One Touch Backup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dan M.
  • Start date Start date
D

Dan M.

Hi,

I'm looking for an external hard drive that has a one-touch backup button on
the case. It would be preferred to be a 2.5" drive since portability will be
a factor. The software must also be fairly good with little to no issues
with it.

Does anyone know of a suitable solution that will work properly with Windows
XP?

Thanks in advance
 
You're dreaming!

Get a grip on reality, a backup is subject to many variables, one button is
not feasible.

Look at software for backup process, look at acronis true image.
 
I'm quite aware that they are normally subject to many variables, but in
this case, it will be based on a selection.

There are external hard drive cases with the "One-Touch Backup" button which
will then launch the software and start backing up your selections, such as
My Documents. The goal is to keep it as simple as possible for the user and
from what I've seen, these do exist but I have no idea if they're any good.
 
Dan M. said:
I'm quite aware that they are normally subject to many variables, but in
this case, it will be based on a selection.
Click to expand...
There are external hard drive cases with the "One-Touch Backup" button which
will then launch the software and start backing up your selections, such as
My Documents. The goal is to keep it as simple as possible for the user and
from what I've seen, these do exist but I have no idea if they're any good.
Click to expand...

they're good, but you'll have to decide if they are really worth it. All
they really are is a special driver that loads at startup and monitors
that button. when it sees it being pressed it launches the backup app and
triggers it to run a predefined (by you) backup job. You can do the exact
same thing by triggering it from the start menu. You are paying extra for
the button, the driver, and the included backup app (usually Retrospect
Express, a pretty good app). And, to do a restore you must use the app,
you can't just mount the drive and copy files off it.

I have found a very easy way to backup personal files: get a cheap
external usb 2.0 drive at walmart or target or the like (less than $100;
sometimes much less. I got a WD 120 GB box for $70 about a year ago; 160
GB units are now common for about the same price. shop around, the prices
on these items varies tremendously; check warehouse stores if you're a
member.) and use the free MS SyncToy 1.2. It's fast, easy, and cheap.
And it works w/ multiple machines. And it's easy to do a restore (to ANY
machine), just browse and copy using WinExplorer. Use SynchToy's
"Contribute" mode.

With this setup you can also grow: use it to store image files if you
decide to get something like Acronis True Image or Ghost.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

The biggest issue with this user is simplicity. If he can get a backup done
with the last amount of interaction it would make everyones lives much
easier. The extra cost is not a factor if it results in convience.

I believe the Maxtor drives come with the Retrospect Express app, but the
problem is I've heard mixed reviews. I need something that is consistantly
reliable since I do not want to have to support the product every couple
days.

The user currently has Symantec Backup Exec DLO client installed but does
not like it since it takes too many steps and is too slow. They also cannot
do the backup when they are off the network and in one of our different
offices.

In short, the user is extremely hard to please and is not very technical
which is leading to making this project extremely difficult.
 
Dan said:
I'm quite aware that they are normally subject to many variables, but in
this case, it will be based on a selection.

There are external hard drive cases with the "One-Touch Backup" button which
will then launch the software and start backing up your selections, such as
My Documents. The goal is to keep it as simple as possible for the user and
from what I've seen, these do exist but I have no idea if they're any good.
Click to expand...

We have a couple of the Maxtor units and have quit using the software
that came with them because of problems. I just wrote a simple XCopy
script and use Windows Scheduler to run it once a day to keep a current
copy of the files on the backup drive. Seagate has a similar unit but I
have no experience with it.
 
SynchToy is pretty easy, should be "teachable". it can be automated too,
using the "-R xxxx" command line; see here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn/archive/2005/09/02/459912.aspx

you could make an icon for it, schedule it, or make it a shutdown task.

[Note: Synctoy v1.2 uses .Net 1.1, while the newer v1.4 requires .Net 2.0;
the feature set is the same.]

Another option is AllWay, it's similar to synchtoy, allows scheduling
of the sync (ie, unattended), and has additional advanced features.

http://allwaysync.com/

There is another class of tool out there that make a second copy of all
user files, on the fly, all the time, to a seperate special directory.
SecondCopy is the most common:

http://www.centered.com/

Google around... and good luck...
 
I think the software Daily USB Backup can help you to backup to the
external USB drive. It can automatic backup to common USB harddisk. You
can find it on the website http://www.usb-backup.com

"Dan M. дµÀ£º
"
 
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