Looking for backup program with specific characteristics

[Saudade]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the following:

1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also deleted
from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also isn't
loaded with bugs.

Thanks,
S.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the following:

1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also deleted
from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also isn't
loaded with bugs.

Thanks,
S.

http://www.symantec.com/Products/enterprise?c=prodinfo&refId=57

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Malke]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the
following:

1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also
deleted from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also
isn't loaded with bugs.

Thanks,
S.

Second Copy will do exactly what you want (I believe) and is reasonably
priced and very reliable. Get it from www.centered.com.

Malke

 

[Saudade]

Ooops...forgot to mention--

4) Doesn't take up half my system resources!

 

[NoStop]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the
following:

1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also
deleted from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also
isn't loaded with bugs.

Thanks,
S.

What you need is a RAID configuration.

--
The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613

A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...

View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/

 

[Saudade]

Unfortunately, Second Copy warns against using the "backup when files
change" option for folders with many subfolders and files, or for files that
change often, both of which characterize my data.

 

[Malke]

Unfortunately, Second Copy warns against using the "backup when files
change" option for folders with many subfolders and files, or for
files that change often, both of which characterize my data.

Maybe I misunderstood your requirements then. Based on your first post,
I thought you wanted to 1) make a "master copy" of files; 2) then have
only incremental backups done on a regular basis; i.e. only copied
changed files. This is what Second Copy can do. I didn't "get" your
automatic backup every time the source file is changed. I'm not sure
why you would want to do that unless you or your users don't understand
the concept of saving one's work as one goes along.

Maybe one of the Acronis True Image or Enterprise level programs would
work for you then.

Malke

 

[Kerry Brown]

Have you tried Bruce's suggestion or are you going on the "common wisdom"
that Symantec products are resource hogs. I've never used that particular
product but I have noticed that Symantec enterprise products are much better
than Symantec consumer products in this regard. That said what you are
trying to do will take a lot of system resources no matter what program you
use.

What are you trying to accomplish with this setup? If we knew why you wanted
real time backup we may be able to help you better. You may want to look at
RAID 0. A mirror would accomplish what you want. Note: RAID is not a means
of avoiding backups. You still need a backup that is on some kind of
removable media. If you use mirroring you could schedule the backup for a
time when the computer was not in use and rely on the mirror for redundancy
in between backups.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Have you tried Bruce's suggestion or are you going on the "common
wisdom" that Symantec products are resource hogs. I've never used
that particular product but I have noticed that Symantec enterprise
products are much better than Symantec consumer products in this
regard. That said what you are trying to do will take a lot of system
resources no matter what program you use.

What are you trying to accomplish with this setup? If we knew why you
wanted real time backup we may be able to help you better. You may
want to look at RAID 0. A mirror would accomplish what you want.

Kerry, I think you mean RAID 1. RAID 0 is striping.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the
following:
1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also
deleted from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also
isn't loaded with bugs.

What you're describing is very close to a technique (not a backup
application) called RAID 1 (mirroring).

But my advice is that you do *not* do what you are looking to do. Even if
you were to find a backup application that did this, or used RAID 1 as a
backup technique (which it is *not* designed for), you would have a very
poor and weak backup.

The problem with this is that it requires the backup media to be permantly
mounted in the computer and that makes you vulnerabve to simultaneous loss
of the original and the backup to many of the most common dangers to your
data: severe power glitches, nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even
theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept in
the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the life of
your business depends on your data) you should have multiple generations of
backup, and at least one of those generations should be stored off-site.

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme uses two
identical removable hard drives, I alternate between the two, and use
Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary drive.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Kerry, I think you mean RAID 1. RAID 0 is striping.

You're right. Thanks for the correction. RAID 0 would increase his chances
of losing data :-(

 

[Saudade]

What are you trying to accomplish with this setup? If we knew why you
wanted real time backup we may be able to help you better.

This is undoubtedly my fault--I probably did not express myself clearly.
What I need is really not complicated at all. I simply need a backup
program that doesn't compress, that deletes in the backup when files are
deleted at the source, and that saves frequently, preferably whenever
changes are made at the source. That's it. A free program called Karen's
Replicator supposedly does everything I need, but it is so full of bugs that
I can't use it--or at least it is not compatible with my system's
configuration. Many backup programs do almost everything I need, but
typically do not delete files in backup when they have been deleted at the
source, or use compression. I don't want files compressed because I need to
be able to access them easily. I also have had bad experiences with
programs that do not restore compressed data as they should.

S.

 

[Frank]

Saudade wrote:
||| What are you trying to accomplish with this setup? If we knew why
||| you wanted real time backup we may be able to help you better.
||
|| This is undoubtedly my fault--I probably did not express myself
|| clearly. What I need is really not complicated at all. I simply
|| need a backup program that doesn't compress, that deletes in the
|| backup when files are deleted at the source, and that saves
|| frequently, preferably whenever changes are made at the source.
|| That's it. A free program called Karen's Replicator supposedly does
|| everything I need, but it is so full of bugs that I can't use it--or
|| at least it is not compatible with my system's configuration. Many
|| backup programs do almost everything I need, but typically do not
|| delete files in backup when they have been deleted at the source, or
|| use compression. I don't want files compressed because I need to be
|| able to access them easily. I also have had bad experiences with
|| programs that do not restore compressed data as they should.
||
|| S.

