Backup Software rcommendation

[Colin Barnhorst]

What it really says is that there is always an element of cheerleading
whenever products are discussed. Folks like to have their own buying
decisions affirmed by others and so they argue on. No big deal and it is
not a sign of immaturity. It is just human nature.

PT,

You asked for a simple solution and this only produced infighting between
PD43,
Bill & Co and others. This says something about how insecure people are
or
indeed the nature of these newsgroups! What people forget is that there
are
many ways to skin a cat! Some are more efficient than others but all ways
can
do the job at hand!

If you want to back up your data (files and folders) then clearly Nero is
the
simplest solution. Look here:

http://www.nero.com/eng/backup.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Big Al]

PT,

You asked for a simple solution and this only produced infighting between PD43,
Bill & Co and others. This says something about how insecure people are or
indeed the nature of these newsgroups! What people forget is that there are
many ways to skin a cat! Some are more efficient than others but all ways can
do the job at hand!

If you want to back up your data (files and folders) then clearly Nero is the
simplest solution. Look here:

http://www.nero.com/eng/backup.html

Hope this helps.

For Windows XP Home

I'm looking for backup software that would do several things:

1. Create an "image" backup suitable for completely restoring to a new hard
disk in the event of the original's failure
2. Make quick backups of selected folders of data files, which can be
quickly referenced, opened and/or restored.

I have Norton Ghost 12.0, but find all the Norton products cause too many
other problems, and plan to remove it as soon as I find a substitute.

If you're talking about simple, and you take into consideration you
reload all the appropriate software from original CD's, then drag and
drop in Explorer works too. I backup selected folders with a file
backup utility. I know where the DATA I need is stored.

 

[Bill in Co.]

PT,

You asked for a simple solution and this only produced infighting between
PD43, Bill & Co and others. This says something about how insecure people
are or indeed the nature of these newsgroups!

Nonsense, grasshopper.
Ahhh, the innocence of youth......

 

[Bill in Co.]

Obviously.

What it really says is that there is always an element of cheerleading
whenever products are discussed. Folks like to have their own buying
decisions affirmed by others and so they argue on. No big deal and it is
not a sign of immaturity. It is just human nature.

 

[Richard in AZ]

Here is a link to Smart Computing review of Backup program.
http://tinyurl.com/3bnn5e

 

[TaurArian]

Either -

Acronis for all your backup and data recovery needs - easy to use
http://www.acronis.com.sg/
or
Paragon - For a list of products see:
http://www.paragon-software.com/products.htm

--

TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008 - Update Services
http://taurarian.mvps.org
======================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Computer Maintenance: Acronis / Diskeeper / Paragon / Raxco


| For Windows XP Home
|
| I'm looking for backup software that would do several things:
|
| 1. Create an "image" backup suitable for completely restoring to a new hard
| disk in the event of the original's failure
| 2. Make quick backups of selected folders of data files, which can be
| quickly referenced, opened and/or restored.
|
| I have Norton Ghost 12.0, but find all the Norton products cause too many
| other problems, and plan to remove it as soon as I find a substitute.
|
| --
|
| PT
|
|

 

[Big Al]

Here is a link to Smart Computing review of Backup program.
http://tinyurl.com/3bnn5e

Why do so many people point links to 1/2 articles that you can't read
unless you subscribe? No, I'm not being snide, its an honest question.
I need to join to get the remainder of the story. Put ads on the page
to vendors that sell backup, yes, but I don't want to give out personal
info just to see an opinion of backup software. And I'm not pointing
to Richards opinion, the links opinion.

 

[James Silverton]

ANONYMOUS wrote on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:07:48 +0000:

A> You asked for a simple solution and this only produced
A> infighting between PD43, Bill & Co and others. This says
A> something about how insecure people are or indeed the nature
A> of these newsgroups! What people forget is that there are
A> many ways to skin a cat! Some are more efficient than
A> others but all ways can do the job at hand!

A> If you want to back up your data (files and folders) then
A> clearly Nero is the simplest solution. Look here:

A> http://www.nero.com/eng/backup.html

A> Hope this helps.

A> PT wrote:

??>> For Windows XP Home
??>>
??>> I'm looking for backup software that would do several
things:

??>> ??>> 1. Create an "image" backup suitable for completely

As you observe, there is more than one way to make backups.
Which is best depends on what you need and I have tried two
programs. Symantec used to be faster and have a more
understandable structure for retrieving an accidentally altered
or deleted file than Acronis but doing a total restore did not
work in the one instance that I needed it and I had to pay a
tech to clone the noisy and probably dying hard disc.

