Best Backup Software???

[Deemo]

With the large volume of precious photos and other data, I thought I would ask what software you have found to be the best for backing up your data?

[Suhit Gupta]

Are you looking for free software or one that you have paid for?

Free = Windows Backup. Comes with Windows and is not bad at all.

For Pay =

There are three that I would trust -

1) Legato's Networker
2) Veritas' BackupExec and Netbackup
3) Yosemite's Tapeware

The Yosemite solution is the cheapest by far (few hundred dollars) while Legato and Veritas will set you back in the tens of thousands. The only problem with Yosemite is that their backup db is limited to 50 million objects where an object is every instance of a file/piece of data. However, in Tapeware 8 which will be released in February 2005, this limit will be removed.

Suhit

[Suhit Gupta]

BTW, you have to look very carefully if you are going elsewhere if that software can do disk-to-disk or disk-to-dvd backup because not all of them can. A lot of them are limited to tape only.

Suhit

[Deemo]

I will pay for third party software that will be potentially better than MS.

Where is the builtin backup utility in Windoze?

Is this XP Pro only....I can't seem to find it.

Nero comes with one but I haven't tried it yet.

I thought a standalone specialty might be better.

Thx

[Suhit Gupta]

I have not used anything but XP Pro so I don't know about the other versions. It is under Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup

Suhit

[Deemo]

Yep...looks like Pro only so that is out.

[Jason Dunn]

My personal tool of choice is Handy Backup: www.handybackup.com

It's fast, easy to use, and works very, very well. It's aimed at backing up data only though, not complete system imaging. For system imaging (backing up all of Windows), I use Acronis TrueImage (http://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=4864-11&affiliate=24298). It rocks!

[Zack Mahdavi]

My personal tool of choice is Handy Backup: www.handybackup.com

I tried out a demo of Handybackup, and although it was a good program, I didn't purchase it. The developer hasn't introduced an update to the program since August 2003. It makes me wonder if they're going to stop development. Any ideas Jason?

I ended up going with 2BrightSparks SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/). It's a great program that's FREE. I use it to backup my entire Documents and Settings directory to my Powermac every night.

[Bob12]

I don't do "backups" as such. I just do a straight copy via Windows Explorer to an external, high capacity hard drive. This eliminates compatibility problems which can occur when backup programs are changed and also allows me to easily move the files from one computer to another.

[jboyd]

Where is the builtin backup utility in Windoze?

Is this XP Pro only....I can't seem to find it.

Thx

Windows XP home has a backup utility, it just isn't intalled - it is on the windows disk and needs to be installed. But to me it is useless for backing up large amounts of data. I tried to use it to back up photos to a cd, but it just kept telling me there was not enough room on the cd to do the backup. So, it won't let you use more that one cd. You have to try to guess what will fit on one cd. That is crap.

BTW, I found this by googling "windows xp home backup"

Jackie

[sylvangale]

To Install Windows Backup (XP):

1) Insert your Windows XP CD
2) "Browse" CD and navigate to ValueAdd\MSFT\NTbackup
3) Run NT Backup

Keep in mind one thing.. XP Home does not support the automated system recovery option. You will be able to run it, but you cannot restore from it. (Read me in the NTbackup folder).

[Crocuta]

I don't do "backups" as such. I just do a straight copy via Windows Explorer to an external, high capacity hard drive. This eliminates compatibility problems which can occur when backup programs are changed and also allows me to easily move the files from one computer to another.

Yeah, I learned the hard way many years ago that you do not want your backups in a proprietary format. Like Bob12, I copy original files. However, I use a brilliant program to help me keep everything straight. It's called Second Copy (http://www.centered.com/ $29.95) and it synchonizes files between two locations. I use it in a couple of different ways.

I have a large external Firewire HDD that I use for a complete backup of everything on my computer except system and program files. Second copy let's me do a one-way sync with those copying only changed files to make the backup always match my main data drives.

I also use it in a two-way, three-drive sync to keep my home and work computers completely synchronized. I use a 40GB small external USB drive that I two-way sync with one computer (i.e. newer files overwrite older ones regardless of which drive they're located on), then I take it to the other computer and do that same. I sync first thing and last thing every day when I get to work and do the same at home. Because it's only copying changed files, it works quickly and is not a burden. You can also have it schedule your syncs automatically if you prefer.

This gives me extra protection for my work files because they are always located on three different hard drives in at least two different physical locations. What's more, when I travel without my laptop, I can just carry along the little USB drive and still be able to access my files at an Internet cafe or a colleague's computer.

So between the two systems, my work files are always on four drives (including the large external one I mentioned first) and my DV and music files are always on two drives. There are still scenarios that could cause the loss of my work (like global thermonuclear war), but I feel reasonably secure from regular hard drive failures, fires, etc.

Best of all, when I do need to recover a file, all I have to do is just go to the file on the backup drive using Explorer and copy it wherever I want it to go. And if Second Copy were ever abandoned by its developers and didn't work with a new version of Windows, my files are not stuck in some proprietary format where I cannot get to them. (Happened to me with the move from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95.)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I just copy to CDs (and now DVDs). No reason to be messing with funny backup files.

[ctmagnus]

My personal tool of choice is Handy Backup: www.handybackup.com

I tried out a demo of Handybackup, and although it was a good program, I didn't purchase it. The developer hasn't introduced an update to the program since August 2003. It makes me wonder if they're going to stop development. Any ideas Jason?

I ended up going with 2BrightSparks SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/). It's a great program that's FREE. I use it to backup my entire Documents and Settings directory to my Powermac every night.

I'm trying out both of these apps atm. HandyBackup has speed going for it but I'm not sure about any potential advantages SyncBack has, other than the direct copy (easier restore if need be) and the fact that the zip files that HandyBackup creates can sometimes become corrupted.

fwiw, HandyBackup's Help -> About says that it was last updated on June 9, 2005.

[Handy Backup Support]

My personal tool of choice is Handy Backup: www.handybackup.com

I tried out a demo of Handybackup, and although it was a good program, I didn't purchase it. The developer hasn't introduced an update to the program since August 2003. It makes me wonder if they're going to stop development. Any ideas Jason?

I ended up going with 2BrightSparks SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/). It's a great program that's FREE. I use it to backup my entire Documents and Settings directory to my Powermac every night.

I'm trying out both of these apps atm. HandyBackup has speed going for it but I'm not sure about any potential advantages SyncBack has, other than the direct copy (easier restore if need be) and the fact that the zip files that HandyBackup creates can sometimes become corrupted.

fwiw, HandyBackup's Help -> About says that it was last updated on June 9, 2005.

Hello,

My name is Angela Samsonova, I am Technical Support for Handy Backup. Please feel free to ask any questions about the program.

As for updates, the latest build of the program is of June 07, 2006, you can download it directly at http://www.handybackup.com/hb40.exe Note: no backup items will be lost when upgrading to the newer build (they all will be kept automatically).