Hello,

I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup, but
I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it crashes,
it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems that Norton
Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both packages do an
image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything under 'documents
and settings' differentially, so that old and new versions of data files can
be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I would appreciate any backup
advice.

Talal Itani

I'm not sure I understand "old versions" and "new versions" in your context.
However, Windows
Backup provides old(yesterday) and new(today)
data versions when used in incremental mode.

Using Windows Restore, you should expand the
backup segment to see how the data is contained.

Each incremental backup creates a completely
new segment of the target. So, if you could run
two incrementals back to back, and could show
absolutely no data changes between the two, the
second segment would be empty.

Conversely, if the incementals were run back to
back, but "profile.dat" had changed between the
two runs, the first segment would contain the old
"profile.dat" and the second segment would con-
tain the new "profile.dat".

But, as these incremental segments begin to extend,
the restore effort extends proportionately.

"Talal Itani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:sJdVh.3981$nU4.226@trnddc03...
> Hello,
>
> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup,
> but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it
> crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems
> that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both
> packages do an image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything
> under 'documents and settings' differentially, so that old and new
> versions of data files can be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I
> would appreciate any backup advice.
>
> Talal Itani
>

differentially means it backs up only what is changed......
if you wish a copy of "old" and "new" you need to chose a new backup with
a different name.example backup1 backup2 use #1 for odd numbered days..#2
for even numbered days.....you will always have an old and new backup
peter
"Talal Itani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:sJdVh.3981$nU4.226@trnddc03...
> Hello,
>
> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup,
> but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it
> crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems
> that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both
> packages do an image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything
> under 'documents and settings' differentially, so that old and new
> versions of data files can be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I
> would appreciate any backup advice.
>
> Talal Itani
>

"peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:V6fVh.89630$aG1.73918@pd7urf3no...
> differentially means it backs up only what is changed......
> if you wish a copy of "old" and "new" you need to chose a new backup
> with a different name.example backup1 backup2 use #1 for odd numbered
> days..#2 for even numbered days.....you will always have an old and new
> backup
> peter




Not true, at least not for Windows Backup. Because
the backup is not done in place(the old is never over-
written).




> "Talal Itani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:sJdVh.3981$nU4.226@trnddc03...
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup,
>> but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it
>> crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems
>> that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both
>> packages do an image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything
>> under 'documents and settings' differentially, so that old and new
>> versions of data files can be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I
>> would appreciate any backup advice.
>>
>> Talal Itani
>>
>
>

You save your personal data to the XP partition? You're in for a surprise.

--
Dave

Apathy and denial are close cousins
"Talal Itani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:sJdVh.3981$nU4.226@trnddc03...
> Hello,
>
> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup,
> but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it
> crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems
> that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both
> packages do an image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything
> under 'documents and settings' differentially, so that old and new
> versions of data files can be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I
> would appreciate any backup advice.
>
> Talal Itani
>

Yes, my users data is in the XP partition. Please tell me about the
surprises, so that I will not be surprised.


"Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> You save your personal data to the XP partition? You're in for a
> surprise.
>
> --
> Dave
>
> Apathy and denial are close cousins
> "Talal Itani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:sJdVh.3981$nU4.226@trnddc03...
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup,
>> but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it
>> crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems
>> that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both
>> packages do an image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything
>> under 'documents and settings' differentially, so that old and new
>> versions of data files can be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I
>> would appreciate any backup advice.
>>
>> Talal Itani
>>
>
>

Yes, they can. Both of them.


Talal Itani wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used
> Ntbackup, but I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used
> SyncToy, but it crashes, it complains about long file names, so I do
> not trust. It seems that Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image are
> good backup choices. Both packages do an image of the drive. But I
> also want to backup everything under 'documents and settings'
> differentially, so that old and new versions of data files can be
> retrieved. Can these programs do that? I would appreciate any
> backup advice.
> Talal Itani

Talal Itani wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am starting to get serious about backing up my data. I used Ntbackup, but
> I disliked it, so I backup up rarely. Then I used SyncToy, but it crashes,
> it complains about long file names, so I do not trust. It seems that Norton
> Ghost and Acronis True Image are good backup choices. Both packages do an
> image of the drive. But I also want to backup everything under 'documents
> and settings' differentially, so that old and new versions of data files can
> be retrieved. Can these programs do that? I would appreciate any backup
> advice.
>
> Talal Itani
>

Acronis True Disk will let you do incremental backups.
Personally I use Acronis to create full images & then robocopy to copy
my profile to a usb flash drive each day.