To make verbatim backups onto a portable hard disk, which I can put in the cupboard in case there's another lightning bolt near the house? Spring has sprung here in Texas, so the thunderstorms can't be far behind...
Anyone Know of a Good, Fast, Reliable, 100% Disk Backup Tool?
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John Duncan
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chebby
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SuperDuper! on Macs. Acronis True Image on PCs.
I have successfully restored from bootable 'clone' system backups using both. (A 'dry run' - to ensure it worked - with Acronis on a laptop and in earnest with SuperDuper! after Apple replaced a faulty HD on our iMac.)
I have successfully restored from bootable 'clone' system backups using both. (A 'dry run' - to ensure it worked - with Acronis on a laptop and in earnest with SuperDuper! after Apple replaced a faulty HD on our iMac.)
abacus
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If using Windows Vista or above, go into the Control Panel and choose Backup and Restore.
Select create system Image and follow the Wizard, tick all you internal hard drives, and then choose your external drive to save the image to.
When done select Create System Recovery Disc and burn onto a DVD
I recommend you have 2 external discs and backup weekly, choosing a different disk each week.
If the system fails and can’t be repaired you can Boot from the Recovery Disc and Re-load your last Image. (That way you will never lose more than a week’s files or in worst case scenario 2 weeks if your last Image Backup Drive Fails)
If you want to backup just your documents and files daily in-between the Images you can use the Windows inbuilt backup program or any of the free backup programs out there. (Also don’t forget that you can also backup your documents and files to any of the cloud services which are available)
Finally make sure you have your computer connected to a quality surge protection socket, that way it will sacrifice itself to protect your computer in case of a lightning strike. (You should also find they come with insurance should it fail to do its job properly (At least they do in the UK and Europe)
Hope this helps
Bill
Select create system Image and follow the Wizard, tick all you internal hard drives, and then choose your external drive to save the image to.
When done select Create System Recovery Disc and burn onto a DVD
I recommend you have 2 external discs and backup weekly, choosing a different disk each week.
If the system fails and can’t be repaired you can Boot from the Recovery Disc and Re-load your last Image. (That way you will never lose more than a week’s files or in worst case scenario 2 weeks if your last Image Backup Drive Fails)
If you want to backup just your documents and files daily in-between the Images you can use the Windows inbuilt backup program or any of the free backup programs out there. (Also don’t forget that you can also backup your documents and files to any of the cloud services which are available)
Finally make sure you have your computer connected to a quality surge protection socket, that way it will sacrifice itself to protect your computer in case of a lightning strike. (You should also find they come with insurance should it fail to do its job properly (At least they do in the UK and Europe)
Hope this helps
Bill
All my data goes onto a RAID1 mirrored array, the boot disk will be mirrored separately later when I upgrade the motherboard and CPU next month - the motherboard being required to have its own RAID support.
Right now I'm using Kaspersky's own hard disk backup tool, but like most others what it does is create its own codified / compressed storage files.
I've tried Acronis and found it to be hit and miss, but I guess I can give it another go (once my current backup - 48 hours and counting - finishes. What I'd really like is something FAST though.
As for surge protector guarantees, I don't believe they're worth the paper they're printed on, especially in the US.
Right now I'm using Kaspersky's own hard disk backup tool, but like most others what it does is create its own codified / compressed storage files.
I've tried Acronis and found it to be hit and miss, but I guess I can give it another go (once my current backup - 48 hours and counting - finishes. What I'd really like is something FAST though.
As for surge protector guarantees, I don't believe they're worth the paper they're printed on, especially in the US.
PS the PC IS connected to the wall via a half-decent surge protector and a UPS. Yesterday afternoon we had a cold front move through causing strong (by Houston standards short of a hurricane) winds, which in turn caused the mains to "trip" several times due to distribution cables somewhere on the grid shorting.
The PC survived and the UPS did its job, thankfully, but so far, backing up about 200 gigs has taken two days, eighteen hours and counting and is only 80% complete |(
The PC survived and the UPS did its job, thankfully, but so far, backing up about 200 gigs has taken two days, eighteen hours and counting and is only 80% complete |(
6th.replicant
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chebby
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6th.replicant said:
I don't know. You'd need to ask someone who has used it to restore their system. (I have TM switched off.)
All I know is that I can boot my iMac fom the external backup and it doesn't miss a beat. I can even use the system normally (albeit a little slower) from the external HD.
Restoring - after an HD replacement - just involved booting from the external HD and 'backing up' to the (new) internal HD. It was easy, seamless and I didn't need to do anything else other than drink tea and wait then reboot after completion.
John Duncan
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6th.replicant said:
Time machine backups aren't bootable, so you need to have your install disk. I'm not sure how that works if you upgraded to Mountain Lion via the app store etc.
When I did need to restore my system I found CCC more practical.
6th.replicant
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John Duncan said:
Yes, upgraded to Mountain Lion via App Store.
Forgive ignorance, I'm not IT-savvy - is Time Machine just a glorified form of History and, therefore, not a pukka backup if my MBP's HDD dies?
Ta 🙂
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