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Backup Software Recommendation
I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the
following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT |
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Backup Software Recommendation
PT wrote:
I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/200....00BackupFiles |
#3
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Backup Software Recommendation
"PT" wrote in message ...
I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 |
#4
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Backup Software Recommendation
"PT" wrote in message
... I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) This is a raw file copy. I would suggest that you review why you specify this; it's very inefficient and very slow. And of course, you need a very large amount of space available at the destination. The criteria should be the reliability of the method and the availability of tools to correct problems - which can happen to raw file copies just as much as anything else. You may find, in fact, that the CRC checks in compression routies catch data problems before you would otherwise notice them. As an example, Backup Plus creates .bac files, which are really Zip files. The Zip format is very reliable, very well understood, and there are many, many tools available for zip files. Unfortunately, due to limitations in its zip engine, it can't create files larger than 4gb. 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT I generally use a combination of an imaging program, such as Acronis TrueImage, and Backup Plus. These have proven to be extremely reliable, easy to use, and inexpensive. And they do support scheduled, incremental backups. I've never tried them pointed at tape drives, however. For raw file copies, I use FileSync, but it doesn't have a scheduler. Finally, it isn't a good idea to have *one* backup. Many people use a set of five or so DVDs, marked for the day of the week, and these are changed every morning first thing. The backup happens during the night, so in case one disk goes down, you're never more than a day away. And this is a lot harder to do with a raw, uncompressed backup, simply because you're probably going to need a set of five large hard disks to do the same thing. And you should regularly take a safety copy and store it offsite. HTH -pk |
#5
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Backup Software Recommendation
Start Run - Ntbackup.exe
Excepting your first criterion, it is a VERY reliable backup utility (I think it was licensed from Veritas), is already included with XP. I use the task scheduler to make backups all the time and I have had no problems, except it is slower writing to external drives than other commercial products. You can back up selected files, directories, drives or the whole computer, including the System State if you wish. You can make Copy, Incremental, Differential, etc. backups. Give it a try before laying out the cash, but feel free to... ....send your $49.99 check to.... Just kidding! -- V2 "PT" wrote: I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT |
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Backup Software Recommendation
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#7
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Backup Software Recommendation
Found this:
http://backup.comodo.com/ "PT" wrote in : I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- *Reply to newsgroup please. *Your mileage may vary. *Spelling/Grammar errors free of charge. |
#8
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Backup Software Recommendation
"PT" wrote in message ... I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT Here's some detailed information about a comprehensive backup program that we've grown very fond of over the year or so that we've been working with it. So you may want to add it to the list of the other recommendations you've received. Understand that the program I'll be describing is a "disk-to-disk cloning" program. It is basically designed to back up the *entire* contents of your day-to-day working HDD, including your XP operating system, all programs & applications, and, of course, your user-created data. So it's not entirely clear from the "criteria" you indicated whether you're interested in a comprehensive backup program along the lines I've indicated or you're merely interested in backing up your user-created data files. If it's the former, read on... We've been working with this Casper 4.0 disk cloning program for nearly a year now. Based on our experience to date with this program (primarily in an XP environment) and after using it with a few score systems and performing hundreds of disk-cloning operations, we have finally recommended this program to users. Of the few dozen users of whom we're aware who have been using the program with some regularity, all of them - without exception - have commented favorably about the program. In every instance it has become their disk-cloning program of choice. Many of these users had heretofore been using the Acronis True Image and/or Symantec's Norton Ghost programs (among others) for their disk imaging/disk cloning needs, however, *all* of them now prefer the Casper 4.0 program as their primary day-to-day comprehensive backup program. The beauty of this program lies in its simplicity of use, speed of backup operations, and overall effectiveness. While not totally flawless, it certainly comes close in our experience. Here are some details about the program for those of you who might be interested... First of all, potential users should