Need Suggestions for Backup Software...

[Stormblade]

Hey all,

I'm currently running Windows 2000. Now I know of backup software out there. I've used Veritas Backup Exec (Now BackUp My PC). But it doesn't do what I'm needing.

I have data which is already compressed (Various zips, rar's, etc) and what I want is to be able to back them up to multiple CDs. Now Backup Exec does this but it stores it in its own format so that I can't use it.

I could just use some burning software and do it manually myself but I was looking for something more efficient than that. Something that would make the best use of space.

What I'd end up having to do is copy all my data in CD sized segments and burn them and delete afterwards. Rather have software do this for me.

So any suggestions on software that can do this? Just a copy across multiple CDs?


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The worth of your opinion is in direct proportion to the number of people who have asked for it

 

[mbetea]

you ever try retrospect? i never have but friends of mine (yes i have friends!) swear by it. www.retrospect.com
hope that helps.

CPUs are like testicles, every computer should have 2!

 

[Stormblade]

I tried Retrospect and it doesn't appear to allow a simple copy operation. It wants to encrypt data or something like that. I want a simply copy operation which spans multiple CDs. That's all.

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The worth of your opinion is in direct proportion to the number of people who have asked for it

 

[NickM]

I could just use some burning software and do it manually myself but I was looking for something more efficient than that. Something that would make the best use of space.

Could you explain your needs in more details?

I'm not very good with backups, but I'd like to know more about it and going to start my approach in this direction.
In my understanding, "something that would make the best use of space" (i.e. to compress) probably would rewrite the source file into its own format with its own unique extension.
But as I see, you are not going to accept that. Why?
Even with zero compression, third party backup programs might put their own extensions.
Probably I'm wrong, for me it looks a bit controversial.
And I don't know much about CD burning,
but the best way I tried, is direct burning of my files with Direct CD, and Nero. Why it is not accepted?
OK, I don't understand what’s wrong with the Win2000 embedded backup also.
?? Thank you in advance.

 

[Stormblade]

Ok. It's not that there is something wrong with the other backups. It all depends on your needs. I use Veritas Backup Exec to backup my data and archive it off. In this case I WANT compression, single file, encryption, password protection. It's stored on another machine which may be more susceptible. I use this backup weekly.

However, the drawbacks to this are that if I need a single file I have to run the software, and restore that single file before I can use it. Most of the time this is fine but what if I want to just transport stuff really quick or I don't need it on my system really?

Using these backup software means you have to run their software to get your stuff and you have to restore it to your system first.

With my archive stuff. I wanted to be able to take those disks anywhere and install stuff on other computers without having to install the backup software and then restore the files. In fact I didn't want to have to restore the files at all. Just run off the CD.

As for my comment about efficient use of space I was strictly talking about efficient when using just this copy method. There used to be software that did this long ago. I could tell it to copy a directory and it would scan through all files and arrange them so that you had as many files as you could fit on each disk. Doing it manually is just a bit more cumbersome. In the end I just copied almost to full and didn't bother looking for a file that was small enough to fit on the remaining little space. Too much bother.

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The worth of your opinion is in direct proportion to the number of people who have asked for it

 

[NickM]

Thank you for the prompt response.
I believe I’m scheduled to study Varitas in 3-4 month. From the programme it looks for me that Varitas is proclaimed as the best backup software for Oracle. I began to read their site, but as I mentioned, actually, I don’t understand much yet.

 

[Stormblade]

*nod* Basically in the most basic sense a backup is simply a copy of your data. That's it. However, this copy can take many forms and backup software adds all kinds of nice features. For example, you can schedule backups, you can set some up so that it keeps things in sync meaning your data is duplicated someplace else and is always kept up to date.

So your needs will determine what type of backup and what extras you need. I just happen to want more than one type. Currently what I ended up doing was just burning most to CD myself. I still use Veritas to backup the data that is too much for me to put on CDs.

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The worth of your opinion is in direct proportion to the number of people who have asked for it