Best Method for backing up a PC computer?

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Samuking

#1
#1
OK, since someone started a thread on Best AntiVirus / Spyware..

Well on the Macintosh side there is a great program called Time Machine which makes hourly backups of your system. If you have the Time Capsule component, it can do it wireless and automatically.

Now, on the PC side are there programs that do backups, like incremental. I'm not talking about syncing your hard drive to an external case. I bascially want a program that will backup my files incrementatlly on a hard drive if possible.

Any suggestions?
 
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elmo16

#2
#2
Backing up your hard drive every hour is a nutty waste of time not to mention hard drive space. It seems that your computer will be doing little else but backing up your hard drive. I guess Apple wants to prove that they can be every bit as stupid as Microsoft.
 
C

Cruiter1960

#4
#4
Carbonite

i use Carbonite.com. it's very cheap ($50/yr.) and it seems very reliable. When i bought a new PC a few months ago, it restored all my old files to the new one seamlessly.
 
S

Shoot2Thrill

#5
#5
A 500+ GB external hard drive should be something everyone has! The can be had for $100. Carbonite=proud sponsor of hate radio. Just the fact that they advertise in the same market with debt credit services etc... should tell you something about the decision to use them. Yahoo etc.. has free unlimited mail box.
 
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elmo16

#6
#6
PC Magazine gave ShadowProtect Desktop 3.1 it's highest rating for back up software for Windows OS. It's fast, easy to use and reliable. PC Magazine reports that it's unique in that you can back up your computer, and then restore the disk image to another computer. I'm not exactly sure just how well this works. They say that some drivers might not work very well. I'm also wondering how well it works with software that has to be activated on-line like Windows XP, Vista and MS Office 2007, as well as certain of *** software. They say you can modify the disk image, scan it for viruses, worms and spyware. You can boot directly from the application disk and recover your hard drive in case your computer is so messed up you can get to windows.

I use Acronis True Image 11, it's also very fast and dependable. I back up my hard drive to an external hard drive. True Image 11 allows you to create an emergency boot disk in case you can't boot your computer to grt to Windows.

Does Carbonite allow you to recover you hard drive if your computer is too fucked up to boot to WIndows and go on-line?
 
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elmo16

#7
#7
I also find that incremental back-ups are not as dependable as complete back-ups. If you make significant changes to your computer's operating system, or drivers, or certain applications, or delete applications between incremental back-ups, your restored hard drive can get confused and messed up. I would strongly recommend making complete back-ups every time you back your computer up.
 
C

Cruiter1960

#8
#8
Carbonite also advertises on WFAN. Do you not buy any product that is advertised on right-wing radio? You are living a minimalist life if that's the case.


Shoot2Thrill said:
A 500+ GB external hard drive should be something everyone has! The can be had for $100. Carbonite=proud sponsor of hate radio. Just the fact that they advertise in the same market with debt credit services etc... should tell you something about the decision to use them. Yahoo etc.. has free unlimited mail box.
Click to expand...
 
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elmo16

#9
#9
Apparently, with Carbonite, you have to first reinstall windows then go on-line in the case where your computer is too messed up to boot into Windows and go on-line. Seems like too much trouble to me.
 
M

Mr. W. Coyote

#10
#10
elmo16 said:
Backing up your hard drive every hour is a nutty waste of time not to mention hard drive space. It seems that your computer will be doing little else but backing up your hard drive. I guess Apple wants to prove that they can be every bit as stupid as Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Yeah... that is what it does?! No smart -ass... it does a full back up and the incremental backups of changes each hour, so you lose NOTHING!
 
D

Duckman

Moderator
#11
#11
Offsite backups

I never quite got the idea of relying 100% on hard drives you keep at home. What about theft, fire, your five year old, etc?

There are a number of backup services available via the internet that are not like carbonite (lack of control, can be considered intrusive). I don't recommend using these services to backup MP3, videos, and other large files. But if you want to safeguard spreadsheets, turbo tax files, etc...I think it makes a lot of sense.
 
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elmo16

#12
#12
Mr. W. Coyote said:
Yeah... that is what it does?! No smart -ass... it does a full back up and the incremental backups of changes each hour, so you lose NOTHING!
Click to expand...
How much does what is on your computer's hard drive change each hour?

