Backing up software for home PC

[Harper]

After getting one scare with one of my old RAID drives dying on me, I am currently looking around for some back up and restore programs.

I am only after a program that will back up my important stuff. Eg. My Documents, My Photos and a few other selected directories here and there.

I am currently not after some thing that will do full system restore and my home computer is not that mission critical. I am just after some thing that I can back up on to an external hard drive.

Currently I am using Windows 7 inbuilt back up and restore. However I am not amused with how long it takes to back up documents.

The only reason I do not make a simple batch file is that I would like some thing that will
1. Keep the last 2 versions of my back up
2. Verify the data after back up is complete.

 

[Harper]

I found the following software via google the other night.
FBackup 4.4 Free backup software download - FBackup

Okay, it still took about 11 hours to back up the last 15 years of my life, but it that was an improvement over windows 7 back up and restore.
Plus is back up into ZIP files. Not some weird format.

 

[Eric1]

I'll need to try this out. Should be much better then me just doing the copy and paste thing to my external drive.

 

[Harper]

I'll need to try this out. Should be much better then me just doing the copy and paste thing to my external drive.

Currently i have just done some manual back ups with the software as I currently have no back ups right now.
I have multiple back ups happening
1. My Docs (and various other important files) - Weekly
2. Steam Directory - Monthly
3. My Music - monthly, due to the size

I will see what happens on monday afternoon after the automatic update of my docs is completed.

 

[iPROTechman]

PARAGON Software Group - partition manager, drive backup, hard disk partitioning

Apparently the program they have on there is supposed to be good.

 

[office politics]

this may work for you WebSynchronizer | Download WebSynchronizer software for free at SourceForge.net

i'd like something with encrypted communications though.


edit - also windows live has a sync app with like 20 gb of free space.

 

[ErikAlbert]

My advice : separate system and data first.
1. Partition-C = Windows + Third Party softwares and their settings, but without data.
2. Partition-D = nothing but data-files : spreadsheets, documents, databases, photo's, movies, emails+addressbook, etc. Anything you don't want to lose.
You can create as many data-partitions as needed.

Why storing data on the most attacked partition in the world by malware(-writers) ?
That is begging for losing and infecting your data.
Data-files are the most important files on your computer, losing them is always a disaster.
They need daily backup and with the right backup-software you only have to backup the changed files, not the rest.
There are other advantages, but this is the first advantage.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

I use Microsoft's sync toy. It's free, easy to use, etc etc etc.
Download details: SyncToy 2.1

Uses a lot of built in functionality in the windows OS to help it, so it's more resource friendly than your average backup solution.

 

[ErikAlbert]

There are so many backup softwares for data.
I use Karen's Replicator, old-fashioned, but a good and reliable one. One day; I will replace it with a more recent backup software, but it isn't urgent enough.
I do a daily backup of my data, but I never do a daily backup of my system.
Losing your system is never a disaster, I have my system back in no time.

 

[ET/IT]

I found the following software via google the other night.
FBackup 4.4 Free backup software download - FBackup

Okay, it still took about 11 hours to back up the last 15 years of my life, but it that was an improvement over windows 7 back up and restore.
Plus is back up into ZIP files. Not some weird format.

That's one of the issues with Windows 7 vs VISTA. It's file back up abilities are messed up, unless you personally alter the format of the files after they've been copied. (which will take another 2-7 hours depending on what type of files they are, and how many of them there are) As far as backup goes, if you know the locations of the files, you can just hook up an external hard drive, and transfer copies of specific files over. (Once the hard drive is formatted of course)