Need a Backup Solution

[angelkiller]

I need to figure out the best way to back all my data up.

I have an 60GB OCZ Vertex as an OS drive and two 1TB Samsung F3 drives. One drive is used for storage and the other will be used for whatever backup plan I decide on.

I need to back up both drives in my desktop and also my laptop. My laptop has an eSATA port.

The backups need to be automatic. (for the desktop, I can do the laptop manually) The backups also need to have some way to be restored. The ability to be read by another computer would be nice also.



So I'm looking for the whole backup/recovery plan. Any suggestions? Fire away.

 

[Sean8]

Automatic backup

newtekie1 helped alot with what he suggested. Been using it for almost 2 weeks now works awesome.

 

[angelkiller]

Automatic backup

newtekie1 helped alot with what he suggested. Been using it for almost 2 weeks now works awesome.

That system works great for backing up files and such. But I need to back up everything. The OS, programs, etc. Is this method still ok to use if I back up everything? Including the C:/Windows directory? How would I restore everything?

I was thinking about some kind of imaging software. I've played around with DriveImage XML in the past and I think it's a viable solution.

Also is there something out there with incremental backups? (only back up what has changed instead of everything) That would be nice.

 

[oily_17]

Try Acronis True Image, not free but a very good app.

 

[AsRock]

Try Acronis True Image, not free but a very good app.

Maybe the WD version ( FREE ) would work even though he don't have one ?..

 

[oily_17]

Maybe the WD version ( FREE ) would work even though he don't have one ?..

I have never tried the WD solution, but maybe there is not much difference in them.

You can download the Acronis True Image WD Edition Software from here.

You could compare the WD software with the free trial of Acronis and see which suits your needs the best.

 

[AsRock]

I have never tried the WD solution, but maybe there is not much difference in them.

You can download the Acronis True Image WD Edition Software from here.

You could compare the WD software with the free trial of Acronis and see which suits your needs the best.

I have WD HDDs in my system and using the WD version has been flawless. Never needed to check the payware version as cloning just works without issue.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Take a look at Cobian Backup. The advantage over robocopy is that it has an friendly GUI, and you can set it to do differential backups. That allows you to only backup changes, and also to maintain a record of changes. Could be useful depending on your need.

I have just implemented this on our fileserver. RAID1 for mechanical fault tolerance and a "midnight script" that creates a differential backup every night. If a co-worked deletes a files or overwrites a "bad edit" over a good document, I can recover, even weeks later.

Also look at:
http://www.trackmyfiles.com/en/home/
http://www.genie-soft.com/Free_products/free_timeline.aspx

 

[JohnSavid]

...If you want to keep a backup of your whole PC in case something goes terribly wrong, then Acronis Image is best, if you want software to backup files and folders for easy access when you mistakenly delete something or misplace a file, then OopsBackup is best...i use them both.

Acronis is about E50 / $60, OopsBackup is about E29 / $36

...acronis is more for businesses, oops for home users...

A review of various solutions that helped me decide:
http://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/file-backup-software.html

Other links mentioned above:
http://www.acronis.com/
http://www.altaro.com/