I am Back Up, Backed Up

[Andy Sjostrom]

It's Wednesday afternoon and I am back up, restored and backed up. Last Monday was bad. <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=106687">Really bad</a>. Dell shipped a new hard drive overnight and I have spent two days installing and re-configuring. Guess what!? I have two new applications running on my laptop: <a href="http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/">Acronis True Image 6.0</a> and <a href="http://www.handybackup.com/download.shtml">HandyBackup</a>. With Acronis True Image 6.0 I have been able to backup the entire drive as an image, and will continue to do so once a month. HandyBackup is scheduled to run daily to back up incremental changes of my data.<br /><br />Kids. If you haven't backed up your data, back up your data. No kidding.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/backed_up_01.jpg" />

[Evee Ev]

andy...thanks for the being the sacrificial lamb, so to speak!!!

[jeffmd]

what do you backup to?

[heyday]

I've never heard of HandyBackup. I've always used Ghost. So with HandyBackup can you restore a hard drive with out having to re-install your OS first and loading their software? Thats what I like about Ghost. I just have a bootable CD and it images my hard drive to a second removable hard drive I have.

heyday

[david291]

For what it's worth, I recommend MirrorFolder 2.0 (http://www.tucows.com/system/preview/209282.html) which has worked very well for us. It is different in that it runs at the driver level and does real-time backup of folders or whole drives as you work, with limited performance impact. And it's quite cheap, too. We've been pleased with it.

[thanos255]

Does the MirrorFolder program create a restorable disk? Can I restore totally from that image?

That is what I am looking for. Something I can do a TOTAL restore from a total format.

It would be nice if I could also do incremental updates etc....

Any advice?

Thanks
Thanos

[jizmo]

I do a backup only once a year, which is really, really, really stupid. Manual back-upping is a pain and those automaticated utilities cost too much.

But then again when your work is lost, those few hundred euros you should've used on backing up don't seem that big sum of money after all. :cry:

/jizmo

ps. Oh, and Andy .. Trevlig första maj till dig ;)

[david291]

If you mirrored the entire disk, the backup disk is identical to your original, so you could just switch to that one if the primary disk fails.

[quidproquo]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good back up program for the PPC? I have used the one that comes with PPC but it is limited and it doesn't restore all the phone settings as far as speed dial, internet connection setup, etc.

It just restores programs and files.

This way.... a hard reset won't take a whole day to get your PPC back in shape.

Suggestions? :?:

[Steven Cedrone]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good back up program for the PPC? I have used the one that comes with PPC but it is limited and it doesn't restore all the phone settings as far as speed dial, internet connection setup, etc.

It just restores programs and files.

This way.... a hard reset won't take a whole day to get your PPC back in shape.

Suggestions? :?:

Not to pull this discussion off-topic, see this (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10927) discussion about Sprite Pocket Backup...

Steve

[Xyress]

Well, I'm the king of reformatting and starting from scratch - I *really* need to get a backup utility.

I'm curious as well - what do you backup to? Another hard drive or some type of removable media? I'm guessing I'd probably have to buy another hard drive to do a complete backup.

[tourdewolf]

Since we are off topic, I understand that there are some issues with Windows XP and trying to maintain a complete image on a separate hard drive, something about xp won't boot if it sees another copy of itself and also the way that xp assigns a signature to each hard drive. I own an copy of Ghost 7 and have tried a couple of times to restore from an image w/out any luck. I read somewhere that the drives have to be the same size w/ identical partitions. It would be great if I could just reimage a defunct windows to a fresh state (like the win 98 days). Any ideas on maintaining a recent restorable image in XP?

TD

[jkovacs]

You are so right! I also use Acronis since reading about it here and I have to say it is TOTALLY SLICK!!! For everyone asking where you backup to here's what I do.

I have 3 hard drives with one 40 GB dedicated to backups. On that I have an IMAGE and a BACKUP partition. The other hard drives are partitioned for SYSTEM, DATA, SWAP_FILE, VIDEO and MUSIC. My SYSTEM patition has the OS and all my applications and I kickoff a full image of SYSTEM with Acronis once a week to the IMAGE partition on the backup drive. And once in a while, usually after making a major change or something, I'll burn the SYSTEM image to CDs too (just in case), but that takes a long time and you need to swap discs (I need DVD). I also do the same for my DATA partition and also kickoff daily incremental backups of DATA to the BACKUP partitition on the backup drive. And I also image each parition as needed like when I add new music or do a lot of video. I never image the SWAP_FILE partition. The images are fairly small so I can fit several versions on the IMAGE partition before I have to start deleting old ones. I also keep a "starting" image for when I want to reformat and start over. This image has Windows XP Pro, SystemWorks and ZoneAlarm all tweaked just the way I want ready for applications to be installed.

