System Backups

[ChrisM]

Hi Group(s),

It's my first time in here, so please be gentle with me

I have a friend who wants to to make regular(say monthly) backups of their
XP system (currently total space used on the disk is ~3Gb), and they've
asked my to make a few suggestions.

So we have a couple of questions:

- What is the best media to backup to?

The way I see it, the options are:
DVD-R
USB/Removable Hard Drive
Zip-Drive (or similar)
CD-R
Pen-Drive (USB solid state disk)
Floppy Disks (hmmm)

I have ruled out Floppy disks CD-Rs and Pen_Drives due to their small
capacity. USB-HardDrive doesn't really seem right for backups. Zip-Drive is
my favourite, but not sure I can justify one of those (and it would need to
be a large capacity one) just for the occasional backup.
So all things considered, it would seem that DVD-R could be the way to go,
and they would get a DVD player and probably CD-Writer in their system into
the bargin.

Which lead me on to the next question:

- Does XP(Home) have built-in backup software like Win2000 does? and if so
does it support backing up to DVD-R?

Could someone who knows, please give me the benefit of their experience and
let me know their thoughts on the above.

Thanks a lot,

ChrisM

 

[Juan Pablo Barrios [uy]]

Hey Chris welcome to the forum.

I think the best backup option your friend could choose would be the DVD
media.
Your friend has a capacity requirement that leave out some media like ZIP,
CD, DISKETTES, ETC. An USB hard disk is not a bad choice but it's ideal for
transporting data not for making backups because it's a very expensive
option for do that.
Using a DVD your friend can use DVD-R and DVD-RW disks and it makes more
useful this choice and, once having the recorder, the most cheap one.

I don't recommend to you making backups with a backup software because it
makes the backup difficult for restoring and surely you can't use the media
in other computer that doesn't have exactly the same backup utility.
The DVD drive will come with a recording software like NERO or EASY CD, with
any of these you can make easy backups simply comping files from the hard
disk to the media. You don't need to go through complicated backup
solutions, simply copy to DVD, keep the disc in a safe place, and you can
read it from any machine without installing any hardware, software or
driver. As simply as useful.
Hope it helps.

--
Saludos
Regards
Juan Pablo.
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[Phil]

I backup using a removable ide drive. Large capacity(much more than dvd).
Fast to transfer files and backup to.
DVD's can get scratched or cracked and can be slow.
Zip drive, not big enough and the disks can corrupt easier than a real hard
drive.
CD-R or CD-RW, not big enough, but good for small stuff if needed, but again
can be damaged and can be slow.
Pen and floppy, not big enough.

I'd go removable IDE drive (or usb drive if you want).

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I have a friend who wants to to make regular(say monthly) backups of
their XP system (currently total space used on the disk is ~3Gb), and
they've asked my to make a few suggestions.

So we have a couple of questions:

- What is the best media to backup to?

Questions about "best" anything almost always get a variety of
answers. My personal backup scheme uses two identical removable
hard drives, which fit into a sleeve installed in the computer. I
alternate between the two, and use Drive Image to make a complete
copy of the primary drive.

Which lead me on to the next question:

- Does XP(Home) have built-in backup software like Win2000

does?


Backup is installed automatically on XP Professional, but not on
XP Home. If you have the complete XP Home CD, find backup on the
CD, in \ValueAdd\MSFT\NTBACKUP and install it yourself by
doubleclicking the file ntbackup.msi.

If you don't have an XP CD, you can download ntbackup.msi at
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/software/ntbackup.msi

Also see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302894

and
if so does it support backing up to DVD-R?

No.

 

[ChrisM]

Hi Juan,

Thanks for your answer. Look like DVD-R may be the way to go then.

However, I'm a little surprised that you don't recomend using backup
software.
If I was to use XPs built in back-up software (if it exists) that would seem
to me to be a better solution as I'm not sure just copying the files using
Nero etc. would be sufficient (would it pick up all the hidden and system
files that the OS uses?), she want to be able to completly restore her whole
system from scratch if the system ever dies. (ie install a plain copy of XP,
then restore her system as it was backed up) I would have thought 'proper'
backup software would be better for that, but I'm no expert...

Anyway, thanks again for your help, it has been really useful.

Cheers,

ChrisM.

