Hi All

Now that I [finally] have a smooth running flightsim, I'm planning to backup or to be more precise, copy my P3D root directory installation which comprises P3D+ORBX+OTHER SCENERY & AIRPORT ADD-ONS from the likes of Aerosoft, FS Addons and UK2000, from the ssd on which it currently resides to an internal hdd. I also have other add-ons handled by the xml method via Lorby's excellent add-on manager which pose no concern in this respect. The SSD also holds in separate directories FS Pilots mesh, REX Skyforce & WWA, MyTraffic 06a and a whole bunch of Return to Misty Moorings stuff.

I've read a previous post from 2016 in the forums related to this, but no mention is made of the registry.

I suspect I will need to make a copy of my registry also? Surely some of the add-on programs I've installed to the P3D root directory write to the registry? Or if I use a back-up tool, this is taken care of automatically?

Could some kind soul advise, please? Thanks.

 

 

I suggest to use a imaging tool to back-up your system disk and your P3D disk. I am using Acronis. But there are many others around (incl freeware)

I have used macrium for years. It has saved me more than once. https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

I’m using Aomei Backupper. Free for home users. I use System Backup which makes a copy of the SSD including every partition. Great software that I have been using for years. Why pay when there are great free alternatives?

https://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-backupper.html

As Ray stated above. I too use Aomei and am satisfied.

I have been successfully using Windows 7 backup (option in Win 10 Pro) for system images, writing to a USB external disk. I say successfully, as I have restored from these images at least two times after P3D either became unstable, or wouldn't start. This is a reliable, FREE option if you are running Win 10, and doesn't require installation of additional software.

Another cool thing is that these images can be mounted as a VHD using Win 10 Disk Management in the event you need to retrieve files from your system image.

I STRONGLY advise against trying to backup pieces of your system, expecting that later you can restore those pieces to solve P3D problems.

Kind Regards,

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated.

I have 1tb free on one of my hdds so I think I'll back up both my ssds to that - the total is more or less 750gb.

And if I understand correctly, if a disk craps out or the software develops a problem it's simply a matter of restoring the entire folder system from the backup file either to the existing disk or a new one?

So if I wanted to put P3D et al on another drive, say a 2tb ssd because I've added more software and need more space, I extract the backup file to the new disk and 'voila', job done? I assume I'll need to make a new disk the same drive letter as the old one?

Also I think I'm worrying about the registry unnecessarily - that does not get affected if a disk develops an error?

 

 

Garry,

If you have P3D installed to a separate drive to your OS then you can restore it to a new SSD and assign it the same drive letter as previously.

However, if your OS drive fails that is more complex and not a situation I have personally experienced.

The Registry comprises two files. User.dat and system.dat. These are on your C drive and hidden for good reason. If the problem is isolated to another drive and not C then don’t worry about the registry. You won’t need to touch it as long as P3D has the same drive letter and path as before.

Thanks Ray. All understood.

I use a separate 1tb ssd for all p3d stuff I think will feel the benefit. I can see me wishing it was 2tb this time next year!

I would respond to your comment re os drive failure but I feel that would be tempting fate on my part.....

Thanks again

Garry, you should consider a NAS drive. I have four PCs and all are backed up to it. It is mapped as a Z drive on each for ease of access.

NAS drives have the benefit of RAID so my two 2Tb drives only hold 2Tb of data as they are a mirror of each other. If one fails you just swap it out and the data is fed back onto it from the other drive. They cost pennies to run and are extremely reliable. I can recommend Synology.

I too run a Synology Raid NAS. Very reliable running 24/7.

I used to use Macrium, but moved over to Paragon a while back. Works fine as well.

Cheers,

Mark

Ray/newtie: thanks for the suggestion but NAS seems a little over the top for my needs.

I've been using AOMEI Pro for the past few days and so far it's doing what I want.

Cheers

Garry

@Garry Scanlan, fair enough. Depends on your needs. I also use it to store music and photos so it's a multi-purpose drive.

I have P3D installed on two SSD's  C and some scenery on D. I do have a fast NAS, but I do my backup to an external USD HDD, much faster and easy to recover from.

I use Acronis True Image 2019 as a backup program, works great for me, and has easy possibility to backup my complete system (that is ALL disks and partitions at once) in one go.

USB HDD are not very expensive anymore, and have lots more capacity than SSD's (for same price), so I have plenty space for a lot of backups.

I had a lot of crashes with a full P3DV4 install with many addons, and this time I made a (incremental) backup after every installation of a big or time-consuming installation procedure.

Edited March 22, 20197 yr by Rene_Feijen

Well, I've been backing up my C:\ as a disk image and my p3d disk as folders and files using AOMEI.

So I'm getting floating trees in P3D so I thought why not test your backup? Imagine my disappointment when I received a message about insufficient memory to perform task on reboot. if it's RAM I've got 16gb.

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong, or is this program a joke?