Backup Options

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yikes!ItsIke
  • Start date Start date
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Yikes!ItsIke

Hi Folks;
I'm planning on buying a 200mb drive to put in my external case for
backups. A couple questions.

1- Will I have a problem with the 137gb limit on this drive if I use
it with a USB 2.0 connection?

2- What backup software is available to do effortless selective
backups to this drive?
I would like to be able to backup my C drive with WindowsXP home on it
which currently resides on an 80gb drive, but even more important I
need to back up 100gb of .pdf files to the external drive.

TIA.

Paul
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http://www.manuals4you.com
 
Before you buy the 200GB drive, look at the Maxtor One Touch (comes in 200
and 250GB) models. Recently bought the 200GB USB2/Firewire drive at Fry's
for $169. The Retrospect 6 software works great with the drive and for the
first time in over 10 years I have a daily full system BU done about as
easy as it can get. The One Touch button can be programed to provide
duplicate backups of files or apps at anytime.

Jack
 
1- you wont have problems with the 137gb limit. i have often used a
160 gb external drive without drivers and problems.
2- i would use Symantec Norton Ghost (2003)

Max O.

==============
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Before you buy the 200GB drive, look at the Maxtor One Touch (comes in 200
and 250GB) models. Recently bought the 200GB USB2/Firewire drive at Fry's
for $169. The Retrospect 6 software works great with the drive and for the
first time in over 10 years I have a daily full system BU done about as
easy as it can get. The One Touch button can be programed to provide
duplicate backups of files or apps at anytime.

Jack
Click to expand...
Well, I already have a USB 2.0 external case, and the other thing is,
those 1-touch drives are awfully expensive. I can get a WD 200gb drive
for around $105 or so. But then I would need the software. I have
Norton Ghost already though. Where could I get this Retrospect
software without the drive?

Paul


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http://www.manuals4you.com
 
The software is expensive,,,that is why the $169 for the dual 2.0/Firewire
200GB One Touch with the software included was such a good deal. The maker
of Retrospect is Dantz...I think their Version 6.5 sells for $129.

If you have Ghost then you have the software to do what you want to
do...just find a sale on HD's and you are on your way.

JAck
 
The software is expensive,,,that is why the $169 for the dual 2.0/Firewire
200GB One Touch with the software included was such a good deal. The maker
of Retrospect is Dantz...I think their Version 6.5 sells for $129.

If you have Ghost then you have the software to do what you want to
do...just find a sale on HD's and you are on your way.

JAck
Click to expand...

Thank you!

Want to Fix Something?

http://www.manuals4you.com
 
Max O. said:
1- you wont have problems with the 137gb limit. i have often used a
160 gb external drive without drivers and problems.
2- i would use Symantec Norton Ghost (2003)

Max O.
Click to expand...

While you may be right about not needing drivers, *you* not encountering any
problems does not mean by definition there isn't a 48 bit LBA addressing
problem. It often all depends on how much do you fill the drive up. Many
have lost data because all appeared to function normally, until data was
written past the 137 Gb.

Also note that being able to create a partition > 137 Gb does not mean
there's no 48 bit LBA issue - the partition table itself maybe located
somewhere < 137 Gb.
 
Hi Folks;
I'm planning on buying a 200mb drive to put in my external case for
backups. A couple questions.

1- Will I have a problem with the 137gb limit on this drive if I use
it with a USB 2.0 connection?
Click to expand...

I believe this depends on the chip in the external case. Some support
larger HDs, some don't. I don't know how to tell; maybe someone else
here does.
2- What backup software is available to do effortless selective
backups to this drive?
I would like to be able to backup my C drive with WindowsXP home on it
which currently resides on an 80gb drive, but even more important I
need to back up 100gb of .pdf files to the external drive.
Click to expand...

For full, simple, scheduled image backups, it's hard to beat True
Image (www.acronis.com), but it backs up your whole partition. They
have a demo version that you should try first to make sure it supports
your hardware.

For selective file backup, Second Copy (http://www.centered.com/) does
an excellent job of file/directory-based backup, and will keep
archival copies of changed files if you want.

Both are pretty much transparent once you've got the schedules set up.
 
I believe this depends on the chip in the external case. Some support
larger HDs, some don't. I don't know how to tell; maybe someone else
here does.


For full, simple, scheduled image backups, it's hard to beat True
Image (www.acronis.com), but it backs up your whole partition. They
have a demo version that you should try first to make sure it supports
your hardware.

For selective file backup, Second Copy (http://www.centered.com/) does
an excellent job of file/directory-based backup, and will keep
archival copies of changed files if you want.

Both are pretty much transparent once you've got the schedules set up.
Click to expand...


The disks I need to make backups for are on different drives and
partitions. For exampl my C:\Windows is on C, but the files I really
need to back up are on my F: drive, and my G: drive
I've been tracking a WD 200gb 2mb cache drive price. Its down to about
$106 or so.
Am I correct in my thinking that because I'm only using this drive as
a backup, I don't really need a drive with 9mb cache?


TIA.

(e-mail address removed)
Want to Fix Something?

http://www.manuals4you.com
 
The disks I need to make backups for are on different drives and
partitions. For exampl my C:\Windows is on C, but the files I really
need to back up are on my F: drive, and my G: drive
Click to expand...

