Can anyone reccommend a good 'file backup' software program.

I know there are many here who are much more technically attuned than myself.

Any reccommendations would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Rich

Well, backing up is more then just a software issue and there are many kinds of backups.

What is your goal here? What are you trying to protect and against what exigencies?

I have a redundant NAS to protect against file damage or corruption in real-time, but this is my business. You might not need anything as heavy duty...

If you want to find a good freeware solution, then check out this site http://www.techsupportalert.com/

Carbonite.com - Automatic backups over the internet any time you make a change. Set it once and forget it. Unlimited backup size. Totally safe and secure. Easy to use. $50 bucks a year. Best $50 I ever spent.

Hey Skip.

Not to overly worry you BUT... what is their policy if their business fails? Do you get a copy of the backup in some tangible form like a DVD?

Members of a PC user group and myself use Acronis True Image.

I've got an external hard drive for backups- came with some decent software. I know it's no good in the event of a house fire or the like (I'd need to keep it in a safe or outside the house for something like that) but if my house burns down, I've got bigger problems than some data loss.

Thanks guy's!...much appreciated comments.
I do understand that it is a good idea to have more than one method of back-up.

For now,I went with Carbonite [thanks Skip].It was real easy to set up and it is backing up right now.I even got a $5 off coupon online.I like the fact that it is unlimited.

Next I will look into flash drives etc. as another method.

Rich

Wow! I am impressed.My 3GB's of backup was completed in 6 hrs.Every file that was backed up has a 'green dot' next to it.

I emailed a question to Carbonite Support and they responded in less than an hour.

Thanks again to all.

:) I'm not worried. I never rely on a single form of backup. I also have two external hard drive that my entire system backs up to each night. I swap it with another external hard drive once a week. This way, if Carbonite fails, I have the in-house drives that are never more than a week behind. If my house burns down or is broken into, I have Carbonite. I've lost everything before. I don't take unnecessary chances.

People often forget to occasionally verify their backup data. What's the good of having old stuff that's not intact. ??? Gotta know how others verify that data and how often if you want to let them handle that task IMHO.

? um... like I bet you put your stuff under "my documents" too. hmmm?

1) make a place off the root of your C drive for the stuff you want to worry about
2) take control over the programs you have that save documents and data to save there
3) that same program you use to burn DVD's can also burn data drives (4 gb fits on a DVD)

4) an external USB drive costs all of next to nothing these days and you can:
a) drag and drop your folders onto it
b) repeat every so often to refresh the data

folks should know that nothing on the internet or that passes across the intenet is private - and if you have any pics of your kids or thier friends that some bug-eyed do-gooder happens to look at and then get all fussy about you could get in huge trouble. Or "wrong" political party, incorrect opinions about some mater - whatever.

IMHO you are better off buying a thumb drive (16 GB = 20 dollars) and learning to use it.

Just my 2cents. I don't like it when stuff like private correspondence goes all over the place

Jon

I agree with Jon here. I don't even use the My Documents folder. I have a separate partition for all my files. It's much simpler to do a reformat if ever needed because I don't have to also restore all my files. I also would never use any type of online backup. I prefer to back up to DVD's, USB drives, and hard drives. I don't don't like the thought of storing my files somewhere in cyberspace.

I thought I was the only one paranoid about sending out files to some profit-oriented company. Glad to see I'm not alone. Seems like it's bad enough that Google has access to all my email . . .

I'm on a Mac, and I'm wondering about the My Documents thing. Any specific Windows problem other than the naming of the folder?

Also wondering about the USB thumb drive solution . . . is that kind of storage any more/less stable than traditional external hard drives? I've had the same thumb drive for over three years, but it does seem kind of flimsy to me.

@Micheal - in windowsland just putting folders off the root lets you reinstall the OS. I agree about a partition in some respects though also notice a speed penalty when copying or moving files from a temp folder on one partition to a folder on another even though they are on the same physical drive.

@Landmark - it's okay to have a few of those thumb drives, color code and label them - copy stuff between them to cycle the media.

Remember to verify the data every so often. That verification can be as simple as copying a random file out to your pc and scanning though by eye to see if there's any surprises picked up by the host program (sudden strange characters or misspellings etc).

If you are on a mac and you aren't running Time Machine, you should. Its incredibly easy to set up and basically gives you "source code control system" type access to every change to every file that you make. Not only does it protect against data damage, but also against "oh crap I need the old version of that file" kinds of errors

@Cyberquat - how is time machine compared to Retrospect?

I have used several backup programs for years, and I recommend Handy Backup, it's easy and reliable backup software, and works great. Hope it will work for you too.

http://www.handybackup.net

Time Machine itself is free... comes with the OS.

You need an external drive to dedicate to it. I bought a 1TB "MyBook" for about $100. Apple has fancy combinations of WiFi hub and drive for about twice that.

Time Machine is fine--I use it--but it is a file by file backup and does not make a disk clone. It's useful to have another drive dedicated to making occasional clones of your system so that if things go south, you can be up and running right away.