note that this is a disk-cloning program - not a disk-imaging program - in the sense that the program is designed to create (for all practical purposes) a bit-for-bit copy of the "source" HDD (presumably one's day-to-day boot drive) so that if the recipient of the clone is an internal HDD, i.e., the "destination" drive, that cloned HDD will be bootable and its data immediately accessible, unlike the situation where a disk image is created on the recipient HDD (or other media) and a recovery process is necessary to restore the image to a bootable, data-accessible state. Note, however, that should the recipient of the clone be a USB external HDD - since that device is not ordinarily bootable in an XP environment - its contents (although accessible from the boot HDD) would need to be "cloned back" to an internal HDD should the recovery/restore process be necessary to create a bootable HDD. On the other hand, should the HDD encased in its USB enclosure be removable, it could possibly be installed as an internal HDD in the PC thus allowing the user to have a bootable functioning HDD. The Casper 4.0 program also has the happy capability of cloning individual partitions from one HDD to another HDD, not merely creating a "disk image" of the partition(s). (See details below). In general, the chief advantage of a disk-imaging approach rather than a disk-cloning one has been that following the initial creation of a disk image, subsequent incremental (or differential) disk images can be created allowing for a significant (and desirable) increase in backup speed as compared with the time it ordinarily takes for a user to create a disk clone every time the user backs up his or her system. There's also a relatively minor (in our view) advantage of creating disk images rather than disk clones in that the resultant disk image file can be compressed in size, thus saving some disk space. However, this advantage generally disappears (or at least is substantially reduced) after a number of incremental backup disk image files are created following the initial (original) backup file ("archive"). And given today's relatively inexpensive large-capacity hard drives we do not feel this advantage is of major import for most users. Additionally, disk imaging obviously lends itself better to using DVDs as the backup media, however given the rather large amount of data usually being backed up by most users in today's systems most users prefer to use hard drives (internal or external) as the recipient of the disk image backup when employing that approach. In any event if for one reason or another a user's primary or exclusive interest is in disk imaging rather than disk cloning, then one need not consider the Casper 4.0 program. The significant advantage of the Casper 4.0 disk cloning program over other disk cloning programs that we're familiar with, e.g., Acronis True Image or Symantec's Norton Ghost, is its ability to create *incremental* disk clones following the creation of the original (first) disk clone. (We've generally found that the first original disk clone created by the Casper 4.0 program takes about the same amount of time to create as one would find with other disk-cloning programs). However, and this is the crucial point, employing what Casper calls its "SmartClone" technology the program can create subsequent disk clones of the source HDD usually at a fraction of the time it takes other programs to create a "full" disk clone. This results in a decided incentive for users to undertake frequent complete backups of their systems knowing that they can create "incremental" disk clones in a relatively short period of time. Understand that these "incremental" disk clones thus created are complete clones of the source HDD. As we've indicated, the Casper 4.0 program's capability in creating these incremental disk clones results in a significant savings of time as compared to the usual time it takes to create a cloned disk using other disk-cloning programs. Knowing that this incremental disk cloning process will take only a relatively short period of time provides the user with increased motivation to back up their systems on a much more frequent & systematic basis than they might otherwise do - a most desirable result as I think most all PC users would agree. Another positive feature we've discovered with the Casper 4.0 program (at least based upon our experience to date) is that unlike other disk cloning programs such as the Acronis & Ghost programs, when the recipient of the clone - the destination HDD - is an *internal* HDD, we've found it unnecessary for the user to disconnect the source HDD from the system and make an *initial* boot following the disk cloning operation with only the destination HDD connected. (We're referring here to a disk cloning operation where the recipient of the clone (the "destination" drive) has been an *internal* HDD). We point this out since as many of us know, there has been a problem with disk cloning programs in general in that if *immediately* following a disk cloning operation both the (internal) source & destination HDDs are connected and an *initial* boot is made to the source drive, while the newly-cloned HDD is connected, there can be a subsequent problem with that newly-cloned destination drive in that it will fail to boot if at a later time it is the only HDD connected in the system. Because of this anomaly our advice - as well as from others including the developers of these disk cloning programs - has heretofore always been to disconnect the source HDD from the system *immediately* following the disk cloning operation and make that initial boot with *only* the newly-cloned