This is similar to how I run at home. I have 4 partitions: OS/apps
(C:), games (D:), data (E:), local archive (F:), plus an external
archive drive (Z:).

True image does automatic weekly fulls and daily incrementals of C:
and E: (and a weekly alternate backup in case something goes wrong
with the first set), since this lets me recover quickly from a crash
and preserves all my data. I also break the weekly alternate into DVD
sized chunks and dump it to DVDs once a month or so to put in the
safe.

I don't care much about the games, and don't have the backup capacity
for them anyway, so I'll just reinstall them if it comes to that.

The F: local archive has lots of low priority big stuff I can get off
the 'net again (videos, patches, etc), but also has all my MP3 files,
which would be a lot of work to re-rip, so I use Second Copy to back
them up to directories on the external archive drive. The rest of the
stuff is too big to archive without buying another disk.

I also back up a few other PCs over the 'net, including a laptop that
takes about 2 hours over a wireless G card. This one is not real
reliable about it, but the rest go just like clockwork.
I've been tracking a WD 200gb 2mb cache drive price. Its down to about
$106 or so.

Am I correct in my thinking that because I'm only using this drive as
a backup, I don't really need a drive with 9mb cache?
Click to expand...

It's my experience that interface is more critical than cache
(FireWire is a good bit faster on my system than USB2), but I haven't
really researched it too hard, since it all happens in the background.
Others here may have better feedback on that aspect.

Reliable and big are my 2 main goals for a backup drive.
 
Neil Maxwell said:
This is similar to how I run at home. I have 4 partitions: OS/apps
(C:), games (D:), data (E:), local archive (F:), plus an external
archive drive (Z:).

True image does automatic weekly fulls and daily incrementals of C:
and E: (and a weekly alternate backup in case something goes wrong
with the first set), since this lets me recover quickly from a crash
and preserves all my data. I also break the weekly alternate into DVD
sized chunks and dump it to DVDs once a month or so to put in the
safe.

I don't care much about the games, and don't have the backup capacity
for them anyway, so I'll just reinstall them if it comes to that.

The F: local archive has lots of low priority big stuff I can get off
the 'net again (videos, patches, etc), but also has all my MP3 files,
which would be a lot of work to re-rip, so I use Second Copy to back
them up to directories on the external archive drive. The rest of the
stuff is too big to archive without buying another disk.

I also back up a few other PCs over the 'net, including a laptop that
takes about 2 hours over a wireless G card. This one is not real
reliable about it, but the rest go just like clockwork.


It's my experience that interface is more critical than cache
(FireWire is a good bit faster on my system than USB2), but I haven't
really researched it too hard, since it all happens in the background.
Others here may have better feedback on that aspect.

Reliable and big are my 2 main goals for a backup drive.
Click to expand...

Hi Neil. I've been following this and have some questions about TI. For an
XP OS partition, will it really image the entire content, including all of
the open and hidden files used by XP while it is running? How does the
restore feature work? Bootable CD / DVD? Can it be run while in XP? If you
break the full image into DVD sized chunks will TI be able to "stitch" them
al back together during a restore?
 
Hi Neil. I've been following this and have some questions about TI. For an
XP OS partition, will it really image the entire content, including all of
the open and hidden files used by XP while it is running?
Click to expand...

Yep. Does everything from within XP, in the background (though it
will slow your system down while it runs). I've restored different
systems a dozen or so times, and never had any problems, but some
folks have trouble. You can read the support threads at
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65, or just install
the demo and see how it works on your system. I restored the image to
an extra drive as a first test, and it worked great - booted and ran
as if it were the original disk.

You want to make sure all the devices you'll want to use for
backup/restore are supported by the boot disk - USB ports, FW cards,
network cards, CD/DVD drives, etc. I've had a Sony VAIO that it
didn't like the HD system on and an older laptop network card that TI7
didn't work with (but it was OK with the USB port).
How does the
restore feature work? Bootable CD / DVD? Can it be run while in XP?
Click to expand...

It will work from within XP or from a bootable CD/floppy (haven't
tried a bootable DVD yet). I've restored non-boot partitions from
within XP, but I imagine you wouldn't be able to restore your boot
partition that way. Restoring from the bootable CD is fastest,
because you don't have to wait for XP to start. I use it to refresh
laptops with a patched XP/Office install image, and it takes about 10
minutes.
If you
break the full image into DVD sized chunks will TI be able to "stitch" them
al back together during a restore?
Click to expand...

No problem, according to reports. I haven't done this restore myself
yet (I've always done mine from external HDs), but many others have.
TI7 has automatic settings for CD chunks, but not for DVD (maybe TI8
does). If I manually use 4.5G, the resulting file is too big for a
DVD, so I use 4.3G.

One of the features I like a lot is the ability to mount an archive as
a virtual drive and pull files out of it, and this only works if all
the chunks are available in the same place. That is, you'd need to
copy all the DVD chunks onto a HD in order to mount and browse it.

I've been using various dedicated backup programs and systems for
decades now, and TI with an external HD is far and away the most
painless and transparent one I've tried. I've probably saved myself
hundreds of hours in the last year, as well as some critical data.
 
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