Complete disaster recovery (restore from “bare metal”; formatting and restoring) has been a thorn since Windows XP. In fact it’s been downright weird which reminds me of:When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” - Hunter S. hompson

It’s fair to say that a Hunter S. Thompson quote about bare metal recovery and backup and restore has been as weird as my quest and I’m not sure why I thought of the relationship but perhaps thinking about “what a long strange trip it’s been” kicked in some random brain cells still firing from the 70’s. But anyway it’s been a long strange trip and finding the perfect solution after much weirdness I feel like a pro.

Firstly a bit of background. I’ve historically been a huge fan of tape backup. You can take a copy off-site and yeah, it’s slow, but a 4mm tape fits nicely in a safe deposit box or a neighbors drawer and hard drives (and the bays to keep them in) were expensive.

Things change. Multi-drive systems abound and in fact the box I used for my test has six hot swap drives. Other things change as well. The tape backup software I used for years; Seagate’s BackUp Exec had a wonderful floppy boot method that allowed you to go to DOS, format drives, do all sorts of stuff, load the tape restore program
in DOS and bang, you were back in business (albeit after about two hours of restore time). Seagate also had a wonderful scheduling program that would do an unattended backup. My second rule of backup (the first rule is that it’s got to work) is that it has to be easy as if it’s not a backup isn’t going to happen. Sadly Backup Exec, after being sold to Veritas and then sold to Symantec has been discontinued. The discontinued BackUp Exec doesn’t work with XP, and their alternatives are far, far beyond my financial scope, it appears that they’re now focusing on the Corporate/Enterprise market.

So I looked around and found a bunch of promising disk backup possibilities. The aforementioned financial scope precluded me from trying them all so I shifted through them and settled on a test of Symantec’s Ghost, Acronis True Image and Image for Windows.

Basically all of these guys allow you to create a disk image on another drive or CD/DVD and, in the event of a disaster, boot from their CD-ROM and restore. Should be faster and easier than tape, right?

I started out using a big box for testing; six RAID drives using a Perc controller (neither using RAID-0 or RAID-5), 2 3Ghz processors and Windows XP.

Ghost - Scary Stuff

Symantec clearly warns you to test the recovery CD-ROM and even if they didn’t it’d be one of the first things you’d want to do anyway. If you can’t boot the recovery disk it doesn’t matter if you have a backup if you can’t get to it.

So the Ghost recovery disk goes in the CD-ROM drive and I boot. It’s not unlike installing Windows, you’re prompted to install any special drivers which I did for the Perc controller. Things chugged along for a bit and then the blue screen of death (actually the
first time I’ve seen the BSoD in XP). Tried it again and didn’t installed the Perc drivers. Another BSoD, just different text.

I could make backups with no problem in Windows, I just couldn’t boot the restore disk and you can’t restore from Windows. Ouch. Created a long, detailed report on the Symantec web site with
full text of error messages, hardware details, OS details, the whole
nine yards. I received a confirmation that I’d get a reply in 24 hours.

Five days later no reply. I query them. They want me to use their live support chat feature complete with a link that returns a page not found. No way could I detail all the content from the BSoD even if I could get to the page. I replied by email.

They acquiesced to helping me by email. They pretty much suggested doing what I’ve been trying (loading the drivers) and then they slip one in on me; it only works with RAID-0 and RAID-5. Curious, there’s no mention of that in the Ghost 9.0 requirements
page. My reply was that gee, “how was I supposed to know that” and “I’m not going to change my RAID configuration to use this, how about a refund” didn’t get anywhere; I’d have to talk to another department about that.

Can’t use it (Ghost) in the Windows 2003 box (W2003 isn’t supported) so punt and use it in the Sony Digital Studio
P Media Center box, which I’ve left stock out of the box with no “funny” software or hardware. Slip in the CD, click on the install button and….ten minutes later the CD is still spinning and locked up so bad that ctrl-alt-del won’t even bring up task manager.

While Ghost might work well in your environment it miserably failed my first requirement; that it actually work.

True Image - Slick & Functional

The True Image recovery CD-ROM can be created from the program itself or at install time. I choose the latter and it didn’t even ask me about special drivers. I presume that it pulled them in from my configuration. Very slick. Booted it and no problem. Went to
restore the image and wow, it worked.

There is one limit that I found with True Image, it does not support “dynamic” drives. If you have drives set up as dynamic True Image will not create an image of them. Otherwise it handled
everything that I could throw at them and never even burped.

