Hiya,
With a neihgbour at the mo - he needs a windows backup system that works to an external USB disk.
Any suggestions of good software that can handle this as automatically as possible (after initial config)?
I'm thinkig something that is basically plug disk in, hit button and get the latest incremental backup initiated.
Cheers for any suggestions :)
Tim
I cant help you but there is the smirk pf schadenfreude as I note in my inbox the usual email telling me that the cron daemon has once again ensured that all my hardisks are not furnished with up do date snapshots on another hard disk.
Including a remote server somewhere in a machine room in..well I really have no idea actually.
And the last vestige of Microsnot - the virtual machine on this desktop. I haven't used in in a month.
Of people value their data and security and want automated backups, why are they still using windows?
Well quite. I just have the smirk as Time Machine incrementally backs up my Mac Mini to an external or remote drive every hour.
If all he wants to do is to backup his data, and not the entire OS/Application load then Synctoy (free from Microsoft) will do the job. Generally it's a good fix for the problem of backing up to USB, because you can install the OS/Apps from the original media then use Synctoy to restore the data. It needs a little discipline - to perform backups
*and* to make damn sure that data is always stored under the same folder (My Documents is the obvious place).BTW, real fix - don't buy Windows, it's s**te. But I'm sure you knew this. If you have ever seen Time Machine you will know how backups should be performed for desktop users.
Well I use the Memeo Backup software (yes, under Windows!) that came bundled with my NAS drive a couple of years ago. Was easy to configuere, chugs away in the background quite happily, and has certainly saved my bacon on a couple of occasions.
HI Tim
Somebody on one of the other fora pointed me at a little program called BVCKUP
Can either do timed backups / backups when things change / or backups when you tell it to...
I've tried allsorts before - free & paid for, and this little program seems the best so far. Give it a try...
Adrian
I'd recommend Cobian backup
Acronis True Image works for me, and fully automatic.
Why not use Microsoft's own backup system, ntbackup? Comes with XP if he uses it; should be on the installation discs. Failing that, download it from
Is is similar to how iTunes sync works? Some people really like that.
For a commercial one, Acronis True image. Will do all sorts of backup including a very fast disaster recovery option.
Synctoy, or knock up a .cmd script with Robocopy.
I'm a long way from a fanboy, but there's no reason why that can't be done on Windows, without spending any cash. It's merely a case of knowing how, just like it is with a Unix-like OS.
No.
I like it, it works well. Others don't like it.
In message , Tim Watts wrote
I use Acronis and regularly backup everything to an external USB hard disk.
I have had one occasion when I had to restore to a previous backup, which worked well.
Allway Sync.
Google it.
Does what it says on the tin
I would smirk more, my backup software knows when a file has changed and backs it up. Not some stupid one hour "cron" job. I believe its where apple stole time machine from as I have been using it for a few years now.
Collective thanks to all for suggestions.
I've had a cursory look at some of the suggestions and emailed them to him, suggesting he try at least the free ones or the ones with a demo version.
Also that he switches up to 2 backup disks and alternates them once a week offsite (even if that's the detatched garage).
Yeah - managed to recover most of the critical files for his job - slowly and painfully as my linux laptop via a USB SATA converter munched through a dozen retries on a very large number of bad sectors, then WinSCP'd them to his laptop with new disk.
I think he's learnt his lesson - if not, it'll be £100/hour next time ;->
Cheers!
Tim
ah well so if you accidentally delete a file its duplicate is also immediately buggered?
VERY clever.
And exactly what I and other saner people DO NOT want.
There is a reason for daily backups: you can generally remember what changes you made in a day..and recreate them, and a day old file is better than no file at all.
Nut them some of us have been professional IT directors and managers in our time.
I was assuming the software maintained incrementals?
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