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Topic: Question about backup programs |
James Quillian
From:
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2014 3:16 pm |
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Are there any programs that with a mouse click identify new files and then save them just as the files they are rather than requiring some kind of restore process?
_________________
Curbside Jimmy's New Act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzieFLE5no |
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Jim Priebe
From:
Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.
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Posted 23 Jul 2014 3:40 pm
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To answer this we would preferably need more info on what you are trying to do (it's not totally clear to me).
What operating system and computer do you use?
eg. In a Windows system you could simply right mouse click on the file (in Explorer) and choose what you want to do. If you use Android or Linux or iOSx there are different procedures.
_________________
Priebs GFI ('09)Short-Uni10. GFI ('96)Short-Uni SD11. ('86)JEM U12
www.steelguitardownunder.com
Last edited by Jim Priebe on 23 Jul 2014 4:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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James Quillian
From:
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2014 3:54 pm
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| Jim Priebe wrote: |
To answer this we would preferably need more info on what you are trying to do (it's not totally clear to me).
What operating system and computer do you use?
eg. In a Windows system you could simple right mouse click on the file (in Explorer) and choose what you want to do. If you use Android or Linux or iOSx there are different procedures. |
Right now I am using Windows 7. I know how how to find recent files or anything else. What I don't know how to do is come up with an automatic search for anything new and have it automatically saved. I back up files all the time but I always end up saving a bunch of stuff twice.
_________________
Curbside Jimmy's New Act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzieFLE5no |
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Jim Priebe
From:
Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.
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Posted 23 Jul 2014 4:20 pm
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OK. You could use any competent backup or (preferably) Imaging software and schedule it to do incremental backups. Scheduling could be as often ss you set it and 'incremental' will just do the 'new' files (you have to do a full one intitially).
Paragon have a good imaging program and there are many other (forum members can suggest their 'favourites') and the inbuilt backup in Windows can be used too - just needs to be configured/set to do what you want. Task Scheduler can do the scheduling for that but most of the software have their own scheduling. 'How to' is there in the various 'help' resources.
If you want to do the individual files "auto - immediately" you would possibly need a script file etc. written to do that.
_________________
Priebs GFI ('09)Short-Uni10. GFI ('96)Short-Uni SD11. ('86)JEM U12
www.steelguitardownunder.com |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2014 7:43 pm
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I use two backup programs on my Windows 7 PC. The first is the built-in Windows Backup and Restore feature. I set a schedule to do a weekly save of the complete image of the C drive and reserved boot sector. I also allowed it to save a full backup of my user account files. Now, the files that have changed are backed up incrementally, added to the previous full backup. Images are saved once a week and older ones are deleted as the disk space begins to shrink below a safe level.
The second backup program is Acronis True Image (See my page about Acronis). I have it set to do a weekly backup image of the entire C drive, like the Windows Image of Windows Backup. The big difference is that with the Acronis image file, I can explore it on demand! I can retrieve individual files and folders, or simply view them. I can even open text files to read their contents. You cannot do this with a Windows Image file.
In addition to creating full system images, I also commanded Acronis to backup particular files that I work on frequently. After an initial full backup, it creates daily incremental backups of any new, changed, or deleted files. Again, these files are able to be explored, just like other Windows files, folders and directories.
Acronis True Image is commercial. You must pay for a to license to use it. I have been using Acronis since 2005 or 2006. Back then I ran a Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional machines. I suffered several hard drive failures before buying into Acronis (upgrades are discounted) and spent days restoring my programs and licenses after installing and activating Windows on new hard drives. After getting Acronis and learning to create and save images to separate hard drives, when a system drive became unstable, I bought a new drive of equal or larger capacity, then used the Acronis bootable restore CD to locate my most recent saved image and launched the restoration process. In under one hour I was back in Widows like nothing had happened. I didn't even have to call Microsoft to reactivate Windows. It carried over during the cloning.
Windows Backup and Restore is free and is included in Windows 7, as it was in Win 2000 and XP. The ability to save a full system image was not present before Windows Vista, or 7 (I'm not sure which OS introduced it).
What is a system image?
A system image is a file that saves not only your personal files and folders, but also the operating system, Programs, licenses, emails, downloads, Registry settings, partitions and boot sector. A disk image contains everything the original contained, minus bad sectors. Restoring an image to a new drive restores everything you had before.
Note, that I am an affiliate for Acronis True Image, earning small commissions for sales I send to them. But, I am also a long time customer who has had his butt saved by it more than once. I am currently using version 2014 Premium, and just received an invitation to become a beta tester for version 2015.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 2:22 am
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Incremental backups will do what you want. However, if you ever have to restore a hard drive, it can get confusing with all the incrementals that need to be installed in order.
Where I worked, a full backup would be done Monday night and then incrementals each night for the rest of the week. It was found that a restore took longer with this method and could be messed up if one of the incrementals were done out of sequence. For that reason the incrementals were abandoned and only full backups done every night.
I only do full backups of my hard drives. The time to restore, if it ever needs to be done, is much quicker with just the one backup file.
I used to use Acronis True Image but switched to Macrium about a year ago. |
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James Quillian
From:
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 2:59 pm
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Have any of you guys tried EaseUs products?
I bought their Data Recovery program to salvage data off of a drive that lost its format.
It was very well worth the cost.
I am not that sophisticated, so it may be me who is the problem. The only things I care about backing up are files I create myself, photos and videos.
EasUs has a cheap backup program. I wonder if it is any good.
The last time I bought an Acronis product, it turned out to be more like a rental because my license expired. Do they still use that system for pricing?
_________________
Curbside Jimmy's New Act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzieFLE5no |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 4:23 pm
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Macrium has a Free version. Will do what you want.
However, if you just want to backup your user files, you don't need a special program for that. Just copy the files to whatever media you want to use for backup. CD or DVD media, a Flash Drive or A different hard drive (don't copy them to another partition on the hard drive as a hard drive failure and all is lost). |
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James Quillian
From:
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 7:25 pm
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| Jack Stoner wrote: |
Macrium has a Free version. Will do what you want.
However, if you just want to backup your user files, you don't need a special program for that. Just copy the files to whatever media you want to use for backup. CD or DVD media, a Flash Drive or A different hard drive (don't copy them to another partition on the hard drive as a hard drive failure and all is lost). |
Thanks, my problem is not remembering what I have backed up and what I haven't. Frankly I never worried about it until I had to recover everything from an unreadable hd.
_________________
Curbside Jimmy's New Act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzieFLE5no |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 7:49 pm
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| James Quillian wrote: |
The last time I bought an Acronis product, it turned out to be more like a rental because my license expired. Do they still use that system for pricing? |
Not that I am aware of. I use Acronis 2011 on one computer and 2014 on another. My previous versions continued working even after newer versions were released. In fact, I only recently upgraded version 2012 to 2014 a few months ago, after using it for two years.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 25 Jul 2014 2:31 am
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I still say the best way to backup is to backup the entire hard drive contents (all partitions) to separate media, such as either another internal or USB connected hard drive.
Periodic (regular) backups allow restoring the entire drive at one time, both the Operating System, all installed programs and all user data. There's no "did I miss something" as everything is restored. Or, there is no installing Windows from a disc, plus installing all programs and then restoring user data, a long process that can result in error.
I was a Network Manager and Hardware Help desk manager for 23 years for a Federal Government Agency. The Agency tried various backup schemes and the full back up was found to be the best. |
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