What backup software do you use?

bud951 · Jul 8, 2008

Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image? I have owned both with mostly sucsess but also failure at times. The failures could have been my fault but dont know for sure. Are there other alternitives? I am running Vista 32bit. Info is appreciated. Thanks.

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

control-C and control-V.

If its important, put it on another HDD. i only have an OS on my C: drive, and its been a long time since i've lost any data.

xu^ · Jul 8, 2008

i backup my OS with Acronis ,everything else goes onto DVD for backup ,eg music & video etc.

bud951 · Jul 8, 2008

Mussels said:
control-C and control-V.

If its important, put it on another HDD. i only have an OS on my C: drive, and its been a long time since i've lost any data.

Mussels, are you just using Windows to backup? What is control-c and v? I agree, I also keep important data on a seperate harddrive but once in awhile a bad video driver or something screws up my pc and I don't feel like reloading everything. I like to make an image of my C: drive which is only OS, games and programs. I DL everything else to my E: (storage) drive.

bud951 · Jul 8, 2008

xubidoo said:
i backup my OS with Acronis ,everything else goes onto DVD for backup ,eg music & video etc.

Has Acronis always worked for you? Which version? Thanks.

Grimskull · Jul 8, 2008

i use acronis home image v11. Make sure that you validate the backup afterwards... might work if you dont!!! the validation is in the acronis software

Pinchy · Jul 8, 2008

SynBackSE...never had a problem with it.

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

bud951 said:
Mussels, are you just using Windows to backup? What is control-c and v? I agree, I also keep important data on a seperate harddrive but once in awhile a bad video driver or something screws up my pc and I don't feel like reloading everything. I like to make an image of my C: drive which is only OS, games and programs. I DL everything else to my E: (storage) drive.

copy paste. if i want a backup, i save it to an external hard drive. i see no need to back my OS up, as it only takes 45 min to reinstall and have a working OS. (with all drivers, as those are part of the backed up files)

bud951 · Jul 8, 2008

Looking into SynBackSE.. I own Acronis.. Has anyone had any recent experience with Norton Ghost? I know their AV software sucks but I have had a good experience with Ghost but it has been like 3 years. Thanks for input.

Pinchy · Jul 8, 2008

Mussels said:
copy paste. if i want a backup, i save it to an external hard drive. i see no need to back my OS up, as it only takes 45 min to reinstall and have a working OS. (with all drivers, as those are part of the backed up files)

Yeah but SynBackSE is like an "automatic" copy paste only with a lot more options

. (Schedule, incremental backup, network backup, FTP, encryption, profiles, etc).

WhiteLotus · Jul 8, 2008

good old dvd discs.

freaksavior · Jul 8, 2008

i have used ghost once and acronis once, i like acronis better, it was the latest wich i think is 11

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

the main question would be, why do you need a backup tool? you can list the features all you want, but isnt a manual backup quicker and easier?

You ghost your system and feel safe, except htat since the ghost was made you changed from an ATI card to an Nvidia, and nwo your ghost wont boot. Same for a mobo, etc. Any backups that include an OS, expect you to have the same hardware... what if your HDD failed, and your tool doesnt support restoring to a different sized drive/partition? i've had that one happen to me, last year.

bud951 · Jul 8, 2008

Mussels said:
the main question would be, why do you need a backup tool? you can list the features all you want, but isnt a manual backup quicker and easier?

You ghost your system and feel safe, except htat since the ghost was made you changed from an ATI card to an Nvidia, and nwo your ghost wont boot. Same for a mobo, etc. Any backups that include an OS, expect you to have the same hardware... what if your HDD failed, and your tool doesnt support restoring to a different sized drive/partition? i've had that one happen to me, last year.

Yea but I am talking about more short term backups. If I changed hardware I know it would be useless. I just remember Ghost and the freedom it gave me to experiment with video drivers and whatever. I was back up in 20 min no matter what I did and without having to reinstall every driver and program and game for that matter. They are nice. Just wondering what pepole here are using latley.

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

as long as you have a use and benefit from it, i just know too many people who use backup programs for no real reason, and it definately has drawbacks.

