What backup software do you use?

[dmcantrell]

John, thanks for this tip.

Follow up question :

When you do your yearly restore, does this method also restore your "program files" and their respective settings?

I also do the "yearly slate cleaning" but I'm trying to find a way to avoid sitting in my desk chair all day on a Saturday installing all the programs I use (Photoshop, Nero, MS Office, etc.).

[DJ.]

Acronis user for many years and it has never let me down when I needed a bare metal restore or just to mount a drive to recover files. Great for recovering OS, Apps, Data, and drive cloning. You need to design your own backup and recovery plan around your system and your workflow.

I have SyncBack Pro but I just use it and Teracopy to move files around from drive to drive and machine to machine. Great tool for syncing files or backing up files without compression.

I also just purchased a copy of O&O DriveImage 5 and installed it on one machine. Same principle as Acronis but cheaper and the default compression was twice as tight as Acronis. Easy to install and use so I will be watching this one and if it warrants I may switch.

[dmcantrell]

Well, just FYI I bought a copy of the Acronis software earlier today. Newegg.com has a special running, $38.99 - $20 rebate = $18.99 and free shipping.

[johnstodd]

Hi David,

My method only keeps an exact copy of My Documents or any other folder you want to use as a source. I do sit down once a year and re-install. So my method does not save any program settings...etc... I just got tired of keeping up with the latest releases of whatever drive image software I was using. Either the software would be discontinued...software company was bought out and discontinued the software unless I wanted to upgrade to their other version... or I had to upgrade to keep in sync with the latest operating system...or when I would buy a new computer I had trouble re-installing already licensed software on my new computer. Know what I mean. So I use "robocopy"...it's free...and I re-install the rest of my software every year or so.

[Nocturnus]

I was using just DVD's and thinking i'd be safe by keeping them in a safe deposit box. Guess I was wrong. 3 of my DVD's will not read on any of my computers. :( I lost my HD that held my copy of all my images. So from now on, i'll have a copy on my external hard drive, over on my HTCP's raid 5, on my webservers RAID setup and at work. Everything at work gets backed up to tape.

Keep more then one set of backups kids.. heh.

[Flea77]

Originally Posted by Nocturnus

I was using just DVD's and thinking i'd be safe by keeping them in a safe deposit box. Guess I was wrong. 3 of my DVD's will not read on any of my computers. :( I lost my HD that held my copy of all my images. So from now on, i'll have a copy on my external hard drive, over on my HTCP's raid 5, on my webservers RAID setup and at work. Everything at work gets backed up to tape.

Keep more then one set of backups kids.. heh.

Were they DVD-R discs? What brand? Did you verify the disc before placing it in storage?

Allan

[Nocturnus]

Memorex DVD-R. They worked before going in. At this point they are about 3 years old. I'm going to be trying some of the drives we have at work that are newer.

[mdparthum]

I see advertised out there DVD-R, +R's etc. that are archival. Does anyone know what makes them archival? Is it a different recording material? Has anyone used them with any success so far? Thanks.

[suzyjazz]

What is the best thing to use if I just want to store my images somewhere else? I'm looking at backing up everything I have now -- copy all images from DVD/CD to my computer, and send them to online storage.

[Kalrog]

Originally Posted by suzyjazz

What is the best thing to use if I just want to store my images somewhere else? I'm looking at backing up everything I have now -- copy all images from DVD/CD to my computer, and send them to online storage.

Any of the online backup solutions can do that. Crashplan is what I picked because of having the options of local (external HD), online (their cloud) and friend (direct backup to a friend's HD somewhere else) all in one software package. And the only one you have to pay for is the online one, the rest is free (or can be if daily backup is enough).

But carbonite, mozzy, etc. should all be able to do what you are asking.

[Peacock]

I use zenfolio for my galleries, but the great thing too is that you can just upload you photos there and you do not have to display them! Pricing is good, and the interface is easy to use...free trial available to try out...
Zenfolio | hosting service for photo galleries | a place to learn and enjoy photography
here is a referral code if you decide to buy will give you 5 dollars off, as well as me next time I have to renew... EEQ-N7F-27U

[tropicpine]

David:

I use the NTbackup that comes with Windows. It is VERY simple. The only failures I have had were my failures to do regular backups. I never have to worry about being able to locate my media for a restore. Untill someone pays me to use their software you can't beat the price.

Originally Posted by dmcantrell

...
Here's what I'm trying to do :
...
2) make a copy of my boot drive (image I guess?)
...

More than half the tim Ihave had to do a restore it has been due to corruption of my OS files. I have found that the investiment in time needed to do a 'from scratch' reload of my OS has resulted in a faster and more stable system.

[mmcmurr]

I used to use mozy (Mozy - Safe, Secure, Affordable Online Backup) until it would try to re-upload EVERYTHING if I disconnected/reconnected my drobo.

Now, I use Backblaze. It's FAST, secure (encrypted), off-site. All you need is a good internet connection. Online Backup from Backblaze , and the price is nice. $5/mo.

[rwwright]

recently bought Genie. seems to work ok on 64bit win 7

[jlrphoto]

I use Good Sync. I backup my "my documents" folder to an extenal hard drive.

I have some other files I keep on that external drive as well (some movies and music, and any software where I purchased a "download"). Once a week or so I will back up external drive #1 to another external identically sized hard drive. Works for me so far...there isn't any compression or anything, but good sync does monitor which files change, so it's a pretty quick synchronization. I don't really care at this point about making a bootable drive.

I tried carbonite, and it took about 6 weeks to get everything uploaded to their site. Whenever I did another photoshoot, it would take about 4 or 5 days to upload the files for backup. It was so slow and cumbersome I couldn't possibly imagine how I'd get the files back off of their site if I actually needed to recover them.