In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to an
external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since acquired,
I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup software
(instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems, which I have been
using), as an experiment. The positive is that the files backed up can
easily be extracted with the help of Windows Explorer (without having to use
someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not back up the
WINNT folder, even when selected.

Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy, or is
(was) this unique to Maxtor?

I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the option
to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I have
brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that other
customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go away."

Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be reliable?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.

Gordon Biggar
Houston, Texas

"Gordon Biggar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to an
> external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since
> acquired,
> I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup software
> (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems, which I have been
> using), as an experiment. The positive is that the files backed up can
> easily be extracted with the help of Windows Explorer (without having to
> use
> someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not back up
> the
> WINNT folder, even when selected.
>
> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy, or is
> (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>
> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
> overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the
> option
> to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I have
> brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that other
> customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go away."
>
> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be reliable?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>
> Gordon Biggar
> Houston, Texas

There are many programs that will back up the lot, including the WinNT
folder. Have a look at the Acronis set of backup tools.

My personal preference is based on a different approach. My machines all
have a split disk: Drive C: is used for Windows and for the various
applications, drive D: is reserved for my data. I create an image of drive
C: once every few months and I would use it in case Windows suffered some
irrepairable damage. The data on drive D I back up weekly with a tailor-made
batch file. This lets me restore any file individually and it the
restoration process automatically warns me before overwriting a file.

"Pegasus \(MVP\)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:OaPiq$(E-Mail Removed):

>
> "Gordon Biggar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to
>> an external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since
>> acquired,
>> I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup software
>> (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems, which I have
>> been using), as an experiment. The positive is that the files backed
>> up can easily be extracted with the help of Windows Explorer (without
>> having to use
>> someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not back
>> up the
>> WINNT folder, even when selected.
>>
>> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy,
>> or is (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>>
>> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
>> overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the
>> option
>> to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I
>> have brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that
>> other customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go
>> away."
>>
>> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be
>> reliable?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>>
>> Gordon Biggar
>> Houston, Texas
>
> There are many programs that will back up the lot, including the WinNT
> folder. Have a look at the Acronis set of backup tools.
>
> My personal preference is based on a different approach. My machines
> all have a split disk: Drive C: is used for Windows and for the
> various applications, drive D: is reserved for my data. I create an
> image of drive C: once every few months and I would use it in case
> Windows suffered some irrepairable damage. The data on drive D I back
> up weekly with a tailor-made batch file. This lets me restore any file
> individually and it the restoration process automatically warns me
> before overwriting a file.
>
>
I have the same partition arrangement you have. Except all my
applications are non-MS and with few exceptions my applications are also
on the D partition.

Could you publish your batch file parameters?

ms

"ms" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:OaPiq$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>>
>> "Gordon Biggar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to
>>> an external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since
>>> acquired,
>>> I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup software
>>> (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems, which I have
>>> been using), as an experiment. The positive is that the files backed
>>> up can easily be extracted with the help of Windows Explorer (without
>>> having to use
>>> someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not back
>>> up the
>>> WINNT folder, even when selected.
>>>
>>> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy,
>>> or is (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>>>
>>> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
>>> overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the
>>> option
>>> to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I
>>> have brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that
>>> other customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go
>>> away."
>>>
>>> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be
>>> reliable?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>>>
>>> Gordon Biggar
>>> Houston, Texas
>>
>> There are many programs that will back up the lot, including the WinNT
>> folder. Have a look at the Acronis set of backup tools.
>>
>> My personal preference is based on a different approach. My machines
>> all have a split disk: Drive C: is used for Windows and for the
>> various applications, drive D: is reserved for my data. I create an
>> image of drive C: once every few months and I would use it in case
>> Windows suffered some irrepairable damage. The data on drive D I back
>> up weekly with a tailor-made batch file. This lets me restore any file
>> individually and it the restoration process automatically warns me
>> before overwriting a file.
>>
>>
> I have the same partition arrangement you have. Except all my
> applications are non-MS and with few exceptions my applications are also
> on the D partition.
>
> Could you publish your batch file parameters?
>
> ms

I use robocopy.exe
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en)
with a few switches to enforce this behaviour:
- Copy only new or changed files
- Copy full directory trees
- Exclude certain folders (e.g. System Volume Information)
- Exclude certain files (e.g. .tmp and .dmp files)
- Copy hidden files
- Continue when errors occur
- Send me a report of the log summary

Gordon Biggar wrote:

> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be reliable?

