Doug Mc said:
Is there a "Smart" way to do backups?
That is, back up only new or changed files and folders?
Thanks,
Doug
There sure is. Most reasonable backup programs do this; it's called an
"incremental" backup.
Do note that doing a complete backup of all files on the drive is basically
a waste of space if the backup application cannot restore to a new, bare
drive, and make it bootable. In that case, you have to reinstall Windows
anyway.
Some backup utilities cannot do this, but imaging programs can.
Many imaging programs can now also do both full images and incremental
backups, so if the drive fails, you can restore the basic image, and then
restore the changed data.
Examples of imaging programs are Acronis True Image and Norton Ghost.
Finally, keep in mind that it's a good idea to have multiple backups to
different media, in case one disk fails. Many businesses I know use a
5-disk set, labelled Monday to Friday, and change the disk when they come in
in the morning.
HTH
-pk
