Backup Software

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Last Updated: December 29, 2007

Today's Best Choice

There are dozens of ways to backup data and hence, there are dozens of software titles.  The ones below are all award winners.  I'd recommend at least two of these; one that will recover from a hard drive failure and one that backs up in real time.  See the two right columns in the list below for these features.

           

Backup Solution

A quality backup solution should include:

• Two backups: one by the computer and one stored off-site.  I prefer an external 3.5 inch drive for speedy local backups.  After a weekly backup is made, the drive is turned off for the rest of the week.  A virus can't attack a hard drive when it's turned off.  DVDs or an external 2.5 inch drive is my choice for a portable off-site backup.  Theft or fire are the two most likely scenarios in which only the off-site backup survives.  The off-site backup only has data files.
• Full backup with bootable CD.  The local backup of the entire hard drive includes a bootable CD in case the desktop's hard drive fails.  I could purchase another hard drive, install it, and run the restore function.  In less then 4 hours, I'd be back in business.  If you can't afford that much down time, then use RAID 1 mirroring with a full backup on an external drive.  When one of the drives in the RAID 1 array fails, the second drive has a mirror image and you can continue working.  At your earliest convenience, buy and install a replacement drive.  The old drive will automatically copy a mirror image to the replacement drive.  It takes a few hours, so it's best to let it run over night to minimize downtime.
• Backups run in real time and/or can be scheduled.  Almost all backup software can be scheduled to run at a convenient time.  Mine runs once a week at 2:00am.  Real time backup is supplemental to the weekly backups.  It keeps a single copy of each file that has changed.
• Backup includes older versions of the same file.  This is helpful to writers who save a file every couple of minutes and could possibly have 50 different versions of an article from inception to completion.  If the file is corrupted or if you later change your mind and you really do want to keep the paragraph you deleted 15 minutes ago, then having 50 versions of the same file is useful.  If you only had a single, real time backup, then the backup would be missing the paragraph or would be just as corrupted as the original.  This feature also works well when a bad file is accidentally saved on top of a good file.
• Files can be undeleted.  Every time I delete a file in Windows, a dialog box asks if I really wanted to copy the file to the recycle bin.  I then have to go to the recycle bin and empty it to see the hard drive free space change.  I've avoided two of these steps by pressing and holding the Shift key when deleting the file.  The dialog box does not appear and my hard drive free space increases.  For about 99.9% of the time, this works well for me.  On a rare occasion, I realized I didn't want to delete the file after all.  Some software can act as a super recycle bin and recover the files that were deleted using Shift + Delete.  Others scan the hard drive looking for files that can be undeleted.  Either way, the software needs to be installed BEFORE a file is accidentally deleted.
• Recover deleted/damaged partitions.  A single, physical hard drive can be divided into two drive letters.  For example, a 300GB hard drive can be split into a 100GB C: drive and a 200GB D: drive.  A partition is an electronic marker or dividing line stored on the hard drive to let the computer know one side of the marker is the C: drive and the other is the D: drive.  If the partition is deleted or damaged, all of the files on the D: drive are lost as well.  Some software can recreate or repair the partition.  If the partition can't be recreated or repaired, then a new partition will need to be created, both the C: and D: will need to be reformatted, and both the C: and D: will need to be restored from a backup that includes a bootable CD.  For this reason, I only store temporary home video files on the D: drive.

Delete Temporary Files

Use CCleaner to delete temporary files before making a backup.  It's free and does not include adware or spyware.  Deleting the temporary files shortens the amount of time it takes to make a backup.

CCleaner deletes Internet Explorer and Firefox cookies, however, individual cookies can be saved by clicking on the Options button.  After CCleaner is installed, it may find hundreds of cookies.  To save time, allow CCleaner to delete all of the cookies.  Open Internet Explorer or Firefox, navigate to your favorite web site(s) and add any preferences the sites may offer.  I change my preferences at Google, PriceGrabber, Expedia and my bank's web site.  Open CCleaner and the, click on the Options button, and the list of cookies to save is much smaller.

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