I used to use Ghost but Acronis TrueImage BLOWS IT AWAY! I HIGHLY recommend it.

Joe K.

[jkovacs]

Since we are off topic, I understand that there are some issues with Windows XP and trying to maintain a complete image on a separate hard drive, something about xp won't boot if it sees another copy of itself and also the way that xp assigns a signature to each hard drive.
I do it with no problem. Windows XP doesn't even know there is an image of it elsewhere. I think it would be a problem if you just tried to XCOPY it over to another disk but imaging works fine. Also, I have my disks configured as Basic rather than Dynamic. Acronis (I believe) doens't support Dynamic disks and even Ghost changes it back to a Basic disk when you restore the image.
I own an copy of Ghost 7 and have tried a couple of times to restore from an image w/out any luck. I read somewhere that the drives have to be the same size w/ identical partitions.
I've doen it with Ghost too, there shouldn't be a problem. What happens when you try to restore? I know Ghost requires you to have the serial number on restore but it does work. Also, Acronis lets you specify the size of the resotred partition, so it can be different than the orignal. Like I said, its VERY SLICK!

Joe K.

[blang]

Andy, why do you use Handy Backup in addition to Acronis. What does it do that Acronis doesn't do?

[Kurt Hunciker]

I have used Powerquest's Drive Image, and it has worked well. (After switching to Windows XP, I have not tried a restore of an image.)

Any thoughts about the relative merits of Drive Image vs. Acronis True Image?

[danmanmayer]

How large is a image file of what size disk... Also where are you storing your backed up image files?

A back up is only good if it isn't on the same disk. I am sure people know that but it is worth mentioning just in case.

[Marcel_Proust]

I recommend iBackup for set-it-and-forget-it offsite storage. Has saved my life on more than one occasion. @backup is good too but I think more expensive.

[bblock]

I use neither program (yet), but since several people have asked, from Andy's original post I suspect that Acronis does full drive images (i.e. Ghost-like), whereas HandyBackup backs up individual files/folders either one-time or on a schedule you set.

So - what does HandyBackup have that NTBackup (with WinXP) doesn't? Why do I want to pay money for it?

[Mr. PPC]

I purchased Acronis TrueImage after reading about it here as well. It is an incredible product.

Not only does it backup my XP machine, it also backs up my SBS 2000 server (SQL 2000, Exchange 2000, ISA 2000 and IIS) without any problems. All I have to do is tell it to restore an image onto my server, reboots (starts a version of TrueImage) and it can see my network no problem (even prompts me for username\password if needed) and I pick the file and let it run. Hasn't failed me once!

[Jason Dunn]

I've never heard of HandyBackup. I've always used Ghost. So with HandyBackup can you restore a hard drive with out having to re-install your OS first and loading their software?

No, it can't do that. That's what TrueImage is for. I've yet to come across any application that can do both incremental, scheduled backups but also create boot CDs and image entire partitions. They're very different approaches to data backup, but both are equally valid and important IMO.

[rtrueman]

Will TrueImage work on a development machine with Windows 2000 Server installed or do I need the server version of the product. Since they're development machines, it's no problem to shut down applications or the OS to create the image.

Rob

[Jason Dunn]

Does the MirrorFolder program create a restorable disk? Can I restore totally from that image? That is what I am looking for. Something I can do a TOTAL restore from a total format.

You want what Andy is now using: Acronis TrueImage for a total partition or drive clone/restore, and Handy Backup for incremental updates.

[Jason Dunn]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good back up program for the PPC? I have used the one that comes with PPC but it is limited and it doesn't restore all the phone settings as far as speed dial, internet connection setup, etc.

Pocket Backup Plus 2.0 from Sprite Software, without a doubt - it's the best I've used, and as far as I'm concerned, the only solid backup solution there is for the Pocket PC. If a backup solution doesn't function on a schedule, totally automated, it's worthless to me. :D (the exception is massive cloning programs like Acronis TrueImage that I only use once in a while)

[Jason Dunn]

I'm curious as well - what do you backup to? Another hard drive or some type of removable media? I'm guessing I'd probably have to buy another hard drive to do a complete backup.