destination (internal) HDD connected. (And, of course, to determine that the clone has "took" - the cloned HDD is bootable & functional). While this problem does not *always* happen along the lines described above, it does occur with sufficient frequency that we feel this cautionary note is required. Note that where the recipient of the cloned contents of the source HDD is an *external* HDD, such as a USB external HDD, this potential problem does not exist since the USB external HDD is not ordinarily a bootable device. Again - based on our experience with the Casper 4.0 program to date using a fairly wide variety of systems together with both PATA & SATA HDDs in a variety of combinations, e.g., SATA-to-SATA, PATA-to-PATA, SATA-to-PATA, etc., we haven't experienced a single problem (as described above) relative to this area. Using the Casper program is simplicity itself, another substantial advantage of this program. There's virtually no learning curve in undertaking the disk cloning process as one navigates through the few easy-to-understand screens with a final mouse-click on the button which will trigger the disk-cloning process. After undertaking one or two disk-cloning operations it should take the user no more than 20 seconds or so to get to that point. Simply stated, the program is a joy to use. Here's a more-or-less typical example of using the program to clone the contents of one HDD to another HDD (internal or external)... 1. Access the Casper 4.0 program. 2. Click on the opening screen's "Copy Drive" icon. 3. Click on the Next button on the "Welcome..." window. 4. Select the "Copy an entire hard disk" option, then the Next button. 5. The next window will reflect the HDD to be copied, presumably your boot drive. Click Next. 6. The next window will list the "destination" HDD, i.e., the drive that will be the recipient of the cloned contents of the drive you're copying. Highlight that drive listing and Click Next. 7. A warning screen will appear indicating the destination HDD is "currently in use" and that "all data on that disk may be lost if you continue". It's just a cautionary note so click Next. 8. Since you're cloning the entire contents of your source HDD to the destination HDD, just click Next on the next screen to accomplish that. 9. Select the "Perform the copy now" option and click Next and then Next again on the following screen. The disk-cloning operation will proceed with a final screen indicating its successful conclusion. BTW, the program is also capable of scheduling the disk-cloning process on a daily, weekly, or other time period selected by the user. The program is not particularly inexpensive as disk cloning programs go. Cost for a single-license is $49.95. AFAIK, the program is available for download only from the developer at http://www.fssdev.com and this does not include the "Casper Startup Disk" which sells for an additional $9.95. That "Startup Disk" is a really essential piece of the program since in many cases it would be the only way to effect a recovery of the system when the installed Casper program could not be accessed from the Windows environment because the program resides on a HDD that has failed or has become unbootable. The usual scenario for using the Startup Disk is when the recipient of the clone has been an external HDD - most likely a USB external HDD - and the original source disk has become defective or dysfunctional (unbootable) so that there is no opportunity to access the installed Casper program. Since the USB external HDD containing the cloned contents of the source drive is not bootable, one must use the Startup Disk in that situation in order to clone the contents of the external HDD back to a non-defective internal HDD in order to recover the system. The developer does have a 30-day trial version available - see http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/. The trial version is somewhat crippled in that the cloned partition on the destination drive will be the same size as the partition on the source drive - they will not be expanded to a larger size or to fill up available space on the new hard drive. However, the trial version should give one some reasonable insight as to how the program works. Note, however, that the trial version does not include the program to create the "Startup Disk" described above. It must be purchased separately. This Casper 4.0 program is advertised as being compatible with Vista, however, except for some cursory experience we've had using Casper with that operating system, we feel we haven't had sufficient experience with that OS to form any absolute judgment as to its effectiveness (or lack of) in that environment. I will say the relatively few times we've used Casper in the Vista OS with a number of different systems it has performed flawlessly. And we've received favorable reports from users who have been using the program in a Vista environment. Using the Startup Disk... The Startup Disk will ordinarily be employed in those recovery-type situations where the user cannot gain access to the installed Casper program because the HDD to be restored (on which the Casper program resides) is unbootable due to a corrupted operating system or has become mechanically/electronically defective, and the drive that contains the disk clone is a USB or Firewire external HDD which is ordinarily unbootable thus preventing access to the installed Casper program from that device. When using the Startup Disk remember to connect only the two HDDs that will be involved in the disk-cloning (recovery) process; disconnect any other storage device(s) from the system. The booting-up process with the Startup Disk is usually