New Z model with Intel Core i5 CPU

Being a sysadmin, backups, and evaluating backup programs is part of my job, and every now and then restoring too.

I have tested Acronis, but it has so many shortcomings that I can't recommend it. It doesn't back up and restore 8+3 filenames, so programs that use them internally (like MS Office) are likely not to work after restoring. In addition, with my Vaio Z, I was unable to boot Acronis-generated USB drives -- they would invariably return a cryptic "1File not open". I believe this to be a problem with the restore media using an outdated boot loader which isn't compatible with the Z. Finally, it doesn't support unattended backups, but will pop up requesters when experiencing problems, even in silent mode. All in all, I rate it 1 out of 5 -- slightly worse than the backup program that comes with Windows (non-home versions).
Not that most of the competing products are much better...

 

Try acronis 10.0

a few days ago i've managed to clone a hard drive on a Z model, so it works.

 

What can you recommend then for backup? (for personal use, should be easy and problem-free)
Until now, I didn't really care about it and just copied my important folders from time to time to an external hdd. But it would be good to have a normal backup solution.
Thanks in advance!

 

I did. It still doesn't handle 8+3 file names correctly, it still can't run unattended (it will still throw up blocking requesters in case of network errors even in silent mode), and you still can't boot the restoration media on a Z (now Acronis plain out state that they don't support EFI based systems).

 

There isn't one. They all have serious shortcomings that can make it a crapshoot whether you will have a current and recoverable backup or not.

Acronis: No 8+3 support, no truly unattended support, no EFI support
Retrospect: No UAC support, no support for NTFS junctions (hardlinks) in backup mode, always pops up on screen, no way to get it to NOT beep when completing.
Novastor/Migo/other-OEM-names: No 8+3 support, no graceful recovery if a backup failed or was aborted, does not work with large fonts.
Paragon: Linux based restore environment lacks drivers for newer hardware, trashes boot for multiboot systems, cryptic 0x12345 errors.
Seagate/Veritas/Stomp/Roxio/Sonic "Backup Exec"/"Backup MyPC" series: Does not work with Vista/W7, no 8+3 support.
Various WDC/Memeo Backup apps: Not a backup, but a limited file copy.
Symantec Netbackup Workstation (BESR): The entire backup breaks if a single file can't be backed up (like if it's EFS encrypted); it's Backup Exec with Symantec bloat and bugs added (but it works in Vista, at least).
Windows Backup: No clean-up (it'll eat more and more space forever unless you manually delete files and edit registries), won't work against non-Microsoft file shares (not even Samba), only the "Full Backup" part is a real backup.

In short, you have to find out which problems you are willing to live with, and choose based on that. Personally, I use backup exec for XP and Windows Backup for Vista, because being able to run truly unattended incremental backups to remote storage is my main priority (next to having verified that the restore process actually works, that is).

In Linux, I use my own xfsbackup application (which handles ext2/ext3/xfs).

 

@arth1, how does WHS stack up?

 

Windows Home Server? No idea -- I haven't used it. It's worth noting that while it can provide backup for other machines, you can't make a backup of the Windows Home Server itself.

 

I've been using WHS for a year now, using the first generation of HP MediaSmart.

Complete, fully restorable updates of my 5 PCs performed automatically every single day (wakes up from sleep, goes back to sleep). All system/hidden files are copied, and you can even continue to use the PC as a backup is being done without any annoyances. Plus you can access old versions or deleted files months old.

So far I've done two restores (uses a boot CD with a special version of Windows, and everything is copied over the network). My systems are a mix of XP, Vista and Windows 7 PCs and it's performed utterly flawlessly.

As a bonus it's also a great media server - I now have 5 TB storage on it.

Edit: The lack of backup of the WHS machine itself isn't as bad as it sounds. User files can be backed up to an external drive if desired, and someone wrote an add-on to backup the client backup database as well (although that's not something I bother with). However it's true there's no way to backup the OS/main drive, but if the system drive fails and you recover the system on a new drive (for the MSS this is done over the network just like restoring a PC), all storage files on other drives that were configured to be redundant will be restored.

