I'm not sure where to post this. If it needs to be moved, don't hesitate to do so. I've been looking for a good backup software. Either an online service or external drive usage is fine. Each website has a different top 10. I would much rather count on actual users. Thanks for any input.

Maybe it's already on your system?

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore

That's what I use. Thought there might be something a little faster.

Payware but good and with a few more bells and whistles....Acronis.

I am not a fan of ms backup and restore as it is cumbersome, takes too long, too many steps to restore a file. The backup file keeps growing with every use as well.

 

So I just copy and paste my files over to an external hard drive. I have a 500gb hd where I save all my files too, and a 500gd external drive.

 

For whatever reason ms backup and restore grows larger then 500gb even when it is data only and no system files. So I gave up on it. Easier to just copy the entire drive over manually.

 

 

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I would recommend AllwaySync. I've been using it for ages now and it works a charm. It's free, but it has limitations on how many files you can transfer in one month (can't remember how many off hand)

I use Norton Ghost 15.0

 

Boot from CD to either create or backup an image and i dump it to one of my internal 500gig drives

 

Never failed me yet

I use Acronis Trueimage 2013 and I am happy with that. Its interface can be a bit confusing sometimes but once you get a hang of it it's very competent. I use it on one hand to make a mirror of the Win 7 partition. Secondly I have all my MSFS installation files and the associated files with keys/serials on my sim computer and I use Trueimage to copy them via my home network to a disk on another computer. Whenever I add a file to the source disk, it will get automatically copied to the other computer.

 

If the house burns down it won't help me no matter how many disks I have the files backed up to, so I also keep a disk at my fathers house. Then again MSFS files would be the least of my concerns. 

I don't back up per se, but use the freeware Pathsync to keep two external drives in sync. These drives are where I keep all my critical data. Works for me.

I got frustrated with using third party applications because I found them to be slow, so I created my own script, Backup.cmd, to a portable 500Gb drive that I keep offsite.  I had a hard disk fail on me once so would recommend taking backups.  This is for Win 7 btw and does a mirror copy.

 

rem

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Desktop" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Desktop"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Downloads" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Downloads"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Dropbox" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Dropbox"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Favorites" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Favorites"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Documents" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Documents"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Music" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Music"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Pictures" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Pictures"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Videos" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Videos"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Data" "E:\Backup\Data"

rem

pause

I'm using AOMEI Backupper. It's free, recognises NAS drives and is simple to use. I honestly think Acronis is overpriced for what it does and if you have multiple PCs like me you have to buy additional licences.

 

Backupper gets lots of good reviews too. http://www.backup-utility.com/free-backup-software.html

Acronis True Image seems to be the best for this, no errors at all, and it's pretty fast for my taste

Acronis True Image seems to be the best for this, no errors at all, and it's pretty fast for my taste

 

That is retailing for £39.95 for 1 licence or £59.95 for 3 in the UK! :Shocked:

 

And they seem to come out with a new version every year. I'll stick with Backupper I think.

Thanks, guys. I'll give these a try. This helps me avoid a lot of sales fluff and adware. Have a good day, all.

 

I got frustrated with using third party applications because I found them to be slow, so I created my own script, Backup.cmd, to a portable 500Gb drive that I keep offsite.  I had a hard disk fail on me once so would recommend taking backups.  This is for Win 7 btw and does a mirror copy.

 

rem

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Desktop" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Desktop"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Downloads" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Downloads"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Dropbox" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Dropbox"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Favorites" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Favorites"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Documents" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Documents"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Music" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Music"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Pictures" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Pictures"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Users\Tom\Videos" "E:\Backup\Users\Tom\Videos"

robocopy.exe /mir /z /r:5 "C:\Data" "E:\Backup\Data"

rem

pause

 

 

This is my approach too (except I use xcopy), just double click the batch file and all my selected areas get backed up onto another drive but only if files have changed since the last backup. Free, effective, and you can restore a single file if need be rather than importing the backup in it's entirety. I don't care for having my entire backup rolled into some proprietary file that can only be restored through the backup software, I prefer to simply have a mirror of my existing stuff on another drive where I can see what's there, check file dates, etc.

 

Jim