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Author Topic: looking for suggestions on backup software & process  (Read 1110 times)

JustinChase

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looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« on: October 23, 2013, 05:39:23 pm »

I've been pretty lax in my backup regimen lately, but I'm making a big move soon (out of the country), and want to make sure I have good backups of the important stuff before boxing everything up to move.

I'm curious what people are using for their backups, and any suggestions on processes to ensure a quality backup system in case of disaster.  Specifically regarding incremental or differential backups, whether or not to encrypt of compress, and anything else one might not consider while thinking about hundreds of other moving parts of their life right now ;)

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/suggestions!
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maxxsid

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Re: looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2013, 06:07:30 pm »

I use Acronis to do incremental backups of my system (boot) drive every 2 weeks. Every 6 backups Acronis starts a new set (I can delete older backups after that).

For backing up my pictures, music etc, I use ViceVersa. I have 3 copies:
original location,
"working" backup (manual, after I add some new content to original location) - I actually use this copy to edit/alter files and use it to serve media files, and
backup of backup (auto/scheduled - complete, including removed/altered files)

In addition, a couple of times a year I create another backup disk with all my personal stuff (documents, pictures, music) and store it at work.
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rjm

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Re: looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2013, 06:51:41 pm »

do a search on backup here, there are a couple excellent threads
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jack wallstreet

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Re: looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2013, 07:04:36 pm »

A few years ago, I bought and tested a number of the most popular backup software solutions, including the free windows backup, acronis and others.

I found only one software that met my particular needs.  I wanted to use an external hard drive device and rotate the backup drives.  This turned out to be difficult (impossible) for other software to handle seamlessly.  I ended up with Macrium Reflect - which I have found to be extremely powerful, extremely reliable, and very easy to use.  The use interface leaves something to be desired, but once you figure your way around, it is easy to use.  It handles the swapping of drives seamlessly.
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John

Zhillsguy

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Re: looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2013, 08:54:43 pm »

I use the free version of SyncBack, meets my needs, but my needs are simple. It is very straight forward, and I think the "Pro" version has added features.......everyone's needs are different.

I don't compress or password protect or anything....that can lead to problems down the road. Most things like music, photos, etc. can't be compressed well anyway. Space is too cheap now......

I don't store off-site, I just make sure all valuable data is always duped on at least two separate sources. I use an external hard drive enclosure, and only power it on when backing up.
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JustinChase

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Re: looking for suggestions on backup software & process
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2013, 09:16:18 pm »

do a search on backup here, there are a couple excellent threads

I tried that, but "backup" is included in thousands of threads, and i couldn't pair that up with another not common, meaningful word to get fewer results, and eventually gave up on weeding thru them all :(
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