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Best Backup Program
I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available.
My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. |
#2
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Best Backup Program
On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote:
I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image (£/$ ) Macrium Reflect (£/$) Paragon (£/$) Macrium and Paragon also have free software . |
#3
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Best Backup Program
David wrote:
I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. If it weren't for your second paragraph, I would recommend Acronis True Image in a heartbeat. This program creates self-contained images of the hard drive (including incremental images) and can create bootable clones and can also back up just data ("individual directories/files"). Actually, that program would still meet your needs. However, since you stated you are interested in a bootable clone (at least, that was the inference I drew), *and* if you want to be able to quickly create subesequent (i.e., incremental) clones, Casper would be better. Regarding individual directories/files, you would back them up to a different drive (i.e., not the bootable clone drive). XP Pro's native ntbackup program is fine for this if you back up to another hard drive. Actually, Acronis is fine, too. *And* it can create clones, which is a nice plus. What it can't do (and what Casper can) is create incremental clones (which translates to "fast"). I think clones are better for those who cannot afford to wait the amount of time it takes to restore an image. Since how I use a PC (mostly casual use) doesn't require bootable clones, I am happy with Acronis. However, if I were working on time-critical tasks (e.g., day-trading!), I could see the value of a bootable clone. More info: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/ http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/smartclone.aspx Bootom line: If you must have an up-to-date bootable clone and if you want to create these in the fastest way possible, go for Casper. For the individual files/directories, use ntbackup. If you want to image your hard drive regularly (and quickly) and also want to back up data (and still have the option to create a bootable clone -- just without the ability to create quicker incremental bootable clones), go with Acronis. |
#4
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Best Backup Program
On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote:
I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#5
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Best Backup Program
Ken:
I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#6
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Best Backup Program
David said this on 5/11/2010 3:06 PM:
Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB& I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup& retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. I've used Acronis to image a drive and then apply that image to another drive. I guess in your terms this is copy. I then opened defrag to look at the layout, and the drive was 100% defragged. Swap and MFT and all. Really cool. So YES to your first comment about the location on the drive not being the same on a copy. I've never done a clone test to see how and what it does. |
#7
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Best Backup Program
The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology:
http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#8
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Best Backup Program
On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote:
The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#9
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Best Backup Program
Yeah, I saw that.
But I don't think he intended to be belligerent. I think he was confused and meant to say he was interested in not just copying data but having a perfect copy of the hard drive. To him, this (incorrectly) meant the word "mirror." We'll see what he really means if makes another reply. ;-) Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote: The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#10
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Best Backup Program
Ken:
Perhaps you just wanted to argue with yourself. I don't know. In any case, I used the wrong term. Does a mistake like that constitute an arguement? The whole point that I tried to make is I want my external USB drive to boot Win/XP PRO in case the main hard drive fails. I had thought an image would require a second hard drive exactly the same. I am not sufficiently well versed to know. In any case my main hard drive is 150GB and the USB drive is 1TB. The 150GB drive is listed in my paperwork as serial-ATA. The 1TB USB drive is an IOMEGA eGO desktop USB drive in its own case, type unknown. Perhaps we could reinitiate this conversation in a more amiable manner. I was hopeful you might have a solution to my real problem - making the USB drive XP/PRO bootable. On Tue, 11 May 2010 16:50:32 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote: The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#11
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Best Backup Program
Yeah, I saw that. But I don't think he intended to be belligerent. I think he was confused and meant to say he was interested in not just copying data but having a perfect copy of the hard drive. To him, this (incorrectly) meant the word "mirror." We'll see what he really means if makes another reply. ;-) Ken Blake, MVP wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote: The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#12
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Best Backup Program
Ken:
Perhaps you just wanted to argue with yourself. I don't know. In any case, I used the wrong term. Does a mistake like that constitute an arguement? The whole point that I tried to make is I want my external USB drive to boot Win/XP PRO in case the main hard drive fails. I had thought an image would require a second hard drive exactly the same. I am not sufficiently well versed to know. In any case my main hard drive is 150GB and the USB drive is 1TB. The 150GB drive is listed in my paperwork as serial-ATA. The 1TB USB drive is an IOMEGA eGO desktop USB drive in its own case, type unknown. Perhaps we could reinitiate this conversation in a more amiable manner. I was hopeful you might have a solution to my real problem - making the USB drive XP/PRO bootable. On Tue, 11 May 2010 16:50:32 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote: The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
#13
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Best Backup Program
On Tue, 11 May 2010 19:31:09 -0400, "Daave" wrote:
The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology: I tried to tell him that, but since he just wanted to argue with me, I didn't bother replying to his second message, quoted below. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
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Best Backup Program
David said this on 5/11/2010 3:06 PM:
Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB& I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup& retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. I've used Acronis to image a drive and then apply that image to another drive. I guess in your terms this is copy. I then opened defrag to look at the layout, and the drive was 100% defragged. Swap and MFT and all. Really cool. So YES to your first comment about the location on the drive not being the same on a copy. I've never done a clone test to see how and what it does. |
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Best Backup Program
The term "mirror" is used for RAID technology:
http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/raid-1.htm http://www.recoverdata.com/raidfaq.htm This does not sound like what you were asking about. From your description below, you are referring to cloning. Is your external hard drive specifically an eSATA hard drive? Does your motherboard support eSATA hard drives. If you answer yes to both, then you can use a cloning program to accomplish what you want. Also know you can create an image of your hard drive and then restore that image to the same or a different hard drive and your new drive is *effectively* a clone of the original. It takes longer, but it still safeguards all your data and allows you the luxury of not having to reinstall the OS, updates, applications, etc. Or you can choose to clone directly. Your choice. David wrote: Ken: I do mean mirror, not copy. Unless I am mistaken, when you copy one drive to another, you get the contents of the first drive copied to the second. This means that the contents are the same, but the location on the second drive may not be the same. Mirroring a drive (at least to me) means just that. Not only are the contents copied, but the exact locations on the second drive are the same. Mirroring, I believe, also copies the boot tracks which is essential if the mirrored drive is to be used as a replacement boot drive in the event c: fails. I have an external USB hard drive. the bios on my workstation allows the external USB drive to be bootable (assuming I read the manual correctly). I want the c: drive to be mirrored to the external USB hard drive so I have a functional backup hard drive in case c: fails. David On Tue, 11 May 2010 08:04:26 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 11 May 2010 05:18:18 -0400, David wrote: I am looking for recommendations on the best backup program available. My workstation is currently running XP PRO/SP3, but may eventually upgrade to Windows 7, so compatability with both is a plus. I would like the ability to mirror my main c: drive to a bootable external drive. What do you mean by "mirror." That term is normally used just for RAID1, which is very different from backup. But if you just mean something like "copy," no problem. I would like to be able to backup an entire internal or external drive to a different external drive. I do not plan on backing up to DvDs or optical disk. Being able to backup individual directories/files would be a plus. Compression is unimportant. My external drive is 1TB & I have 150 GB internal capacity. I'd prefer to have a plain vanilla backup - that is I'd be able to use Windows Explorer to view the backup & retrieve a file if I choose. Quality, reliability, and ease of use take precedence over cost. If I can not accomplish what I want with one program, multiple programs are fine. Acronis True Image. |
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