quite lengthy - we've generally found that it takes between 6 to 9 minutes before the program loads and the disk-cloning process can begin. Thereafter the disk-cloning operation (recovery) should go reasonably quickly & smoothly. Anna (Addendum re potential problem with the recipient drive of the clone...) Based on our experience to date with the Casper 4.0 program (about a year now), we have yet to run into that potential problem as we did with every disk cloning program we've used in the past. We've probably performed more than one hundred disk cloning operations over this time using the Casper program with a variety of systems using a variety of PATA - SATA HDDs in various configurations. In every case immediately following the disk-cloning operation, we booted the system with *both* drives (source & destination) connected - something we ordinarily would not do with the other disk cloning programs because of the (potential) problem I've detailed. In every case where we later booted to the newly-cloned solely-connected drive we did not encounter a boot problem as we sometimes experienced with other disk cloning programs when both the source & destination drives were still connected immediately following the disk-cloning operation and a boot was made to the source HDD while those two drives were connected. I'm hopeful that this unbroken string of successes will continue since this is a real advantage to this program as compared with other disk-cloning programs. Cloning partitions with Casper 4.0 Using XP's Disk Management utility, set up desired partitions on the destination hard drive (see example following these steps). 1. Access the Casper program and click on the "Copy Drive" icon. 2. Following the "Welcome to the Casper..." screen, select the option "Copy a specific drive". Click Next. 3. On the "Select Drive" window that opens, select (highlight) the source hard drive containing the specific partition you want to copy. Click Next. 4. On the "Select Copy Destination" window that opens, select the option "Copy to an existing drive" and click Next. 5. On the "Select Destination Drive" window that opens, select (highlight) the destination hard drive containing the partition that will be the recipient of the clone. Ensure that you've selected the correct destination drive and partition. Click Next. 6. On the next screen, click Next to confirm that you want to overwrite the data on the destination drive. 7. On the next screen, select the option "Perform the copy now" and click Next and then Next again to start the cloning process. As an example... 1. Let's say you want to clone the contents of your old 40 GB HDD to a newly-purchased 200 GB HDD (roughly 170 GB in binary terms). 2. You plan to set up your 200 GB HDD with three partitions - one of 50 GB, one of 55 GB, and the third of 65 GB. 3. After installing the 200 GB HDD in your current system in preparation for the disk (partition)-cloning operation, use the XP Disk Management utility to create the desired three partitions on that disk. Assign whatever drive letters are available to each of the three partitions and ensure that the first partition (presumably the partition that will be the recipient of the cloned operating system) is designated "Active" during the process. You needn't be concerned that you assign a drive letter other C: to that first partition. The disk-cloning process will assign the C: drive letter to that partition. Also, you can later change the drive letters of the other partitions using the Disk Management utility on the newly-cloned HDD. 4. Then, using the above "Cloning partitions..." steps, clone the contents of your 40 GB HDD to the first partition of the destination HDD. 5. Shut down the system, disconnect the old 40 GB HDD, and if not already so connected, connect the 200 GB HDD as Primary Master if it's a PATA HDD, or to the first SATA connector on the motherboard if the disk is a SATA drive. Boot with only the new 200 GB HDD connected to assure that the drive boots & functions without problems. 6. Reconnect the 40 GB HDD if you plan to continue to use that disk as a secondary drive in your system. |
#9
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Backup Software Recommendation
That's a sales pitch if I ever saw one, both of the latest versions of Ghost and
ATI do everything plus of what you mentioned. Ghost 12 http://www.symantec.com/norton/produ...r&pvid=ghost12 Ghost 12 review http://www.gcn.com/print/26_22/44927-1.html Acronis True Image 11 Home http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 |
#10
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Backup Software Recommendation
"PT" said:
I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: Since you require something very complicated and which never cleans up outdated data, I recommend Acronis True Image Home 10. ;-) JimL -- Iraq war? The USA should pretend to be the only country on the planet!! |
#11
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Backup Software Recommendation
Brian A. wrote:
That's a sales pitch if I ever saw one, both of the latest versions of Ghost and ATI do everything plus of what you mentioned. Ghost 12 http://www.symantec.com/norton/produ...r&pvid=ghost12 Ghost 12 review http://www.gcn.com/print/26_22/44927-1.html Acronis True Image 11 Home http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/ Ghost is very good IMO. |
#12
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Backup Software Recommendation
Brian:
