What do you guys use for your PC backup software?

[geepondy]

Here's what I want to do with my XP system. I want to back up my entire partition that contains the XP OS (about 50Gig) to an external hard drive. I also want to back up individual data files that are located in other drives to the same external hard drive. In the event of a system crash, I want to be able to load back the copied OS partition like nothing ever happened. What do you guys use for your backup software that can accomplish this? The only two I'm really aware of is Norton Ghost and Acronish True Image.

 

[tiktok 22]

I like true image for making a drive image. for general backup, I like Cobian backup. It's free.

 

[AlexGT]

Acronis True image, worth every penny

 

[Fitz]

I've used Acronis True Image for years and have had to use it several times to re-image a drive/partition. Works very well and simple to use. Highly recommended.

 

[lctorana]

Maxtor one-touch.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Hi-

I just set my wife up with a 20GB NTFS partition for XP Pro -- all of the data files are on another partition. We use Clonezilla to back up the partition with the XP business to a FAT partition. Clonezilla is free (GPL) software with no malware or other unexpected costs. The site linked to above has good documentation that may be assimilated quickly. I DLed the iso, burnt the CD and booted with it. It asks many questions but it's set up in such a way that all I needed to do was use the defaults.

On this machine Mrs Umbra backs up the data partition to another partition using a GUI 'diff' type program, WinMerge. It's another free GPL program and can mirror directory structures.

 

[Black Rose]

Acronis True image

 

[scaredofthedark]

does software RAID1 count?

 

[tebore]

True image always worked for me it has never gave me any trouble.

 

[geepondy]

Guys I bought True Image, now I have another question which I'll ask here and see if I get an answer before starting a new thread or asking at other places.

When I put together my system, I partitioned the main drive into two NTFS partitions, a smaller one for the OS and program files, etc. and a larger one for data files. I have now realized I made the original one too small as it is almost full. Can I somehow on the fly, make it bigger by subtracting some unused sized from the second partition?

 

[Sub_Umbra]

GParted can do it. It's very straightforward. Read the doc on resizing partitions first. It's free, GPL and it works. I've always been interested in resizing partitions and I just did my first one a couple weeks ago using GParted. It was painless.

 

[scott.cr]

I use carbonite.com, an online backup service. For a 50 gig initial backup, it would probably take 3-4 days depending on your upload speed though!

 

[BobVA]

For the individual files/folders, try SyncToy - free download from Microsoft. It lets you set up relationships between drives/folders using a variety of rules (e.g. Copy new files left to right only, copy newer files each direction, etc.)

For OS backups I'm pretty happy with Drive SnapShot. Extremely fast, runs under XP (i.e. doesn't require a boot to DOS) and, using a very small utility, you can mount the backup file(s) as a virtual drive so you can access/restore individual files, check dates, etc.

Regards,
Bob

 

[ksonger]

hmm, i seem like i am in the minority here but i am in the business and use ghost to back up and restore partitions on almost a daily basis with no problems.

ken

 

[eluminator]

I've used SyncToy but it's a hassle for me. I have multiple users and invariably there will be some files that don't have read permission for the Admin account I use for copying.

I tried the latest SyncToy a few months ago. I copied hundreds of thousands of files. It seemed to fragment every damned file. It took hours to defragment. I don't know if the earlier SyncToy did that.

I now use Western Digital's Data Lifeguard program. That thing will copy everything, every time. Actually it copies too much. When copying a whole partition it tries to copy recycler and "system volume information". There's an easy fix though. I make a temporary folder on the destination partition and copy to that. Then drag everything but those two folders up to the root.

 

[tvodrd]

Several years ago, I bought Casper (the friendly ghost) and succeeded once in creating a mirror of my drive on another drive in the same box. Saved my butt when a WD drive crapped! Unfortunately, the cloned program ceased to work and would crash the box when trying to use it. I read the manual for Acronis, and it scares me.

When the Seagate 80 gig, 10krpm SCSI enterprise-class drive decided to fail on my previous box, it gave me plenty of warning, and with the help of folks here, was able to copy the majority of my files (including emails, and such) into another drive, and save them!

I've been watching this thread because having recently purchased an external HDD, would like to do a full image of my 18mo old current box. And do the same for a friend. I will continue to watch!!

Larry

 

[HarryN]

Not exactly backup software, but related - I use Carbonite - an on-line back up service. 50 bucks a year - Even have proof that it works.

 

[geepondy]

Larry, as I mentioned I bought Acronis True Image and I haven't even looked at the manual but find it very easy to back up either whole drives or partitions to my external drive. I haven't yet tried to do a restore but I assume it should be straight forward as well.

Several years ago, I bought Casper (the friendly ghost) and succeeded once in creating a mirror of my drive on another drive in the same box. Saved my butt when a WD drive crapped! Unfortunately, the cloned program ceased to work and would crash the box when trying to use it. I read the manual for Acronis, and it scares me.

When the Seagate 80 gig, 10krpm SCSI enterprise-class drive decided to fail on my previous box, it gave me plenty of warning, and with the help of folks here, was able to copy the majority of my files (including emails, and such) into another drive, and save them!

I've been watching this thread because having recently purchased an external HDD, would like to do a full image of my 18mo old current box. And do the same for a friend. I will continue to watch!!

Larry