File Backup/Recovery software for Windows

[Jim Laumann]

I am looking for recommendations for backup/recovery software (running Windows 7). I've been using the stuff that comes w/ Windows, but I'm not happy with it.

Initially I will be using a DVD as media, but am looking at USB hard drives. I've also got a couple of extra harddrives I could install/use.

I downloaded EaseUS Todo, but I found that it's developers are over in mainland China, and I am trying to refrain from sending my dollars over there - for any product.

I found this thread here on the Creek
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ackup+software

The software which got the most votes was Syncback. Those of you that have it - still happy with it?

If you are using Syncback - is it the free version, or are you paying for it?

Any votes for Acronis?

Thanks

Jim

[Chuck Wintle]

I am looking for recommendations for backup/recovery software (running Windows 7). I've been using the stuff that comes w/ Windows, but I'm not happy with it.

Initially I will be using a DVD as media, but am looking at USB hard drives. I've also got a couple of extra harddrives I could install/use.

I downloaded EaseUS Todo, but I found that it's developers are over in mainland China, and I am trying to refrain from sending my dollars over there - for any product.

I found this thread here on the Creek
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ackup+software

The software which got the most votes was Syncback. Those of you that have it - still happy with it?

If you are using Syncback - is it the free version, or are you paying for it?

Any votes for Acronis?

Thanks

Jim

its the free version of syncback that i use and it work well.

[David G Baker]

I use Carbonite and pay around $150 a year. I have not had to use it yet so I can't say how good or bad it is. I figured that the $150 was not a lot more than a new well made hard drive and the anxiety that goes along with trying to recover lost files. I also have 1T USB hard drive that I save my important files on. I have not had a lot of luck with the free or cheap back up software.

[George Bokros]

My server backs up automatically every day to Norton as past of the Norton 360 Premier Edition and is included in the annual maintenance for virus pattern updates and other security protection.

[Mike Henderson]

I use Carbonite and pay around $150 a year. I have not had to use it yet so I can't say how good or bad it is. I figured that the $150 was not a lot more than a new well made hard drive and the anxiety that goes along with trying to recover lost files. I also have 1T USB hard drive that I save my important files on. I have not had a lot of luck with the free or cheap back up software.

I use Carbonite also. It backs up automatically and immediately, and the backup is kept off site.

Mike

[Darryl Hazen]

Another vote for Carbonite. I've used it for years. Had to download files from Carbonite back to computer. Worked great. Well worth the money.

[Eric DeSilva]

I've become a fan of bitcasa. Everything is encrypted on your machine prior to being sent up to bitcasa. I pay $99 per year, and I use it to back up my 6TB NAS RAID and several computers to boot. I can access my media files using special apps for the iPhone/iPad and by logging in through any browser. And, it isn't plagued with the really slow upload times that I had to deal with when using Mozy--Mozy would take weeks to try and upload files because the upload rate was horrendous. No restrictions on how often you access your data or delays in getting it back. And it allows you to roll back to prior versions if you save over something that you previously uploaded.

[Bill Huber]

Another Carbonite user, I love it, don't have to worry about it and I can also get to all my backed up files from my tablet.

If you don't want to use an off site backup, take a look at Second Copy, a great program and it is easy to use and you can back up anything you want. You can set it to auto backup or you can also have manual backup of other things.

You can set it to do your backup and to keep a copy of deleted files.

http://www.secondcopy.com/

They do have a free trail version.

[John Coloccia]

I tried a the Acronis demo and liked it. As soon as I have a chance, I need to purchase a license.

[Curt Harms]

its the free version of syncback that i use and it work well.

Syncback is what I used with Windows as well. I was synchronizing a disk directory to a flash drive. Plug the flash drive in, start syncback, click the profile, okay the changes, done. Of course this was with modest quantities of data, probably less than 100 MB./session.

[Chuck Wintle]

Another Carbonite user, I love it, don't have to worry about it and I can also get to all my backed up files from my tablet.

If you don't want to use an off site backup, take a look at Second Copy, a great program and it is easy to use and you can back up anything you want. You can set it to auto backup or you can also have manual backup of other things.

You can set it to do your backup and to keep a copy of deleted files.

http://www.secondcopy.com/

They do have a free trail version.

The problem with offsite is, IMHO, the availability of said files all of the time. If carbonite go out of business what happens to the files....and who else may be looking at them?

[Brian Elfert]

The problem with offsite is, IMHO, the availability of said files all of the time. If carbonite go out of business what happens to the files....and who else may be looking at them?

What is the likelihood that you would have your hard drive crash and your cloud backup provider goes out of business on the same day? Personally, I want to have both an on-site and an off-site back of my stuff. My on-site backup would be gone if the house got destroyed or if my laptop and hard drive were stolen. My parents have two external hard drives they rotate backups on every month or so. They keep one drive at my house and swap them, but that solution means the data is a month old in a disaster.

[Brian Elfert]

Which online backup vendors offer the ability to have a complete image of your PC in the cloud that could be used to re-image the PC if it is stolen/destroyed or the drive fails? Acronis does this, but they charge $190 a year which is a little rich for my tastes. Of course, losing irreplaceable data could make $189 seem cheap.

[Harry Hagan]

What is the likelihood that you would have your hard drive crash and your cloud backup provider goes out of business on the same day? Personally, I want to have both an on-site and an off-site back of my stuff. My on-site backup would be gone if the house got destroyed or if my laptop and hard drive were stolen. My parents have two external hard drives they rotate backups on every month or so. They keep one drive at my house and swap them, but that solution means the data is a month old in a disaster.

Ditto

I had a back-up drive crash last year that was unrecoverable. My computer tech told me that lost data is one of the main reasons small businesses fail and that he has people asking him to recover data on crashed drives nearly every day. He highly recommended Carbonite or similar services.

Store your data off site.

[Matt Meiser]

What don't you like about Windows 7's built in backup? I'm using Windows Home Server's version which is a close relative of that and its worked quite well for us. I've done a couple hard drive replacements and its a snap--pop in the recovery CD, connect up to the home server, and start a restore. An hour or two later its like nothing ever happened. I've also used it to pull an old version of a file no problem.

The biggest problem I have with with 7's with versions lower than Pro is that the drive has to be physically attached. My work machine running pro does a nightly backup to a NAS using the built-in backup and unless it encounters a network issue, its problem-free.