Best backup solution, hardware AND software.
With a lot of work, a little help from a friend and a LOT of help from several EE gurus, I managed to salvage most of my most important files after a recent hard drive issue on my old PC. I have a new Dell XPS 8300 w/ core i7 and running Win7 with SP1. It has a 1TB SATA drive with only 141GB used at this point. Most of my old data has been moved to the new PC and I’ve installed new versions of my applications. So now I want to design and implement a plan to keep me from having to go through this fire drill again or at least make the recovery process much less painful. I’m interested to hear what folks here think are good backup solutions currently available for a home user; both hardware and software. What are good choices for a drive and what are the best backup software offerings? I don’t do anything fancy but I do want to be able to save my important user files if/when I have another failure. The new system has USB 3.0 and eSATA connections so I should be able to choose nearly any external drive out there. Or, should I consider an additional internal drive? Should I consider NAS? (I like the idea of a drive I can take away for safe keeping if I plan to be gone for an extended time) And what about the Apple Time Capsule? This would give the additional benefit of giving me an updated wireless router. Whatever I finally choose to install ease of setup is an important factor; probably more important than cost.
Thanks in advance,
Wayne
Thanks in advance,
Wayne
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
schealth: I'll have a look at Clonezilla. In your opinion, is the one of the best current solutions?
jcimarron: I know about the backup included in Win7; do you think it is a good solution compared to other 3rd party applications?
jcimarron: I know about the backup included in Win7; do you think it is a good solution compared to other 3rd party applications?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
fleamourian:
Thanks for the info. I'll do some more serious looking at the Win7 solution. I didn't check it out too closely as some of these Windows features have been pretty lame in the past.
Do you have a favorite brand/model of external HD? Costco has a Seagate Free Agent GoFlex Desk drive pretty inexpensive. It comes with "replica" software and supports USB2 & 3. Any thoughts on this one?
BTW, I'm not inclined to get involved in Linux at this point.
Thanks for the info. I'll do some more serious looking at the Win7 solution. I didn't check it out too closely as some of these Windows features have been pretty lame in the past.
Do you have a favorite brand/model of external HD? Costco has a Seagate Free Agent GoFlex Desk drive pretty inexpensive. It comes with "replica" software and supports USB2 & 3. Any thoughts on this one?
BTW, I'm not inclined to get involved in Linux at this point.
ASKER
The Seagate Free Agent I mentioned is a 2TB; more than enough for me. Around $100.
"I know about the backup included in Win7; do you think it is a good solution compared to other 3rd party applications?"
Yes. Read one of the tutorials to see if it is missing any feature you want/need.
Or http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/windows_7_feature_focus_%E2%80%93_backup_and_restore
But if you insist on paying then look here
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/index.html
Yes. Read one of the tutorials to see if it is missing any feature you want/need.
Or http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/windows_7_feature_focus_%E2%80%93_backup_and_restore
But if you insist on paying then look here
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/index.html
ASKER
jcimarron: Where do I find the tutorials you mention?
you can use Syncback for normal backups (free and GOOD) : www.2brightsparks.com/SyncBack
for image backups, i switched to paragon (i used ACronis before) - also free : http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/
i found it faster...and easy to use
for image backups, i switched to paragon (i used ACronis before) - also free : http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/
i found it faster...and easy to use
oh yes - and if you really want to be safe, use 2 disks alternately for backups - so if one has a problem - you still keep one left
also - personally i alsways use external drives with their own power source, since USB can be easily overloaded (max 5 V at 0.5 A = 2.5 W Max..)
also - personally i alsways use external drives with their own power source, since USB can be easily overloaded (max 5 V at 0.5 A = 2.5 W Max..)
ASKER
The Seagate GoFlex Desk 1TB drive comes with backup software called Replica. Anyone have any thoughts/opinion?
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
nobus:
Thanks for the feedback. These comments were apparently about earlier versions. The one I have supports USB 3.0 and it does have a power adapter. I think I'll go with this one. Still not sure about the included "Replica" software.
