Poll on Backup software

TraderGary said:

Now to spend a bit of time learning new software. What fun!

Click to expand...

TraderGary said:

Done. I bought the 4-license version because one is for my wife, and she wanted a full version too! I'm not foolish enough to argue.

Click to expand...

idgat said:

All to external rotated USB drives (backup to drive 1 then next time backup to drive 2 then next time backup to drive1 then next time backup to drive 2, and so on), both/either drives only connected during backup process

For system backup ....
Macrium Reflect
AOMEI Backupper (tin-foil hat precaution)

For personal data backup ....
SyncbBackFree (files saved in native format)

All processes semi-(non)attended

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

Macrium is primarily an imaging system best for OS partitions. The free version is good enough for most users although you are limited to full and differential backups. The paid version gives you incremental backups, file & folder backups, Tamper protection of the backups, and fast delta restore. My opinion it's worth it just for Fast Delta Restore. I can restore my OS partition from a recent backup in under 5 minutes and I do so quite often. MR free or paid is very reliable but Paragon provide fixes for the inevitable occasional bug very quickly.

Click to expand...

hdmi said:

The paid version of Macrium Reflect still has a few limitations too, even though most users are not bothered by them at all. For example, right now if I wanted to create an image of my Windows system partition (drive C:) I'd have to free up space on my data partition (drive D:) first, and, next, I would have to fiddle with the Windows registry to exclude some folders that I currently have stored on my C: drive or else I would have to move these folders over to an external storage device, also in addition to freeing up space on my D: drive. The only internal storage I have in my laptop is a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro, and, the only external storage I have that is easy/comfortable enough to carry around with me in my laptop bag are two identical 256 GB USB 3.0 flash drives each of which already has some important data stored on it. (They both are formatted with Ventoy). So, for me to be able to free up enough space, fiddling with the registry seems like it would be the only option. (Waiting till I get back home where I keep my pile of external 3.5 inch HDDs is not an option.)

Unfortunately however, I also want the image of my Windows system partition to be a strictly reliable one. Therefore, I have to create my image from a bootable environment. Which makes the task of fiddling with the Windows registry so daunting, that I much prefer life without Fast Delta Restore. BUT... I also don't want to wake up the Macrium trolls. Macrium trolls are baaaaaaad!

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

Whatever backup program you use you need sufficient space on the target drive for your backup. As for fiddling with the registry to exclude folders, I'm not aware how that works and wouldn't recommend it anyway. Imaging works best when your data is on a separate partition to the OS and backed up separately, maybe with a different program. One solution to data backup when on the move is to use a cloud backup system, then you don't need to cart around backup drives. It needn't be complicated. Google Backup & Sync can do it, just make a work folder and back that up in GB&S, make any changed documents in there. You can then move them to their final locations and back them up properly when your trip is over.

Click to expand...

idgat said:

All to external rotated USB drives (backup to drive 1 then next time backup to drive 2.....

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

Pretty much the same except data backup is FreeFileSync

Click to expand...

hdmi said:

Acronis True Image 2021 bootable ISO allows the target drive to be the same as the source drive, and, I can specify what folders I want to be excluded from image. When finished, I can boot back into Windows before I copy the image file onto the USB flash drive. With Ventoy, booting into the bootable ISO is child's play, and, storing some of my personal files (also including my image files) on the same USB flash drive is child's play. The image is reliable because Windows can't interfere with the process of image creation (why I only use the bootable ISO) and I make sure that the Verify image checkbox is enabled before the image creation is finished. The desktop app of Acronis True Image does not need to be installed for the bootable ISO to work. There also exists a Linux based version of this same bootable ISO.

As for using a cloud backup system. Personally, I, don't need or want that. It's just an image of my Windows system partition after all. All it does is just sit there waiting for me or Microsoft to jinx my Windows installation, and jinx it permanently. Which never actually happened to me anyway in the first place. lol The official Windows Installation ISO from Microsoft is on my USB flash drive too. I'll use that to do an in-place upgrade when I have to. I'll restore my image only if nothing else works, or seems to work. Maybe it's just luck, but in my case this has translated to NEVER. But I don't trust translators especially if they are from Microsoft. So, I keep the image just as a precaution. Because, I suppose that an SSD can still fail even if it's been carefully made by Samsung, and, you can never be too sure what the computer monkeys at Microsoft are up to next.

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

I would be very wary about the same physical drive being used as the source and target. Drives do fail, even SSDs which have limited write cycles. My last use of an image restore was last Friday when MS mucked up an update of Edge so that it wouldn't launch.

Click to expand...

Edwin said:

I have yet to do a backup on any system!!!

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

Pretty much the same except data backup is FreeFileSync

Click to expand...

Bree said:

using RoboCopy for the personal data

Click to expand...

hdmi said:

Fred Flintstone has a car.

Click to expand...

kado897 said:

If you can recover in a reasonable time with a clean install then that's a valid approach.

Click to expand...

Edwin said:

Yeah..., that's pretty much my approach.
I've just got way too much useless junk on my computer..., why waste eleventeen hundred GB backing up all this junk!!!

Click to expand...

Bree said:

I have a 185 line batch file I started writing when I still had an XP machine. In 2014 I rewrote it to use RoboCopy instead of XCopy. It can do a Full or Incremental backup, I just have to kick it off twice a week.

View attachment 38306

View attachment 38309

Click to expand...

• Hash mode [0 = MD5, 1 = SHA-1, 2 = SHA-256, 3 = SHA-512, 5 = xxHash, 6 = xxHash3(128bit)] :

• If not verifying, record the src hash value in the file log [0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled] :

• Diff mode with Verify and a filelist :

C:\tools\FastCopy\FastCopy.exe /logfile=C:\tools\FastCopy\ErrorLog.log /filelog=C:\tools\FastCopy\FileLog.log /cmd=diff /force_start /verify=TRUE /balloon=FALSE /no_ui /srcfile=C:\tools\FastCopy\filelists\files.txt /to="<DestDir>"

• Diff mode with Verify and with specifying the source files/folders directly ( <file1> <file2> <...> ) instead of using a filelist :

C:\tools\FastCopy\FastCopy.exe /logfile=C:\tools\FastCopy\ErrorLog.log /filelog=C:\tools\FastCopy\FileLog.log /cmd=diff /force_start /verify=TRUE /balloon=FALSE /no_ui <file1> <file2> <...> /to="<DestDir>"

• FastCopy2.ini and the log file will be created in the same folder as FastCopy.exe if FastCopy is installed outside of Program Files. (See: "11. Misc" in the documentation.)
• See also "5. Usage & Main Window" ➜ "Source / DestDir". Additionally, wildcards can be used.

hdmi said:

Here are a few useful tips on how FastCopy can be used in batchfiles.

Click to expand...

REM    MyBackup.bat    Rev. 2.0.11 13 Nov 2017 – added exclude 'Appdata' option
REM    MyBackup.bat    Rev. 2.0.12 01 Jun 2019 - changed net device name
REM    MyBackup.bat    Rev. 2.0.13 22 Oct 2019 - cosmetic changes only