For full partition backup, I use Symantec Ghost (8.3) and since I
distrust any software that purports to backup Windows from within
Windows (nor do I have any need to) I do it from a Ghost startup boot
disc. This can be floppy based but I found it more convenient to put it
on a bootable mini-cd along with several other utilities such as
Partition Magic, HD test utilities etc. There's plenty of room for a
whole host of programs and it's smaller than a floppy.

Using Ghost from within Windows, individual files from any backup can be
accessed/extracted.

A number of people here have had success using Acronis. I personally had
problems with that software. However, at the time, I was using it to
back up across the network and I think it was that part of it that was
the source of my problem. Locally it's probably fine

I backup data to an alternative partition or machine on a daily basis
automatically using SyncBack

"Pegasus \(MVP\)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

>
> "ms" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>> news:OaPiq$(E-Mail Removed):
>>
>>>
>>> "Gordon Biggar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files
>>>> to an external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor
>>>> (since acquired,
>>>> I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup
>>>> software (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems,
>>>> which I have been using), as an experiment. The positive is that
>>>> the files backed up can easily be extracted with the help of
>>>> Windows Explorer (without having to use
>>>> someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not
>>>> back up the
>>>> WINNT folder, even when selected.
>>>>
>>>> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy,
>>>> or is (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>>>>
>>>> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software
>>>> will overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has
>>>> selected the option
>>>> to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I
>>>> have brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that
>>>> other customers have not complained about this. In other words,
>>>> "Go away."
>>>>
>>>> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be
>>>> reliable?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>>>>
>>>> Gordon Biggar
>>>> Houston, Texas
>>>
>>> There are many programs that will back up the lot, including the
>>> WinNT folder. Have a look at the Acronis set of backup tools.
>>>
>>> My personal preference is based on a different approach. My machines
>>> all have a split disk: Drive C: is used for Windows and for the
>>> various applications, drive D: is reserved for my data. I create an
>>> image of drive C: once every few months and I would use it in case
>>> Windows suffered some irrepairable damage. The data on drive D I
>>> back up weekly with a tailor-made batch file. This lets me restore
>>> any file individually and it the restoration process automatically
>>> warns me before overwriting a file.
>>>
>>>
>> I have the same partition arrangement you have. Except all my
>> applications are non-MS and with few exceptions my applications are
>> also on the D partition.
>>
>> Could you publish your batch file parameters?
>>
>> ms
>
> I use robocopy.exe
> (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...=9D467A69-57FF
> -4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en) with a few switches to enforce
> this behaviour: - Copy only new or changed files
> - Copy full directory trees
> - Exclude certain folders (e.g. System Volume Information)
> - Exclude certain files (e.g. .tmp and .dmp files)
> - Copy hidden files
> - Continue when errors occur
> - Send me a report of the log summary
>
Thanks, I have robocopy so will try it out.

ms

I use SyncBack. Never had a problem, think it's terrific.
http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware

Gordon Biggar wrote:
> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to
> an external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since
> acquired, I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its
> backup software (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech
> Infosystems, which I have been using), as an experiment. The
> positive is that the files backed up can easily be extracted with the
> help of Windows Explorer (without having to use someone's particular
> software); the negative is that it will not back up the WINNT folder,
> even when selected.
>
> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy,
> or is (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>
> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
> overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the
> option to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp.
> I have brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that
> other customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go
> away."
>
> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be
> reliable?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>
> Gordon Biggar
> Houston, Texas

This forum continues to impress me with the depth of knowledge expounded.
Thanks very much for the inputs!

Gordon Biggar




"Gordon Biggar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In the correspondence from a couple of days ago, backing up files to an
> external hard drive was discussed. I have a used a Maxtor (since
acquired,
> I believe) drive for some time. Recently, I used its backup software
> (instead of Backup Now software by NewTech Infosystems, which I have been
> using), as an experiment. The positive is that the files backed up can
> easily be extracted with the help of Windows Explorer (without having to
use
> someone's particular software); the negative is that it will not back up
the
> WINNT folder, even when selected.
>
> Are the hard drive manufacturers afraid of being accused of piracy, or is
> (was) this unique to Maxtor?
>
> I have learned from experimentation that the BackupNow software will
> overwrite newer files on a hard drive, even when one has selected the
option
> to restore only those backed up files with a newer time stamp. I have
> brought this to the company's attention, but they tell me that other
> customers have not complained about this. In other words, "Go away."
>
> Whose backup software have regulars on this forum found to be reliable?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts expressed.
>
> Gordon Biggar
> Houston, Texas
>
>