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Again, IMHO, there is really no need to update unless you have a piece of software you need for work or some other critical reason. Someone who thinks like me...lol. It is the " if it ain't broke don't fix it approach which is guaranteed to work". Of course if you are online constantly as I am in time external junk will come in to change that but you just restore your image and you are back to " if it ain't broke don't fix it approach which is guaranteed to work" state and happy once again :-)
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/13/18 12:28 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Again, IMHO, there is really no need to update unless you have a piece of software you need for work or some other critical reason. Someone who thinks like me...lol. It is the " if it ain't broke don't fix it approach which is guaranteed to work". Of course if you are online constantly as I am in time external junk will come in to change that but you just restore your image and you are back to " if it ain't broke don't fix it approach which is guaranteed to work" state and happy once again :-) - I didn't update my off-line music computer for about 2 years. Then I had to update to run some new software. Because I was so far behind in updates Win 10 really messed up my system. It would go into update loops, that is it would DL an update, try to install it, then revert back to the previous version. This only took about 3 hours! I finally figured out how to fix this but that took well over a couple of months. Now twice a month I update this computer. So far so good. YMMV
OK, a random thought;
Why does toilet paper need a commercial? Who's not buying it?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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The ideal situation would be to have a fresh install of your windows then apply updates then install software. If they allowed you to download the update the apply it at your convenience this would be possible with a reinstall of windows or an image return to the fresh windows install state. The advantage of this approach is you could collect two or three updates then apply them back to back. They use to do this in that WinXP had 3 service packs. They should have kept it up.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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The ideal situation would be to have a fresh install of your windows then apply updates then install software. If they allowed you to download the update the apply it at your convenience this would be possible with a reinstall of windows or an image return to the fresh windows install state. The advantage of this approach is you could collect two or three updates then apply them back to back. They use to do this in that WinXP had 3 service packs. They should have kept it up. What i did when my windows 10 started getting slower. But a lot of work, began 2 weeks ago, even with a fresh install, and still some stuff i forgot about. Hate windows for that.
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Its well worth getting an image backup software. AOEMI is free. https://www.backup-utility.com/. It worked well on Win10 for me. I did the restore and it worked. I did it after installing my software. It works for win7 and winxp. There is an issue with Win7 for creating a rescue disk. I have not tried it but the rescue disk created with win10 should work with win7. I have instructions for using it. On my notebook I have a restore partition as well. It will return a fresh windows (the one that came with your machine) then you have to install your software. Silly part is as far as I know you also have to download all the updates again. That is the slow part.
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/14/18 08:16 AM.
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I have used Acronis True Image for many years and it has always worked for me. It is not free, however.
In fact, I recently needed to clone my hard drive (with multiple partitions, including the boot partition) from a 1TB drive to a 2TB drive, and it did it swimmingly; back up and running on the larger drive in no time.
I have also on multiple occasions used it to restore an image to a new drive that replaced one that was either failing or failed, as well as to just backtrack to a previous point in time after installing software the computer didn't like.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Still use acronis true image. However the recent 2016 version, officially bought BTW, is so user unfriendly and complicated for me, compared to the old 2014 version, that i run the old 2014 version booting from a CD with it's own DOS type interface. Which works fine BTW.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I don't actually use the Windows installed version of ATI (where the interface has changed multiple times). I always download the Linux disc image (and burn to DVD) to run ATI from there (where the user interface has remained consistent over many versions.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I have used Acronis as well. It worked fine on Win7 and Winxp for years. However with my new drive on the Win7 machine it can't see the drive. A bit surprising.
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/14/18 10:41 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I used to use Norton Ghost until they discontinued it, and then, thanks to the advice on this forum, I moved to Acronis.
I make an image, add a few incremental, and then a new image. I keep 3 at all times.
Whenever I install any software or update at all, I make a fresh image first. This has saved my bottom more than once. The exception is Win10 which comes automatically. But if it doesn't work, I have yesterdays image or image + incremental.
Then once a month, on a separate external HD I do another complete image. ON that HD I have about 6 months of images. Why? If I get hit with malware or worse than that ransom ware, I can go back up to 6 months which gives me great odds to solving the problem.
I use one of those USB external docking stations that hold 2 internal hard drives like bread in a toaster. I can pop them in and out. So the external drive that I do once a month, gets stored in a desk drawer until it's time for it to go to work. Extra security.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton  Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Sounds like one of the best systems I have seen. I am not sure if you have this covered off. If you do not store forever your image after a fresh install of windows immediately followed by all your software then you have lost the one image that is truly clean (free of download installs that you decided to remove that might have messed up your registry of junk, free of all the internet junk that comes in to slow things down, etc). For me I don't mind having to reinstall 5 to 10 apps I might have installed and kept since my last image (this is a very high estimate).
I split data backups out completely. I don't use images for that (no point and I don't fully trust images anyway). I use MS backup and even use CD copies of critical data to an offsite location (safety deposit box is best). This is the really important stuff. If you have a fire without this you are screwed. Now taking your plug in drive offsite would be a great improvement. The next best plan is to have the critical data at your fire escape location so it gets out of the house with you during a fire (throw it out the window if it is a dvd and get yourself out with a chain or something to slide down with). It depends on your data. If it isn't critical don't bother.
