Which backup program to install?

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

Windows Vista Home Premium SP2. Recently bought a WD external USB hard drive for backup.

What I want to accomplish with this drive is 1) prevent accidental deletion, 2)off load files from my laptop HD.

For the first purpose, say I use some kind of synchronization backup, if I accidentally delete a file from the original drive, wouldn't the backup mirrors the original and delete it as well?

Second, I'd like to off load some of the TV episode and DVD ISO onto the external drive, but I also want to play them on occassion. If I simply use the Backup & Restore on Vista Home Premium, it won't let me play the files...so what are my options?

 

[thedosbox]

Microsoft Synctoy does the job for me. You can set the behaviour so that deletes aren't mirrored.

 

[ShawnD1]

Microsoft Synctoy does the job for me. You can set the behaviour so that deletes aren't mirrored.

This is probably the best backup tool I've ever seen. Right now I have it so it does one-way copies to a backup server from every computer in my house. Even though my data is spread across more than 10 hard drives, it all backs up to 1 computer to appear on 1 logical drive and none of the computers ever try to overwrite or delete backup data from the other computers.

It's good for synchronizing files too. I use it for documents on my USB drive as well as music on my cell phone.

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

I just got Synctoy installed.

Do I need to create a destination folder in the external HD? This is weird, shouldn't it duplicate the name of the files and folders according to the original drive?

 

[Dark Penguin]

Syncback is another good choice. If you're a fan of Comodo they also have a Backup utility.

I know nothing of Synctoy these days other than it once synced 100GB into oblivion.

 

[thedosbox]

I just got Synctoy installed.

Do I need to create a destination folder in the external HD? This is weird, shouldn't it duplicate the name of the files and folders according to the original drive?

Create a destination folder for the parent/root folder (e.g. c\download). Everything below it will then be duplicated (e.g. c\download\demo, c\download\drivers etc..).

 

[Rottie]

MS SyncToy get my vote

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

Novaback from Novastor gets my vote. They just came out with version 11 which supports Win7.
http://www.novastor.com/novabackup11/
Normal price is $49, they have a coupon for Cyber Monday, code is CMONDAY, $20 off.

Backs up the registry (system state). Writes to CDs, DVDs, Tape. Makes a crash recovery CD that's based on Linux in case of a complete hard drive failure. It's kinda neat how the software works. It makes 1gb files like RARs in sequential order. You can have the backup done to a hard drive, then move the files to DVDs or another computer. They also have options for online backup from 3rd party companies.

Right now I back up my pictures and music to my web space manually using FTP. Get a cheap Dreamhost account for $5 a month, create a folder in the root, and start dumping.