I use Drive Image 7. Which has all of the above, no compression,
except that the backup would have to be scheduled on a daily basis.
There are settings for close to everything that you wish. This
application
was bought by Symantic and is incorporated into Ghost.

 

[Shelly F]

Can anyone recommend a backup application that does *all* of the following:

1) Automatic backup every time the source file is changed

2) Backups are in Windows format, not compressed, zipped, etc.

3) When a file is deleted from a source folder, the file is also deleted
from the backup

I'm going crazy trying to find a program that does all this, and also isn't
loaded with bugs.

Thanks,
S.

I use Future Systems Solutions\Casper XP. Never had problem, no bugs
that I am aware of; takes less than one minute to use the backup hard
drive by changing the bios primary hard drive instruction.
Instead of backing up every time the source file is changed, y'all
can backup each evening or such.
hth

 

[Kerry Brown]

This is undoubtedly my fault--I probably did not express myself
clearly. What I need is really not complicated at all. I simply need
a backup program that doesn't compress, that deletes in the backup
when files are deleted at the source, and that saves frequently,
preferably whenever changes are made at the source. That's it. A
free program called Karen's Replicator supposedly does everything I
need, but it is so full of bugs that I can't use it--or at least it
is not compatible with my system's configuration. Many backup
programs do almost everything I need, but typically do not delete
files in backup when they have been deleted at the source, or use
compression. I don't want files compressed because I need to be able
to access them easily. I also have had bad experiences with programs
that do not restore compressed data as they should.
S.

Programs that do this are usually made for servers, expensive, and consume a
lot of resources. Think about what you are trying to do - monitor all disk
access and duplicate it somewhere else. Look at disk mirroring in
combination with a good backup plan. You still haven't told us why you need
this only what you believe is the route to accomplish something. If we knew
why you want to accomplish this someone may have an alternate route for you.
I'm talking about a reason like: I have 2,000 people writing to a database
and I need to be able to recover immediately in case of file corruption or
hardware failure.

 

[Saudade]

You still haven't told us why you need

this only what you believe is the route to accomplish something. If we
knew why you want to accomplish this someone may have an alternate route
for you. I'm talking about a reason like: I have 2,000 people writing to a
database and I need to be able to recover immediately in case of file
corruption or hardware failure.

Woa. This is a personal, not a business situation. I'm writing a very
long, very complex non-fiction book with many chapters. I also keep
extensive music databases (about 130 gig total) and photo databases. I back
up on two separate hard drives, one connected to my computer, one connected
to my wife's computer (we're on a home network).
I simply can't afford to lose anything I've written, period. Thus, I
save frequently, and back up manually three times a day. I also make very
frequent changes to all the databases--deletions and additions--and the book
files also change continually because they include photographs and other
assorted items that I delete and add to all the time. This is all wildly
unmanageable.

That's the task--what should I be doing?

S.

 

[Kerry Brown]

You still haven't told us why you need

Woa. This is a personal, not a business situation. I'm writing a
very long, very complex non-fiction book with many chapters. I also
keep extensive music databases (about 130 gig total) and photo
databases. I back up on two separate hard drives, one connected to
my computer, one connected to my wife's computer (we're on a home
network). I simply can't afford to lose anything I've written,
period. Thus, I save frequently, and back up manually three times a day.
I also make
very frequent changes to all the databases--deletions and
additions--and the book files also change continually because they
include photographs and other assorted items that I delete and add to
all the time. This is all wildly unmanageable.

That's the task--what should I be doing?

Without spending a lot of money your current methods sound appropriate. You
may want to take another look at Malke's suggestion of Second Copy and add
it to your arsenal. Another option would Microsoft's SyncToy

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/synctoy.mspx

The problem as I see it is procedural and probably won't be solved by
software or hardware alone. You could investigate disk mirroring as a
partial solution. You may want to look at removable hard drives. These are
regular hard drives in a removable tray.

http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=25

I have a customer with similar needs to your's. He uses three removable hard
drives as well as an internal drive. Each morning he inserts a different
removable drive and clones the internal drive to it (www.acronis.com) then
removes it. He then inserts another drive that is used as a second drive for
daily use. When saving files he saves twice. Once to the internal drive and
once to the removable drive. He has two days worth of cloned disks on
removable drives and two drives (one internal and one removable) with copies
of all that day's work. A scheme like this combined with using Second Copy
or SyncToy to synchronise files a few times a day with folders on your
wife's computer may work for you.

 

[Saudade]

Thanks, Kerry...This is very helpful. And thanks to everyone else who
responded.

S.

 

[Kerry Brown]

You're welcome. Let us know what you decide on and how it works out.