Best data backup - which to use

[muddywellies]

Have just finished recovering 99% of my previous machine which has taken five days to do. Now I am giving serious consideration to data backup. Particularly as I now have a copy of Ghost 10 and Paragon's Partition Manager 6.0 which includes drive backup and system recovery.

However, some reviews really slate Ghost 10 yet still rate it better than Acronis, while others point out the difficulties of even getting the progs authenticated. Another review advises not to use Ghost 10 if you have sata drives and so on (which I now have). All very confusing.

What do other people use to save their precious HD data and for the subsequent incremental daily backups?

BTW. My new machine runs xp pro with a combination of sata storage for the new drives and something slower (uncertain what) for the older drives which were added to the new machine to aid the recent data transfer. Thus my new machine now has four HD's. The two older and smaller drives which are none sata can be removed since they are now redundant.

 

[PCcashCow]

I tend to look at backing up data the same way it has been done in all my IT jobs over years.
Since tape drive are not really a option for home users, I use the SAN backups with a combination of dated Ghost copies stored on IDE drives that I have saved over the years. What you get with an external storage device is raid 5 arrays, which have been an industry standard for years.

But there are many ways to do active backup, but most of which require some type of additional media and software. Many people try to keep current Ghost images of there drives, but as the system grows beyond the basic os and drivers, a complex instability grows.

My base build is always OS, Service Packs, drivers and Ghost. I create an image an store that for a base. Then I active create jobs on drives and directories that I want to have current on a san. Software can be reinstalled at anytime, so only back up what's not recoverable.

There are many ways to do it, not all are right. You need to pick a path and a schedule and see what works for you. Don't just set something up, and not test it, beta it out.

Cheers.

 

[muddywellies]

Good, solid response, thankyou. Enjoyed your signature. I'm heading that way (fast?).

 

[g-paw]

For just backing up data I use GoodSync http://www.goodsync.com/ with an external hard drive. Extremely easy to set up and use and it's worked perfectly. Had the hard drive go out recently on my office machine and didn't lose anything. Also use it to sync folders on other computers, e.g., foto folders on my computer with those on my wife's laprop. It's free to try and you get the full version.

 

[Guest]

Just tried another app wizardsync, it looks quite different from the other programs. Seems to work well and does the job in an easy way.

 

[foxy_roxy]

IMHO . All data backup planning would ideally start with asking what? why? How often? where? . All backup plans would ideally have a random testing schedule so that you are confident that you can depend on them when things go wrong.

Obviously the path you take to the destination [aka a functional backup] depends on a lot of variables like your budget, time, the value you assign to your data, and other resources.

Having a simple backup plan works nicely for home users. There are any number of sw/hw solutions available to fit into different user requirements. Try of Acrobat Trueimage or syncback se

 

[foxy_roxy]

Sorry It should be Acronis True image. Age must be finally catching up with me.....