What is your backup strategy for the files on your Windows PC computer and the best free or cheap software?

Question

I'm bad about backups although I've been burned before. Do you backup the whole drive? What the best way to do incremental backups? Do you use the archive bit? If not, why? Which software do you use? Can any CD burning software project automatically know if files in the source directory are new and include that in the next burn? Any software that can let you use a thumb drive until you have enough data to warrant a CD and then repeat? Are there any programs that can track changes across the whole hard drive from bootup to shutdown and then prompt you asking which new files are important and should be included in the next backup?

Answer 1

Hard drives are cheap these days!

I added a second internal HD and I use the free software, Karen's Replicator, to automatically backup any changes to my entire Documents and Settings folder daily.

The first back-up take some time but the daily, (changes only) backup takes just a couple minutes and is done in the background so you don't even notice it.

Karen and her Replicator can be found here:

Answer 2

There are many commercial products available. But NTBACKUP which comes with Windows would do the job fine if you have some planning and reporting organised.

The Process would be as follows.
1. Keep a hardcopy of the Hardware and Software configuration of the server or PC you want to backup restore.
2. Keep a copy of all the softwares that are installed on the PC.
3. Schedule Dialy Incremental Backup from Monday to Thursday and Complete backup on Friday.
4. Label 4 Disks/Tapes as Mon, Tue, Web, Thu you can recycle them every week.
5. Ladel 4 Disks/Tapes as Week1, Week2, Week3 and Week4 you can recycle them monthly.

Procedure.

Click Start --> Run --> NTBACKUP
Select Backup --> System State and the Folders and/or Drives that you wish to backup
Schedule the job

Every day you have to make sure that the backup is removed from the server and burnt onto Disk/Tape

Every Month/15 days the Disks or tapes should be tested by restoring them.

If you need anyfurther clarifications you can get back to me.

Answer 3

I make a lot of changes, so I backup daily. How often you back up depends on what you have to backup and how often you change it. I use an external drive and the software I use is completely free, it's called Syncback. Syncback can tell if a file has been modified or not. I think you can get it at www.download.com, if not just google it. It has a scheduler and everything so after you set it up, you don't have to mess with it. Pretty simple and straight forward. You can back up everything, or only what u want. If you want to spend a little money, Norton Ghost is excellent software IMO. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

My personal back up strategy for files on my Windows PC is to save them both in my C: drive and on my J: drive which is an external hard drive. I only back up files that I cannot replace easily like digital photos, resumes, long documents I spent a lot of time on, etc. I don't bother to back up any other files as it's so easy to download or reinstall them from CD if I ever have to. I used to use Remote Backup but I found out that it uses RAM that I need for playing video games so I disabled it. I reformat my C: drive about once a year. It only takes me about three or four hours to get my PC back the way I want it when I do that. But then, I'm kind of a minimalist when it comes to what's on my PC so there isn't much to reinstall besides games I want to play and favorites on internet explorer.

I also sometimes save pictures and documents on DVD's or CD-RW's if I think I might want to take them with me somewhere.

Answer 5

I have a massive amount of HDD space available at my demand so when i backup my data anything i know i need i create back folders with the dates on them so i know exactly were to go in case i need to format or windows just dies on me.

Every now and then i do manual backups in case the main drive fails etc and recently i got Norton's Ghost to create a backup of the drive a complete image saving me from installing windows all over again.

There is a backup utility that comes with windows it's self or there is a tool i sometimes use from Microsoft that is also free if i find it i will let you know :)

Answer 6

I use the following scheme for this: I back up my important data to an external HD using Acronis True Image 10.0. Every evening True Image automatically updates images stored on the external drive in the hidden partition. It takes not much time and I know that my data is safe. In my opinion external drive + True Image is the most securest backup solution.
Here you can learn more about True Image features: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Answer 7

I prefer to use True Image by Acronis in order to backup my data. True Image is very reliable and fast working software which can backup almost everything to any location available. You can download a free version of True Image and then just upgrade to the latest one. As for storage location I prefer to backup to both the external drive and to the Acronis Secure Zone- a hidden partition inaccessible for the malware.
Free version of True Image: http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7
The latest version of True Image: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Answer 8

I prefer to use a second hard drive to back up my files. Only install Windows and your basic software such as antivirus and word processing on your first drive. Keep everything else such as music, photos, documents, and saved games on your second drive. When you download something, just direct it to the backup drive rather than the primary drive.

Answer 9

BackupmyPc is great program for me. You can download in http://bit.ly/1j3wSic

Answer 10

i'm the second for true image, i think it's the most convenient backup software. so i'm totally for it.