Solution 3: Rebit
Rebit reminds me of the movie The 6th Day, in which a company called RePet offers services to clone your pets. Rebit does something similar. It permanently clones and archives your data onto a dedicated backup drive. The software is bundled with the Replica drive, but it can also be purchased seperately at Rebit. We received a license from Rebit to try the software with other storage targets.
The installer is extremely simple. First, you have to select a viable backup target. In this case, the Portable Rugged drive was attached via USB 2.0 as drive E: and could therefore be selected. Note that the target has to be a locally attached drive because the Rebit service must make it write-protected. This ensures that the Rebit service is the only one with write access to keep backup data safe.
The Rebit software checks if there is data on the target before converting it into a read-only drive that can only be written by the Rebit service. You can have the software overwrite your existing data, but it is kind enough to ask if you want the existing data to be copied to a different location first.
Done! The Rebit service starts working right away and informs you with this window.
Rebit will automatically create a system image and keep track of all changes. All backup data will be stored on the backup drive, which you can read at all times, but you cannot modify the files.
The initial backup process takes a while, but it is performed in the background.
The lack of options disqualifies Rebit for professional users who want to know what’s going on at all times. Still, consumers get an awesome tool that takes care of everything, even versioning modified files. The file access for recovery purposes is easy as can be; we just used Windows Explorer to browse the portable Hitachi drive. Since the backup file structure is identical to your system drive, it’s very convenient to locate necessary files. Simply drag and drop the file off the Rebit drive to recover it. Should you be close to running out of space, Rebit will automatically overwrite data starting with the oldest backups.
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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.
I personally think raid 1 is the worst backup idea I have ever heard of. I think this mostly has to do with the fact that I have only had os coruptions issues and never ture hard drive failure on a primary drives some older 8gb 10gb 40gb drives have died on me but long after I replaced them. I currently keep 2 WD caviar blacks with an external drive 1 black as my primary drive the other as a image backup restore drive. Usually do and image backup to the external and restore to the other drive every 2 weeks or so. Also keep a bk of my data on the external and on my laptop. Keep another copy of my files every few months at my parents incase of fire.
So if my data goes if my hd if windows goes, heck even if one of my programs does something stupid I can be up and running with my pc two weeks ago in about 2 min. Try the last two with raid 1.