If you want to protect your data, or your documents, then save each document you create, as you create it to your computer's hard drive and to an external hard drive.

If you spend most of your time surfing, then do you really need to back up your hard drive every hour?
 
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elmo16

#13
#13
Duckman said:
I never quite got the idea of relying 100% on hard drives you keep at home. What about theft, fire, your five year old, etc?

There are a number of backup services available via the internet that are not like carbonite (lack of control, can be considered intrusive). I don't recommend using these services to backup MP3, videos, and other large files. But if you want to safeguard spreadsheets, turbo tax files, etc...I think it makes a lot of sense.
Click to expand...
How about an 8-gig thumb drive that you can put in your pocket when you are done down loading your files to it? They also make larger hard drives that are small enough to put in your pocket, or in a drawer.
 
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elmo16

#14
#14
Mr. W. Coyote said:
Yeah... that is what it does?! No smart -ass... it does a full back up and the incremental backups of changes each hour, so you lose NOTHING!
Click to expand...
Go to apple.com, and read some of the reviews, apparently, I'm not the only person who thinks this product is a bad idea.

And how many incremental backups do you think any backup software can make before it gets totally confused?
 
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elmo16

#16
#16
Duckman said:
I never quite got the idea of relying 100% on hard drives you keep at home. What about theft, fire, your five year old, etc?

There are a number of backup services available via the internet that are not like carbonite (lack of control, can be considered intrusive). I don't recommend using these services to backup MP3, videos, and other large files. But if you want to safeguard spreadsheets, turbo tax files, etc...I think it makes a lot of sense.
Click to expand...
All the things you mention can also happen to your computer, then all the backups in the world won't help. What you seem to want is to do is to backup important data files. In that case, online backup services do make a lot of sense.
 
genius

genius

#17
#17
elmo16 said:
Backing up your hard drive every hour is a nutty waste of time not to mention hard drive space. It seems that your computer will be doing little else but backing up your hard drive. I guess Apple wants to prove that they can be every bit as stupid as Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Depends on how it is done. I don’t know (nor particularly care) how Apple does it) but incremental backups of essential data can be done that take very little space and time - the reconstruction back to a full backup may take time, but that would need to occur (hopefully)very infrequently.

Also, the computer spends 99.9 %( at most) of it's time waiting for you to tell it to do something (for most people - assuming you are not doing videos or games or other intensive CPU utilization applications 100% of the time.) Backups could be performed during this time and suspended whenever you want service.
 
genius

genius

#18
#18
elmo16 said:
I also find that incremental back-ups are not as dependable as complete back-ups. If you make significant changes to your computer's operating system, or drivers, or certain applications, or delete applications between incremental back-ups, your restored hard drive can get confused and messed up. I would strongly recommend making complete back-ups every time you back your computer up.
Click to expand...
Your suggestion means that you will lose everything between full backups. If you do incrementals and they "hard drive can get confused and messed up" (not the terminology I would use), you can always go back to the last full backup.

PS. If you make significant changes to your computer's operating system, or drivers, or certain applications, you should do a complete backup before such actions.
 
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elmo16

#19
#19
genius said:
Your suggestion means that you will lose everything between full backups. If you do incrementals and they "hard drive can get confused and messed up" (not the terminology I would use), you can always go back to the last full backup.

PS. If you make significant changes to your computer's operating system, or drivers, or certain applications, you should do a complete backup before such actions.
Click to expand...
The problem with that is every time you make an incremental backup, it becomes part of your last full backup and you can't reinstall your last full backup without all the incremental backups.
 
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elmo16

#20
#20
In most cases, if you are not creating important documents like reports, spreadsheets, Turbo Tax returns, down loading expensive music or video files or installing new applications, etc. your computer’s hard drive is only down loading anti-virus or anti-spyware updates (Oh, I forgot, Apple computers don’t get Viruses or Spyware) or you are adding new Bookmarks to your Browser. All this can be easily redone. So do you really need to backup your computer every hour?
This is just an excuse for Apple to sell you a Tetra Byte (1,000 megabytes) Time Machine hard drive for $500.
 
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