Can anybody recommend a good but easy to use software to backup my hard drive.
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Backup Software
- Thread starter ALLSKIING
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Do you use Windows XP? If so, just use the built-in backup program. I have a second hard drive on my computer that I use to backup all my data to nightly. Works pretty well. Start --> Run... type ntbackup and OK.ALLSKIING said:
From what I understand you can't use that with a DVD/RW drive.Greg said:
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How much data are you backing up? If it's more than a DVD's worth or two, buy a big second hard drive and just back up to that.ALLSKIING said:
I think its about 15GB.Greg said:
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So at least 4 DVDs. Buy a second HDD...ALLSKIING said:
Thanks, I will look into that.Greg said:
ALLSKIING said:
I like Retrospect (used to be Dantz, now looks like EMC bought it out); I use it to backup multiple computers, very configurable, maintains good history and states, and can use all sorts of media (external HD, DVD, etc.) Good stuff, not exactly simple in terms of just hit "Backup", need to configure a few things first, but works well.
Not inexpensive at around $90 for the Professional/Home version, but I don't know of too many really good alternatives.
However, you could keep it simple and just copy your important stuff over to an external HD, those are pretty cheap too. That's just one part of a good backup solution; the best is automated daily/weekly backups onto either external or removable storage, and then maintaining backups offsite as well.
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Catul is correct about a good backup strategy. I also hear good things about Retrospect - formally the best option for Macs; now a good Windows app. My suggestion would be to configure your daily backup to a secondary hard drive and then maybe once a month, burn everything manually to DVD and store them off-site (a family member's house?). Of course if you generate a lot of dynamically changing data, maybe set something up to run once a week. Of course with the amount of data you're talking about, a backup to extrenal media like DVD will be somewhat manual anyway as you'll need to change DVDs.Catul said:
Just read about Cobian Backup in PCMag - it's free and looks pretty good, worth a try. For the amount of data you have, a small external HD along with automated backups should be easy. Consider burning some DVD's too once in a while to take offsite.
I have about 300Gb of digital images, along with another 100-150Gb of other data that needs to be backed up, so obviously DVD's are not going to work too well
. I've put together a good setup where Retrospect backs up to a "backup computer" that currently has about 800Gb of RAID-5 storage. I also setup an old computer at the office with a large external drive, and FolderShare automatically syncs up my important stuff from home over the internet - sweet
I have about 300Gb of digital images, along with another 100-150Gb of other data that needs to be backed up, so obviously DVD's are not going to work too well
. I've put together a good setup where Retrospect backs up to a "backup computer" that currently has about 800Gb of RAID-5 storage. I also setup an old computer at the office with a large external drive, and FolderShare automatically syncs up my important stuff from home over the internet - sweet Similar threads
