Backing Up

Lucero_2

The Windows 7 built in backup is excellent. I threw Acronis away years ago. I set up Windows 7 how I want it, with all drivers and programs / AV then image it to a another PC across the network (at home). There is also the schedule backup which is fine too. Recovery is dead easy, either point the machine to the image or copy the image to a USB stick or drive and when booting, point to it's location. You don't "need" a passport drive. Any USB HDD is fine as long as it has enough space.

Also, if you want something more powerful, look up SyncToy

charlieheard

Just listening to one of the recent "Security Now" podcasts, and they mentioned the best practice for backing up is to follow the 3-2-1 rule:

3 different copies of any important file (i.e. main and 2 x backups)
2 different types of media (e.g. hard drive & optical)
1 copy stored offsite / offline (e.g. DVD/CD moved away from home or online backup)

This is obviously the best-case, but it gives a target to aim for!

mart44

I use Windows 7's own disk imaging function. Images are stored on a second hard drive within the computer. Also on that drive are all the created files such as Word documents, text files and graphics/photographs. These aren't stored on the C: drive because I often overwrite that with the disk image.

I like to try out various browsers and other programs. Using the disk image is an easy and clean way to return the C: drive to its original state. I'd keep forgetting to back up newly created files before using the disk image and they'd end up lost if I didn't store them on a different drive.

The entire drive gets periodically backed up onto an external USB hard drive.

smudge2006

Hi, I've got an external Verbatim hard drive with Nero BackItUp 4 Essentials on it. However, after a crash earlier this year Nero now doesnt work.
Any places I can get this free, or an easy to use free alternative please? Ta
I'm on XP..

peterpan567

I use iDisk on mac, very easy to use and organize

pjomara

When I login to my PC I can't view other users' files in their
C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\My Documents folder so how can I do a backup of other users content also?

tronator

pjomara wrote: »

When I login to my PC I can't view other users' files in their
C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\My Documents folder so how can I do a backup of other users content also?

Did you try it as administrator?

No normal user should be able to access another user's files in any multi-user OS. It's a feature, not a bug. Only an administrator (or root in *nix) can do that.

So you need to setup the backup task as administrator.

charlieheard

pf_cable@hotmail.c wrote: »

Now sure if I am allowed to do this... but.....

I use empachalweb (Google it), who are UK based and offer an unlimited amount of backup for £25 per year.

You can backup, up to 5 PC's around the house / office and see the files either on-line, or through your mobile app (iPhone / Android).

You can backup your music and listen to it on the web or your mobile. You can view all your pictures on-line and view them through your web portal or mobile.

All the files are kept in a data centre in London and are encrypted and secured. A small application is installed on to your computers and the rest takes care of itself.

Assuming you're the same pfcable who is the contact for empachalweb, you might have mentioned it was your product rather than you "use" it.

As a Carbonite and DropBox user, the functionality looks good - eSuite appears almost an amalgamation of the two products. The website is comprehensive, but I get no feeling of the number of users and if it will be there longer-term. Googling the term comes up with what mostly look like ads apart from the project website and domain info and I can't find any independent reviews.

Could be great as the offering looks interesting, but it looks too bleeding edge for my backup needs at the moment. Good luck, though.

urk

Hi - have just purchased Verbatim 320GB Store and Go which comes with Nero software. Would like to back up the entire laptop and assume you do this by backing up the hard drive (correct me if wrong am not a techie) which I tried and got the following problem:-

after starting backup got a message saying " cannot lock selected partition because it is being used by another program. It is recommended that the drive be locked. If you intend to back up a system partition used by a Windows OS it cannot be locked."

The only program using Windows was Nero itself??!! And start up which you need to get into Nero??!!

I was given three options - retry (locking) ignore (proceed without locking) and abort. Tried first two and neither worked.

Sorry if this is obvious - it isn't to me.:mad: Have done google and Nero site searches for the issue and nothing useful has come up.:(

Thank you for any help - Urk

watchingthepennies_2

Hi,

I have put backing up off for far too long and want to get started. It will be mainly for photos, music and a few documents over time.
I am going to buy an external hard drive and want to plug this into my desktop pc. I have seen this deal on hotuk today and wondered if someone IT savvy can answer this for me:
I have usb port on desktop, the HDD has USB 3? Will it still work or is my usb port on the desktop too outdated? And is it just a case of plugging cable into both machines and leaving there and setting up a regular back up of new files?

Also would it be feasible to not store photo's or music on my laptop because I would be able to view them via the HDD through some sort of sharing. Have I got that right?

Thanks in advance for replies.