 

I sync/mirror only the important files (documents, books, pictures) from my Z to my file server, and don't bother doing a full backup of the whole OS. In my case, the OS and all apps can be reinstalled in less than two hours, so I'm willing to risk the loss of two hours of time. The backups happen hourly (or daily, depending on the type of data), and the most important files are backed up weekly from the file server to another machine (my HTPC, which has to be switched on anyway). I use a great lightweight program called SyncBackPro to do the synchronization. It's quite powerful and worth the money (it's not so expensive). If I'm traveling, I can synchronize the material through SFTP, though I think I'm going to set up a VPN on my router in the future to simplify my connection further.

My file/web/application server runs CentOS 5.4, which runs like a rock. If I hadn't shorted something and flipped the apartment breaker last month, I would have had 5 months of uptime on the server now (I moved the server 5 months ago). The data array consists of 8x cheap WD Green 1TB drives, running in RAID 6 (2 of the 8 disks are parity). The OS and temporary data are stored on a pair of 2.5" 160GB disks in software RAID1. The motherboard is a single-socket Supermicro, the CPU is a Xeon X3220 and the RAM is 4x2GB DDR2 ECC (every file server should use ECC memory if you value the integrity of your data). I spent a lot of time planning the server last year, because it will have a total lifetime of ~4 years. I put in a bunch of quality Sanyo PWM (4-pin) fans with lifetimes over 60,000 hours, and so far haven't had any failures.

Originally, I was planning to make this an OpenSolaris machine, and I had it set up for that purpose. However, I was incredibly disappointed by the performance of ZFS (or possibly something else; I had wildly varying transfer rates, mostly 10-20MB/sec.). Solaris was also more difficult to set up than I had expected (coming from a Linux background). I finally ended up paying up for a hardware RAID card with battery backup (a mid-range Adaptec card), and it has fast and consistent performance over 80MB/sec.

Possible upgrades for the future include replacing the small tower ATX case with a rack-mounted case that has hot-swap bays for the 8 3.5" disks. I haven't had a drive failure yet, but it would make hot-swapping much, much easier. I also would like to find an economical way to bring the power consumption down. Currently, there are very few small server-grade motherboards (and even fewer that have ECC support). This one is tempting, but costs half as much as my whole machine! My current server idles at around 200W, largely due to the fairly power-hungry CPU.

I apologize for bringing the thread slightly off-topic, but I hope this post helps those who are thinking of possibly building a file server or backup machine (mine rather assumes both roles). It may become more important for those of us who purchase the Quad-RAID-0 Z!

 

Check out the F series owners thread. The last couple of pages are filled with posts from people who claim that Sony is pulling the F series internationally because of i7/Win 7 driver issues. I returned an F series because it kept on gumming up. Tried a number of ways to fix it to no avail. I wonder if the Z will be plagued by these problems. It's getting interesting. Just checked on Sonystyle.com...it's now listed as coming soon.

 

That seems odd, since loads of other laptops use i7/Win7...!? Why just the F..? And oddly enough, the F has now disappeared from the CTO list on the UK site... You can still pre-order the pre-config ones tho...

 

Anyone know this site?

https://www.highdefinition.ch/produ...k/Notebook/Sony/Sony_VPC_Z11Z9E_B/327873.html

It says availability on 28.1.2010.

 

There's a small photo of it in the SonyStyle USA site under features. It appears the design and layout is the same as the current Z.

Here's the link of that extended battery photo:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...alogId=10551&langId=-1&cmsId=zseries#features

Be careful, I got slammed big-time from posting something off topic. And mine wasn't even as extensive as yours. Responses were that it had nothing to do with the Z.

 

You mean the apple tablet concept image? That was posted completely out of the blue.

This time the topic gradually strayed from its path, which isn't quite the same. It would be nice to get back to the orginal course though.
For those interested in further discussing the subject of backups, could you start a new topic and just quote the interesting posts from this topic in the first post?
Thanks

@Glashub:
Weren't there work arounds involving the microphone? First one where you needed to keep the settings window open, and then later one where that was no longer required. Talk was the matter could be solved with a driver or bios update. Then the subject of the topic moved on to the 'issue' (feature?) of the processor cutting back on performance when on the battery.

