Backup Software: Suggestions? Details inside

[ajwr]

So, I am trying to put together a backup solution for my household...right now, basically all the data is on one "main" computer...I am not too, too concerned about being able to completely restore the PC when it breaks (like I'm not looking for Norton Ghost type functionality). I'm just looking for some kind of solution that is going to backup more or less all my important files (music, pictures, documents) for all users on the computer, either to a server location (I have been considering Windows Home Server and also something I heard of called FreeNAS) or to an external hard drive. I already have a couple of hard drives, so I am likely to be in the future be getting an external hard drive enclosure...unless I end up going with some kind of server. I know I'm kinda just rambling about this, but any suggestions about what you have done for your backup needs would be greatly appreciated...or even resources about this topic...it seems to be few and far between as far as I've found.

Ajwr

 

[beatle]

I really like ViceVersa. It's easy to use and has a lot of features.

 

[Kaido]

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

http://www.orionmods.com/blog/?p=5

 

[Navid]

So far, Cobian seems to be the best for me.
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm


For me, a backup solution should satisfy the following.
1- Allow scheduled backups, as well as incremental, differential and full backups.
2- Automatically create a new backup file for every backup.
3- Be reasonably fast (incremental backup is fast).
4- Store the backups in a format that can be read even if the backup software is removed from the PC.
5- Free

 

[archcommus]

I don't think software like Cobian that creates a backup "file" is what he's looking for. He wants something that will just back up his files, as in, copy them to another location. ViceVersa works well but is costly. So I would recommend robocopy. It is a simple command-line utility developed by Microsoft that has the ability to intelligently copy files (as in, make a mirror of a source to a destination, only copying new and changed files). If you have Vista, you already have robocopy and can use it from the command prompt now. If you have XP, you'll have to download it and put it in the system32 directory so you can use it from anywhere. Then just read the included readme file about how to use it. It's not too hard. For example, if you have all your documents on D:, and want to back up to a server share, say \\server\backup, you would just do:

robocopy D:\ \\server\backup /mir

This would "sync" D: over to \\server\backup, and even delete anything in the destination that's no longer in the source (that's what /mir does). For this to work well, just write a few different robocopy commands, drop them in a .bat file, save it somewhere, and schedule it to run nightly using Scheduled Tasks. Bingo - nightly free fast backups.

If you have any questions PM or ask here.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: ajwr
So, I am trying to put together a backup solution for my household...

His post clearly states that he is looking for a backup solution.

Obviously, backup is very different than copy or sync.
If you, by mistake, delete a file from the source and the sync function deletes it from the destination as well, that file will be gone!
I wouldn't call that backup. A backup would let you get such a file back.

 

[archcommus]

I see. When he said he's not looking for something like Ghost I took it to mean he does not want something that packs his files together. If he indeed is looking for archiving abilities, then maybe the software you suggested would be the way to go. But if you just want to sync files and aren't concerned about accidentally deleting stuff then robocopy is a simple solution.

Perhaps if he backs up only weekly, something like robocopy would still be good since he'd have a few days to get something back before he synced.

 

[Navid]

By the way, Cobian compresses the backup to a selectable format. I have chosen Zip, which can be accessed by windows directly.
So, if I want to access a file from a backup, I can just browse through the zip files and descend into one to reach the file I am looking for (in Vista). It is not like I need a program to restore the file.

 

[viperbri]

I have used Syncback Free edition by 2BrightSparks software. It is flexible enough to allow you to sync one way or both ways and it will make copies of files instead of compressing.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: viperbri
I have used Syncback Free edition by 2BrightSparks software. It is flexible enough to allow you to sync one way or both ways and it will make copies of files instead of compressing.

Will it create a new backup every time?
Or, will it overwrite the previous backup with the new one?

 

[OAKside24]

SyncBack is VERY customizable. (I am trialing, thinking of buying SyncBackSE or Pro when it's out.) I am syncing with no problems, but would bet you could create new backups if you choose and have the space. The documentation, help and forums have tons of tips and help as well. Lovin' it.

 

[Skypix7]

I tried Acronis TrueImage Home 11 on high recommendations, after some catastrophic failures and weeks of problems with my system, (bad hard drive, I think...still not sure but tons of corruption and lockups on a new system.)

I did a full image backup with Acronis of my XP partition, then several incremental backups. When I tried to restore it, with validation of the image, it took two hours from the CD to verify it was a good image archive, then another 2 hours to restore....but it didn't complete. It hung with 53 minutes to go and never completed, though I left it on all night.

There are apparently problems with that software, unless you follow the modern montra of "well, just do this, then try uninstalling that..." yadda yadda yadda.

I too want something that will copy my entire system hard drive, files, everything, and actually restore it from a CD when I need it to, without all the usual "oh, you should have..." caveats BS that you get from tech support.

Is there such a dependable program? I thought i had it when I bought Acronis, only to have the techie email me with "You need to disable or uninstall antivirus before you create an image." It also hung before completing install in Vista 64 bit and required half an hour of manual uninstalling, register key by register key. What a lot of fun that was.

Why is everything getting needlessly more complex as time goes on?

Sorry for the rant, thanks for any suggestions, I'll check out those above.

 

[RichNY]

Will it create a new backup every time?
Or, will it overwrite the previous backup with the new one?

I use SyncbackSE and love it. It really is a synchronization program, not a "backup" program. It doesn't create a backup file and doesn't create disk images (so not a solution for backing up your bootable system drive). It's great, however, for creating an exact replica of your My Documents folder, for example, on another drive. With storage being fairly cheap, I like the idea that I have a clean, exact replica of my data that if fully browsable and only needs to be "copied" back to my source if anything happens (either on a file-by-file or folder basis) without relying on any sort of "restore" which, with my luck, won't work when I need it to. SyncbackSE will, on schedule, identify changes to the specified folders/drive and apply those changes (new files, changes, and deletions) to the destination.

If storage is a concern, I believe you can put the destination in one big ZIP file, but I've never tried that.

Syncback SE also has some versioning capabilities and some other cool features, but I use it just for the above. VERY reliable, non-intrusive, and highly recommended.

Good luck!

 

[dclive]

Windows Home Server. Nuff said.

OK, maybe not.

Automatic backup agents - whenever your PCs are on, you can back them up, and/or you can set them to backup nightly between 12 midnight and 2am, for example.

You can also do lots of other things - run websites on it, get nice IP forwarding from *.homeserver.com domains for your site, host files, printers, etc. to the public internet, and lots more, but for backup (and one-step restores - if your drive dies, just boot with the WHS CD, connect to your WHS, and go RIGHT back to where you were at any previous night's backup - WITHOUT reinstalling Windows) it's the best.

Edit: Supports up to 10 home PCs, in a domain or not; the only current limitation is 32-bit OSs only; it won't support 64 bit OSs yet. $180 at Newegg, or $600 with the HP hardware/500GB HDD/etc. (amazon.com, HP EX470).