Back Up To External Hard Drives
The particular drive for our backup testing is not particularly critical in terms of performance and capacity. On one hand, most portable drives are based on USB 2.0 and deliver very similar performance. On the other hand, capacities are limited by the hard drives available for external (3.5”) or portable products (2.5”). However, it makes sense to go for a reputable brand and solid product to make sure your data is reasonably protected. We recently looked at a few portable drives for outdoor use and grabbed Hitachi’s Portable Rugged 2.5” drive for this project.
The Portable Rugged drive has a ruggedized exterior and an integrated USB connector cable. Capacities of 250, 320, and 500GB are available; more options will follow with the advent of the first 640GB 2.5” drives, which Hitachi hasn’t yet released.
All Portable Rugged drives are drop- and spill–resistant, and they come with a backup bundle called Hitachi Local Backup. We didn’t try this application since our focus here is on more specialized titles and the new Windows 7 backup. Note that 2GB of free online backup storage is available for all Portable Rugged customers. If you want more online space, you’ll have to purchase a larger capacity plan. Hitachi provides a three-year warranty for all Portable Rugged drives.
Would have been nice if the time that it took to do the first full backup was recorded for comparison.
I know I'll be hated for this, but I prefer manual backup!
The single most important factor for backup software is how easily you access the backup data. I use a folder sync program for daily backups (which can also copy files which are being edited). That means I lose the ability to make incremental backups (and have versions of files) and if I realize I overwrote something important - after the backup is done it's too late to recover.
But what I gain is that the backup is always viewable on any computer and it's as easy as accessing a remote dir. This is as fool proof as it gets.
If a fire destroys my computer I don't want to have to install software (or even an OS) in order to view my backed up data. I want it now!
^^ which folder sync program do u use?
VEEERY ANNOYING ADD THAT ONE OF MASS EFFECT 2!!!! I COULDN'T FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE BECAUSE OF IT. PLEASE GUYS, DON'T RUIN YOUR TRAJECTORY! (MAYBE IF IT DOESN'T START PLAYING BY ITSELF WILL WORK)
I used Windows Backup last night, took about 15 minutes, and got rid of all the issues I was having...HIGHly recommend it...I NEVER got Vista system restore to successfully work, this performed flawlessly on my first try and kept me from doing an operating system reinstall. THANKS Microsoft, 7 ROCKS!!!
I know I'll be hated for this, but I prefer manual backup!
There is no such thing as manual backup.
Z.
I am using the latest version of SyncBreeze Pro configured to sync all my data every 30 minutes.
I am using the latest version of SyncBreeze Pro configured to sync all my data to a NAS every 30 minutes.
If Windows is already installed, you can also restore the system without recovery disk, by hitting F8 before Windows loads up and then selecting Repair your Computer, System Image Recovery.
I love how Windows 7 STILL comes with a default setup of one giant partition for everything. Creating a ~40gb(give or take) Windows partition, and a separate partition and mapping the user shell folders to the new partition in regedit alleviates 99.9% of recovery problems(leaving only theft, catastrophe and hard-drive failure), and the remaining can be handled by using an external hard-drive(provided, you take it with you everywhere).
Linux gives you far better install options, you can map /home to it's own partition automatically during the install, it's too easy.
so who is the idiot that marked everything down one?
Can't believe no one mentioned Cobian. It's free, and has all the functinalities the paid software has. It's small/light-weight too.
If you want bullet-proof, lightening fast backup and recovery, use StorageCraft's ShadowProtect. It beats everything else; even when you are trying to do a complete disaster recovery rebuild from scratch.
I love SyncToy, even more so now that it runs on Windows 7.
Any backup is worthless without a restore, and any backup review is worthless without a restore review.
At a minimum, test that you can restore:
8+3 filenames (and that they remain the same after restore)
Files in use (shadow copy)
EFS encrypted files
Advanced permissions
NTFS junctions and streams
sparse files (as sparse files, not filled with zeroes)
restore to different hardware
restore to a different OS license
Acronis FTW.. From cloning disks, to preforming complete bare metal restore. ONLY software that i have ever used, that has worked 100% of the time, and this has been with 100's of servers, 100's of workstations. XP/Vista/WIN7.. it just works. Different hardware, no problem..
I think 1TB-2TB RAID1 is the best backup solution... no need for software or setup, and no problems with restore either.
RAID != backup. If you accidentally delete a file, it's gone from a RAID too. If an install leaves your system in a nonworking state, RAID does nothing to help. If you need to look at what a document said 3 months ago before it was overwritten, RAID won't do it. And if your PC gets stolen or burns up, a RAID won't get your data back.
A backup is neither copies of files, nor is it a failsafe against failed drives. It's snapshots in time, where you can go back to that exact point, for the entire system or for files, folders or metadata.