Thanks for the feedback. These comments were apparently about earlier versions. The one I have supports USB 3.0 and it does have a power adapter. I think I'll go with this one. Still not sure about the included "Replica" software.
if you can omit installing it - do so
ASKER
nobus:
Are you saying this because it might cause problems or because you think other backup solutions are better? I've been looking on the Seagate support site for instructions on how to avoid installing Replica but haven't found anything yet. I guess I could go ahead and let it install then un-install if I don't like what it does. Thoughts?
Are you saying this because it might cause problems or because you think other backup solutions are better? I've been looking on the Seagate support site for instructions on how to avoid installing Replica but haven't found anything yet. I guess I could go ahead and let it install then un-install if I don't like what it does. Thoughts?
i always want to make my own choice - not the choice of the manufacturer that's all
wayneskid--
You asked "Where do I find the tutorials you mention? " (about Windows 7 Backup and Restore)
See my post http:#a37002686
You asked "Where do I find the tutorials you mention? " (about Windows 7 Backup and Restore)
See my post http:#a37002686
wayneskid--
However there are others
http://sourcedaddy.com/windows-7/backup-and-restore.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/
However there are others
http://sourcedaddy.com/windows-7/backup-and-restore.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/
ASKER
jcimarron: Thanks, I missed the earlier reference to the tutorials.
Every Hard drive will fail at one point, it may be 1 hour or 10 years, but it is going to happen. Writeable DVD/CD media has a lifetime of approximately 2 years depending upon environemental factors, unless you buy archival media in which the estimated lifetime goes up to about 10 years. Have at a minimum of 3 backups on different media if possible. For data, online backup i.e. Carbonite is a good idea. as data is why we have computers and it will backup silently in the background.
Having 2 separate drives is a good idea.. using 1 drive is a recipe for disaster.. i.e. backing up to a partition on the physical drive (drive fails and everything is gone).
Also having an OFFSITE backup is a very good plan, what happens if your house is burgled, have a fire, or other natural disaster
You can never have too many backups but you can find out at the wrong time that you have too few. The backup that is built into Windows 7 does a creditable job. The problem is that if you change the media you have to re-run the configuration as windows uses the disk GUID rather than the drive letter to know where to backup the files.
Having 2 separate drives is a good idea.. using 1 drive is a recipe for disaster.. i.e. backing up to a partition on the physical drive (drive fails and everything is gone).
Also having an OFFSITE backup is a very good plan, what happens if your house is burgled, have a fire, or other natural disaster
You can never have too many backups but you can find out at the wrong time that you have too few. The backup that is built into Windows 7 does a creditable job. The problem is that if you change the media you have to re-run the configuration as windows uses the disk GUID rather than the drive letter to know where to backup the files.
regarding 2 drives - if you buy 2 same drives at the same moment, they are likely going to fail on the same moment also.
Maybe best to buy 2 different ones ? But other experts may have other ideas about this
Maybe best to buy 2 different ones ? But other experts may have other ideas about this
ASKER
The Seagate GoFlex Desk 2Tb drive is installed and I manually copied some of my user files to it; 31.5GB. This copy didn't include the MyPictures or MyMusic folders; another 19GB of data. The USB3.0 connection is quite fast. I installed the drive without the Replica backup software. Now I'm trying to find the time to evaluate Replica and the Win& backup offering.
This is coming along nicely thanks to the help I found here.
This is coming along nicely thanks to the help I found here.
if no more help is needed, plse close this Q
ASKER
A related question: in Win7, if there is a backup in process and it doesn't complete prior to the time that the power setting put the system in sleep mode, will the system go to sleep or will the running backup process (or any other active process) override the sleep timer?
best plan the sleep after the backup - to be honest, i never tested it, but i assume it would go to sleep
ASKER
Thanks for the help!!
wayneskid--You are welcome!
Give it a look see http://clonezilla.org/