Restoring a single or a couple of files from the True Image backup was a bit more time consuming than Ghost. You had to
“restore” the image backup to a temporary location and then select
and copy the files from that temporary location. With Ghost you simply displayed the image, expanded it in an Explorer type interface and pick and copy the files you needed. A very small matter to be sure, but True Image worked so flawlessly I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a drawback.

I can’t speak to the quality of Acronis support as I didn’t need o ask them since everything worked as advertised. I suspect you’d not need to contact them but If it’s anywhere near as good as their product it’ll be top notch.

Image for Windows - Small, Fast and Effective

Image for Windows is a lean, mean backup and restore machine. It’s small and fast (I presume it’s written in a low level language) and has a somewhat “less slick” look to the interface. Not that the process doesn’t offer options or functionality, they’re simply devoid of the graphics found in the other two programs.

Of course this cuts down on the size of the program to the point that the restore program (the Image for DOS version which comes with the package) can fit on a floppy diskette (which comforts me as I still find diskettes to be more reliable than CD-ROM). Oh, you can create a boot diskette on CD-ROM for the Windows version if
that’s your preference.

The option for boot disk is only necessary if you keep a drive image on another drive; if you create your drive image on CD-ROM you need only boot that CD-ROM to restore it.

Restoring the drive (the C: boot drive) via the boot floppy was fast and easy. I only had to point to the image file, hit enter and it was automatic from there on out.

The restored image was perfect, nary a glitch. A very well crafted program. I exchanged a few emails with questions about how Image worked with the author of Image for Windows. He was prompt and
as the actual author of the software as opposed to a script reader, knew what he was talking about.

Bottom Line

By far Image for Windows worked without fail, was faster and had more recovery boot options (diskette or CD-ROM). It preformed flawlessly. It is not as “slick” in terms of graphics vs. True Image but graphics add to the size of the file and getting a program to work from a floppy boot disk was a great feature. Image for Windows was also the least expensive.

True Image was slick. The full Acronis restore CD booted in about half the time it took me to get to the BSoD in Ghost. Restoring with True Image was indeed as simple as can be, just a couple of clicks.

In extra features both True Image and Ghosts have features that Image for Windows doesn’t; Ghost does have the Symantec Live Update feature for patches and with True Image and Image for Windows you have to log on to the their respective web sites and check manually (gasp!). Frankly the Symantec “live update” stuff takes up too much disk space for my tastes and it is just another of scads of resident programs chewing up cycles and memory and I can do without that.

Nor does Image for Windows do incremental backups as do the other programs but I don’t use that feature anyway. I’d much rather have an entire data set. Disk space is cheap and the backup is so fast that it’s not a bother.

Image for Windows costs $26.98 and you can download the 3.6Mb 30 day evaluation here . Acronis True Image is listed at $49.99 and a limited (you can’t restore) 15 day 37Mb trail can be downloaded here, Ghost is listed at $69.95 on their
site as a buy only product.

By far, and not only because of the fact that I can’t actually recover with Ghost and the size and price of True Image I’m going with Image for Windows. Overall it has the “feel” of a better crafted program and I’m impressed. Terrabyte has a lot of confidence in their product providing a full “try before you buy” version that is fully functional (30 day limit) and will allow you to fully test it on your system and will give you a good idea of how it’ll work in terms of backing up your stuff and working with your particular hardware and software. Sadly there’s no trial version of Ghost, I had to pay to find out it didn’t work on my boxes.

Check out Image for Windows, think you’ll be impressed and will give you a solid way to avoid the disk disaster blues.

About Don Watkins - Don has been in involved in computers since the 60’s starting PCNet on CompuServe in 1983. In 1994, Don was awarded the John Dvorak Lifetime Achievement Award. He was awarded the SIA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.)

Don Watkins, PCNet-Online.com. Copyright, 2006. May be reprinted in compliance with ezinearticles.com terms.

Secrets that you did not know about “airbrush tanning.”

You’ve got parties or weddings to attend to and you’re supposed to be dressed in strapless gown; don’t you think you’ll look pretty nice in a tan? Mostly, if you have a fair skin, you’ll want to tan in just like those other tan freaks.

There are even many people who’ll go at any lengths just to get the tan they’ve always wanted; walking and bathing at beaches, spending a great deal of time on those tanning beds and spending your money and time visiting those tanning spas and salons. Indeed, you’ll definitely look good in a tan; most people do and that’s why most people want them. But, there are risk that you might get skin diseases like skin cancer from excessive exposure from the sun or getting allergies from those chemical solutions used in salons and spas.

No need to worry now as there are alternatives to these tanning procedures; among such procedures is airbrush tanning.

