03-21-2002, 04:07 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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The ultimate backup solution
http://www.handybackup.com/index.html
A few months ago I posted a request on this site for recommendations on data backup solutions for the desktop PCs. I've been evaulating many pieces of software, have purchased a couple, and I've finally found what I consider to be an almost perfect software backup solution - and I thought I'd share my discovery because I'm really pleased with it.
Handy Backup 3.0 is a stable, fast, flexible tool that does exactly what I want it to. It will rapidly backup 8+ gigs of data without missing a beat, letting me ZIP the files as one large zip file (not recommended for 8 gigs of data though) or multiple files, Blowfish-encrypt the data, and I have control over the level of compression (speed vs. storage). It has a scheduler, and can back up the data across a network or to an external FTP site. The $30 price tag is reasonable, and there's a free 30 day trial to check out.
If you're looking for a good way to back up your PC data, I give this software my highest recommendation. And if you're not backing up your data, trust me, you should. Hard drives fail!
"Handy Backup 3.0 is an easy-to-use yet powerful backup program designed for Windows 9x/NT/2000/Me/XP. It makes an automatic backup of critical data virtually to any type of storage media: floppy disk, hard drive, network drive, or a remote FTP server. Strong file encryption and multi-choice zip compression on the fly as well as many other useful features will protect your valuable data. All backup activities are recorded in details in a log file. Detailed online help is available."
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03-21-2002, 04:34 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Maybe a dumb question, but I'm going to ask. I just set up XP Pro on my new Dell machine at home. How is this software better than the included backup software? And can it back up to CD-R/W?
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03-21-2002, 05:06 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Maybe a dumb question, but I'm going to ask. I just set up XP Pro on my new Dell machine at home. How is this software better than the included backup software? And can it back up to CD-R/W?
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I don't think it can back up to CD/R, but I've never considered that much of a solution for my needs - it requires human intervention to put the CD-R in the drive, etc. Anything that relies on someone remembering to do something will fail...
As for your backup software, I'm not sure what Dell machines ship with, but I can almost guarantee this software is better - it's seriously killer. I'm backing up around 10 gigs of data right now and the program CPU use is less than 20%.
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03-21-2002, 05:09 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1
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Jason,
Glad that you found a backup solution, but all you have told us about is how satisfied you are with the backup functionality. Have you run a full restore? Ultimately it is the success of the restore that is the measure of a backup product. I've used products where the backup appears to go very smoothly but the restore is a nightmare. What is your experience with restoring using this product?
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03-21-2002, 05:20 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Paul McIntosh
Have you run a full restore? Ultimately it is the success of the restore that is the measure of a backup product.
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Good point Paul. No, I haven't done a full restore yet. "Full restore" is such a misnomer with a Windows product anyway. :-) If I nuke a file, I go retrieve it manually from the backup directory. I'm in the midst of a 10 gig backup right now (to a new computer on the LAN), but when I'm done I'll try some of the restore functionality.
For cloning full drives (a REAL backup) I use a tool called BACKMAGIC ( http://www.dos32.com/) - it's a 32-bit extension to DOS that lets you perform an XCOPY function that maintains all long file names. It only works with FAT32 (augh!) but it fits on a single floppy and can be batch driven. Very cool little app for cloning entire drives.
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03-21-2002, 05:56 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Hmm - the CPU use has been bursting to 80% in the last few minutes. I wonder why there's such a difference? I've also noticed that it's not multi-threaded, which is a bit of a bummer for speed. Maybe next version. :-)
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03-21-2002, 06:01 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
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Comparison question
I was just about to order a backup program that I found (Second Copy from Centered Systems - http://www.centered.com/) when I read your post.
I'm curious if you evaluated this software and how it compared with Handy backup.
I don't think I've done the research it sounds like you've done. Any comments/thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks.
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03-21-2002, 06:21 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Comparison question
Quote:
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Originally Posted by waltzb
I'm curious if you evaluated this software and how it compared with Handy backup.
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I hadn't looked at that one - it never came up in any of the suggestions. :-) It looks quite good - multi-threaded, etc. If there's a demo, I suggest you download the demo for both products and compare them. I've done enough of that lately. ;-)
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03-21-2002, 06:40 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Comparison question
Quote:
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Originally Posted by waltzb
I was just about to order a backup program that I found (Second Copy from Centered Systems - http://www.centered.com/) when I read your post. |
I took a look at this, and while it looks like a VERY good local backup solution, I didn't see anything in the walkthrough about FTP access. That's a must-have for me since I like to get my data backed up off-site in case of fire or theft.
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03-22-2002, 09:54 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 192
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Jason, et.al., I've just started using a demo copy of Retrospect after listening to David Lawrence last Sunday. I have a second hard disk in my PC (my drive failed about a week after PPCthought's drive failed...I should have learned) and every night at 6 p.m. Retrospect makes a copy of the first drive. What's really cool is that only file changes are copied, so after the first "backup" the process is relatively fast.
I haven't tried "failing" the first drive yet, I'll give that a shot soon. If this works, then I'm considering a firewire drive that I can take home each night as extra protection.
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Linear Mode