Since you didn't refer to a specific posting I'm uncertain if you're referring to my response to the OP in which I touted the Casper 4.0 disk-cloning program and provided details concerning its use. In the event your comment re "a sales pitch" does *not* refer to my post, then please ignore the following... However, if you *are* referring to my comments re the Casper 4.0 program, then let me state the following... I have absolutely no connection with the developer of that program - commercial or otherwise. My comments are based solely on the experience we have had using that program (together with the experience of other Casper 4.0 users with whom I'm familiar) over the past year or so. As you may possibly have noted from my past postings, we have had extensive experience using a variety of disk cloning/disk imaging programs over a period of many years, including various versions of Symantec's Ghost & Acronis True Image programs. I do not denigrate those programs (with the possible exception of some earlier versions of the Ghost program) and have, on a number of occasions recommended those programs when responding to posters' queries re disk-cloning/disk-imaging programs. We have, however, found the Casper 4.0 a superior disk-cloning program for the detailed reasons I've indicated in my previous post. We highly recommend this program to users who are casting about for a comprehensive backup program related to disk-to- disk cloning operations. We have, however, always encouraged potential users to insofar as possible try out various disk-cloning or other backup-type programs to determine if one or the other programs meets their particular interest. Anna "Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message ... That's a sales pitch if I ever saw one, both of the latest versions of Ghost and ATI do everything plus of what you mentioned. Ghost 12 http://www.symantec.com/norton/produ...r&pvid=ghost12 Ghost 12 review http://www.gcn.com/print/26_22/44927-1.html Acronis True Image 11 Home http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 |
#13
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Backup Software Recommendation
"Anna" wrote: "PT" wrote in message ... I'd like recommendations for WinXP backup software which meet all the following criteria: 1. backs up files intact (without compression or encrypting) 2. can back up to any external drive 3. scheduling can be automated 4. easy to use 5. capable of incremental backup. 6. priced under ~ $50 -- PT Here's some detailed information about a comprehensive backup program that we've grown very fond of over the year or so that we've been working with it. So you may want to add it to the list of the other recommendations you've received. Understand that the program I'll be describing is a "disk-to-disk cloning" program. It is basically designed to back up the *entire* contents of your day-to-day working HDD, including your XP operating system, all programs & applications, and, of course, your user-created data. So it's not entirely clear from the "criteria" you indicated whether you're interested in a comprehensive backup program along the lines I've indicated or you're merely interested in backing up your user-created data files. If it's the former, read on... We've been working with this Casper 4.0 disk cloning program for nearly a year now. Based on our experience to date with this program (primarily in an XP environment) and after using it with a few score systems and performing hundreds of disk-cloning operations, we have finally recommended this program to users. Of the few dozen users of whom we're aware who have been using the program with some regularity, all of them - without exception - have commented favorably about the program. In every instance it has become their disk-cloning program of choice. Many of these users had heretofore been using the Acronis True Image and/or Symantec's Norton Ghost programs (among others) for their disk imaging/disk cloning needs, however, *all* of them now prefer the Casper 4.0 program as their primary day-to-day comprehensive backup program. The beauty of this program lies in its simplicity of use, speed of backup operations, and overall effectiveness. While not totally flawless, it certainly comes close in our experience. Here are some details about the program for those of you who might be interested... First of all, potential users should note that this is a disk-cloning program - not a disk-imaging program - in the sense that the program is designed to create (for all practical purposes) a bit-for-bit copy of the "source" HDD (presumably one's day-to-day boot drive) so that if the recipient of the clone is an internal HDD, i.e., the "destination" drive, that cloned HDD will be bootable and its data immediately accessible, unlike the situation where a disk image is created on the recipient HDD (or other media) and a recovery process is necessary to restore the image to a bootable, data-accessible state. Note, however, that should the recipient of the clone be a USB external HDD - since that device is not ordinarily bootable in an XP environment - its contents (although accessible from the boot HDD) would need to be "cloned back" to an internal HDD should the recovery/restore process be necessary to create a bootable HDD. On the other hand, should the HDD encased in its USB enclosure be removable, it could possibly be installed as an internal HDD in the PC thus allowing the user to have a bootable functioning HDD. The Casper 4.0 program also has the happy capability of cloning individual partitions from one HDD to another HDD, not merely creating a "disk image" of the partition(s). (See details below). In general, the chief advantage of a disk-imaging approach rather than a disk-cloning one has been that following the initial creation of a disk image, subsequent incremental (or differential) disk images can be created allowing for a significant (and desirable) increase in backup speed as compared with the time it ordinarily takes for a user to create a disk clone every time the user backs up his or her system. There's also a relatively minor (in our view) advantage of creating disk images rather than disk clones in that the resultant disk image file can be compressed in size, thus saving some disk space. However, this advantage generally disappears (or at least is substantially reduced) after a number of incremental backup disk image files are created following the initial (original) backup file ("archive"). And given today's relatively inexpensive large-capacity hard drives we do not feel this advantage is of major import for most users. Additionally, disk imaging obviously lends itself better to using DVDs as the backup media, however given the rather large amount of data usually being backed up by most users in today's systems most users prefer to use hard drives (internal or external) as the recipient of the disk image backup when employing that approach. In any event if for one reason or another a user's primary or exclusive interest is in disk imaging rather than disk cloning, then one need not consider the Casper 4.0 program. The significant advantage of the Casper 4.0 disk cloning program over other disk cloning programs that we're familiar with, e.g., Acronis True Image or Symantec's Norton Ghost, is its ability to create *incremental* disk clones following the creation of the original (first) disk clone. (We've generally found that the first original disk clone created by the Casper 4.0 program takes about the same amount of time to create as one would find with other disk-cloning programs). However, and this is the crucial point, employing what Casper calls its "SmartClone" technology the program can create subsequent disk clones of the source HDD usually at a fraction of the time it takes other programs to create a "full" disk clone. This results in a decided incentive for users to undertake frequent complete backups of their systems knowing that they can create "incremental" disk clones in a relatively short period of time. Understand that these "incremental" disk clones thus created are complete clones of the source HDD. As we've indicated, the Casper 4.0 program's capability in creating these incremental disk clones results in a significant savings of time as compared to the usual time it takes to create a cloned disk using other disk-cloning programs. Knowing that this incremental disk cloning process will take only a relatively short period of time provides the user with increased motivation to back up their systems on a much more frequent & systematic basis than they might otherwise do - a most desirable result as I think most all PC users would agree. Another positive feature we've discovered with the Casper 4.0 program (at least based upon our experience to date) is that unlike other disk cloning programs such as the Acronis & Ghost programs, when the recipient of the clone - the destination HDD - is an *internal* HDD, we've found it unnecessary for the user to disconnect the source HDD from the system and make an *initial* boot following the disk cloning operation with only the destination HDD connected. (We're referring here to a disk cloning operation where the recipient of the clone (the "destination" drive) has been an *internal* HDD). We point this out since as many of us know, there has been a problem with disk cloning programs in general in that if *immediately* following a disk cloning operation both the (internal) source & destination HDDs are connected and an *initial* boot is made to the source drive, while the newly-cloned HDD is connected, there can be a subsequent problem with that newly-cloned destination drive in that it will fail to boot if at a later time it is the only HDD connected in the system. Because of this anomaly our advice - as well as from others including the developers of these disk cloning programs - has heretofore always been to disconnect the source HDD from the system *immediately* following the disk cloning operation and make that initial boot with *only* the newly-cloned destination (internal) HDD connected. (And, of course, to determine that the clone has "took" - the cloned HDD is bootable & functional). While this problem does not *always* happen along the lines described above, it does occur with sufficient frequency that we feel this cautionary note is required. Note that where the recipient of the cloned contents of the source HDD is an *external* HDD, such as a USB external HDD, this potential problem does not exist since the USB external HDD is not ordinarily a bootable device. Again - based on our experience with the Casper 4.0 program to date using a fairly wide variety of systems together with both PATA & SATA HDDs in a variety of combinations, e.g., SATA-to-SATA, PATA-to-PATA, SATA-to-PATA, etc., we haven't experienced a single problem (as described above) relative to this area. Using the Casper program is simplicity itself, another substantial advantage of this program. There's virtually no learning curve in undertaking the disk cloning process as one navigates through the few easy-to-understand screens with a final mouse-click on the button which will trigger the disk-cloning process. After undertaking one or two disk-cloning operations it should take the user no more than 20 seconds or so to get to that point. Simply stated, the program is a joy to use. Here's a more-or-less typical example of using the program to clone the contents of one HDD to another HDD (internal or external)... 