Long ago, airbrushing is mainly used in paintings; many airbrush artist then are dedicating their works in stimulating painting medium or retracting paintings. It has been for years innovated and developed, and now, airbrush arts are used not just for paintings but for different valuable and enjoyable artworks like t-shirt printing and designing, temporary tattooing as well as tanning.

Most airbrush artist also extend their works from plain past time activities into something productive; meaning a sort of business. Basically, airbrushing works with the use of an airbrush and paints.

Different types and kinds of airbrush are now available in the market; these varies depending on what specific artworks you’ll employ them for. Aside from airbrush, things such as masks, friskets, compressors, moisture trap, hose, nozzles and needles are available; these are basically support parts for airbrush.

Among the artworks that an airbrush artist could do with an airbrush, airbrush tanning is the most sophisticated. It even became fashion and sort of a passion for those who loves having an even tan for specific occasions.

If you’re an airbrush artist and would like to try the art and techniques of airbrush tanning, there are lots of manuals and books available in the market; they offer informations and step by step assistance on airbrush tanning. Some of these books and manuals offers comprehensive matters about airbrush tanning while there are some who offers light information that you can easily digest in.

Aside from such books, there are also magazines that specifically deals on airbrush tanning and its arts. You can also browse the Internet about airbrush tanning informations and techniques; the Net even offer online training courses on airbrush tanning.

Basically, airbrush tanning is defined as the new and safe way of achieving a golden look; this is a procedure that involves an airbrush used to apply a clear liquid containing dihydroxyacetone (DHA) to the body.

DHA is an ingredient used for cosmetic applications that reacys with the amino acids in the outer layer of the skin. This works by interacting with the dead surface cells found in the outermost layer of the skin; this then produces color change. Naturally, the dead cells on your skin will wear off and its colors gradually fades giving you a tan that is almost like a genuine sun tan. Tanning using an airbrush tan usually lasts 5 to 10 days depending on your skin type and the lifestyle you have.

Many people who want to have a perfect tan nowadays opted for airbrush tanning due to its unique sunless tanning system; besides, having an airbrush tan will only make you wait for a fraction of time than what it takes using the old method of applying tanning lotions.

It also offers many benefits; you will not have to worry about hands and feet tanning anymore, tanning application is quick and easy, airbrush tanning takes only approximately 10 minutes, tanning solution lasts 5 to 10 days minus the hassles of blotchy and uneven tans, and lastly, airbrush tanning is so simple that all you’ll need is an airbrush and a compressor and a special tanning solution.

Airbrush tanning is indeed the thing for temporary tanning without having too much sacrifices; you can even do your own tanning at home.

But, just like any other cosmetic and aesthetic ways, you should take proper care of your airbrush tan. Make sure that before you airbrush those tanning solutions at your body, you have to take a shower and exfoliate.

It would also be advisable that you put a small amount of basic unscented lotion on your knees, elbows and other rough spots of your body. Put a thick amount of lotion on your palms and nails. In spraying the solution to your body, use the aerosol can while spray the tanning solution on a makeup sponge and apply it to you face like a foundation. Remember to keep the solution away from your hairlines and eyebrows. After that, dab your body with a dark towel lightly; don’t get dress for at least 10 minutes, let the solution dry first. Don’t take a shower or swim for 8-10 hours after you have airbrush tanning; don’t rub your body if you’re showering and you have an airbrush tan.

Proper care is the main key for keeping your airbrush tan even and to make it lasts longer.

With the popularity of Lingerie boutiques in shopping malls across America the stigma of buying and wearing lingerie is now a thing of the past. However for women who’ve never bought lingerie before or are still a little shy about visiting a store here’s our guide for styles you are likely to encounter.

Baby Doll Set
A baby doll set encompasses a large category of lingerie items. Basically it’s a two piece set, consisting of a robe or loose billowy top and matching bottom. The top is always loose fitting and comes in just below the bust line, like an empire bodice. The top is very loose fitting and short, ending at or just below your rear. Baby doll sets are available in wide variety of fabrics from silk and satin to sheer lace.

Chemise
A chemise is a short flowing A-line gown that’s longer than a baby doll. The top usually has spaghetti or halter straps. The angular shape of a chemise looks good on almost every figure type. If you are concerned about your mid-section look for a style that has built in figure control. Sometimes a chemise comes with a matching bottom, but this varies from style to style. The fabric choices range from patterned and solid silks to very revealing lace, so there is something for everyone’s taste.

