Selective Backup

[Guest]

I need some advice on how I should complete regular backups on my system. In
the past I have always done 'manual backups' of my data.... of course that
requires me to remember to do the backup therefore the backups do not
necessarily occur on regular intervals. I know this method is better than
nothing, but still risky - I've had a couple of scares in the past two
months, but luckily I was able to retrieve all my important files without
data loss. So, now its time to automate my backup process.

I just upgraded to Vista & I was hoping it would be my backup solution, but
it seems to be falling short of my expectations. I was under the expectation
that the backup feature would have more 'user control' than it does (I'm
basing this on some pre-release/beta version reviews so maybe there was some
speculation in the information).

So, I'm not sure if I'm missing something in the settings or if I need to
use some 3rd party software instead. What I would like to do is schedule a
complete system backup approx ever 6 months (seems like this is what vista is
capable of doing). In addition, I would like to do more frequent backups of
specific files/documents/folders on a more regular basis ie. something
like 'my favorites', 'my documents', etc I would probably only update
monthly, outlook files, financial/quickbooks files I would backup weekly and
music/photo/video files would be backed up whenever new files are imported.

Is this asking too much of Vista backup (premium edition). I also have
Live OneCare (backup is currently disabled), but it doesn't seem to have much
different than Vista Backup. If I need to use 3rd pard can you recommend
something that would do what I need?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rock]

I need some advice on how I should complete regular backups on my system.
In
the past I have always done 'manual backups' of my data.... of course that
requires me to remember to do the backup therefore the backups do not
necessarily occur on regular intervals. I know this method is better than
nothing, but still risky - I've had a couple of scares in the past two
months, but luckily I was able to retrieve all my important files without
data loss. So, now its time to automate my backup process.

I just upgraded to Vista & I was hoping it would be my backup solution,
but
it seems to be falling short of my expectations. I was under the
expectation
that the backup feature would have more 'user control' than it does (I'm
basing this on some pre-release/beta version reviews so maybe there was
some
speculation in the information).

So, I'm not sure if I'm missing something in the settings or if I need to
use some 3rd party software instead. What I would like to do is schedule
a
complete system backup approx ever 6 months (seems like this is what vista
is
capable of doing). In addition, I would like to do more frequent backups
of
specific files/documents/folders on a more regular basis ie. something
like 'my favorites', 'my documents', etc I would probably only update
monthly, outlook files, financial/quickbooks files I would backup weekly
and
music/photo/video files would be backed up whenever new files are
imported.

Is this asking too much of Vista backup (premium edition). I also have
Live OneCare (backup is currently disabled), but it doesn't seem to have
much
different than Vista Backup. If I need to use 3rd pard can you recommend
something that would do what I need?

Thanks in advance.

VHP has a file backup program that backs up all files of a certain type
regardless of location. Unfortunately it can't be configured for specific
locations.

For system backup and ease of recovery I recommend a disk imaging program.
Certain versions of Vista (Business, Enterprise and Ultimate) come with
Complete PC Backup which is disk imaging and it works well. Unfortunately
it is not available for VHP.

An excellent 3rd party program for this is Acronis True Image Home, version
10. Create the images on an external hard drive connected to the computer
through USB, Firewire or eSata. Purchase a white box hard drive and an
external hard drive enclosure. The costs are quite reasonable. For example
you can get a WD 320GB Caviar EIDE drive for less than $90 US. Enclosures
are in the $20 range.

ATI can do images on a drive or partition basis; it also can clone a drive
and do file backup. Restores can be done on a file, partition or drive
basis. Images can be either full, incremental or differential. Backups can
be scheduled to run automatically using ATI's scheduler.

Currently I am set up to image to two different external drives. I
alternate them each week. A full image is done weekly and an incremental
image daily.