What backup solution/s do you use? (System Restore, Image, MS Backup...)

Topic says all.

I would like to know, what members of this forum use as their backup solution. Personally I turned off System Restore in this XP SP2 box, and use a Linux program called Partimage (This box is dual boot) to create an image from Linux of this XP Partition. It saves me having to use a CD all the time. Only takes 10 minutes to backup and 9 minutes to restore.

What do you use?

 

Norton Ghost (boots off two floppys) to BU 80Gb HDD to ext 80Gb Seagate. About 20-25mins each way for a full 80Gb disk clone.

 

I use Acronis True Image, takes about 5 mins each way.. although sometimes a full image will take a whopping 10 mins to create

 

Image for DOS, Terabyte Unlimited

 

FarStone DriveClone, very easy to use, only five steps:
1.-click exe
2.-starts from dos and ask to go to windows or to DriveClone (of course this one)
3.-Asks if I want to clone the drive or a partition
4.-Asks if I want to compress
5.-Asks where I wanto to save the backup(another partition, cd's or dvd)

AND THAT´S ALL. you can make an image with all of your programs, and let´s say, IT IS NOT COMPLICATED AND THE COPY IN CD´S I HAVE ALWAYS WORK (it makes it bootable without problems, only the 5 steps y mention before.

 

Do those of you with an imaging program (Acronis True image, Norton Ghost) have System Restore enabled?

 

I don't, but I do also use RegRun's registry backup.

 

1) Desktop connected to Laptop via LAN - real time backup while working. If something happens to the desktop, I want to be able to continue working. This happened 2 years ago - power supply failed on the desktop at 1AM - had to finish important reports.

2) Use ZipBackup each night: all data partitions to external USB HD - stored in fireproof vault in cellar.

[no imaging]

-rich

 

HI
Powerquest Drive Image still does the work very well for me.
Cheers

 

Acronis True Image about every 2 weeks for the last 2 1/2 years.
System Restore is turned off (worthless)
Plus, I use First Defense ISR, a real gem.

 

Another Acronis TI user here ... it doesn't get any better IMHO.

 

I use the following strategy for my PC backup:

1- Create HD image with Acronis True Image every 3-4 days.

2- Backup files/folders that change frequently every day using ViceVersa Pro. (a great backup/Sync tool BTW).

3- Backup my system files and registry every day using MS Backup.

4- I use System Restore to create a safe point when I want to test a small piece of software but when it's a major software (e.g. firewall, AV or any software that makes alot of changes in my system) I use Acronis True Image to revert the entire system to its original state.

In strategy number 2 above, I use Mirror backup but I keep multiple previous versions for the files that were updated just in case.

 

System Restore is turned off. I use a backup schedule [full + incremental] for Norton Ghost 9.0 [part of SystemWorks Premier 2005]. A full backup on early Sunday morning takes maybe ten-fifteen minutes; the other incremental backups during the week take less time. Ghost 9.0 is borrowed from DriveImage 7.0 and runs inside Windows so you can keep working while it is doing image backups in the background. I use a Seagate 160-Gig target drive for the images via an external USB 2.0 interface [very fast]. Ghost keeps a service running and an interface in the System Tray which informs the user when it is doing its thing; the schedule is automated and once set, does not require any user interaction.

 

Drive Snapshot - a single 440KB file that can run in the background taking an image backup while you do other things. Restores need a bootdisk (floppy becomes a possibility with a file this small) or a startup using a separate Windows partition. It imposes no overheads (Windows services or background processes) when not running, it just requires Admin access (and installs a driver).

Time-wise, it takes me 45 minutes to backup and verify a 35GB partition to an external disk on a 1GHz PIII laptop with 512MB RAM.

 

Paranoid2000: I am trying Drive Snapshot and have questions that the documentation apparently does not answer, I was wondering if you could offer some information or guidance:

1. Can the files created by the backup (.SN1, .SN2, .SN3, .SNA) be copied to CD-R/RWs?
2. If so, will Nero, for instance, make such copies? - is there a special procedure to follow?
3. If the sole source of the image will be the CDs, what is the procedure for restoring a drive from the CDs?

Thanks, and, of course, I would appreciate the help of anyone else who could be helpful.

 

It should be possible to save the SN* files produced by Drive Snapshot to CD/DVD just as with any other files.

To restore a system partition (i.e. one containing the Windows folder) you need to either create a bootable floppy or CD (with DOS plus NTFS drivers for restoring Win2K/XP partitions - see Creation of a DOS BOOT floppy) or have a separate Windows partition on another disk (you would then boot from this in order to restore). The Snapshot installer should include an option to create a bootable floppy - more information can be found on the DiskImage Restore for Windows NT/2000/XP page.

 

Thanks, I'll give it a roll. I guess the info is actually there in the help files, but I'm having a hard time deciphering the instructions. Making the backup image could not have been easier, but the restoring of the image using DOS seems a challenge to this novice.

The worst that could happen is not a big deal anyway - I have my data and profiles backed up on disks. Plus, it's more than time for this old clunker of a computer to be retired to a secondary role. It's time to spend some money on a machine with power, space and two hard drives. That would surely give me more effective and reliable alternatives re backups.

Thanks again.