Posted: 2/22/2008 8:38:51 PM EDT
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I'll try to be brief... I'm running 3 HDs in my machine, one for video, one for audio files and the last for word docs, spreadsheets, etc. I'm looking for a backup client where I could specify the 3 locations and have it backup to a 4th uber drive which would be my disaster recovery. The files are compartmentalized on each of the 3 data drives so everything I want to back up is together. Preferably the client could be rigged to backup either on the fly or just do batches at night. Thoughts? |
Does it actually work worth a pinch? I have been using Powerquest bootable floppies. I image the entire drive, and throw it on another drive. However, i loaded truecrypt, and my system partition is encrypted. So that method is out the window. |
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Just built a new PC and went with Acronis True Image Home, version 11, and a portable hard drive. I am glad I did. First, a bit of quick background and the acid testing. It turns out that XP has a SATA bug in ntfs.sys that affects some MoBo and SATA II drive combinations when used with various software combinations. At various times during shutdown, the file would corrupt the hard drive data. Fortunately, I was taking images at regular intervals during my build; e.g. -- OS, OS + updates, OS + Updates + Office, etc. I therefore had several images to choose from before the problems really started. When corruption began I ended up restoring images on a regular basis during the month of December, trying to troubleshoot the problem. I restored images ~15 times during that month. Every single image was restored from the portable drive using the Acronis rescue CD. Every image worked perfectly - booting the first time, every time. I have used a lot of high-end backup systems over the years, but this is the simplest, fastest and most reliable method I have found for protecting your system and data. Various combinations of system and data backups, done separately will allow you to return your PC to almost any previous, reliable state. This is the shiznit and saved me days upon days of troubleshooting had I been forced to perform manual repairs. BTW - Microsoft makes it very difficult to glean information about the bug and then forces you to go through their technical support system at $60, to get the fix. When I had the problems throughout the month of December, they had refused to post the hot fix. They were very vague as to why they did not want the hot fix posted and their reasons for installing it via technical support. I finally found the hot fix posted on an obscure web site. Information about the bug is also hard to find. Once I installed the hot fix the problems went away and the new machine is fast and reliable performing perfectly since the fix. |
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Cobian Backup Runs in the background on my home server. Backups up my computers everynight. It's Free. |
You are referring to an image/ghosting software, which is good if you make an image periodically. But something like NTBackup is a quick, easy and FREE solution for most home users that want to backup some files. If they choose to do a full system state backup, they can do that as well. I know some businesses that use it to create backup files quickly each night, and then put them to tape the following day with BackupExec by Symantec. I have a 1 TB external drive at home, and I have setup backup jobs on all computers in the house that output their backups to the drive. The scheduling varies in frequency depending on the computer and its use. Been working like a charm for a while now. -d |
some of our clients in the 500 user range use BackUp Exec as part of the backup/disaster recovery plans, and it is the bane of our existance. it may work well for single users/small groups, but it does NOT scale well. my rule of thumb for the last 2 years- if the name starts with "sym" and ends with "antec", stay the F away |
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I use BackupExec for most of our clients. Can't say I've ever had a problem that was directly related to it. I set them up so that I get email notifications when a job completes or fails. The cataloging can be pretty robust as well. The clients know that when the tape is ejected, they put in a new one. In the last 6-8 months, we've started using Symantec's System Recovery Server edition at a few clients. When we've tested our disaster recovery plans it has worked flawlessly. One client called us up (They are a huge accounting firm in LA) and said "It's tax season. My server just died. Help." It hadn't really died he just wanted to surprise us and see if we could put back a server and how fast we could do it. Connected via VPN, fired up System Recovery, checked the SAN, found the latest image and restored it to a Virtual Machine. He was "back up and running" within 3 hours. He was impressed, as were we because we put it to the test and it came through. Whatever option you use, test it out from start to end to make sure it will work. There is nothing worse the implementing a "backup solution", just to find out that you can't do a restore from any of the backups you've made over the last few months. -d |