Backup help please

[nicoll]

I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.

I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an incremental
backup each night to a USB hard drive.

I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get it to
work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this software it
seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file and the whole
file is backed up again.

I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the changed
elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial version of
continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just backup the
changes to a PST file. I left continuity@work running overnight and had to
stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this morning. It calls it
synchronization rather than backup and from the error messages it seems that
it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up as several files were not
backed up as they were in use.

As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my whole C
drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes only to
the PST file not the whole PST file.

Thanks


Ian

 

[Curmudgeon]

I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.

I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then
do an incremental backup each night to a USB hard drive.

Acronis True Image. None is better.

 

[Richard Urban]

Ghost 9.01. None is better.

What a foolish statement, don't you think. It is just your opinion and my
opinion - and like certain body orifices, everybody has one!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Winux P]

.... and everyone thinks everyone elses' stinks.

-Winux P.

 

[Guest]

Acronis True Image and Ghost are "image" utilities and will backup entire
sections of your hard drive - and will do it rapidly.

Other backup utilities will backup individual files. I prefer SyncBackSE
(there's is a freeware version) and some of my friends prefer Cobian (also
freeware).

The problem with the .pst file is that there are links that connect your
info from one area to another in Outlook. Making a backup of just the
changes will be very, very difficult. I'd suggest that you archive your .pst
files on a regular basis by exporting them to another area on your hard drive
or to a CD. That will decrease the size of them and will enable a faster
backup.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Both Ghost and TI have their minor weaknesses and heavy strengths that's
been wrangled many times in a non-MS newsgroup I frequently read. Both are
good products. Both have the Achilles heel of multiple DVD/CD media backup
verification last I looked.

For my 2 year old homebuilt PC, am still using DI 7. Haven't found a reason
to change.as I spend more time in the 98SE OS environment. So incrementals
aren't reallly needed. If I felt a need to upgrade, would go with Ghost
simply due to its familiarity and semblance to DI 7. Also get break on
price due to am registered licnensed owner of DI 7.

 

[Lil' Dave]

There is an update, (or is it an add-on?), for Outlook that provides
intermittent scheduled backups to the location of your choice. When
installed, it will prompt you when closing Outlook if you want to back up
the .pst file when the scheduled time expires, and will continue to prompt
you everytime you close Outlook until you back it up. I choose a folder on
a partition on another physical hard drive for the location. Takes a few
seconds to do. This update/add-on does not work with OE.

MS has an update site exclusively for MS Office products for both critical
security oriented stuff, and user selected add-ons. Many people don't know
they can update their Outlook Calendar for the usual holidays for instance.

 

[BBUNNY]

| I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.
|
| I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an
incremental
| backup each night to a USB hard drive.
|
| I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get
it to
| work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this
software it
| seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file and the
whole
| file is backed up again.
|
| I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the
changed
| elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial version of
| continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just backup the
| changes to a PST file. I left continuity@work running overnight and
had to
| stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this morning. It calls
it
| synchronization rather than backup and from the error messages it
seems that
| it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up as several files
were not
| backed up as they were in use.
|
| As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my
whole C
| drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes only
to
| the PST file not the whole PST file.

To back up and recover from a USB drive, one must have up to date
hardware
and a quality backup program. I use DriveImage7. It works well for me.
I
chose DI because of price and it happened to be available. No pom poms
for
one product over another.

 

[Anna]

| I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.
| I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an
incremental backup each night to a USB hard drive.
|
| I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get
it to work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this
software it| seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file
and the
whole file is backed up again.
|
| I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the
changed elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial
version of
| continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just backup the
| changes to a PST file. I left continuity@work running overnight and
had to stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this morning. It
calls
it synchronization rather than backup and from the error messages it
seems that it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up as several
files
were not backed up as they were in use.
|
| As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my
whole C drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes
only
to the PST file not the whole PST file.

To back up and recover from a USB drive, one must have up to date
hardware and a quality backup program. I use DriveImage7. It works well
for me.
I chose DI because of price and it happened to be available. No pom poms
for one product over another.

Nicole:
Might you consider a disk imaging program such as the Symantec's Norton
Ghost or Acronis True Image programs to "clone" your internal working HD to
your USB external HD? The enormous advantage of this "cloning" process is
that you can simply and relatively quickly make an exact duplicate of your
working HD and by so doing maintain a near-failsafe disaster recovery plan.

By making a disk-to-disk copy each day there's no need for "incremental"
backups. Especially in view of the fact that the cloning operation is
relatively fast. Assuming you have a medium-powered processor, a modern HD,
and a USB 2.0 EHD, you should be able to clone the contents of your internal
HD at a rate of around 450 to 800 MB/min. Thus, as an example, say your HD
contained 20 GB of data. You could clone the contents of your HD in about 30
minutes or less. Bear in mind that you would now have *all* the data from
your internal HD on the USB EHD including the operating system -- in short,
everything.that is on your internal HD would now be on your USB EHD. What
could be better for a backup system? So if and when your working HD had to
be restored, it would be a relatively simple matter to clone the contents of
your USB EHD back to that drive.

If you would like any further details on this process, please so indicate.
Anna

 

[Josie]

Your response is interesting to me when I'm trying to figure out how to do
backups? Could you please be more explicit ? Or kindly direct me to a
website describing to a newbie what I'd need to buy, use and how to to do
it. Thank you,
Josie

 

[Anna]

changes only to the PST file not the whole PST file.

poms for one product over another.


30 minutes or less. Bear in mind that you would now have *all* the data
from
short, everything.that is on your internal HD would now be on your USB
EHD. What
of your USB EHD back to that drive.

Your response is interesting to me when I'm trying to figure out how to do
backups? Could you please be more explicit ? Or kindly direct me to a
website describing to a newbie what I'd need to buy, use and how to to do
it. Thank you,
Josie

Josie:
I don't know if your query was directed to me or to BBUNNY who commented
about using Drive Image 7. I don't use that program. I prefer either
Symantec's Norton Ghost 2003 version (comes bundled with their Ghost 9
software) or Acronis True Image 8 for cloning the contents of one hard disk
to another. I particularly like the Acronis program because I find its data
transfer rate to be considerably faster than the Ghost program although
either of those two programs are quite suitable for cloning drives for
backup purposes.

So please indicate if you're interested in more details of using either of
the two programs that I've mentioned. If you are, please indicate whether
you would be using another internal HD as your backup drive or a USB (or
Firewire) external hard drive.
Anna