An Image Backup that's Very Easy to Use?

Sure, I'm willing to forgive & forget. Perhaps I should have mentioned my experience with DS, but in truth I didn't want to 'prejudice the jury' so to speak. If there was, or still is, a better/easier backup solution for my gf I want to hear it (honestly) - as long as it's given in a civil and respectful manner.

Wendi

 

Hi Wendi, I want to say that some folks post without really thinking about what effect their post may have. They have something on their mind and in effect just blurt it out. This is a real shame and fortunately it does not happen too often here (although it seems to be happening more often of late). The thing to keep in mind however is that the vast majority of posts on this thread were made strictly with the intent of helping you and your friend. Its really unfortunate that a small number of posts negatively coloured not only this thread but also the entire forum for you. Hopefully you will just ignore those who can not contain themselves and pay attention to those who are intent on helping. Those that help are the ones who matter in the end. The goal was to get your friend set up with a backup system that will do what she needs done. This goal has been achieved thanks to the input of a good number of people.

Oh, and it does not matter an iota that you did not say you had experience with DS. The fact was stated that your friend has DS, its a good program, and even if you had never seen it before its not that big a deal to become familiar enough with it so that you can help your friend if she needs help.

 

Right-on bg! I have just one more observation. Some folks jump in without grasping 'where the OP is coming from', because (I suspect) they only read the thread's title and not the posts where the OP expresses his/her needs, constraints, etc. As a consequence, the suggestions they offer really don't address the OP's issues.

Cruise

 

Couldn't agree more!

 

Cruise, thanks for pointing that out. This was Wendi's request in the first post.....

It is a quite specific request. An image backup program. I'm glad we agree on the solution.

 

Most importantly, Wendi stated (early-on) that she saw a licensed copy of DS on her girlfriend's PC along with several DS (sna) backup files on the external drive (which may contain family memories no longer on the PC). To me, those findings made a compelling case for creating a simplified backup plan around DS.

Cruise

 

Hi Brian,

Just to keep you abreast of my plans, I'll be visiting my gf again this Sun. at which time I plan to setup scheduling for the DS batch-file. I will first test it out on my system beforehand (probably on Sat.). While at my gf's home I also plan to checkout the old sna files on the external drive to see if there are any photos, etc that are no longer on the PC's HDD. Otherwise, I will delete any image files which I consider to be of little or no value.

It's after 11 PM here and as I have teaching assignments tomorrow, I'll bid you goodnight.

Wendi

 

Wendi,

Please keep us informed but you are on top of this now. Your friend must be happy.

 

Here are the Task Scheduler instructions again but with the extra option we discussed....

Open Task Scheduler and click Task Scheduler Library on the left and Create Basic Task on the right.

Name ... Full image
Daily, weekly, whatever
Time
Start a Program
Browse to C:\Snapshot\DS.cmd
Put a tick in Open the Properties dialog for....
Finish
Tick in Run with highest privileges
Configure for Windows 7
Conditions tab, put a tick in Wake the computer to run this task
Setup tab, Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed
Click OK

 

Hi Brian,

Everything went very well this past Sunday - my gf is thrilled with your scheduled DS (batch) backup - it's now setup for weekly backups.

I also browsed the existing DS backups on the external drive (with my gf) and was able to identify and recover a number of older photos of my gf and her late husband (when they first got engaged/married). As those photos were not on the PC's internal drive my gf was elated that we discovered them. Needless to say they are priceless to her.

We didn't see anything else of value in the old sna files so I deleted them, freeing up about 250GB on the external HDD! After recovering those older photos to her PC I ran a DS backup to the external drive, with the next one scheduled to run a week from then.

Wendi

 

Wendi,

Thanks for the update. I'm surprised there were files in the old .sna images that weren't in the computer. Good find. I hope that impresses the early detractors.