Decent free backup software ?

iMax

Hope someone can help, I'm looking for a decent free backup solution that just makes a copy of the specified file rather than a database of compressed files.

It's for my dad who although he loves tinkering isn't very technical minded. I've ended up restoring his PC so many times now it's not even funny. Would love to be able to have this installed, it makes all the relevent backups & if (when) I or he needs to the backup drive can just be browsed to restore whatever he's deleted this time.

Looking for free, nice gui & reliable... probably too much to ask for but ya never know...

Thanks in advance.

mp22

http://www.afterdawn.com/search/search_results.cfm?cx=007976064430744583596%3Aiixdheoudzk&cof=FORID%3A11&q=free+backup+software&sa=#1656

Fysh

mp22 wrote: »

http://www.afterdawn.com/search/search_results.cfm?cx=007976064430744583596%3Aiixdheoudzk&cof=FORID%3A11&q=free+backup+software&sa=#1656

So, it's awesome that you've linked to a search engine on some site that provides such useful backup software results as DVDShrink, DVD Decrypter and RipItForMe, but are you going to recommend any specific application? Or just waste everyone's time with a less helpful variation on "why not try a google search"?

In terms of the original question, I'm dying to find something along these lines myself for work purposes. Every time I look at commercial backup products they seem based on imaging an entire drive, and that's not what I want to do.

In terms of free products, the closest I've found to what I wanted was DriveImageXML (see here), though I've used the WinPE plugin version rather than the installable application. There's also ShadowCopy by the same crowd, which might be better suited to what you need (if you're looking to restore individual files rather than imaging an entire disk).

If all of that fails, put a USB external hard drive in the machine, write a batch file using xcopy and suitable switches, and schedule it to run using the Scheduler. It's not pretty and it won't run on demand, but it'll do the trick...

mp22

i suppose you might as well use google then

JonathanAnon

In my experience, for the home user the problem is not actually backing up the files they need, but actually finding out where the files are kept. What I normally suggest to people is to create a separate partition on the disk and save all the files to that location or a folder called data. Put everything that you cannot afford to lose in this folder and back up to DVD.

I'm not mad on USB hard drives as they can let you down. If you burn to different DVD every month, you will have a reliable backup that can be read from any other PC.

Fysh

The key to any backup process is planning around part failure- USB hard drives can fail but so can anything else. A cheap recordable DVD can burn incorrectly or degrade if it's not stored correctly, for instance. If you want to be sure of not losing something you've got to plan around any possible failure - whether that be power surge, theft, disaster, or anything else. So you'll want at least 2 backups, preferably on different types of media and preferably stored in different places. You want to make them regularly so as to minimise the loss involved if you have to use them to restore a system or file(s). But then at that point you're talking about committing time and probably money to a backup routine that, let's face it, is going to be above and beyond the requirements of a significant number of users...

(On the subject of external hard drives, I prefer Firewire to USB as the interface of choice where available, but all of this is meaningless if the disk itself isn't decent.)

Capt'n Midnight

do you want to backup/restore files
or do you want disaster recovery
very different things which many backup companies fail to make clear

for true disaster recover for windows you could get a standalone bootable CD otherwise it's a case of reinstall windows, apply patches and drivers install backup program and then restore. some windows backup programs are mid way here

ghost costs money acronis has freebies every so often

ntbackup in windows XP pro has a ASR option to backup / restore the entire drive

JonathanAnon

Fysh wrote: »

The key to any backup process is planning around part failure- USB hard drives can fail but so can anything else. A cheap recordable DVD can burn incorrectly or degrade if it's not stored correctly, for instance.

I'm not suggesting that you buy the cheapest DVD and store it in a bucket of acid. From experience, there is a far greater chance of a USB drive letting you down. Plus with the USB drive, all your eggs are in the one basket (unless you buy two or three USB drives, which will increase the expense of this solution). You can burn as many DVDs as you wish. My suggestion is to burn a backup DVD every week, so that you have multiple backups.

My point is that DVD is a better solution as a) they are more reliable and of good capacity (for the home user) b) The DVD burn can be verified in any other PC by simply opening the contents c) You can cheaply create multiple independent backups d) The DVD backup can be restored on ANY PC, and does not require a DLT / 4/8mm tape drive / Firewire port etc etc.

I've assessed all the solutions for my home business and I found that the best way of setting up your hard drive is as follows:
1) partition your drive with C: (system) and (data) partitions.
2) store ALL data \Data, copies of ALL drivers required to \drivers,copies of ALL installed software \Software etc etc. Do NOT store any data files on your C: partition.
3) Back up the drive only. I usually back up the Data folder to one DVD, and software/drivers to another DVD.

If the hard drive packs in, or you just wish to format the C: partition and reinstall XP/Vista, you can reinstall from the drive or Software DVD, and your Data from the Data DVD.

I think the most important thing is to VERIFY your backups. I got caught with this before as a junior engineer

Capt'n Midnight

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I think the most important thing is to VERIFY your backups. I got caught with this before as a junior engineer

qft

Fysh

On the flipside of the DVD aspect, burning weekly DVD backups of all my data would involve burning between somewhere between 25 & 50 discs. Compared to scheduling software backups to an external drive, the hassle and time involved aren't worth it - but then that's a decision each person has to make. For someone with comparatively small amounts of data DVD would be the smarter way to go alright.

And yes, verification of backups for the win.

watty

DVDs if left in the sun are unreadible. They also can "rot". They are a poor archival medium unless a DVD version of Gold Archival quality CDR (never seen the DVD version). I've seen "rot" on CD and DVD just stored in a damp place (no sunlight).

There is free backup software builtin to Windows (NT family). Always has been. May not be in Home Editions.

Start Run ntbackup

Backup solutions depend on how much data is to be backed up, if it's for archival (Tax 7 years) or Disaster Recovery or what. How important the data is etc.


Note that loss of data due to human error is more common than disk failure, so a professional RAID system doesn't mean you don't need a backup solution.

ast

I've been using SyncToy to back up files to a USB drive. It just copies the changes from one folder to another so it avoids backing up files that are already backed up.

Occasionally I'll back things up to DVD as well if I feel they are more important.

kmick

+ 1 on Synctoy its a very good utility. I bought a DLINK NAS box with two 500GB drives in RAID 1 http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/dlink_dns323/
and also backup online via Carbonites 50Gb service. This means I have 3 copies of my data. Total cost about 250 euro but I know that I am covered for almost all eventualities.