Backing up- HD/DVD/other device

For Backups that meet my needs...

  • ... a slave HD backup is just fine

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • ... DVD backup of some form works for me

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • ... you need the third way man!

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • Total voters
    9

Mainframeguy

Debiant by way of Ubuntu
Joined
29 Aug 2002
Messages
3,763
OK now I have a DVD R/W and I got it for two reasons, in no particular order:-
A) To use with my digital camcorder
B) For some kind of permanent backup/migration media

So far I have only shelled out for one piece of software (think I had a thread on this last year) which is WinOnCD DVD Edition, and so far I am unimpressed with what I can do. The component of WinOnCD that might enable multi disc backup seems to maybe be DirectCD and that fails constantly on DVD media and Roxio's support has gone t*ts-up! I think WinOnCD has something like data projects, but I think they are not going to give the sort of backup I want and I am constantly frutrated by DVD formats that cannot suppport disc spanning. But enough moaning.

So, OK, at the moment my only backup is to my secondary HD - which gives me some comfort but is not what I aimed for. BTW presently my total backup need is around the 16GB mark, but of course I expect this to grow, maybe as high as 100GB when I am editting DV.

Do I need to consider a "third way" that will mean me buying more hardware? What do others around here do? And with what software (I'm presently sticking to the XP backup).

I'll post a poll - but only vote please if you feel informed, there's no obligation.
 
I used to use an internal IDE and an external USB2 drive for backups. Recently I have had an incident where I lost my main drive and my backup drive. Luckily I still had my external drive! The DVD purchase I made as a result of my troubles helps ease my mind. I generally don't trust magnetic media (floppy, hdd, tape) for long term storage, it's just too volitile. However, DVD/CD can scratch fairly easy too. So I figure multiple magnetic solutions (dual hdd or whatever) coupled with a set of DVD backups seems to work for me. :)

As to software, I just use DriveImage7 to make images of the drives I want to back up. You can tell it to break up the image into certain sizes to fit them on DVD or CD. If you lose your main drive, boot from the CD and resotre it. Or, you can restore just certain files. It's saved my butt quite a few times.

I don't really like backup software like what comes with Windows. I've never had luck restoring it to a new drive in the event of a catastrophic failure. An image has everything that was on your drive at the time.

Just my $.02
 
thank you

scriptasylum said:
As to software, I just use DriveImage7 to make images of the drives ...
I don't really like backup software like what comes with Windows.Just my $.02

worth €20 to me mate! That's interesting and useful feedback, thanks - I'll look into DriveIMage (is it expensive/share) I have heard of it, something close to Norton Ghost, but maybe cheaper? (Only guessing in a way... :eek: )
 
Mainframeguy said:
worth €20 to me mate! That's interesting and useful feedback, thanks - I'll look into DriveIMage (is it expensive/share) I have heard of it, something close to Norton Ghost, but maybe cheaper? (Only guessing in a way... :eek: )

It works really well! The newest version (7) retail package includes DI7 (DI=DriveImage) and DI2002. The older version is for Win98/ME/2000. DI7 is for Xp/2000. Although you need to install the MS .NET framework (which is included) for DI7, but it's worth it. DI7 will let you create an image of the OS drive while you are in Windows, so no more rebooting into "DOS" to finish. :) Backing up a 12GB drive to another hdd takes about 10-20 minutes depending on the speed of your drives and what you are doing while the backup is happening.

Cost last time I knew was ~$70 US.

The restore function couldn't be simpler. You just boot from the CD and follow the directions. The GUI looks like 256-color windows, so it's pretty user-friendly. It will support restoring from external hdd (I've used USB2 drives successfully), other local partitions/drives, DVD, CD, and network (but I've never tried that yet).

Another neat thing is that I went to the site for any patches that may have been released and I was able to download a new ISO file of the patched CD. So you can make a couple backups of the CD itself.

When you go to PowerQuest, you'll see the Symantec logo at the top of the page, so I think maybe they were bought by them. I have a feeling it will replace Ghost eventually.
 
That's horrible. Kiss one of my favourite softwares away. Guess it's time to learn to use Ghost again...
 
I use a second HD for backup and physically remove it from the computer after I image the drive. In the USA I'm getting 120 gig HD for $50-60 USD after rebates. That's cheaper than the DVD media to do a backup and a hell of a lot faster.

