Computer backup suggestions

[JPete]

I currently use Carbonite which is coming up for renewal and I am interested in suggestions on other possibilities for backing up my computers. Thanks in advance for your input.

Pete

 

[Ned]

Carbonite is a good service.  If you don't need more than 2GB of offline storage, you can get that much free from mozy.com.  The important thing is you're using an offsite backup system.  Good for you!

For local backup, the simplest is a USB external hard drive.

 

[scottydl]

Someone in another thread mentioned "imaging" their HD every so often on DVD-R's to create offline backup/restore points.  Is that a realistic option for the average user?  Then it wouldn't matter what kind of malware or virus ends up on your system.  You could just format the drive and reinstall from the image.  However, I am not familiar with the software or hardware required for this technique.

 

[seilerbird]

I have a 32 gig flash drive I use for backups that I got from Amazon for $49. It doesn't get any easier or cheaper.

 

[scottydl]

Do you just copy individual folders/files over to that drive, or use some kind of imaging software?

 

[seilerbird]

My hard drive is set up with three partitions. My C drive is Windows Vista and it's applications. My D drive is Windows 7 and it's applications. My E drive is my Library, where I keep all my mp3s, documents, photos, software and videos. I do a complete backup every month. Plug in the flash drive, erase it and then drag and drop everything in the Library onto the flash drive. It is so simple it hurts. Takes less than two hours to back up everything I have, about 16 gigs. No need to back up Windows or the applications since the Windows restore points essentially do that for me.

 

[Ned]

Scotty, imaging isn't a good choice for most users.  The image file, although compressed, will take several to many DVDs to hold it.  You're better off just backing up your data files, mostly found in the My Documents  (or Documents under Vista) folder hierarchy on a regular basis.  Of course, the critical data files should also be backed up in an offline location, either via an online service as we're discussing in this topic, or physically somewhere other than home.  System restore points will let you recover from a bad software or driver installation IF you detect it in time before the restore point gets overwritten.  It's your data that's irreplaceable in the event of a total loss of the computer.  You also need to safeguard the original install media for all your applications, whether on CD, DVD, or downloaded.

For most people, rebuilding a system from scratch is a days work.  In my case, with hundreds of applications, it will take a week or more to restore from bare iron, so I image my system every night.  But I don't recommend that for most others.  Also, since I rely on my computer for my business, it's important that I get back up and operational as quickly as possible in the event of a total loss, thus the imaging.

All that said, imaging is the easiest way to backup, especially if it's scheduled to happen automatically, and if you're not disciplined enough to do the manual backups

 

[John From Detroit]

Imaging on DVD's depends on several things

1: How much data you have on your HD

2: How good your DVD burner is

The DVD holds what, about 6.5 or 7.5 Gigs (not sure which) IN compressed that is about 15 Gigs. So I'd need 3 DVD's

My burner is toast

I image to external HD's (And occasionally to a different computer's drive) Then unplug and store the back up drive.

 

[JPete]

Thanks all for the replies. I guess I will continue my Carbonite subscription and look into imaging.

Pete

 

[ctcamper]

I use a couple of different programs for images. I do like Acronis True image. I  still use ghost for my desktops,  but ran into problems with it on my toshiba laptop and had to switch to acronis. It is a good program. An initial image is a good idea as some rootkits can infect system restore points. Acronis will do full backup to an image file on an external  hard drive or a cd / dvdr/ dvdr dl.  It will do incremental backups also.

 

[John From Detroit]

I have never had much luck with incremental backups

but I do keep a good, clean, full back up on most drives handy