Slightly off topic

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg
  • Start date Start date
G

Greg

Hello,

Computer experts tell me "it's not IF your hard drive(s) is going to crash,
but WHEN...).

So,

Does anyone know of an inexpensive utility that can back up my personal
computer so that my files (documents, photos, e-mail, etc. ) are backed up.
I tried Windows backup utility but was frustrated with getting scheduled
backups to work properly I used Retrospect successfully, which seemed smart
enough to back up the only new or changed files, but the trial has expired
and I'm trying to get away without spending $129.00

Symantec makes a product called "Symantec GoBack Deluxe 3.0" ($25.00) which
seems to continuously backup up new files, system changes, et al.and runs in
the background. (slowing the computer down?) Has anyone had experience
with this or similar software? Is mirroring the way to go? I'm a graphic
designer, not a computer person, so I know very little. Any help is
appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg
 
Greg said:
Hello,

Computer experts tell me "it's not IF your hard drive(s) is going to
crash,
but WHEN...).

So,

Does anyone know of an inexpensive utility that can back up my personal
computer so that my files (documents, photos, e-mail, etc. ) are backed
up.
I tried Windows backup utility but was frustrated with getting scheduled
backups to work properly I used Retrospect successfully, which seemed
smart
enough to back up the only new or changed files, but the trial has expired
and I'm trying to get away without spending $129.00

Symantec makes a product called "Symantec GoBack Deluxe 3.0" ($25.00)
which
seems to continuously backup up new files, system changes, et al.and runs
in
the background. (slowing the computer down?) Has anyone had experience
with this or similar software? Is mirroring the way to go? I'm a graphic
designer, not a computer person, so I know very little. Any help is
appreciated.
Click to expand...


the simplest and cheapest thing to do is simply backup all the data you
need to keep onto a cd (make several copies and keep them in different
places)

you can always re-install your OS and apps quite easily
 
Yeah, but I guess I'm hoping for a regular backup that backs up everyday
document changes so that if and when my computer crashes, I can recover
files worked on recently. I guarantee that unless there's some sort of
automatic backup, I'll forget.

Thanks
 
the simplest and cheapest thing to do is simply backup all the data you
need to keep onto a cd (make several copies and keep them in different
places)

you can always re-install your OS and apps quite easily
Click to expand...

A related program is called Drive image. It was made by
Powerquest, and now is Nortons/Symantecs acquisition.
--
Lester Stiefel
In 2 Timothy 3:1-7, there is a list of the qualities that
Unregenerate man will have in the last days. Is your quality
found there? If So, don't despair - Christ came to save His
people.
 
Personally, I don't trust any automated backup programs. I've seen too many
go bad, where someone thinks the backups are being done, but when the time
comes to restore, it doesn't work for whatever reason. And in order to get
the files restored, you need to have the backup program installed which can
also cause problems if you manage to lose the software, or it doesn't run on
a newer computer, or any number of reasons. And if it's the type of program
that creates a compressed backup of your files into a single file, you don't
have the luxury of easily browsing through the backups, you've got to
restore the whole thing. And if that one file is damaged or corrupted, you
lose the whole thing.

You're best off putting all of your important documents in one folder, and
copying that folder daily to some external media. You could use CDs or an
external hard drive.

It takes a little bit of discipline to make that daily copy, but if you do
it every day before you shut down, or at a specific time, like maybe just
before you break for lunch, it will become habit. If need be, you could set
an alert in outlook or some other program to pop up a reminder message
telling you that it's time to copy the files.

You could also set up an automated copy with a little batch file or
something. But once again, it's pretty easy to get complaisant about that,
and assume it's being done correctly, and if something goes amiss, you'd
never know until you need to restore and it doesn't work.
 
Greg said:
Hello,

Computer experts tell me "it's not IF your hard drive(s) is going to crash,
but WHEN...).

So,

Does anyone know of an inexpensive utility that can back up my personal
computer so that my files (documents, photos, e-mail, etc. ) are backed up.
I tried Windows backup utility but was frustrated with getting scheduled
backups to work properly I used Retrospect successfully, which seemed smart
enough to back up the only new or changed files, but the trial has expired
and I'm trying to get away without spending $129.00

Symantec makes a product called "Symantec GoBack Deluxe 3.0" ($25.00) which
seems to continuously backup up new files, system changes, et al.and runs in
the background. (slowing the computer down?) Has anyone had experience
with this or similar software? Is mirroring the way to go? I'm a graphic
designer, not a computer person, so I know very little. Any help is
appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg
Click to expand...
One method is to use a batch file and XCopy to copy only the new and
changed files to a backup disc. If you use the scheduler to run it at a
set time and leave the window open at completion you can check to make
sure that it ran and that there were no errors encountered during the
backup.
With this method it is fairly simple to restore the backed up files
without having to have the correct program installed first. This will
not reinstall any programs that write to the registry but should restore
the data files you wanted to protect.
 
Back
Top