Re: Which backup programs will do this?
- From: David Maynard <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 11:19:24 -0600
AL D wrote:
I've never used an imaging program and am a bit wary of the concept. My knowledge is limited, but it seems to me that it would be more foolproof and convenient to have another bootable drive with an exact copy of the main drive's contents: (OS, programs and data). This way, if the main drive fails, I can simply set the bios to boot from the backup drive (or even physically switch the drives, so that no BIOS changes are required). Is there good justification for this backup strategy?
If so.... on my Win XP, PC, what is an inexpensive way to copy the contents
of my main 120gb drive (contains my OS, my programs and my data) onto
another drive, so that the other drive is also bootable.
According to a PC World artice, CMS Product's $79 BounceBack Professional 5.5 does this. But I'm guessing there is a cheaper, simpler way. Bounceback doesn't seem to have a support site anyway.
After doing the initial copying of all the files, I would then like a program that automatically backs up only files that are newly created and all files that are subsequently changed, onto backup drive, thus maintaining an accurate copy of the main drive as efficiently as possible.
My main drive is 120gb and my backup drive is only 80gb, however, I don't anticipate that the 120gb will ever contain anything approaching 80gb of data.
Budget is tight but the program needs to be effective and reliable. If
it's easy to understand and use, that would be good.
Will something as simple as Windows' drag-and-drop, or DOS Xcopy, do the intitial copying of the main disc effectively? If so, I could then use a low cost backup program to backup just the files that get changed or added, yes?
Thank you,
Al D
I'd suggest you separate the process of backing up the O.S. and programs from 'data' as they're really different issues. O.S. and programs do not change nearly as often as data does and, at the worst, are restorable from the original install CDs.
From a cost standpoint, XP has a built-in backup capability that satisfies all the criteria you listed for data backup. From XP's help...
Copy backup
A copy backup copies all selected files but does not mark each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). Copying is useful if you want to back up files between normal and incremental backups because copying does not affect these other backup operations.
Daily backup
A daily backup copies all selected files that have been modified the day the daily backup is performed. The backed-up files are not marked as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared).
Differential backup
A differential backup copies files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It does not mark files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is not cleared). If you are performing a combination of normal and differential backups, restoring files and folders requires that you have the last normal as well as the last differential backup.
Incremental backup
An incremental backup backs up only those files created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It marks files as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). If you use a combination of normal and incremental backups, you will need to have the last normal backup set as well as all incremental backup sets in order to restore your data.
Normal backup
A normal backup copies all selected files and marks each file as having been backed up (in other words, the archive attribute is cleared). With normal backups, you need only the most recent copy of the backup file or tape to restore all of the files. You usually perform a normal backup the first time you create a backup set.
.......................
XP's backup can also be scheduled to run automatically.
You would, of course, have to have an operational XP system to run backup's restore process and restore the data to, so...
For imaging system drives I use Ghost but it's a bit pricey. Acronis trueimage is another good commercial disk imager for a little bit less.
Since you've never used an imaging program, though, and are a bit uneasy about the process you might want to investigate some freeware tools to get a feel for the concept. I'll say up front I've not used a one of them but since they're free...
Here is one that has the advantage of using a windows interface. To restore a dead system, though, you need something 'windows' that's bootable (the reason most of them use that 'cryptic' DOS command line) but they show how to make an XP bootable WinPE CD.
http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm
There is also a drive imaging program called DrvImagerXP but last I heard it was unable to image the system partition. Just mentioned it so you don't waste time with it.
http://www.lexundesigns.com/ has a program called Lexun Backup Solution. I haven't a clue about it but the description suggest it can image drives.
A freeware page with some more ideas.
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml
Btw, don't 'experiment' with your business stuff.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Which backup programs will do this?
- From: AL D
- Re: Which backup programs will do this?
- References:
- Which backup programs will do this?
- From: AL D
- Which backup programs will do this?
- Prev by Date: Re: Question about discs and system design
- Next by Date: Re: Deciding on a backup procedure using 3 drives
- Previous by thread: Re: Which backup programs will do this?
- Next by thread: Re: Which backup programs will do this?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