CY:G · Jul 8, 2008

Another vote here for SyncBack SE, it runs by itself, generates reports if there are any problems and i can keep several machines synchronized by document changes (sometimes i work on my Lappie and some times on my desk machine, its important that both "My documents" folder are exactly the same)

I couldnt live without it.

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

CY:G said:
Another vote here for SyncBack SE, it runs by itself, generates reports if there are any problems and i can keep several machines synchronized by document changes (sometimes i work on my Lappie and some times on my desk machine, its important that both "My documents" folder are exactly the same)

I couldnt live without it.

well thats interesting. is there any limitations to what it can sync? can i simply tell it to sync the my docs folder on all my machines, and it works?

Cybrnook2002 · Jul 8, 2008

Acronis TI 11, I love it. Backs up my XP SP3 32 bit install and my Vista Ultimate 64 install. Never had any problems backing up or restoring.

CY:G · Jul 8, 2008

Mussels said:
well thats interesting. is there any limitations to what it can sync? can i simply tell it to sync the my docs folder on all my machines, and it works?

Yep, this is my Setup:

File Server (For Files)
Desktop (For Gaming and work)
Laptop (For work)

All 3 of those computers have the "My Documents" folder synchronized, it searches for any changes in the files and gives priority to the latest changed.

It is HIGHLY configurable, for example, you can tell it what to do in each event, like... if you deleted a file in the source but not the destination you can tell it to either copy the deleted file from the destination to the source, or to delete it from the destination or you can tell it to ask you what to do...

And its like that for every event... you can tell it what to do.

ohh and i forgot to mention, my Gaming machine runs Vista while the server and lappie XP, so it even works with both OSs.

Mussels · Jul 8, 2008

CY:G said:
Yep, this is my Setup:

File Server (For Files)
Desktop (For Gaming and work)
Laptop (For work)

All 3 of those computers have the "My Documents" folder synchronized, it searches for any changes in the files and gives priority to the latest changed.

It is HIGHLY configurable, for example, you can tell it what to do in each event, like... if you deleted a file in the source but not the destination you can tell it to either copy the deleted file from the destination to the source, or to delete it from the destination or you can tell it to ask you what to do...

And its like that for every event... you can tell it what to do.

ohh and i forgot to mention, my Gaming machine runs Vista while the server and lappie XP, so it even works with both OSs.

i was going to ask about that, but didnt due to not knowing how to word it. thanks for the detailed answer.

The only last question is: how much ram does the program use, and is it tray icon or service based? (i have an unusual hatred for service based programs)

CY:G · Jul 8, 2008

Mussels said:
i was going to ask about that, but didnt due to not knowing how to word it. thanks for the detailed answer.

The only last question is: how much ram does the program use, and is it tray icon or service based? (i have an unusual hatred for service based programs)

Its Tray based, though if you close the tray icon it still runs the backups because when you schedule something in the program it actually creates a "Scheduled Tasks" in the windows control panel, so the program only opens when its time to run them.

I didn't know that, just checking now when you asked i noticed the scheduled task in my control panel, so now i can close that tray icon and save some ram.

I don't know how much ram it uses while its doing the backups but while it is idling i just checked and it uses a whopping 1.58MB, goes up to 2.00MB :laugh:

xu^ · Jul 10, 2008

bud951 said:
Has Acronis always worked for you? Which version? Thanks.

Acronis v11 i use and it works just fine ,have restored my C: drive a good few times on all my PC's.

i used to use Nortons Ghost which did a good job as well but unfortunatly it also installs loads of crap onto the system,wheras Acronis does not.

suraswami · Jul 10, 2008

Try Cobian backup software version 9. It has image facilities. I use it to backup all the files to my file server.

And I trust XP Backup with ASR for the OS. I have screwed up many times on the OS and have recovered using the backup easily just within 15 minutes.

Vista should have something similar.

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Jul 10, 2008

suraswami said:
Try Cobian backup software version 9. It has image facilities. I use it to backup all the files to my file server.

And I trust XP Backup with ASR for the OS. I have screwed up many times on the OS and have recovered using the backup easily just within 15 minutes.

