Best Backup software

[EzyRyder]

I am looking into a backup program for my files / drives. Anyone knows of any decent freeware options?

[Flibb]

Funnily enough I have just been doing a search myself, after a few recomendations I have ended up running cobian backup
http://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.htm

does all the network backup and scheduling I need. The recomendation came from some members of the netgear NAS forums, people were asking about a replacement for nti shadow, the free versions bundled with readynas was mucking about with win7

[jim]

NTI Shadow made me want to throw the entire NAS off a cliff.

Grrrrrr!

[EzyRyder]

Funnily enough I have just been doing a search myself, after a few recomendations I have ended up running cobian backup
http://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.htm

does all the network backup and scheduling I need. The recomendation came from some members of the netgear NAS forums, people were asking about a replacement for nti shadow, the free versions bundled with readynas was mucking about with win7

Cheers Flibb, looks just what I need

[Sputnik]

I've heard good things about Cobian but, never tried it myself.

[GoNz0]

whats wrong with the windows backup tool ?

[watercooled]

+1 for Cobian, the best backup software I know of and it's free. A big problem with the Windows one (for me at least) is it's crippled on HP so doesn't do network backups. I also recommend FreeFileSync as a great mirroring program, should you prefer that over a backup program for some applications, download drives for example.

[kalniel]

whats wrong with the windows backup tool ?

There are two issues that I know of - the system partition can't be backed up to a different partition on the same hard drive, and you need Pro or Ultimate to be able to backup across a network. Other than that it works quite well, especially as a file backup rather than a system image backup.

However at least you can create a system image with it, which you can't with Cobian.

[GoNz0]

ahh, i backup over the network using ultimate

always found it to be quite good

reminds me the nas was off sunday so it failed to backup!

[spoon_]

Robocopy/imagex - sorted

[marktime]

If your looking for a disk imaging tool - i.e. something that will backup your entire HD to another drive as an exact image, Acronis is pretty good and you can use it for free if you have a WD drive, via their site.

[GoNz0]

dont forget windows backup (if you have it on your version) also does a system drive image

[this_is_gav]

There are two issues that I know of - the system partition can't be backed up to a different partition on the same hard drive

Not an issue with Windows 7 (any version from HP upwards). I set all the laptops I do for people to backup to another partition.

Far from ideal, but some protection from corruption or other software glitches.

[lodore]

I use Karen's Replicator for file backups for years and never had an issue.

for imaging I use image for windows.

[ehhhhhhh]

I use acronis too, but it's not free without a WD drive...

did anyone manage to restore a system drive with windows backup over the network /successfully/?

[kalniel]

Not an issue with Windows 7 (any version from HP upwards). I set all the laptops I do for people to backup to another partition.

Far from ideal, but some protection from corruption or other software glitches.

Really? It wouldn't let me on win 7 pro