The ink system (especially on DVDs) is a lot more likely to fail than the magentic encoding on a HD. The DVD is subject to damage from heat, cold, UV (sunlight or flourescents) or thermal cycling. Life predictions for CDs (which are more robust than DVD) is 10-20 years under ideal conditions (23 deg C and no light exposure). If HD data loss worries you but the HD in a steel lock box. It will block stray magnetic fields.

Winace and winzip allow you to compress the data and save it in preset file sizes for backup to cd's and dvds. I don't think that would work on the fly so your HD has to be big enough to hold the backups and it won't be a drive image, just a data backup.
 
scriptasylum said:
What's horrible?
I think dream is anticipating that DriveImage will replace Ghost... But I can't help feeling from looking around the site and just from the nature of the acquisition (it was Symantec tha bought PowerQuest up) that it seems likely Ghost may replace DriveImage.

Anyway I bought DriveIMage now - decided to go that way because I already had PartitionMagic, so I hope they stay in support and keep working going forward :confused:
 
Mainframeguy said:
I think dream is anticipating that DriveImage will replace Ghost... But I can't help feeling from looking around the site and just from the nature of the acquisition (it was Symantec tha bought PowerQuest up) that it seems likely Ghost may replace DriveImage.

Well, I thought something like that at first too, but on the product comparison chart, it puts DI above Ghost in the features list. Why would Symantec knowingly downplay their version if they want to migrate over to Ghost in the long run? So I figured they were positioning DI to replace Ghost eventually. Unless of course Symantec decides to integrate the best features of both software titles. Either way, I really like DI and hope whatever version they end up with contains at least all the features of DI.
 
Mainframeguy said:
I think dream is anticipating that DriveImage will replace Ghost... But I can't help feeling from looking around the site and just from the nature of the acquisition (it was Symantec tha bought PowerQuest up) that it seems likely Ghost may replace DriveImage.

Anyway I bought DriveIMage now - decided to go that way because I already had PartitionMagic, so I hope they stay in support and keep working going forward :confused:


I can only assume that Symantec bought powerquest to end some commpetition. I don't see drive image being developed anylonger :(

I've always prefered drive image over ghost.

Hopefully they will continue progress on Partition Magic. A truly great software
 
I won't install M$.net, and I own Drive Image 7. But I bought Acronis "True Image 7" that will create an image to ANY media or hard drive while running windows. This program also has an "Image Check" that makes sure you image.tib file is good. This program does NOT require M$.net. Have a look at it!
 
dick471 said:
I won't install M$.net, and I own Drive Image 7...

Interesting, may I ask what you have against the .NET framework if you're already with an M$ O/S anyway? (Asides from the 23MB download). I have actually bought DriveImage 7 after other feedback and given I already had PartitionMagic. But I will look at TrueImage, since you regard it so highly. I'm kinda surprised no one has come in with a third way here - I was thinking if you can get tape drives at bargain prices and the tapes take away the cost element of optical media (plus are reusable to some extent) then that may have been an option? Or am I thinking in an old fashioned "mainframe" way when I think that?
 
dick471 said:
...I bought Acronis "True Image 7" that will create an image to ANY media.... Have a look at it!

Oh dear... I did have a look and it does look better, what a shame my copy of DriveImage is just one or two days old! I'll see how things go for me and bear it in mind for the future - would have gone with your tip if it had been in time but with the Symantec situation it may still be a useful one for the future - will put their link in my faves somewhere as a reminder if I ever revisit this. If you have the time some sort of comparative review would be really useful (but I know how hard it can be to make time for that sort of stuff!).
 
Mainframeguy: The only thing I didn't like about M$.net was the added login requirements. I had it installed when I first bought Drive Image 7, and it made login require names and passwords for every user, and the entire login method changed. My wife just want to turn on the computer-period; she doesn't like it difficult. That's why she won't boot to any of my Linux systems. Her reasoning is that a computer should be friendly and easy to use. I still use Drive Image 2002 and have scsi hard drive backups of all my operating systems on the shelf. But the True Image 6 or 7 is much easier to use. I finally worked out how to burn the True Image bootfiles, and the image.tib of each operating system "C" drive onto a bootable DVD+RW. I did post about Acronis before DI-7 came out, but there are too many forums to post on all of them.
 
i use drive image + backup to cdr's, i plan to get a new 80Gb drive + use the current 40Gb for backups though :cool:
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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