So having read through the fun in the time capsule thread I was most upset to discover that it only supports OSX and time machine.
So I'm wanting to get a backup regime going on my PC. I've got my pennies saved up for my £60 500gig external hard disk but am wondering what I should use software wise to take any effort away from me.
In addition I'm wanting to use the disk as additional storage so that my frasier collection doesn't fill up my d: anymore, although I'm presuming this should be as simple as partitioning the disk.
I've noticed Vista has a section in control panel called "backup and restore" which claims to backup my disks onto the media of my choosing automatically at the time of my choosing. Does anyone know if this is any good or should i get another program to manage it for me?
not-apple backup system
One thing I tried to use until my boss stole my backup drive was Cobian Backup, which does a similar thing to time machine: One big one and then "incremental" backups, where it just saves the changes. It can run to schedule and compress the backed up files.
Knight knight
I realised a few weeks ago that my completely non-existant backup regime was going to present a problem - seeing as I didn't particularly want to lose my music collection...or....entire body of work (as poor as it may be).
I ended up stumbling across Vista's backup thing as well, which I've plumped for. There will be better F/OSS ones out there, and the fact Vista's doesn't let you finely tune what folders to backup (as far as I can see) is very irritating, but seeing as backup capacity isn't a problem for me (thank you £60 1TB external drive ^_^), I decided that might work out better for me, backing up basically indiscriminately rather than cherry picking so finely that I miss a lot of vital stuff.
I do remember trying one of the more popular backup things a good year or so ago. It might've been Cobian actually (all I remember is it had a half-moon systray icon) but for some reason for me it wasn't setting archive bits properly...or...something, so was doing full backups on every subsequent iteration. I'm not blaming the software for that, it was probably some dodgy permissions at my end. Vista's built-in one, nerfed as it is, 'works', but leaves a lot to be desired if you're particularly discerning.
I ended up stumbling across Vista's backup thing as well, which I've plumped for. There will be better F/OSS ones out there, and the fact Vista's doesn't let you finely tune what folders to backup (as far as I can see) is very irritating, but seeing as backup capacity isn't a problem for me (thank you £60 1TB external drive ^_^), I decided that might work out better for me, backing up basically indiscriminately rather than cherry picking so finely that I miss a lot of vital stuff.
I do remember trying one of the more popular backup things a good year or so ago. It might've been Cobian actually (all I remember is it had a half-moon systray icon) but for some reason for me it wasn't setting archive bits properly...or...something, so was doing full backups on every subsequent iteration. I'm not blaming the software for that, it was probably some dodgy permissions at my end. Vista's built-in one, nerfed as it is, 'works', but leaves a lot to be desired if you're particularly discerning.
I have a Windows Home Server which backs up my PC's automatically each night - its actually a good system (I even paid for the licence- feel so dirty)- there are 3 PC's on a wired network in the house connecting to it and its connected to the main TV so can play video from it. the shared files are on a separate hard disk as I dont like using the pooled storage as its too slow for what I need there is also another hard disk that is used as a backup drive for the Shared files.. for this I use Ez Backup - http://www.rdcomp.net/ its free and very good - you can use windows scheduled tasks to run the backup when you want. It will only make the changes to the directory - ie delete files you have removed and copy the files that have changed.
I have different profiles on it as I also have 2 external drives I use for monthly and quarterly backup kept off site.
I have been bitten by a dodgy drive before and cannot loose some of my business files.
PC1, PC2, PC3 > Server Every night (The P.C's shut down after the backup is complete using scheduled tasks)
Server files HD > 2nd HD (Nightly)
Server files HD > External HD1 (Monthly)
Server files HD > External HD2 (Quarterly)
I have different profiles on it as I also have 2 external drives I use for monthly and quarterly backup kept off site.
I have been bitten by a dodgy drive before and cannot loose some of my business files.
PC1, PC2, PC3 > Server Every night (The P.C's shut down after the backup is complete using scheduled tasks)
Server files HD > 2nd HD (Nightly)
Server files HD > External HD1 (Monthly)
Server files HD > External HD2 (Quarterly)
I use Microsoft SyncToy which is very powerful, it is even able to tell if the drive letter has changed. It's free and uses the Vista Sync Framework.
Speaking of which, who remembers the Windows Briefcase? Back in the Windows 98 days it was a default desktop icon, I gather it did something similar. but I never understood it.
Speaking of which, who remembers the Windows Briefcase? Back in the Windows 98 days it was a default desktop icon, I gather it did something similar. but I never understood it.
You can still make briefcases, correct, although I never have. cdd, right click on the desktop, new > briefcase.Nini wrote:I think you can still create briefcases in Vista and SyncToy is very good for maintaining data between my USB sticks. Still unable to find a good Mac equivalent.