Need to buy good PC backup program, your help is appreciated

[PeterM]

I'm using Window XP Home and on my Laptop Window XP Pro. I like to back up
to a external Firewire HD, which I already have. I have Ghost, and I hate it
it. The program that I like, is a program that first of all works in
windows, not in dos, and then a program that I can look and see a folder on
the HD that I like to restore to the PC, what is in the folder etc. Why is
this so hard to find. I have Back-up now, hate it as well. I must be stupid,
because they ask you questions that don't make sense to me at all. Hopefully
you have a suggestion, money is no problem, I'll buy anything if it works
right now. Please help me, I'm on my way to Fry's to buy it. Pleas email me
back if you can.......Peter

 

[Willit]

Have you ever spent ten hours putting all your OS,
programs and settings back in and any Data files you have
created with them. If you downloaded them you will not
have a key to install or a way to get a replacement copy.

A copy is a copy. A Image is a image. A
clone/copy/backup is bootable, it has everything your
original drive has,OS, Programs, Email, Address Book,
Data and Registry. You can update it at anytime, any part
of it. Casper XP does that from the windows platform. I
have had Image files for years, the problem with them is
it's a whole file. You cannot make changes to them, you
cannot access them, you have to restore them. Some will
boot some won't. A image file cannot be written to a
smalled disk unless you can change the partition size to
fit the smaller drive. Lets say you have a 40gb main HDD
with 10 gb of data, you cannot put a image of it on a 20gb
disk. If you're up-grading to a larger drive wouldn't it
be nice to have the old drive for a back-up

I have all the backup programs made I think, Drive Image,
Ghost ( 3 versions ), Drive Wizard, Copy Commander, Drive
Back , TrueImage etc. I mentioned Casper-XP because
someone in here made a post about it , I said what the
heck, just another $39.00, I love it. It works so easy and
I have made 30 copies and they all booted, proof enough
for me.
Buy a second Hard drive $69.00 these days and a good
copy/backup program to make a clone. XP-Casper is one.

http://www.fssdev.com/products/ $ 39.00 make the clone
and then un-plug the power to the drive if you want.

Want to test drive a Demo for 30 days. It has some
features disabled.

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2248-10161152.html?
tag=lst-1-8



XP is the most stable of all the windows, but it has the
highest corruption rate i have ever seen. I have Win 3.1,
Win 95 Win98 that never been re-installed , XP machines
have been done 10 times. At some point you have to wonder
what your time is worth.

I mentioned the second drive because the backup/clone is
made at IDE speed. Change two plugs and your back running
with 5 min of down time. Just the filters on my mail
program make it worth it to me.

 

[Dean]

Hi Peter. I have every sympathy with you. I have tried BackUp My PC by
Stomp/Veritas and everything else. After weeks and weeks I find that Ghost
will not back up to an external usb 2.0 or firewire drive. So here is the
answer: Acronis 6. http://www.acronis.com/ This is true imaging software.
Works in Windows format and easy to use. I am so glad to have finally go a
complete image of my system on backup. You can find it online for around $45
plus shipping but I went ahead and bought it at ComputersUSA for $50 plus
tax. Good luck. Dean

 

[CS]

Hi Peter. I have every sympathy with you. I have tried BackUp My PC by
Stomp/Veritas and everything else. After weeks and weeks I find that Ghost
will not back up to an external usb 2.0 or firewire drive. So here is the
answer: Acronis 6. http://www.acronis.com/ This is true imaging software.
Works in Windows format and easy to use. I am so glad to have finally go a
complete image of my system on backup. You can find it online for around $45
plus shipping but I went ahead and bought it at ComputersUSA for $50 plus
tax. Good luck. Dean

I agree with Dean. I also recommend Acronis True Image 6.0. Neither
Ghost 2003 or Drive Image 2002 would make an accurate backup to my
external USB 2.0 drive. True Image did it easily. Acronis is about
to release a new version so you might want to get on their web site
for additional information.

www.acronis.com