Depends. My strategy:

- I do daily backups across my LAN to another computer using Handy Backup. This is more or less the same as doing it to another drive in your computer, but better because if that computer has a massive power surge and damages your drives, both will go. In your case, an external Firewire/USB 2.0 drive might be a good solution if you don't have another PC.

- I do weekly/monthly updates of my system image across my LAN using Acronis TrueImage. This program is so SLICK - you create a boot CD, reboot your PC, and from there you can clone an entire partition to another drive, burn it to a series of CDs (make sure your media is rated as fast as your drive speed though!), or copy that image across a LAN to a shared drive (my preferred method). TrueImage also works from within Windows - it's bloody amazing.

- Something I keep trying to do but it never quite works out perfectly...I want to back up my data, off-site, using FTP to another computer. I just need to get that other computer set up properly. :mrgreen:

I've lost data in the past more than once, so I'm deadly serious about data backup procedures. :robot:

[Jason Dunn]

Since we are off topic, I understand that there are some issues with Windows XP and trying to maintain a complete image on a separate hard drive, something about xp won't boot if it sees another copy of itself and also the way that xp assigns a signature to each hard drive.

Acronis TrueImage is your solution. I sound like I have shares in the company. ;-) The problem is that XP is seeing the files on the second drive and it's confusing it (I think - I've never done exactly what you have). TrueImage creates a compressed image that will have no impact on XP, because it's just a big file that you can keep on your second hard drive and restore from there.

[danmanmayer]

Still no one with an answer to the size of the disk images? Are they compressed? Full size of the disk? Anything like that? :lol:

[Jason Dunn]

How large is a image file of what size disk... Also where are you storing your backed up image files?

The image file depends completely on how much data you have of course! :lol: It's impossible to have a variable amount of data and a fixed-sized compressed file.

The compression is about 50% or so, give or take. It depends very heavily on the type of data you have - txt & exe files can be compressed a lot, JPGs and MP3s cannot.

My backup files are located either across the LAN on another computer, or burned onto CD-R.

[jeffmd]

lotsa talk about differnet programs and even pocket pc backup programs, but no ones talked about what they backup to. do you all backup to cd's? Id think it would be unrealistic to keep backing up 40+ gig hard drives to cd.. do you use cdr or cdrw? backup hard drives? tape?

[Jason Dunn]

lotsa talk about differnet programs and even pocket pc backup programs, but no ones talked about what they backup to. do you all backup to cd's? Id think it would be unrealistic to keep backing up 40+ gig hard drives to cd.. do you use cdr or cdrw? backup hard drives? tape?

You're right - hard drives have gotten so big now that it's not terribly realistic to back up to CD-R.

• Daily backup: local external HD or LAN or FTP
• Weekly/Monthly partition image: CD-R (4-5 CDs, not too bad)
• Pocket PC: local SD card, but Pocket Backup Plus supports backing data up to a local PC too...

What I'd REALLY love is if TrueImage had a DVD-R driver from the boot disc - then I could burn to DVD. Woo!

[JoeMoon]

I installed Handy Backup and went through the intial setup and started a session. I keep getting an error called "Missed In Destination". I have looked through the help index and can't seem to figure out what it triggering this error.

Anyone have any experience with that? Basically, I am trying to backup all files on a LAN drive, USB drive and the local drive C to a empty local drive G.

Joe...

[Jason Dunn]

I installed Handy Backup and went through the intial setup and started a session. I keep getting an error called "Missed In Destination". I have looked through the help index and can't seem to figure out what it triggering this error.

When this error happens, it stops the backup? That's very strange - I've never run into this. FWIW, Handy Backup has some of the best tech support I've ever encountered - might as well give it a try now. :wink:

[Acronis Support Team]

Will TrueImage work on a development machine with Windows 2000 Server installed or do I need the server version of the product. Since they're development machines, it's no problem to shut down applications or the OS to create the image.

Rob

Rob!

The core idea of our leading product - Acronis True Image - is that you DO NOT need to close any application or even reboot when you're backing up your PC!
Acronis True Image's unique method allows you to continue working in Windows(r) even when creating exact images of your system (!!) partition.
In your particluar case you will need Server version, because only it can manage the most comprehensive backup of the Windows(r) 2000 Server and meet your specific demands as a server administrator.
Good luck!