Camisole
A camisole is female undershirt. It is loose fitting and has thin spaghetti straps that go over the shoulder. It’s usually paired with a matching bottom. Camisoles are now also available as outwear. While they are not usually worn as formal office attire, they can be worn for casual occasions.

Corset
A corset is the opposite of a camisole. It’s a structured garment that has bones or ribs to force your body into certain proportions. The effects of a corset can be very dramatic, and can create a very enticing curvy shape. Some corsets are more difficult to wear than others, depending on how much shaping they are doing. If you’ve never worn one before choose something that’s not so difficult to get into. Corsets are also now being made as outwear. While not something you would wear to the office, they are perfect for a dinner party, club or night on the town.

Bridal Set
A bridal set or merry widow as it’s sometimes known also covers a wide variety of items. Basically it’s a set that consists of a bra, corset or camisole top. It also has matching panties, and usually a garter belt and stockings. The styles range from silk or satin sets with full coverage to skimpy string sets with very minimal overage.

Boy Shorts
If you’ve never heard of boy shorts think of sexy hot pants for your bedroom. They offer full coverage on the sides and some coverage on your rear. Conservative styles cover most if not all of your rear, the more daring styles give you partial coverage. Boy shorts are figure hugging or shaping, something those of us with less than perfect bodies will appreciate. They come in wide variety of fabric choices from comfortable cotton to see through lace.

Bikini
Bikini bottoms offer full coverage on your rear, and have thin straps on the side. They are available in loose fitting of figure hugging styles in a wide variety of fabric choices.

Thong
A thong offers full to minimal coverage in the front, and has thin sides usually 1″ to ” in width that come to a t shape in the rear. The t-shape gives you practically no coverage on your rear. Thongs are now worn just as frequently outside of the bedroom as they are in it. If you are wearing tight, or figure hugging clothing a thong is your best solution to combat visible panty line. Cotton, lycra or micro-fiber fabrics are the most comfortable for extended wear thongs.

G-String
While the back of a thong has very minimal coverage with a narrow strip a g-string offers you no coverage, with a simple single strand or string, usually 1/8″ or less in width, not for the faint of heart.

Garter Belt
A garter belt is made of piece of fabric that wraps around your hips and usually has four straps (one for the front and back of each leg). Sometimes the straps are attached to the lower edge of a corset or camisole top. These straps attach to the top of stockings, holding them up. The proper way to wear a garter belt is to attach the stockings first, then put on your panties. While this may look strange you’ll understand why the first time you need to visit the bathroom.

© Lingerie.6ln.com, All Rights Reserved.

This article was written by Christine McClinden of lingerie.6ln.com which features women’s fashion items including lingerie, and shoes.

You may not be able to visit an expensive salon, but you can take advantage of these styling tips from some top hair stylists.

Create Soft Waves - Blow dry your hair straight. Spray Evian (or other bottled water) on hair with a pressurized spray bottle. Let hair dry naturally.

Quick Wavy Look Tip #1 - Part your hair on the sides and loosely braid the pieces that frame your face. Blow dry these pieces for a few minutes. Let your hair cool down before unbraiding it. Results: Your hair will be straight at the top and wavy on the bottom.

Quick Wavy Look Tip #2 - Part your hair into 1-inch sections. Roll sections up into pin curls and secure with hair clips or bobby pins. Put your shower cap on and jump into the shower. The steam will set your hair as you shower. Remove the cap afterwards. Take the clips out of your hair and shake your now wavy hair out.

Elegant Updo Tip #1 - Tease your hair lightly at the crown before pulling it into a French Twist. This creates more fullness.

Elegant Updo Tip #2 - Add a few drops of shine serum product before twisting hair into place to give your updo a polished look.

Hair Coloring Tip - Keep hair that’s been color-treated healthy by immediately applying a professional deep conditioner after hair has been dyed. This adds moisture and protects your hair from being over processed.

Best Blow Dryer - Invest in a blow dryer that has a nozzle to control air flow and a diffuser for curly styles.

Ionic Hair Products - Use an ionic blow dryer and iron because they lock in moisture. Hair becomes shinier and easier to manage.

Updated Hot Rollers - Battery operated hot rollers are great for curly hair styles and, best of all, they’re portable.