My own requirements are:

1. Do a total backup once a week.
2. Do incremental backups daily.
3. Do both of these things without asking questions.
4. Shut down the computer after the backup.
5. Work with a fast USB disc as the backup media.
6. If I lose a file, have a structure or method that makes it
easy and rapid to find the backup of the missing file.
7. Have an easily understandable method for doing a total
restore.

Except for 6 and 7, Acronis does all of these things and
incremental backups usually take 10-15 minutes tho' a total
backup seems considerably slower than Symantec. I have always
been able to find backups of missing files but it took longer
than I would wish. My computer is a working tool so I have not
timed any attempts to do a total restore.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

 

[jfarrug]

For Windows XP Home

I'm looking for backup software that would do several things:

1. Create an "image" backup suitable for completely restoring to a new hard
disk in the event of the original's failure
2. Make quick backups of selected folders of data files, which can be
quickly referenced, opened and/or restored.

I have Norton Ghost 12.0, but find all the Norton products cause too many
other problems, and plan to remove it as soon as I find a substitute.

Joe Farruggio wrote:
Try Dfsee. This program can make images of a partition or a full disk
which can then be stored on suitable media

 

[PD43]

Why do so many people point links to 1/2 articles that you can't read
unless you subscribe? No, I'm not being snide, its an honest question.
I need to join to get the remainder of the story. Put ads on the page
to vendors that sell backup, yes, but I don't want to give out personal
info just to see an opinion of backup software. And I'm not pointing
to Richards opinion, the links opinion.

check this out:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-access-must-sign-up-to-view-sites/

 

[Big Al]

check this out:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-ways-to-access-must-sign-up-to-view-sites/

See, there's a web page for everything. Thanks!.

 

[Big Al]

ANONYMOUS wrote on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:07:48 +0000:

A> You asked for a simple solution and this only produced
A> infighting between PD43, Bill & Co and others. This says
A> something about how insecure people are or indeed the nature
A> of these newsgroups! What people forget is that there are
A> many ways to skin a cat! Some are more efficient than
A> others but all ways can do the job at hand!

A> If you want to back up your data (files and folders) then
A> clearly Nero is the simplest solution. Look here:

A> http://www.nero.com/eng/backup.html

A> Hope this helps.

A> PT wrote:

??>> For Windows XP Home
??>>
??>> I'm looking for backup software that would do several things:

??>> ??>> 1. Create an "image" backup suitable for completely

As you observe, there is more than one way to make backups. Which is
best depends on what you need and I have tried two programs. Symantec
used to be faster and have a more understandable structure for
retrieving an accidentally altered or deleted file than Acronis but
doing a total restore did not work in the one instance that I needed it
and I had to pay a tech to clone the noisy and probably dying hard disc.

My own requirements are:

1. Do a total backup once a week.
2. Do incremental backups daily.
3. Do both of these things without asking questions.
4. Shut down the computer after the backup.
5. Work with a fast USB disc as the backup media.
6. If I lose a file, have a structure or method that makes it easy and
rapid to find the backup of the missing file.
7. Have an easily understandable method for doing a total restore.

Except for 6 and 7, Acronis does all of these things and incremental
backups usually take 10-15 minutes tho' a total backup seems
considerably slower than Symantec. I have always been able to find
backups of missing files but it took longer than I would wish. My
computer is a working tool so I have not timed any attempts to do a
total restore.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

I like James' suggestions. I'd almost suggest you test the whole
process one day if you have a spare drive that is. Leave your main
drive in tact. I also burn a CD with some of the cute little utilities
that you always use. The free stuff you download and install. If you
had a good thumb drive 4 gigs or so, you can drop some daily files
there. I copy my phone book and inbox (all others I can ignore) and an
odd other file or two to the thumb drive. I reload sometimes every 6
months due to just screwing around too much. My desktop I leave alone,
but my laptop I play with just way to much. I can have a working
system, reloaded in a few hours. You just need your files. Knowing
where the files are is your best knowledge. Where are you settings for
IM? Where is your mail? Where is anything? If you know that then an
image of the drive maybe overkill but you won't be crying when you have
it and it saves your life. I do an image so I guarantee all the files,
then I do a backup with just selected. Paranoid, but I want the image
to make sure I get all files just in case. And remember!, make sure y
you have two backups. Like keep last weeks. If this weeks is no
good, at least you are only a week off. At work we rotate 10 copies.
Just ideas.

 

[PD43]

Paranoid, but I want the image
to make sure I get all files just in case.

I've been a backup freak since the days of tape drives, when my system
drive was only 213mb.

I am SO paranoid that I not only have several full images on an
external drive (including incremental updates to the most current) and
another internal (one of three) drive, that I also have the second of
those three internal drives cloned from my system disk and updated
every two hours using a program called Second Copy (highly
recommended... have been using it for years).

