Backup Software

[Mike Connor]

Hmmm...have encountered a lot of problems with backup stuff on various machines lately, I still do quite a bit of "support" for free for friends and neighbours. This is not mainly due to the backup programs concerned, but to total disorganisation on the part of the user!

If you only write a letter to your grandma once a month, you don't need a backup program anyway! Just copy the letter to your backup in another ( preferably external) drive, when you are finished!

Unless you organise your machine properly, even the best backup software will do you no good. The "average" user is not going to be able to pick "pieces" out of a system backup or partition images etc. And re-install them to rebuild a machine system or software packet, so the "simple" solutions are invariably the best here.

An "image" of your System files, and a "backup" of your data files works best for most people. This only works if you have system and data separated on your machine. Either in two partitions on a disc, or on separate discs.

(There are also a few other "Tricks", like forcing windows to operate more efficiently by placing the swap file in a separate partition).

There is no point at all in backing up the same data over and over again. If you have a lot of "fixed" data, like text files, documents, e-mails, images(pictures, photos), etc. then keep it on a separate partition to your system files. The simplest way to back this up is just to copy it all to your back-up drive, and then add whatever you change.

It is dangerous and largely pointless to use a partition on the same disc as a "Backup". If the disc fails you will lose everything! The only really sensible option is to use something like an external disc for backups. Also, for a lot of stuff like photos, documents, videos, and any stuff which is not going to be changed, consider burning them to CD's or DVD's.

Most private users simply don't need complicated backup programs. For those who do, then a "Synchronise" solution, which automatically adds any changes to your backup when you run it, is probably the best and simplest solution. This one works very well and is easy to use;

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/toucan

You don't have to use all the functions, only those you need!

Regards......

Mike Connor

[peter]

See also:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/part...d-drives-1.htm
(& parts 2 & 3)
and
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...backup-program

[Lanarkshire IT Services]

Originally Posted by Mike Connor

Hmmm...have encountered a lot of problems with backup stuff on various machines lately, I still do quite a bit of "support" for free for friends and neighbours. This is not mainly due to the backup programs concerned, but to total disorganisation on the part of the user!

If you only write a letter to your grandma once a month, you don't need a backup program anyway! Just copy the letter to your backup in another ( preferably external) drive, when you are finished!

Unless you organise your machine properly, even the best backup software will do you no good. The "average" user is not going to be able to pick "pieces" out of a system backup or partition images etc. And re-install them to rebuild a machine system or software packet, so the "simple" solutions are invariably the best here.

An "image" of your System files, and a "backup" of your data files works best for most people. This only works if you have system and data separated on your machine. Either in two partitions on a disc, or on separate discs.

(There are also a few other "Tricks", like forcing windows to operate more efficiently by placing the swap file in a separate partition).

There is no point at all in backing up the same data over and over again. If you have a lot of "fixed" data, like text files, documents, e-mails, images(pictures, photos), etc. then keep it on a separate partition to your system files. The simplest way to back this up is just to copy it all to your back-up drive, and then add whatever you change.

It is dangerous and largely pointless to use a partition on the same disc as a "Backup". If the disc fails you will lose everything! The only really sensible option is to use something like an external disc for backups. Also, for a lot of stuff like photos, documents, videos, and any stuff which is not going to be changed, consider burning them to CD's or DVD's.

Most private users simply don't need complicated backup programs. For those who do, then a "Synchronise" solution, which automatically adds any changes to your backup when you run it, is probably the best and simplest solution. This one works very well and is easy to use;

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/toucan

You don't have to use all the functions, only those you need!

Regards......

Mike Connor

Excellent M8 thanks

[Beev]

Ive always been a sort of free IT support for friends and family and one thing I can never hammer home is to backup regular if you continually edit files, like word documents for example. Ive also never been able to hammer home the concept of saving no data to your C partition and if it is only a partition, save your data to another drive altogther.

I have all my working files saved on a flash disc, which I work from directly, so when I dont use the files, I just remove the flash drive and all the data is safe from harm should my system fail. I actually reccomended to a friend of mine to download Softmaker Office 2006 and install it directly to a flash drive and use the same flash drive to store all of his word documents and spreadsheet documents, and this is working well for him, but then I have my sister who insists on leaving working files directly on the desktop, which are rarely backep up and there have been a few instances when a system error has occurred which has ment the entire C drive needed to be reformatted, and thus all recent work on said files are lost.

In all honesty, I think if you properly organise your system and the way you work with the files, there is very litle need for a backup program at all. Just copy your files to a different location after you are finished so you always have a backup copy of your work. I told my sister the best way to work would be to use a separate drive for all work, and the simplest approach would be to use a CD-RW for backup purposes. But it just doesnt go in.

Yours,
Beev

[wdhpr]

Here's my two cents

I have two hard drives. One is my primary the other is my back up.
I have a protected Partition which holds my true image iso of my primary os, normal compression. I use microsoft's synctoy to back up my personal files again to my backup hardrive.

I have never been able to rebuild my os after at catastrophic failure even when backing up to many dvd's. I have recovered my os from a image file

I use scheduled task manager to run ccleaner and synctoy weekly. Just in case. I have a backup of my system files and desktop settings using Titan backup.

I agree a external hardrive solutions is the best of all options.

Cheers
Wdhpr

[kendall]

My backup procedure probably goes against your recommendations, but certainly works for me.

1. Backup documents, pictures, music, etc. nightly with Mozy.
2. Backup documents, pictures, music, etc. weekly to an external HD using a paid commercial product (though I'm sure that I could use one of the free products).
3. Make an image backup of both my c drive (operating system) and f drive (programs, documents, games, etc.) monthly with commercial version of True Image to my external HD.

In addition to that, I make a System Restore point and use ERUNT before any software installation or upgrade.

[Beev]

Not to contradict what I said in my earlier post, but could you use Titan Backup (or any backup program for that matter) to backup the hardware drivers on a system?

My reason for asking is I have a fiend of mine that is moving away so I wont be able to drop around when time permits and help with problems when his PC goes wrong. Would I be able to backup all of his hardware drivers with a backup program and then in the case of a reformat (he is familiar with how to reinstall windows from a fresh as it is placed on a rescue partition) use the backup program to restore all the hardware drivers in one hit? Is this possible or is it going to be a mad task? Id imagine you would have to locate all the drivers on the System, along with all registry entries or would it be possible for it to automatically backup the drivers for any installed hardware?

Thanks for your time.

Beev

[kendall]

I have used both Driver Magician and Driver Max in the past. I'm sorry, but I do not recall if they are both freeware or not. (I think one used to be freeware but is no longer.) Both will make backup copies of your drivers including windows drivers if you desire. Driver Max also claims free driver updates as well.

http://www.drivermagician.com/

http://www.drivermax.com/

[peter]

See also:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...ver-backup.htm

[godzila]

used them & very effective for me too Thanks a lot