Vista should have something similar.

I just started using Cobian 9 a couple days ago. Love it.

Pinchy · Jul 14, 2008

CY:G said:
Yep, this is my Setup:

File Server (For Files)
Desktop (For Gaming and work)
Laptop (For work)

All 3 of those computers have the "My Documents" folder synchronized, it searches for any changes in the files and gives priority to the latest changed.

It is HIGHLY configurable, for example, you can tell it what to do in each event, like... if you deleted a file in the source but not the destination you can tell it to either copy the deleted file from the destination to the source, or to delete it from the destination or you can tell it to ask you what to do...

And its like that for every event... you can tell it what to do.

ohh and i forgot to mention, my Gaming machine runs Vista while the server and lappie XP, so it even works with both OSs.

Lol basically same setup as me....and yeah I got my server using XP 32, 2 comps on Vista 64, lappie on XP 32 and lappie on Vista 32....all works flawlessly.

Mussels said:
i was going to ask about that, but didnt due to not knowing how to word it. thanks for the detailed answer.

The only last question is: how much ram does the program use, and is it tray icon or service based? (i have an unusual hatred for service based programs)

Yeah Mussels as I said, its like a "lazy mans" copy paste job lol. It barely uses any system resources.

The default installation installs it as a tray program....but I *THINK* (dont quote me), I saw a services option when installing it. (Or im confused with another program

)

Mussels said:
the main question would be, why do you need a backup tool? you can list the features all you want, but isnt a manual backup quicker and easier?

Never! lol copy pasting requires you to actually open the folders up (source and destination) and press stuff

...then makes u answer questions about duplicate files. Soooooooooooo much effort!

System Name	Making Love
Processor	Intel SandyBridge 2600K
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
Cooling	Corsair H70 Liquid Cooler
Memory	8 GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1600
Video Card(s)	Saphire Radeon 6970 2gb + XFX GeForce 8800GT 512mb Hybrid PhysX
Storage	Crucial 128 GB SSD for os and games + WD 2TB for storage
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster T260 LCD 26"
Case	Thermaltake Shark Mid Tower (plus Vasoline to make it all fit!)
Audio Device(s)	Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	Mr_average ( hoping 1 day to upgrade to Mr_above_average )
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700x @3.4ghz/4.6ghz
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Cooling	Deepcool AS-500 Plus - White \| 6 Lian Li ST120mm case fans - White
Memory	32gb Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL 4x 8GB 3600MHz DDR4 - White
Video Card(s)	Asus Dual GeForce RTX 4070 12GB OC
Storage	512gb Sabrent Nvme \| 4tb Samsung SSD \| 2tb WD Blue SSD\| 1tb Crucial P3 Nvme\| 1tb WD Blue HDD = 8.5tb
Display(s)	D1: LG Ultragear GL850-B 27" 1440p 144hz \| D2: Asus Tuf - VG249 24" 1080p 144hz
Case	Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh RGB - White
Audio Device(s)	Creative Gigaworks T20 Series II \| Steelseries Arctis 3 Headset - White
Power Supply	Corsair TX650M Semi Modular 80+ Gold
Mouse	Red Dragon M991 - White
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman V2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Making Love
Processor	Intel SandyBridge 2600K
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
Cooling	Corsair H70 Liquid Cooler
Memory	8 GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1600
Video Card(s)	Saphire Radeon 6970 2gb + XFX GeForce 8800GT 512mb Hybrid PhysX
Storage	Crucial 128 GB SSD for os and games + WD 2TB for storage
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster T260 LCD 26"
Case	Thermaltake Shark Mid Tower (plus Vasoline to make it all fit!)
Audio Device(s)	Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64

