Anonymous said:
I've had similar replies, including the suggestion to use the
Acronis Workstation version, rather than Home.
Like you, my years of Ntbackup usage have been quite
positive, meeting all my needs for a backup.
However, although Ntbackup will easily protect against
accidental loss, it is either unable, or quite cumbersome
at providing recovery, or bare metal restore.
I have to admit that the backup product from CMS looks
quite attractive though. Because I like the idea of simply
rebooting the backup image for a quick recovery. Watch
this video:
http://www.cmsproducts.com/video/desktop_backup.html
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with E/SATA, and support
would require my upgrade. But, I'd get the functionality
described, in addition to the significantly higher speeds.
One of the Amazon reviewers complaints on Acronis TI
Home was that E/SATA was not currently supported. I
guess I would've thought a backup product would simply
rely on the OS for peripheral access.
I'm currently investigating this "boot from backup" on an
external drive issue. What it takes? (E/SATA, Firewire,
etc?), and what I've have to upgrade. But, I like the idea.
Not only is it easier, but simple testing of a crash recovery
requires no intermediate restore. Much less exposure to
error.
Additionally, because the backup image is stored in native
format(non-composite), even lost file restores are easier.
And FAT limitations are avoided for users of that archi-
tecture.
Thanks.
I'm sure you understand that when we talk about eSATA or just plain SATA in
this context of backup programs, we're simply talking about the HDD that
will be involved in the backup and/or restore process. And that HDD will be
a SATA (not a PATA) HDD. The distinction between SATA & eSATA is simply the
connector that a SATA HDD will be connected to. The "e" in eSATA stands for
"external". A number of motherboards are equipped with an eSATA port and a
number of desktop computer cases are similarly equipped. The eSATA port is
considered a more secure SATA connector than the "regular" or "normal" SATA
connector and the eSATA data cable will be equipped with an eSATA connector,
not a "regular" SATA connector. But for all practical purposes a SATA HDD
will perform just as well connected to either type of port - SATA or eSATA.
The important point to remember here is that connecting a external SATA HDD
to *either* a SATA or eSATA port will give the user SATA-to-SATA
connectivity (as opposed to USB connectivity for example). Obviously we're
presuming that the PC has SATA capability, i.e., it supports SATA hard
drives.
Having SATA-to-SATA connectivity is most advantageous when using an external
SATA HDD as the recipient of the backed up contents of one's internal
day-to-day working HDD. There are two significant advantages...
1. The data transfer rate is considerably higher than, for example, a USB
external HDD device.
2. Assuming the SATA HDD contained in a SATA external enclosure is the
recipient of the cloned contents of the user's internal HDD through the use
of a disk-cloning program, e.g., the Acronis one that has been mentioned,
the SATA HDD will be a bootable device even though it's being used in an
external capacity. The system will treat that drive as an *internal* HDD
because of its SATA-to-SATA connectivity notwithstanding the fact that it is
physically external to the machine.
(BTW, that CMS device you mention is really nothing more than an external
enclosure that provides both USB & SATA connectivity. There are scores of
similar enclosures on the market. You can simply install your own SATA HDD
into the enclosure.)
The Acronis True Image program that has been recommended to you is a fine
program with many satisfied users. You should consider it, especially since
there's a trial version available.
However, for a variety of reasons, the disk-cloning program we greatly
prefer is the Casper 4 program. If you (or anyone coming upon this thread)
want some details about that program I'll post such.
Anna