1. Access the Casper 4.0 program. 2. Click on the opening screen's "Copy Drive" icon. 3. Click on the Next button on the "Welcome..." window. 4. Select the "Copy an entire hard disk" option, then the Next button. 5. The next window will reflect the HDD to be copied, presumably your boot drive. Click Next. 6. The next window will list the "destination" HDD, i.e., the drive that will be the recipient of the cloned contents of the drive you're copying. Highlight that drive listing and Click Next. 7. A warning screen will appear indicating the destination HDD is "currently in use" and that "all data on that disk may be lost if you continue". It's just a cautionary note so click Next. 8. Since you're cloning the entire contents of your source HDD to the destination HDD, just click Next on the next screen to accomplish that. 9. Select the "Perform the copy now" option and click Next and then Next again on the following screen. The disk-cloning operation will proceed with a final screen indicating its successful conclusion. BTW, the program is also capable of scheduling the disk-cloning process on a daily, weekly, or other time period selected by the user. The program is not particularly inexpensive as disk cloning programs go. Cost for a single-license is $49.95. AFAIK, the program is available for download only from the developer at http://www.fssdev.com and this does not include the "Casper Startup Disk" which sells for an additional $9.95. That "Startup Disk" is a really essential piece of the program since in many cases it would be the only way to effect a recovery of the system when the installed Casper program could not be accessed from the Windows environment because the program resides on a HDD that has failed or has become unbootable. The usual scenario for using the Startup Disk is when the recipient of the clone has been an external HDD - most likely a USB external HDD - and the original source disk has become defective or dysfunctional (unbootable) so that there is no opportunity to access the installed Casper program. Since the USB external HDD containing the cloned contents of the source drive is not bootable, one must use the Startup Disk in that situation in order to clone the contents of the external HDD back to a non-defective internal HDD in order to recover the system. The developer does have a 30-day trial version available - see http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/. The trial version is somewhat crippled in that the cloned partition on the destination drive will be the same size as the partition on the source drive - they will not be expanded to a larger size or to fill up available space on the new hard drive. However, the trial version should give one some reasonable insight as to how the program works. Note, however, that the trial version does not include the program to create the "Startup Disk" described above. It must be purchased separately. This Casper 4.0 program is advertised as being compatible with Vista, however, except for some cursory experience we've had using Casper with that operating system, we feel we haven't had sufficient experience with that OS to form any absolute judgment as to its effectiveness (or lack of) in that environment. I will say the relatively few times we've used Casper in the Vista OS with a number of different systems it has performed flawlessly. And we've received favorable reports from users who have been using the program in a Vista environment. Using the Startup Disk... The Startup Disk will ordinarily be employed in those recovery-type situations where the user cannot gain access to the installed Casper program because the HDD to be restored (on which the Casper program resides) is unbootable due to a corrupted operating system or has become mechanically/electronically defective, and the drive that contains the disk clone is a USB or Firewire external HDD which is ordinarily unbootable thus preventing access to the installed Casper program from that device. When using the Startup Disk remember to connect only the two HDDs that will be involved in the disk-cloning (recovery) process; disconnect any other storage device(s) from the system. The booting-up process with the Startup Disk is usually quite lengthy - we've generally found that it takes between 6 to 9 minutes before the program loads and the disk-cloning process can begin. Thereafter the disk-cloning operation (recovery) should go reasonably quickly & smoothly. Anna (Addendum re potential problem with the recipient drive of the clone...) Based on our experience to date with the Casper 4.0 program (about a year now), we have yet to run into that potential problem as we did with every disk cloning program we've used in the past. We've probably performed more than one hundred disk cloning operations over this time using the Casper program with a variety of systems using a variety of PATA - SATA HDDs in various configurations. In every case immediately following the disk-cloning operation, we booted the system with *both* drives (source & destination) connected - something we ordinarily would not do with the other disk cloning programs because of the (potential) problem I've detailed. In every case where we later booted to the newly-cloned solely-connected drive we did not encounter a boot problem as we sometimes experienced with other disk cloning programs when both the source & destination drives were still connected immediately following the disk-cloning operation and a boot was made to the source HDD while those two drives were connected. I'm hopeful that this unbroken string of successes will continue since this is a real advantage to this program as compared with other disk-cloning programs. Cloning partitions with Casper 4.0 Using XP's Disk Management utility, set up desired partitions on the destination hard drive (see example following these steps). 