 

[Chris Knapp]

One other thing. . .
You might also ask your friend what he attempting to accomplish with his
backups: Archival or Disaster Recovery (or both.) Archival means keeping
versions of files in time. I have to archive my wife's files since she works
from home and needs to see proposals in the format they were in months ago,
not just the current format. If you need that, then non-overwritable media
is your only choice. That includes complicated tape drives or simple
DVD-R's. If you just need DR, then the removable HD's are a great option due
to their speed and capacity.
Often 50% of the stuff on your computer is programs files, not real data. I
never back that stuff up. Try to keep all your data files in 1 location. I
personally don't rely on backups to rebuild my system completely, just to
restore my data.

A final thought, you could look into one of those online-backup websites
that offer you a few gigs of space for a monthly fee. Never tried it myself
but others have and seem to like it. . .

 

[ChrisM]

Could be wrong, but it would seem to be after market:

http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/

Regards,

ChrisM

 

[Norm]

Buy a 2nd hard drive, they are dirt cheap, fast and reliable. Get something
like Drive Image and make regular image backups to the 2nd disk. Also keep
another copy of your data files on the 2nd disk and in case of a failure
your always covered.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

Buy a 2nd hard drive, they are dirt cheap, fast and reliable. Get
something like Drive Image and make regular image backups to the 2nd
disk. Also keep another copy of your data files on the 2nd disk and
in case of a failure your always covered.

That's a good approach, but I would add that for really effective
backup, the second hard needs to be removable. Backup to a
permanently mounted second hard drive leaves you vulnerable to
simultaneous loss of the original and backup to many of the most
common dangers that can affect you: virus attacks, nearby
lightning strikes, severe power glitches, even theft of the
computer.

 

[CS]

In


That's a good approach, but I would add that for really effective
backup, the second hard needs to be removable. Backup to a
permanently mounted second hard drive leaves you vulnerable to
simultaneous loss of the original and backup to many of the most
common dangers that can affect you: virus attacks, nearby
lightning strikes, severe power glitches, even theft of the
computer.

I agree with Mr. Blake but would also add that any removable device
such as a hard drive should be recognized by the software you intend
to use. Other advice you were given re: True Image is generally sound
since it does recognize and is able to read\write to external USB 2.0
hard drives. The nice thing about True Image is that it can
read\write to most USB 2.0 devices outside of Windows. Go to the
Acronis web site and read their FAQ. www.acronis.com

 

[ChrisM]

Hi again,

Thanks a lot for your input everyone, it has been very interesting.
I have spoken to my friend, and there are a couple of things they 'forgot to
mention'

1) I only have a budget of around £80,
2) They don't want any external bits hanging around

I think my strategy is going to have to be the following:
TrueImage (or somthing similar) creating disk images and saving them to
DVD/CDR
Not an ideal solution from the comments above, but the new conditions make
the backup to external HDD pretty much un-viable (they are external,
violates rule 2, should really have at least 2 for safety so would probably
exceed budget) , so backup to DVD would seem to be my best bet..

Another thing that occurs to me, most external devices seem to be USB-2. Not
sure that the PC even has that, though I haven't checked yet. It is a HP
Pavillion 6620 (Several years old now).
Anyone know how to tell the difference?

Anyone think I've got it badly wrong?

Cheers,

ChrisM

 

[livvy]

after trying most free backup progs i decided to try
norton ghost 2003 which works fine,but i have replaced
that with a better one that is easier to access,,i now use
acronis true image 7 and backup my pc to a partition on my
hard drive,which makes reinstalling quicker(about 10 mins)
the program itself will write to DVD+RW but this can be
overcome by useing your burning software to send a true
image backup you have created to DVD-RW,for keeping a
removable image,all images can be accessed from boot using
the created disc from acronis software,DVD-/+rw is really
the only option for removable storage,the others you
mentioned are to small,and would require a lot of disc
swapping etc

 

[Peter Hutchison]

Hi Group(s),

It's my first time in here, so please be gentle with me

I have a friend who wants to to make regular(say monthly) backups of their
XP system (currently total space used on the disk is ~3Gb), and they've
asked my to make a few suggestions.

Which lead me on to the next question:

- Does XP(Home) have built-in backup software like Win2000 does? and if so
does it support backing up to DVD-R?

NTBackup does not support CDR/CDRW/DVD+/-R or DVD/RW. Only disk or
tape.

Could someone who knows, please give me the benefit of their experience and
let me know their thoughts on the above.

I use Retrospec Pro Backup and you can order and download it from
http:/www.dantz.com. Its excellent and supports any drives that your
OS supports incl. CDR/DVD etc.

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/