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Is there any free Software to take backup and Restore the system?

Hi,

I have Windows 7 and Windows 8 Computers. I want to take backup and Restore the system When the system crash or When it get affected with Virus. I am looking for a free open source software that can help me. Please also list down the steps to take backup and restore system for the software you suggest?

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Blue Street Tech

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Dan Craciun

They're not technically free... You paid for them you bought Windows :)

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noxcho

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Blue Street Tech

I'd say in the past Windows backup has really sucked with an average successful restore rate of only 41%...but since Windows 7, Windows Backup is now competitive and furthermore solid in both features and successful restore rates. The context here is free...therefore I'd never recommend a solution like this for a corporate backup solution but for personal use it's great.

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nobus

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Gerald Connolly

Remember the old axiom "You get what you pay for"

Free may seem a good idea, but have you thought it through properley?

Think about how much your data is worth (to you) and how much (especially time) it will take you to regenerate that data - even if you can. NB remember to cost your time.

If you are honest with yourself, you will be surprised how much money that lot adds up to!

Can you now justify compromising your backup regime by only considering Free software?

nobus

well - i never had problems with the free one, and i used it a lot for repairs
and the free one is part of the commercial one - so why should they make it less good?
it is used as advertising instrument

noxcho

Agreed with nobus. Free one is the same as commercial one, it has simply only basic features such as backup and recovery and sometimes no support. More sophisticated ones are available for money.
The question is - what exactly is needed? IMHO for backup and recovery the free one is ok.

Dan Craciun

I've been doing IT maintenance and monitoring for a while now, and while I do not know if paid backup software is better than free, I certainly know that the free one works and it's good enough.

For my needs on Windows workstations (take daily incremental backups, full backups on weekends, notify by email once the backup is done/failed) CobianBackup is enough. And it's free.

For Linux servers and syncing between NAS's in different location, rsync works. And it's free.

I only buy backup software for Windows Servers, and that's for ease of use. It's simply faster to restore a working copy with full permissions from a VM or an exchange/SQL server backup using a paid application.

My 2¢

Dan

Gerald Connolly

@nobus, noxcho & DanCracium - You are missing the point i was trying to make, yes free software might be oK, but as data is worth money (to someone) just restricting yourself to free software is irrational.

So look around a bit more and consider Free AND low-cost software.

nobus

Connolly - you missed our point completely too :
since we say the free and commercial is the same - why pay?

sivakugan

ASKER

Thanks Guys for your nice discussion.

Blue Street Tech

Glad I could help...thanks for the points!