System Name	Making Love
Processor	Intel SandyBridge 2600K
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
Cooling	Corsair H70 Liquid Cooler
Memory	8 GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1600
Video Card(s)	Saphire Radeon 6970 2gb + XFX GeForce 8800GT 512mb Hybrid PhysX
Storage	Crucial 128 GB SSD for os and games + WD 2TB for storage
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster T260 LCD 26"
Case	Thermaltake Shark Mid Tower (plus Vasoline to make it all fit!)
Audio Device(s)	Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Processor	Intel E8400
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6
Cooling	OCZ Vendetta
Memory	2x2GB OCZ Reaper PC2-8500
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon HD4870
Storage	4x750GB Samsung on 2xRAID0
Display(s)	2 x 20" Samsung redRose 2ms DVI
Case	Gigabyte 3D Aurora
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	WIn XP Pro SP3 and Vista Ultimate Dual Boot

System Name	UltraPC
Processor	E8500 Core 2 Duo, 1333Mhz FSB, 3.16Ghz @ 4.5GHz (got into Windows @ 4.75GHz)
Motherboard	ASUS P5Q-e
Cooling	CPU Cooler - TT V14 Pro, 2x120mm CM Blue LED fans, 1x90mm CM Blue LED fan
Memory	G.Skill Pi 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR2 PC8000 (1000MHz), 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD4850 512mb with ASUS EAH4850 BIOS
Storage	2x 500GB Seagate 7200.12 Raid 0
Display(s)	Acer AL1912, 19" LCD screen
Case	Thermaltake Soprano Black ATX case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 7.1, Speakers - 5 + Sub + Monitor speakers
Power Supply	Thermaltake 850W Toughpower Cable Management - Quad (2x18A and 2x30A) 12V rails
Software	Win 7 Pro x64, MSN, CS:Source, etc etc

System Name	Vintage
Processor	i7 - 3770K @ Stock
Cooling	Scythe Zipang II
Memory	2x4GB Crucial DDR3
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX970
Storage	M4 124GB SSD// WD Black 640GB// WD Black 1TB//Samsung F3 1.5TB
Display(s)	Samsung SM223BW 21.6"
Case	Generic
Power Supply	Corsair HX 520W
Software	Windows 7

System Name	ZeroUptime \| M.A.S.S / MM1
Processor	Xeon 2659 v3 / Xeon 2683 v4 / ARM A14
Motherboard	Asus X99-E-10G WS / ASRock x99 usb 3.1 / Apple
Cooling	NZXT Kraken / Noctua NH-L12 / Apple
Memory	16Gb DDR4 / 32Gb DDR4 / 16GB HBLM
Video Card(s)	Powercooler ATI vega 64 / GT 7300 / ARM
Storage	Samsung 970 512 Evo NVMe / A lot. / 256 + 512 External TB3
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 / Headless / Acer X34 Non predator
Case	NZXT H630 \|Rosewill 8bay 4u server chasiss / MMM1
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Onboard / Onboard
Power Supply	Corais HX850 \| Corsair TX750 / Internal 250w
Mouse	g502 proteus core / Headless / g502 proteus core
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Cherry Blue / Headless / K65 Cherry Red
Software	Windows 10 / ESXI / Big Sur 11.2.2

System Name	CYGNUS X4
Processor	Intel i7 2600k @ 3.6Ghz
Motherboard	Asus p8p67Pro
Cooling	ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme
Memory	2 * 4GB DDR 3 1600MHz = 8GB
Video Card(s)	2 * 6950 2GB In Crossfire and a 3870
Storage	2 * 640 GB WD AAKS in RAID 0
Display(s)	4 * 24" Dell LCDs
Case	Cooler Master Cosmos
Power Supply	Corsair HX650

System Name	---
Processor	FX 8350 @ 4.00 Ghz with 1.28v
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0, Hacked Bios F4.x
Cooling	Silenx 4 pipe Tower cooler + 2 x Cougar 120mm fan, 3 x 120mm, 1 x 200 mm Red LED fan
Memory	Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 16GB + Patriot Memory DDR3 1866 16GB
Video Card(s)	Asus R9 290 OC @ GPU - 1050, MEM - 1300
Storage	Inland 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD for OS, WDC Black - 2TB + 1TB Storage, Inland 480GB SSD - Games
Display(s)	3 x 1080P LCDs - Acer 25" + Acer 23" + HP 23"
Case	AeroCool XPredator X3
Audio Device(s)	Built-in Realtek
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000 Modular
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

What backup software do you use?

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