File synchronization software using shadow copy

After using computers seriously for more than 15 years, I have finally decided that it is time for me to become more sophisticated in making backups of my data. Until now I have basically made full manual backups, either to external hard drives or to multiple sets of CD/DVDs.

I now want to increase the frequency of my backups and have discovered that my old brute force approach (i.e. full manual backups) is not a very smart nor convenient way to do it.

After thinking a while on how I would want to proceed with backups I have come to believe that the ideal backup software for me would fulfill the following criteria:

1. Backups made to an external hard drive should not be in a compressed or monolithic format, but should be an exact copy of the file system that is being backed up.

2. New backups should be made through file and directory synchronization, so that recurring backups only need to copy new/updated files/folders to the external drive

3. The backup software should be able to use Shadow Copy (I am using Windows XP) so that all files are copied at backup time (even those that are open/locked).

4. The ability to make backups/synchronize files over the Internet, either through FTP or by other means (e.g. connecting to a client-utility running on the backup-target machine) is a plus but not required

Given the above I tried to google for suitable backup software and I found a few that seemed to fit the profile. However, since I have never ever used backup software and are completely unfamiliar with backup software vendors I now turn to you for help.

Given my criteria above, what backup software would you recommend and what are your personal experiences.

 

Not sure if this is what you're looking for but a free program I use to back up my documents is Karen's Replicator.

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

 

ms sync toy?

 

I use a mix of MS sync toy (beta 2 -- MS finally got it right), Acronis true backup ( http://acronis.com ), and windows home server (whs) for my backups.

I use whs for daily backups of all my computers... works great, no hassles or having to fuss with anything. Bit expensive for a backup and file server, but well worth the money.

MS sync toy... finally started using this once beta 2 hit... now it is a true sync program. I use it to keep my laptop and desktop in sync. I many shared folders on the laptop.. favorites, my docs, desktop, etc, etc.. (with some security steps in place). MS sync toy works great... copies of all files with a click of a button. When I leave out the house, I don't have to ask if a file is on my laptop or if I'm working on the most updated file.

Acronis I use for offsite storage. I have several storage facilities that I keep backups. In the past I would perform these backups once every couple of days, but now I do them once every couple of weeks (sometimes once a week). This is done with external usb drives with manual backups.

I have too much data for online backups... in addition, I don't trust online backups yet... not with my tax and other business data.

If you wanted online backup, the new service by hp seems to be all the rage: https://www.upline.com/ .

 

Upline looks interesting but how the h*ll can they offer unlimited backup storage for USD 59 per year? It is not unusual to have several hundred gigabytes of music and videos. What is stop users from using the upline service as their unlimited online hard drive?

 

It is a service from a reputable company... want me to post a similar service where you pay more?

In all honestly, I don't think hp expects people to upload their entire movie directory... that would take freakin forever and a day. My movie directory is well over 50 gb and I'm not into movies... I have them backed up on dvd (dvds in storage), but no place else. I guess you could attempt to upload that much data... good luck.

My guess is that the average person will have between 5 to 15 gb of data to backup.

If I used this it would be for important files... then again, that is why I stick to what I have.... it works, it is fast, and I love the system.

As I mentioned before, I'm not into online backups and such.... but if you want to pay more, I'm sure there are a couple of companies that can accommodate you.

 

Ha, ha ... I am not that masochistic ;-)

Ha, ha ... just tried upline and got a whopping 15 kB upload/download transfer speed. Now I know why they are offering unlimited storage space. At 15 k/sec there is only so much data that you can bare uploading ...

 

well, don't use online backup... lol... doubt if you will find any of these services "fast enough." When I tested they were all slow... that is one of the reasons I have my system setup the way I do. You may want to think along the lines of having an off-site backup that you change out once a week or once every two weeks and a nightly backup you keep at home.

All depends on what you need and how your life is setup. Then again, maybe you will find a "fast" online backup system. dunno...