The matter of F notebooks being unavailable could either mean the issue is being fixed before new ones are sold, supplies are running out or the waiting list is simply getting too long. It could also be that some of the capacity to produce F's is now used to build an initial stock of Z's. Or... one of the million other possibilities. Without more information to put it into a context, it's pretty difficult to even speculate what is going on.

 

Not to speak for Glashub, but after a quick read of the thread, the microphone work around was to stop a high-pitched whine that occured when the F notebook was on.

The bios update was thought to be needed to stop the throttling issue on battery.

Glashub's notebook, however, seemed to have further issues - it may have just been a lemon.

Agreed - it's all speculation at this point. The timing of the notebook's unavailability, however, couldn't have come at a worse time. Time will tell...

-Peter

 

@solinx, yes the laptop had other issues. The whine wasn't that bad for me.

@pysang, it really seemed like driver conflicts or something else of the sort that I couldn't identify. It got to where I was spending way too much time trying to figure out why video wouldn't play smoothly, and the machine would slow to a crawl. I had the machine maxed out spec wise so that wasn't the problem.

 

hello everyone,
first of all im very exited about the new z series and im looking forward to pick one up in march when it hits germany. No doubt it wil be a monster of a mashine in a 13 form factor and 1,41 kg!!!!!!
almost too crazy to believe but the prize tells you....it is

BUT.....i hate to say it and think about it. i got one major concern with it.

The ssd`s in Raid0.
first when i read it i was like wooowwww. the speed should be incredible.
yes it will....but how long?

As we all know, or should know, ssd`s with mlc(this one will have mlc instead of slc) do decrease in speed significantly!

ok then i said to myself, ok windows 7 has trim function, which fights this problem.

but ssd`s in raid connection can not be trim´ed!!!!!
thats how it is.
so an ssd without trim because in raid0.....will decrease in speed!

the question is how strong?
or will the ssd`s have garbace collection (GC)? this could help because its unaffected by the raid0 connection.

i hate to think about it cause there isn`t too much information about the new z right now!

but to speak 4 real....for that price, i think we customers got to get a solution from sony. i mean the engineers should be aware of it and they can`t sell a product for 1800€ that decreases in ssd-speed heavily!!!
Thats my opinion!!

Come on guys, throw your 2 cents in!!!

 

Great points and I agree that some of these have been running through my mind too. I too am just excited about picking up one of these bad boys.

I am hoping that the Sony engineers have thought through the implications of Raid 0 and its effect on TRIM, and have a solution in place. We will see.

 

you can now go to "view models" on the sony-style website:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644699498

Now it shows 4 "ready to ship" models (two signature, two standard)... and under the highest spec'd signature model, the ssd is said to be 2x256gb... so where is the quad ssd?
pretty cool that it lists details like:

 

I cannot order any now. All I get is a button to notify me when the product is available.

 

Wow great news guys!

Look what i found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3gY9d9Xcy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEOd8hbYf0E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQa24pMdXmM

And they even talk about my ssd concern. they say something that they developed the ssd especially for the new z series!!!

Lets hopde they really did and did well!!!

Have fun watchin them and make sure you watch them in 720p

 

Nice!

Thanks for the videos!

 

Great 2nd post ! Excellent find.

 

thx guys, just sharing my exitement with all of you!!

can`t wait for the first tests of the cheaper one especially the ssd tests!!

 

pretty awesome videos;

am debating whether or not i want to pre-order the metal mosaic

 

Incredible videos.+1

I am even more excited taking one. Is really amazing what these guys did, Sony has a winner here.

 

Very nice videos, but I don't like how they didn't mention anything about the battery life. What do you guys want to bet there will still be battery leaking?

 

Reinventing the Z: Project Overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W755bqf7v6s

 

That's pretty bad for any SSD. I'm surprised they're even showing it.

 

Looks like only Z11FH has 1920 x 1080 resolution. Remaining 3 models have 1600 x 900 resolution.

 

Yes, there are 2 screen resolutions available for the new Z-series: 1600x900 and 1920x1080.

Some models come with the lower resolution, while certain others come with the higher resolution. The CTO process (once it begins for the Z), will allow you to choose the screen that you want, along with all of the other options, including color, RAM size, screen type, CPU, Optical drive etc.

