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Old 11-04-2012, 10:20 AM   #16
feldon34
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Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Windows Home Server is great for backing up all the data off every computer every night. It's also great for keeping all your Photos, Videos, Installers/software, etc. in one place and then they're accessible from everywhere.

But restoring a Windows 7 backup to a different motherboard won't work. Jim's issue in this case was not having all the installers for all the programs he uses in one place. When you are developing software/doing 3D animation, it's a lot more programs than most people realize. We're talking Lightwave, the whole Visual Studio (which is a beast), etc.


If I were to visit Jim, the first thing I would do is go through every box in the house, find all the software, and sort it into 2 piles "Useful" and "Museum". Then I'd setup a low-end computer with WHS with all the automated settings for updates, backups, etc. Then I'd copy all the installers for all of Jim's programs (using Isobuster for all the installers that are on disk) to one folder "Software" on the WHS. I'd also redo the computer with a 64GB SSD and change all the default folder locations so that data CANNOT be stored on the C: drive but will all be stored on the D: drive. Then who cares if the Windows 7 boot drive gets wiped?

If I were Jim's publisher, I would have bought 2 or 3 sets of motherboard, CPU, power supply, hard drive, etc. so that parts can just be swapped in if they fail. There's really no excuse for an artist to have to worry about their computer setup.
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