" feeling
• no COM port.. (I know this is dying out but I need it to connect to some equipment)
• Serial to USB adapter wont work. (no Vista 64bit SIGNED drivers)

If you are looking to replace your current laptop then, in my opinion, this would be a viable solution for you (it has been for me). You get lots of "bang for the buck". I think You could definitely do worse for the money, but not much better.

A while back I blogged about Remote Desktop in Windows XP. Since the start of my Vista Quest I have continued to use the Vista remote desktop with great success. That is until I installed Services pack 1.

Here lately I've been noticing some differences when I log into some servers I manage. Nothing drastic mind you but there were some things that were no longer the same. So I got to Googeling...

I use the /console when logging in to these servers. For those who don't know the /console switch gives you the ability to log into a remote server with out using a Terminal Service client and it also logs you into the desktop that you would see if you were standing at the machine. So, If you started a process that was going to take a long time, you could log into that session remotely and check on or finish the process. And if you needed to install some software that could not be installed "remotely" the /console switch would allow you to continue.

With the introduction of Vista SP1 the /console switch no longer holds the same function. They have changed the /console to /admin The main reason for this is for compatibility with the new Server 2008 platform.

Server 2008 doesn't have a concept of a console that you can login to as that session (session 0) is for services and doesn't have an interactive session associated with it. The /admin switch is to login to the session that would have the physical keyboard/screen attached to it.

So... For those of you using Vista with Service Pack 1 you need to start using /admin instead of /console. It appears this is true even connecting to Server 2003.

Just a quick note... For some reason the Service Pack one update cleared the activation of my Vista Ultimate install and I was required to re-activate.

Be prepared for that.

Wonder Why??

Ok. All things considered in a Microsoft world, this was a pretty painless update. It may be hard to read but, the image left says that this installation will take an hour or more. Well, it's not joking. The entire process took me right at 1 hour to complete.

Step one - Download the update. Now, make sure and download this update through Windows Update. The size of this update could be 65 - 427 MB. This size will be determined by your current level of patches (udates) my machine was pretty up-to-date so my download was only 67 MB . You can download the stand-alone-installer but it will cost you in a 435 MB download.. CRAZY Don't do it unless you have MANY Vista Machines to update.

Step two - Save your work and close all programs! You will not be able to use the PC during this process.

Step three - Click the install button. This install occurs in three steps. Step one takes place in the OS and appears to install as any normal update. Upon completion it requires a reboot.

The setup will log you out and continue with stage one. The OS will install "Stage 1" and "Stage 2" then Reboot.

Upon reboot it will continue with "Stage 3" Once finished it will continue to load Windows allowing you to log in.

From Download through install this update will take an hour or more depending upon your Download Speed and PC hardware. And, Once the download is complete, the install is not something I will run unattended. So do this when you have the time to sit and watch.

I've been running the update now for about 24 hours and SO FAR there have been no serious side-effects. If you have made the adjustments to Speed up your file copying This update will change them back... And, although file copying speed has improved slightly with this update I find I get better results putting those changes back into effect.

On Reboots the system load time has not really sped up any that I can tell but, once logged in, the OS seems quite a bit faster opening and using programs and system utilities. So far there seems to be little Danger doing this update. If you upgraded your computer to Vista and had "trouble" with some hardware in the upgrade you may have some difficulty. So, I would suggest reading: Things to know before you download Windows Vista SP1

As this Vista machine is my "day-to-day" work machine now, I will keep you updated should any Service Pack Related problems crop up.

Sorry Doug, no drama yet.. Keep your fingers crossed!

First I'd, like to type my normal apology for slow posts... It's been a hectic month.

ANYWAY, today I see that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now being pushed out via windows update. I know it was released last week but today is the first time it has showed up in my automatic updates.

My friend Doug requested that I fulfill my role as Guinea Pig and install this "Straight away!" as it will make ..

it'll make for some good drama in a blog post (;

So, Today I start the latest edition of the Vista Quest... The Service Pack 1 Update.

After I download and install the 65 - 427 MB update I will return.. (providing a successful reboot) and report on my latest adventure.