 

Great vids

 

Yes, great videos. It has now kicked in the envy factor.

 

Which do you guys think is better - silver or black?

 

Both of them But I'd take the black.

Were there any discoloration issues with hand-rest of the old Z? I hope there won't be any with the new one.
On my old S series Vaio, the plastic of the hand rest has turned dark gray (used to be light gray/silver), where I lay my hands.

 

Yeah, the grease marks and wearing are what I'm concerned about too. Today at lunch I saw someone with the old black Z and I could see the light reflecting off its grease marks even though I was several yards away. I wonder if silver would hide it better?

 

I will take black in a heart-beat too.

 

Hopefully he just didn't clean it Or does the hand rest really wear/discolor? I was hoping that this wasn't an issue anymore.

 

I think all laptops get it no matter what. I've owned three laptops and have always cleaned them (almost obsessively), but the marks still remain and get worse with usage.

 

Do you guys think that there is an option to turn off RAID because RAID makes trim unavailable.

Also, I hope they don't skip on the SSD and is trying to hide the fact that the individual SSDs are crappy by putting them on a RAID.

 

I have to say, the i5 750 processor screams. I don't have mine overclocked, so I'm still at the factory 2.66 GHz speed, but it's still EONS faster than my wife's computer at 3.2 GHz speed... Great processor, well worth the money... now my wife is jealous and wants me to build a new computer for her... lol

 

Yeah, TRIM is what I am most worried about with Sony's SSD...

 

That is good to hear. Thank you

 

I don't have any marks on my more than one year old silver Z which I use/carry every day. That's also one of the reasons I'll not go for the new Z.

 

SonyStyle is offering a 7% Student Campus Discount. Better than nothing - it barely covers the California Sales Tax. Hopefully, you won't be forced to purchase accessories just to get the discount.

Also, is the return policy for Sony 30 Days for both CTO's and preconfigured models if you purchase online with full refund? Because if you purchase directly from a Sony Store, there's a 15% restocking fee and it must be returned within 14 Days applied to models sold within the store.

This will be my first time buying directly from Sony, since they have the exact Z model I'm looking for. Also, the glossy carbon can only be purchased from Sony.

 

You won't go for the new Z because it'll get marked up or because your's looks good? If it's the latter, would you say silver hides the marks better than the black?

What do the rest of you think? I think this is pretty important since once your brand new laptop has those ugly marks on it, you like it less.

When I went to the Sony Style store last October they told me about this discount. I think they always have it in-place. If you order it in the store they can apply it for you, though I'm not sure how it works online. There's no catch to it - just prove you're a student and they knock 7% off.

 

I think what he meant was that the old Z, having an aluminum palmrest, has absolutely no discoloration that only happens on plastic palm rest. As a result, he will stay with the old Z because of no discoloration concern.

I would have to agree with him because my gunmetal (don't know why you call it silver ) Z has no discoloration whatsoever. In fact, I don't even know how you can get grease mark on it (well, you can spread grease on it, but I don't think that's the grease mark we are talking about here ), are you sure the one you saw was not a SR?

 

Okay, so the new Z shouldn't have the marks either since it's aluminum? What about the keyboard keys?

I might have mistaken it, but it looked about the same size. All keyboards of all used laptops I have ever seen (except HP for some reason) have the marks. The grease comes naturally from your fingers and skin. That's why you can't touch Pokemon cards, since their value will be decreased.

 

Interesting to see Sony finally get on board with the kind of information marketing that other companies wised up to years ago...looks like management may have noticed that often Apple gets fifty times the tech journo coverage without even doing anything noteworthy...

It does make me smile wryly when Sony pitch the new Z as a samurai sword of zen garden beauty, grace and power, streamlined aluminium blah blah blah and quickly gloss over the FUGLY palmrest they have superglued onto it

 

Maybe it is your "obsessive cleaning" that is causing the discoloration.

A gentle wipe with a water moistened micro-fiber cloth might just do the trick, without causing any inordinate wear. I personally like using wipes that are used to clean high quality optics - thus not resulting in any scratches at all.