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/15/18 04:54 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Although this topic has gone slightly off subject, the interesting thing about image backups is that theoretically, one has to prove that the backup has been created successfully and is 100% reliable.
To conclusively prove this, there is really a requirement to successfully restore the system from that backup.
Smart people wouldn't do this by attempting to undertake the restore exercise onto the original media....
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I always test my restores to a new hard drive (not back onto the original hard drive). I agree with Trevor; anything otherwise would be foolish. And I use Acronis on my Windows 7 Pro laptop and two Windows 10 Pro Desktops (one purchased from HP; the other one I built myself) with no problems.
And if you are new to using something like Acronis, it's good to go ahead and create and then restore the image just for your own peace of mind that it works. I can say that it has yet to fail me in the past 20 or so years that I've been a satisfied customer.
I only image my C: drive; the other drives (D: for all my VST's and Softsynths; E: for my user data; F: for my MP3 library; and X: for my work drive) are backed up via a batch file utilizing the command line robocopy command embedded in the batch file, which only backs up changed files (so it is extremely fast, since I have about 2 TB of data to back up. My user data is also redundantly synchronized to my other two computers about every other day, but no more than a week's interval. That way, I can always be up and running quickly even if a computer completely dies. I do my computer-to-computer synchronization via a backend 1GB network using the ethernet connections into a switch, but each computer maintains its own wi-fi connection for internet traffic. I'm careful not to accidentally bridge the networks, otherwise I would be throwing network errors all over the place.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Sheesh jford, sounds like work!
At work we do a weekly backup, daily incremental, then make a copy of the backups (in another location) as they complete. This copy then gets replicated/sync'd to another location.
The backup system is located in a co-hosted location (with backup power, auto generators, multiple tiered INET connections; fiber, cable, satellite you name it, etc). Backups are then verified, with any fails generating an alert to us.
Then these backups get copied to location 2, which uses a mirrored RAID that is replicated/sync'd with another mirrored RAID drive (over VPN) in location 3 .. you can watch the stuff replicate from place to place. It's actually pretty cool.
If even one of these RAIDS fail they can rebuild on the fly, and we still have 2 other copies available.
Keeping a month's worth means keeping three 6TB RAID arrays running .. but we ain't losing no data.
80% of businesses that lose their core data (whether due to failure or intrusion) go out of business within 3 months.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I did a google search "what is the ransomware infect to attack delay time" and found some interesting hits. These guys are deep into the ransomware attacks. The lingo is a bit over my head. https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/5246do/delayed_ransomware_attacks_are_there_any/I skimmed it. The max delay seems to be 3 months. It seems that normally it is pretty quick. Lots to learn if you are interested. Of course there is another approach. Google "how to protect yourself from ransomware" Regarding how powerful a simple virus can be I had one lock out my anti-virus software, lock out the control panel, lock out the task manager. It basically locked out anything I could use to protect myself. The problem was solved within 12 minutes by returning my acronis image then returning my data from another machine on the network.
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/15/18 02:35 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Ransomeware is serious stuff when it happens.
However
Our techs tell me over 90% of the 'ransomeware' calls they handle are simply hacked browsers telling the user their data is locked (and a phone number to call to unlock it).
Putting a browser in kiosk mode and disabling the mouse click events will scare many users.
Killing the browser (sometimes not so easy to do) results in a normal system, after a scan.
I had to do this once when they got shorthanded.
The user was totally convinced they were locked out of the system.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Ransomeware is serious stuff when it happens.
However
Our techs tell me over 90% of the 'ransomeware' calls they handle are simply hacked browsers telling the user their data is locked (and a phone number to call to unlock it).
I had this "hacked browser" on an IPAD a while ago. Scary but fixable. So it is just not the PC that is being messed with.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I prefer image to backup because they backup the OS as well as the data.
Years ago I bought a guitar pedal that had an LE version of Cubase as a freebee. I hadn't tried Cubase in years so I was curious.
I made an image and installed. Or tried to. Mid installation the computer locked up. I waited hours, it wasn't just thinking, it was locked. Ctrl+Alt+Del didn't work so I had to hold the power down to do a forced shutdown.
On rebooting it never got to the point where Windows starts, when it asked to put the disk in and complete the install. Locked up again.
Started in the safe mode. Same problem.
Restored the computer from the image. Fixed.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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There are times when backing up your data with an image is not possible. If I am programming I take dozens of time stamp backups of my program changes during the day. I use a program that applies the date, time and a comment I enter so it is very easy for me to do this. I ship them off to another two machines within the day. Some data changes I want shipped off to another machine immediately. I keep hundreds of these time stamps back in time and there have been at least 10 times when I have had to search way back as much as 6 months and retrieve one of them. There is no pattern to the reasons I have had to go so far back in time. There have probably been 50+ times I have gone back 2 or 3 revisions. There have been maybe 2 times I wish I had them farther back in time (like a few years).
Last edited by bowlesj; 06/16/18 07:59 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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If I am programming I take dozens of time stamp backups of my program changes during the day. I use a program that applies the date, time and a comment I enter so it is very easy for me to do this. I ship them off to another two machines within the day. ... SVN? I love my Tortoise ..
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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