What backup solution do you recommend for a laptop?

Answer 1

It depends where I am what I've been doing but I always ensure I have a backup at a remote location.

Usually I will do a complete backup of all my files and databases once a week. During the week I will do incremental backups of files I have changed. Once in a while such as once a month or after significant changes I will take a drive image.

Persoanlly I use Norton Ghost 10 as it caters for all these scenarios. The only thing I would recommend is that you do not image when windows is running. Boot from a floppy/CDROM and take the image.

You should also read this article to understand the details of a robust backup policy/procedure.
http://www.dbnetsolutions.co.uk/articles/backup.aspx

Answer 2

Backup depends on exactly what YOU mean by backup. Do you want to image it? Do you want to just backup your important files. Generally, I'm not a fan of imaging as a backup solution. Images get out dated and can take time. Backup your data. IF the laptop fails, you restore the data to a new laptop and continue (or a different computer). You might find my backup summary helpful in understanding backups - it's geared towards business (mostly small and with some large business notes as well, but it can really apply to just about anything).

http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/backup.asp

Answer 3

I'd recommend a couple of different things depending on what you have and what you are looking to do.

If you're just looking to backup your work, I would recommend having a CD-RW (pref. DVD+-R) for routine backups to disk. If you are doing a small amount of backups, you could also invest in a 512mb-2gb thumb drive for quick and portable backups.

If you are doing more serious backups, or larger backups such as ghost images of your drive, I would recommend a small USB external hard drive.

If your laptop is on a wireless network, consider getting a Network Attached Storage device (NAS). This will allow all computers on your network (laptop included) to read from and write to this drive across the network

Answer 4

too much sad above, so maybe someone has already posted point i want to share.
so, u could backup ur data to external drive .
i think that it's a really best solution.
i'll proper software and external HD.
i can give u some advises about software - there are losts of backup utlities, but i'd recommend Acronis True Image it's fast safe and cheap
http://www.acronis.com/.
and it can backup ur data to DVD, without using any other software (like Nero), it costs about 45 $,that is quite cheap

Answer 5

The scope of laptop backup can present a daunting challenge. After all, backup policies, operations and management of thousands of distributed systems are difficult, even under the best of circumstances. Rather than simply delve into the latest versions of available backup tools, smart storage managers should take a project-oriented approach to laptop backup by following these five steps:

Determine the scope and business strategy. The brute force approach to laptop data protection would be to back up all laptops all the time. This would accomplish the goal of protecting critical mobile data, but at a heavy capital and operational cost. A more prudent strategy is to find a solution that meets business, financial and technical goals. How many users should really be covered? What's the actual data that needs protection? Is the data unique or do copies of that data reside on corporate (and protected) assets? Where do the users live? Are they truly remote or do they travel out of the home office? What type of network access do these users have -- broadband or dial-up? Answering these questions will determine the real need and give IT architects a blueprint for the appropriate solution design. Explore your technical options. Some storage managers may immediately default to a familiar Legato or Veritas backup product. This may be the right direction, but these systems were architected for server backup, so it's worthwhile to investigate more PC-centric alternatives such as iFolder from Novell or LiveBackup from Storactive. Because of their PC-friendly architecture, these tools may provide administration, management and reporting benefits for enterprises that want to manage laptop backup independent of back-end systems. Given the cost and administrative effort of backing up numerous distributed systems, it's also worth considering backup services from providers such as Arsenal Digital, Connected and LiveVault. A backup service may look pricey at first glance, but could actually be a bargain on a TCO basis. To do a true comparison, build a model that factors in administrator time, software licensing, maintenance and equipment costs.


Link data protection with laptop security. Backup is critical, but you also want to protect your assets against theft and minimize damages if a laptop gets stolen. To implement best practices, storage managers should engrave laptops with company names and serial numbers, password-protect laptops at the BIOS and system level and encrypt file systems or critical directories. For the most critical-use laptops, consider physical locks and cables from Kensington or Kryptonite as well as alarms and tracing services from companies such as Caveo, Targus and TrackIT.


Train administrators and users. If you decide to administer a solution on your own, make sure that administrators and help desk personnel are well trained and can spot and remedy problems as they arise. This not only involves product training, but also means understanding user requirements, business processes and IT methodologies. Users should monitor backup activities, report problems and help storage managers improve their backup processes through regular feedback. On the security side, it's up to laptop owners to be attentive to security and use common sense to protect their systems and the mission-critical data they contain.


Develop a process for laptop replacement. Inevitably, even the most meticulous data protection can't prevent the occasional laptop theft or damage. What happens when your best salesperson's laptop dies on a key sales call at the end of the quarter? Smart storage managers will anticipate these occurrences by creating a laptop replacement process. Again, the key here is to assess the business need. Keep a few spares on site to overnight to remote users who need immediate replacement and make sure you can rebuild the laptop and files so you can ship a bootable, no-hassle system. For the majority of users who can work on a borrowed laptop for a few days, build a more cost-effective process that's less of a fire drill, but efficiently provides a replacement unit.

Answer 6

take regular backups on the cd or as suggested by an external hard disk, and save some important files as attachements in your mail

Answer 7

I USB external Hard disk. Scheduled to backup. So far no problems.

Answer 8

USB or Firewire drive. External drives are getting cheap, and ebay offers a variety of types and styles. I have a firewire backingup my desktop, but it's bulky, and a lot of wires. the usb is probably a better choice for your laptop, less wires and smaller.

Answer 9

you may lower back-up your documents on your USB drives, even though it is going to likely be restricted to how a lot room that yourcontinual has. you should likely purchase a DVD-RW that plug-ins into your usb port as a replace because the DVD- RWs have extra room to lower back up your issues. USB demanding drives do exist, even though it may fee over $50 to purchase one.

Answer 10

I have a USB back-up drive the same size as the drive on my laptop. Once a week... like clockwork.