Best Hard Drive Back Up Application?

[foodfightr]

I want to backup my 150GB raptor on to a WD4000YR (400GB) nightly. Should I just use acronis and create an image and then run the incremental backup each night? Or is there a better way.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Should I just use acronis and create an image and then run the incremental backup each night? Or is there a better way.

That's what I'd recommend.

 

[foodfightr]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Should I just use acronis and create an image and then run the incremental backup each night? Or is there a better way.

That's what I'd recommend.

Sounds good

 

[WildHorse]

Well one of my HDDs is Maxtor which enables me to use the free Maxblast 4, which clones one drive to the others simple as pie, just a mouse click.

Maxblast 4 words as long as either the source or the destination drive is a Maxtor.

Sorry I don't know if WD has a similar free application, but since thery're competioirs it seems likely they would offer similar functionality.

Suggest you probe for a free cloning app on WD's web site.

 

[Auric]

A full clone would of course enable swapping boot drives to be up and running again in a few minutes if necessary however it would be wasteful considering the disparate capacities and only allow one copy.

An image followed by incremental would be quick to backup but I imagine is more troublesome to restore to a particular date or extract particular file dates from.

So, another option is to damn the extra time (as in: "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!") and keep three or four consecutive images for the best reliability and restorability (assuming the big drive ain't being used for other storage already).

If you have not already, you may also consider a partitioning strategy with just the OS, personal data and programs on C:, for example, so that critical backups remain relatively tidgy and quick while perhaps also reducing the necessary frequency of backing up the other volume(s) containing less frequently changed files.