1. Access the Casper program and click on the "Copy Drive" icon. 2. Following the "Welcome to the Casper..." screen, select the option "Copy a specific drive". Click Next. 3. On the "Select Drive" window that opens, select (highlight) the source hard drive containing the specific partition you want to copy. Click Next. 4. On the "Select Copy Destination" window that opens, select the option "Copy to an existing drive" and click Next. 5. On the "Select Destination Drive" window that opens, select (highlight) the destination hard drive containing the partition that will be the recipient of the clone. Ensure that you've selected the correct destination drive and partition. Click Next. 6. On the next screen, click Next to confirm that you want to overwrite the data on the destination drive. 7. On the next screen, select the option "Perform the copy now" and click Next and then Next again to start the cloning process. As an example... 1. Let's say you want to clone the contents of your old 40 GB HDD to a newly-purchased 200 GB HDD (roughly 170 GB in binary terms). 2. You plan to set up your 200 GB HDD with three partitions - one of 50 GB, one of 55 GB, and the third of 65 GB. 3. After installing the 200 GB HDD in your current system in preparation for the disk (partition)-cloning operation, use the XP Disk Management utility to create the desired three partitions on that disk. Assign whatever drive letters are available to each of the three partitions and ensure that the first partition (presumably the partition that will be the recipient of the cloned operating system) is designated "Active" during the process. You needn't be concerned that you assign a drive letter other C: to that first partition. The disk-cloning process will assign the C: drive letter to that partition. Also, you can later change the drive letters of the other partitions using the Disk Management utility on the newly-cloned HDD. 4. Then, using the above "Cloning partitions..." steps, clone the contents of your 40 GB HDD to the first partition of the destination HDD. Hello, Always appreciate the information and the way you dispense such information, when you post. Thank you. take care. beamish. |
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Backup Software Recommendation
I have absolutely no connection with the developer of that program -
commercial or otherwise Anna, If that's the case, it's good practice to state it clearly at the top of your post when you submit a lengthy, detailed in-depth post such as yours about Casper. I started reading your post about Casper but quickly got the impression from the language and tone that it was the output of the product's marketing department. Lines such as: "The beauty of this program lies in its simplicity of use, speed of backup operations, and overall effectiveness. While not totally flawless, it certainly comes close in our experience." sound like they're cut-and-pasted from the product's website. It's a standard tactic of viral marketers to post glowing reviews, purportedly from a happy end user, in forums such as these. -- Regards John Waller |
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Backup Software Recommendation
"WaIIy" wrote in message ... On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:32:07 -0500, "Anna" wrote: We've been working with this Casper 4.0 disk cloning program for nearly a year now. Based on our experience to date with this program (primarily in an XP environment) and after using it with a few score systems and performing hundreds of disk-cloning operations, we have finally recommended this program to users. What affiliation / interest do you have with Future Systems? Wally: None whatsoever. See my response to Brian earlier today. If you (and perhaps others who might think I'm "shilling" for some commercial entity) would peruse these MS newsgroups dealing with XP issues you would come across various postings of mine over the years in which I recommended certain of Symantec's Ghost programs as well as the Acronis True Image program. And in many cases, in so doing I provided detailed step-by-step instructions for using those programs. I've done so, and will continue to do so, where I believe my comments will be useful to a specific query or to the group at large. For a number of years I've been asked to speak before a number of local computer clubs in our area on various PC topics including different backup programs, including, of course, disk-cloning & disk-imaging programs. In so doing I ordinarily prepare (as a handout to the attendees) a detailed background statement as to why I prefer this or that program together with detailed step-by-step instructions for using the program under discussion. I've done this for the Symantec, Acronis, and various other backup-type programs. I might add this material frequently is also published in a computer club's newsletter. So my posts relative to a particular disk-cloning and/or disk-imaging program where I provide that detailed information is pretty much a "copy & paste" job since I can use the material that I've previous prepared on this or that program. The comments & statements I make in a post are solely my own opinion based upon my experience with a particular program. I have no affiliation - commercial or otherwise - with the developer or purveyor of whatever program on which I'm commenting. I trust the above explanation satisfies your curiosity. Anna |
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