Any User-Friendly backup software out there?

[ChrisR]

I have a few TB of files to back up and keep updated. They're on external USB drives.

S/w I've tried is really slow and doesn't give much flexibillity or show how long the transfers are going to take.
I neet to be able to schedule partial and complete incremental and differential backups, and have displays which tell me how far it's got, not just a hopelessly inaccurate progress bar.

Any suggestions?

 

[ChrisR]

I've had a look in to EaseUS backup software. It's quite comprehensive but it packages every backup into something like an archive file, which makes things hard if you want to backup separate parts of your drive, and combine things later. You'd have to do loads of separate backups, more and more as time passes. Doing the first one would take days, and it stops any other program running while it's working.

I used a program years ago where you could add to the one list.

It takes about 2 minutes per GB to backup and confirm, and half that just to unpack any file you want to look at later.
Not much fun with 2TB.

 

[DaKid]

Been using Cobian backup for years now, for backup to external drives, and I use Carbonite for my online backups. Both seem wonderful, and although Carbonite isn't free, it's the cheapest I've found and Cobian doesn't cost a penny!

 

[Igorian]

Another selection here

Depends if you want free stuff or are willing to pay really.

 

[ChrisR]

What I'm finding is that there are two basic functions bundled under the heading "back up"
One is a System backup, for restoring if you get attacked, etc, and the other is for plain Data backup.

Then there are two ways of doing it.
One creates a thing like an Archive of everything you backed up, so a file has to "restored" out of the archive to somewhere before you can use it. That takes up as much space as the Archive!.
That may be more efficient for incremental and differential backups, but it seems to be a bloody nuisance to me.

The second method is just a simple Copy file by file.

Both the above can be scheduled.

WHat I haven't got to grips with yet, for the multiple different programs is whether they can still do incremental folder backups, and if not incremental backup entities as such, (ie by keeping a list of files and their access dates) what they do if a file already exists.

A Major problem with the simple Incremental Backup tools (like EaseUS) is that they expect you to do a big initial backup, followed by scheduled incremental backups. That sounds fine, but if you're working with external Terabyte+ drives on USB2 links the initial backup can take far too long - they tell yo not to use any other program while theirs is running.
I don't want to lose the computer for a couple of days! What you can't do is combine several "initial" backups into one. That means you have to do a whole bunch of Initial, then Incremental, backups. Not on.

What ( all!) I need is something which is scheduled, copies from one folder tree to another, skips files which haven't been altered, works in the background properly so I can run other things, doesn't mind being stopped in the middle (you'd just restart it and it would skip everything already copied, as before).
And keep a log file.

Is that hard? I'm still looking, it takes a while to find out.

 

[RedHerring2]

Have you considered RAID?
It sounds like you're on the verge of needing to go down that route.
I've been out of the commercial game for about five years now, in my day it would have to have been WinNT to be able to achieve RAID. I don't know if any of the more recent Windows products for home use are up to it. This strategy may initially be more expensive to set up.

There is also the option of back up strategies across the internet using third parties. This is especially useful for storing data off-site.

 

[Igorian]

I think it's a case of you wanting to have your cake and eat it, not that i'm trying to be disrespectful in any way.

In order to have an incremental or differential backup, you need a reference point to base them on. The initial full backup is always going to be the painful one, especially with the amount of data you have.

IMHO, backups are best done when system resources are fully dedicated to it. Estimating how long a backup will take when you are accessing the disk and processor for other things will be inaccurate.

Can you describe your scenario in some detail so we can better understand the nature of your data and the backups you are trying to achieve?

It really sounds like you have gone past the point of needing a simple backup solution. Have you considered moving to a dedicated server solution, maybe using SBS server and a product like Backup Exec?

 

[RedHerring2]

There may be other apsects that you need to consider.
We had to undertake "Continuity Assesments" i.e. how critical to the businees was the continuity of the systems. From that we would formulate an appropriate "Emergency Recovery Plan".

In some instances this required a fully compliant, maintained and functioning system that was available as a backup in another site. Obviously this required regular and frequent back-ups to that mirror image installation.
On other occasions a contract with a third party to provide emergency systems is possible. Obviously these third parties exist by having multiple contracts but only expecting to have to provide a small number of those systems at any one time. (As an aside, it was one reason why the Twin Towers episode created problems for businesses to recover)

Perhaps a Continuity Assesment, of your system might allow you to formulate an appropriate Emergency Recovery Plan. i.e. how critical is the continuity of your system to your business or to you.