Hi Gerald,
Yes, you, are missing something.
The tutorials on creating a system restore disk, or disks, and using them
to
restore your system
explain clearly how to do it, without sighted help.
The fact that a particular program doesn't fit the desires of every
individual,
doesn't make it impossible to use, or useless.
There are a few terms being used here that are not inter-changeable.
Backup, typically refers to your personal files such as data, music and
videos for example.
These backups are recommended by many computer professionals to be done
before any significant changes are made to your system.
System Restore, is nothing more than a way of returning your system to a
previous state, such as the Windows System Restore.
Creating a system restore disk, or disks, canbe easily done with Jaws, as
the tutorialls on Image for Windows demonstrates.
The advantage of using disks for this restore is that it doesn't consume
space on your hard drive the way that Windows System Restore does.
System Recovery, is typically used when the hard drive has crashed, and
the
physical drive has to be replaced.
In this case, there would need to be a boot disk,and there are programs
that
will allow a blind-user to create one
and they are also Jaws-friendly.
Yes, some of these processes are quite technical, and not for the average
user.
The majority of computer users just want to know how to use the machine,
not
look under the hood.
If a user is interested in looking under the hood, then they need to do
what
it takes to acquire that knowledge and skill.
I backup my files every day, and sometimes more than once, easy and Jaws
friendly.
I have created a set of restore disks to return my system to a previous
state at will, also Jaws friendly.
I have read the documentation on creating an unattended install of Windows
which can serve as a system recovery,
but have not yet successfully created such a disk, but again, Jaws
friendly.
Whether it is a restore, or recovery, I would suggest to anyone, keep it
small, and not bloated with unnecessary software.
In most cases, a restore disk would be sufficient, since the mechanical
failure of a hard disk is not as frequent these days
as it was in earlier years.
Just because there isn't a way at the present time for all of us to do
these
things the way we want to,
doesn't mean that it cannot be done by a blind user at all.
Anyone that has worked with computers for any great length of time, and in
depth
knows the familiar phrase:
work-around.
We have all had to earn our stripes, so-to-speak, we didn't get it over
night.
I hope this was helpful, if not, contact me off-list.
Richard Q. Justice-website owner
www.blind-computing.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Levy" <bwaylimi...@verizon.net>
To: <jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com>
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 3:32 PM
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] DATA BACKUP AND RESTORE
Brian,
The problem I have with Drive Image XML
(and apparently all other such disk imaging utilities), is that the
restore
procedure is hopelessly complicated. If you use this program to back up
your system to an external hard drive, like I wish to do, you have to
create
a boot CD in order to restore it, which seems to be a difficult procedure
for a non-techie. I am not aware of any tutorials that provide
step-by -step instructions on how to create and use a boot CD with JAWS.
In
fact, there seem to be no tutorials at all on performing a system recovery
using JAWS. From what I have researched, performing a complete system
recovery in the event of a catastrophic crash requires a good deal of
tech-savvy sighted help. How can a blind person use a boot CD without
crucial visual feedback? I have listened to the tutorials for Disk Image
for Windows, but they do not demonstrate the creation and use of a boot
CD,
nor explain how to back up to an external hard drive and perform a system
recovery. The lack of such a tutorial suggests to me that even the
exalted
geeks on this list may be clueless on how to do this. So, to be
perfectly
blunt, it appears that there is really no simple way for an average blind
computer user to back up his entire system. Everyone likes to talk about
how important it is to back up your system, but nobody likes to talk about
how difficult it is to restore it. Am I missing something here?
Gerald
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Lee" <brianl...@charter.net>
To: "JAWSUsers" <jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com>
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 2:12 PM
Subject: [JAWS-Users] DATA BACKUP AND RESTORE
Hello,
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the features of a free data
backup program called "Drive Image XML." It is available from
www.runtime.org. I need to make a correction to my post. One of the
things I said was that Drive Image XML would not backup to a network
share. The program will backup to a network place or drive. When in the
step for picking a backup location there is a graphic that is not spoken
by JAWS. Even if you read a current line JAWS does not indicate there is
a graphic but simply reads the default path for the backup. However, if
you route JAWS to PC, move one line under the edit control for the path,
press home key and then move a word to the left, you will find the
graphic. A simulated left mouse button click on the graphic will bring
up
the dialog box for browsing and you can browse through the tree structure
to a network shared location.
Another point is that when you first open the program, it seems to not be
accessible. However, the menu bar is accessible at this point and all
choices can be made from the menus. You can also use CTRL+B to start the
backup wizard, CTRL+R to start the restore wizard, and choices for
browsing and other functions are available in the menus.
I also found another program that is JAWS friendly but it is not a free
one. The name of the program is "Active@ Disk Image" and it is available
from www.ntfs.com. It costs $40 but the license allows for installation
on three different computers. The purchased program has a boot disk
creator that is not available in the trial version. I used the trial
version yesterday and backed up just over 100 GB in a little less than
two
hours.
I wanted to make the correction about backing up to a network using Drive
Image XML in case some one on the list avoided trying it out based on
that
reason.
Take care.
Brian Lee
brianl...@charter.net
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