I personally use Windows Server 2012 at home, which comes with a very useful tool called wbadmin (both command line and the .msc snap-in) for backups. However for Windows 7 and newer, it, at best, pretty much generates a complete system image, and restorations are not easy on a client Windows edition (open the .vhd, yank the files out manually.)To help a relative out, what utility do people use for complete backups to external hard disks? I also use Mozy for documents, but for backups to a drive, I've not had that good luck. Acronis TrueImage quietly failed after a few months and would not start without giving any error messages, even after a reinstall. I caught it when doing a random check. I tried Retrospect, and it also had issues where it would just lock up with the CPU pegged until it was manually killed (taskill /f /im retrospect.exe).The ideal is a utility where if something happens, I can restore individual files, or if the whole system dies, boot a recovery disk, and restore from the external HDD. The ironic thing is that this is very easy with Windows Server operating systems, but for client editions, it calls for a third party program.

I have been building and using PCs since their inception. I have tried essentially every backup software solution out there. Acronis True Image is the best package I have ever used and I have it on five computers. It has worked for me for the past four years.You mentioned Retrospect. Good product, but not as good as Acronis in my opinion.You said that your Acronis quietly failed. I would suggest that it should be completely removed and reinstalled. The following link gives instructions on how to uninstall and includes a utility that deletes all traces of the product. I had a similar problem on a laptop that suffered a corrupted hard disk. I had to uninstall, run the cleanup utility, and then reinstall. After that, it went back to normal. http://kb.acronis.com/content/34876Also, if you have not done so already, run a full check of your hard disk to make sure the file system is in good shape. Backup tools can get hung up if the file system has problems.

Mike Stanbro wrote:I have been building and using PCs since their inception. I have tried essentially every backup software solution out there. Acronis True Image is the best package I have ever used and I have it on five computers. It has worked for me for the past four years.You mentioned Retrospect. Good product, but not as good as Acronis in my opinion.You said that your Acronis quietly failed. I would suggest that it should be completely removed and reinstalled. The following link gives instructions on how to uninstall and includes a utility that deletes all traces of the product. I had a similar problem on a laptop that suffered a corrupted hard disk. I had to uninstall, run the cleanup utility, and then reinstall. After that, it went back to normal. http://kb.acronis.com/content/34876Also, if you have not done so already, run a full check of your hard disk to make sure the file system is in good shape. Backup tools can get hung up if the file system has problems.I already did that (uninstall/reinstall), same thing. I also checked the filesystem (after XP, it is a habit after every patch tuesday to do a chkdsk /f before the reboot... although windows 8 and newer have the chkdsk /scan command that allows for online filesystem scanning/cleaning), and did the usual checking for corrupted stuff via tasklist and taskmgr. I even dumped an image via wbadmin and scanned that on a separate PC as a way to check for rootkits.What I might do is just dump the machine via wbadmin to an external drive, completely wipe the system hard disk using the diskpart clean all command, and then restore the image back. I've seen this fix issues before.

60$ per year and Carbonite backs up EVERYTHING you do instantly.Jim

Mozy is similar to Carbonite. The advantage of backing up to a local drive is the ability to deal with a complete hard disk failure without having to redownload hundreds of gigs of data. Mozy, Backblaze, and Carbonite are great for a second line of defense, say one loses their computer and their backup drive. However, it is nice to just restore a file with a click, than to have to find decent Internet access (or burn up precious gigs on a LTE connection) to restore.Not saying Carbonite is bad. It has its place. However, the first line of defense is an external HDD, if possible.

I'm not a good person to ask anymore, but have used Retrospect in an office environment and always found it easy to set up and use and very reliable. But, I would not recommend it for individual backup.I've been using SyncToy from Microsoft just to sync my \Users directory to an external drive.I've heard good things about Genie Timeline (Apple Time Machine knock-off).

Recommended backup software? | Good Sam Community

mlts22
Explorer
Mar 02, 2014
One trick I do with syncing is have sandboxie only share the bookmarks between the sandbox and the actual Chrome or Firefox directory. Then, the sync program never sees the cookies and cache or other stuff thrown on there. Plus, it provides better privacy, because it assures that everything (cookies, cache, etc) is gone... because it was never there in the first place. Of course, this does nothing to stop web browser fingerprinting (a la EFF's Panopticlick), but that is a digression.

I do agree with you -- automatic sync applications have a place, especially if they can store previous versions somehow. That provides an effective third layer of protection (the other two being a backup nightly to disk and backups of documents offsite to Mozy, Carbonite, or another place.)

I use SyncToy on one machine, but it cannot do continuous syncs... only on a schedule you manually create, so if you do a lot of changes on a document, then accidentally delete it, it might be of little to no use.
1492
Moderator
Mar 02, 2014
That's fine if all you want is to backup or sync bookmarks. A cloud solution is much easier. But I also want my passwords, emails, settings, all backed up encrypted and easily restored from one folder. Would be too tedious to setup sync relations with each file. Much easier to just sync one profile file.

I stopped using SyncToy since WIN XP as you can only sync manually. I'd rather use an app that just needs to be setup once, and than does it job automatically without the need of periodic intervention on my part.

In reality, I have two backups on separate drives on top of the source drive.
River-Runner
Explorer
Mar 03, 2014
mlts22 wrote:
Mozy is similar to Carbonite. The advantage of backing up to a local drive is the ability to deal with a complete hard disk failure without having to redownload hundreds of gigs of data. Mozy, Backblaze, and Carbonite are great for a second line of defense, say one loses their computer and their backup drive. However, it is nice to just restore a file with a click, than to have to find decent Internet access (or burn up precious gigs on a LTE connection) to restore.

Not saying Carbonite is bad. It has its place. However, the first line of defense is an external HDD, if possible.

This sounds good. Will Carbonite make a image of your boot drive to recover a working copy of your system files? I use Acronis as well and am comforted by knowing I can just insert my backup of my boot disc and it will work just like the original. This saves a lot of time when a drive dies - BUT - if - Carbonite does this too - I think this would be most cool. A working hard drive boot disc you could download anywhere!

Cool!
1492
Moderator
Mar 20, 2014
An important note when using any backup software to image your drive. I recently went to update my system image files using an external USB HD. AOMEI Backupper couldn't find the backup file, though I found the file myself just where it was originally saved. After a little trouble shooting, I discovered the issue.

Windows will by default assign a random drive letter when plugging in an external USB drive. The problem stemmed from the fact that the original backup image file was saved to a path using the drive letter J:. But my WIN 7 desktop now assigned the drive letter as H:.

This was easily solved by going into Windows Disk Management, and forcing the drive letter J: to be assigned to my external HD. But points to a potential glitch in backup software, many of which do not have a provision to specify the location of the backup image files. And behooves the point not to change the path of the backup file. Either the drive letter, folder, or file name when you make an image file. Your backup software may not be able to find the file to either update or restore your system. Check your particular software.

This may also be an issue with NAS storage used for backup if a different IP location is assigned.

On another note, I have been exceptionally pleased with the open source and fast FreeFileSync app that I now use for automated daily backups of my personal encrypted data files, including both my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles. And also to auto backup My Documents folder multiple times a day. Though can even be set to auto backup key folders soon after it detects any changes.

However, FreeFileSync may not be as user friendly to everyone, as you must create a batch file for automated backups. Then link to it by creating a backup job using Windows Task Scheduler. Not particularly difficult. And makes auto backups seamlessly in the background. Note that you don't need to have FreeFileSync running as Windows Task Scheduler will open the application, run the batch file, and close the application.

Best part is that FreeFileSync is completely FREE.

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