If my main drive bites the dust, a reboot will automatically boot me
using the cloned drive, which will be rarely behind by more than a few
hours (if I install new software and decide to keep it, I do a new
clone).

OH... the third internal drive also has copies of the images that are
on the external drive.

TALK ABOUT PARANOID.

 

[Big Al]

I've been a backup freak since the days of tape drives, when my system
drive was only 213mb.

I am SO paranoid that I not only have several full images on an
external drive (including incremental updates to the most current) and
another internal (one of three) drive, that I also have the second of
those three internal drives cloned from my system disk and updated
every two hours using a program called Second Copy (highly
recommended... have been using it for years).

If my main drive bites the dust, a reboot will automatically boot me
using the cloned drive, which will be rarely behind by more than a few
hours (if I install new software and decide to keep it, I do a new
clone).

OH... the third internal drive also has copies of the images that are
on the external drive.

TALK ABOUT PARANOID.

We say paranoid, but when you have a failure, and that toy stops
working, you'll kiss yourself left and right that you did the labor.
Yes, its time to fix it up, but loss of data is just hard to put a price
on. I wrote software for a database application and clients used to ask
me if they needed to back up. I just respond, how much would it cost
to get 10 temps in here to enter your 5 years of data back into this
computer, and could you even reconstruct the data accurately. It kinda
opened their eyes. Even if it could be typed in, the 2000 hours * 15$
an hour would be gastly. (and 15$ is a off the wall guess).

 

[PD43]

We say paranoid, but when you have a failure, and that toy stops
working, you'll kiss yourself left and right that you did the labor.

For sure. And it's not really "labor" once you have it all setup to
be performed automatically.

 

[Marko Jotic]

I've been a backup freak since the days of tape drives, when my system
drive was only 213mb.

I am SO paranoid that I not only have several full images on an
external drive (including incremental updates to the most current) and
another internal (one of three) drive, that I also have the second of
those three internal drives cloned from my system disk and updated
every two hours using a program called Second Copy (highly
recommended... have been using it for years).

If my main drive bites the dust, a reboot will automatically boot me
using the cloned drive, which will be rarely behind by more than a few
hours (if I install new software and decide to keep it, I do a new
clone).

OH... the third internal drive also has copies of the images that are
on the external drive.

TALK ABOUT PARANOID.

sounds like all these drives are interconnected and in the same location

what about a fire or direct lightning strike (which can blow through the
average surge protector or even create surges directly in the equipment)
--
Marko Jotic
"Common sense is anything but common".
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long. Robert A. Heinlein.
Handmade knives, antique designs, exotic materials at
http://www.knifeforging.com/

 

[R. McCarty]

No backup/recovery plan is complete if ALL the recovery mediums
are "Magnetic" and stored locally with the PC. To be able to assume
100% recovery you need an image on a permanent media, like a CD
or DVD-R disk set. Also, you need to have a copy off-site. I have a
number of customers who create Mini DVD-R disks sets that will fit
in a standard bank lock box. ( Too narrow for standard size disks ).
Or as a minimum -a backup of personal data, especially financial info.
I can't recall the number of customers who reach tax time and cannot
find previous year data that has been lost. ( Not sure why they didn't
print out a paper copy for safekeeping? )

On every machine that I work on, I insist on a image which I keep for
them in a fireproof safe. I used to return the image sets to the customer
but have found over time that they are unable to properly store of find
in case of emergency. For a "Set it & Forget It", an online backup
service might be best. Something like Carbonite or Backup Solutions.

The other issue with Imaging is the lack of a verification pass. This
takes longer to complete but VERIFIES the integrity of an image. 2nd
only to no backups is having one you can't use.

I recently read an article that said that 43% of all personal computer
users have lost irreplaceable data.

 

[PD43]

sounds like all these drives are interconnected and in the same location

what about a fire or direct lightning strike (which can blow through the
average surge protector or even create surges directly in the equipment)

The USB drive is only powered on and connected when I'm imaging to it.

No... I will not be carrying it to another site. I'm not THAT
paranoid.

 

[PD43]

On every machine that I work on, I insist on a image which I keep for
them in a fireproof safe

I'm not gonna do that either.

If the place burns down, I'll live with it... and get a new computer
with the insurance payment.

 

[Marko Jotic]

I'm not gonna do that either.

If the place burns down, I'll live with it... and get a new computer
with the insurance payment.

I don't get it, you are paranoid about loosing data, and, don't care if
you loose it?

check your office supply, fireproof file boxes aren't that expensive

if you are insured odds are you have a house, where do you keep the deed?

--
Marko Jotic
"Common sense is anything but common".
From the notebooks of Lazarus Long. Robert A. Heinlein.
Handmade knives, antique designs, exotic materials at
http://www.knifeforging.com/