To find out how positive you are, answer the following questions as honestly as you can using this scoring system:

Answers Points

Always or almost always 5

Usually 4

Sometimes 3

Rarely 2

Never 1

Put your score in the block on the right:

When something unexpected forces you to change your plans, and you are quick to spot a hidden advantage in this new situation? [ ]

Do you like most of the people you meet? [ ]

When you think about next year, do you tend to think that you will be better off than you are now? [ ]

Do you often stop to admire the things of beauty? [ ]

When someone finds fault with you or with something you have done, can you tell the difference between useful criticism and ’sour grapes’, which is better ignored? [ ]

Do you praise your spouse / best friend / lover more often than you criticize him or her? [ ]

Do you believe that the human race will survive well into the twenty first century [ ]

Are you surprised when a friend lets you down? [ ]

Do you think you are happy? [ ]

Do you feel comfortable making yourself the target of your own jokes? [ ]

Do you believe that, overall, your state of mind has had a positive effect on your physical health? []

If you made a list of your 10 favorite people, would name be there on it too? [ ]

When you think back over the past few months, do you tend to remember your success before your setbacks and failures? [ ]

Total Points [ ]

Scoring:

If the sum of all the scores is:

Above 55: Consider yourself a superstar - someone whose optimism is a powerful
healing force.

50 - 55: Excellent. You are a genuine positive thinker

45 - 50: Good. You are a positive thinker, sometimes

40 - 45: Fair. Your positive side and your negative side are about evenly matched

Below 40: You tend to be pessimistic. Think of ways to improve your pessimistic
Approach to life.

Pradeep Aggarwal is a renowned Hypnosis & NLP guru with career spanning two and half decades He is also a much sought after speaker and peak performance consultant for organizations and sport teams. Visit Hypnosis Global for free 6 part mini course to learn Self Hypnosis and Personal Transformation.

In your quest for choosing a front page web hosting company, you
want to ensure that the company has the basics, such as
reliability. You also need to consider the technical aspects of front
page web hosting and the obligations of your web host; both are
essential if you want to avoid future problems. Technical trouble is
the last thing you need, especially when your company is a
startup. You should ask questions freely to gain confidence in any
front page web hosting company that you are considering.

Top 10 Questions To Ask Your Front Page Web Hosting Company

1. How good and reliable is the customer support? 24/7 support is
a must. Also, if the front page web hosting company has a large
knowledgebase, do you know how to use it? Is the support staff
responsive? Are they trained or do they pass the buck to someone
else? Does the front page web hosting company provide live chat
support (practically a necessity these days)?

2. How will you justify the price? Loads of features in a front page
web hosting company may not be useful to you until you use them.
How will you factor in bandwidth cost? Is the ratio of price to
features, disc space and bandwidth the reasonable?

3. How will you ensure accuracy of automatic billing? Some front
page web hosting companies have servers that trigger automatic
billing even after you cancel your account with them. Do they
confirm the stoppage of automatic billing when you cancel your
account?

4. How long has the front page web hosting company been in
business? This reveals many things. Trustworthiness,
sustainability, technical know-how, strong marketing and business
acumen. Ask for a list of long standing customers.

5. Do you have a sufficient back-up system? It is difficult to manage
99.9% uptime without sufficient backup system for servers and
connections. A standby power supply is another important feature
of a reliable front page web hosting company.

6. How good are the features? Ask for a feature-by-feature
comparison with another front page web hosting company.
Compare control panel to control panel, disc space to disc space
etc, not just a list of features.

7. How good is the technical staff? It is not enough to have
numbers; what counts is the hands-on experience of the front
page web hosting staff. An experienced technician gets things
done instead of wandering around in the dark.

8. Is the package flexible? The package you choose may need
expansion as you grow. Will the host be able to provide additional
features when you need them? Shifting your website to another
host when business is hot is crazy. You don’t want to be forced
into doing this!

9. Why is there so much fine print? Too much fine print should raise
red flags as to services provided and promises made. Clarify them
upfront and let them know that you have other front page web
hosting companies to choose from.

10. Does the web host run their own servers, or does a third
party run them? If it is the latter, you have lost ground even before
the battle has started. Many things won’t be under your host’s
control if it is a reseller.

There is more to choosing a front page web hosting company than
just asking 10 questions. However, these should serve as a base
for beginning your evaluation of a front page web hosting
company. You can and should send a pre-sales questionnaire to
your web host asking about billing issues, technical issues etc.
Keep the responses so that you have a written record of what
they promise you. If there is no reply, you need to move on!

Greg Cesar knows web hosting! Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg’s web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting his Web Hosting website.

Greg Cesar is a successful Internet marketer, web designer and web hosting provider with over 10 years’ experience. He specializes in providing innovative web hosting and internet marketing services that help business owners make more money online. To improve your online business immediately and work with someone who understands what it takes to make real money online, visit:
http://www.hostpartnerplus.com