How reliable is W7 backup?

TonyWilliams · 21 Sep 2010

Have any of you guys used SyncToy, that looks like it backs up files on the fly?
Tony

mw2 · 21 Sep 2010

well, in my view i tried using the back up but unfortunately when trying to recover the data it just said unable to locate files.

i had saved it onto my usb-hdd but now it doesnt recognise it for some reason...
so i had to reinstall a new win7

overall i would not rely on win 7 backup

craney5 · 21 Sep 2010

I have used sync toy Tony but not the one you get with windows, its a great tool very easy to setup folder pairs and click run bobs your uncle job done your all synced up :)

Download details: SyncToy 2.1

TonyWilliams · 21 Sep 2010

Started W7 backup at about 11am it is now 18.20 and has done 82% my used disc space is 83gb this is takeing a looooooooooooooooooong time! I know as it's the first time I've done it it's doing an image as well but 7 hours?

Wishmaster · 21 Sep 2010

TonyWilliams said:

Thanks guys. I may be wrong but Acronis and Macrrium are all about taking images of the hard drive. I just want to backup my Documents folder and be able to recover individual files from the backup. They don't appear to do this? I would also just like the backup to do an incremental backup as well, ie only files that have changed, rather than a complete backup each time. What would you guys suggest for that? I thought W7 backup does that?
Thanks
Tony

Acronis is quite capable.
It can restore individual files or folders from a complete system image without restoring the entire image.

It can also back up individual folders, libraries etc as a separate backup, as well as be set up to do scheduled automatic incremental or differential updates, consolodation of the backups etc.

You can backup just a folder from the application itself (Choosing the backup Files/Folders option) , or by right clicking that folder in Windows explorer and choosing the 'Backup" option, at which point you can decide what type of backup & schedule you want, if any.

TonyWilliams · 22 Sep 2010

I have Acronis v8, does that do the same as the latest version? I can't rememeber it adding the Backup option to the right click?
Tony

Wishmaster · 22 Sep 2010

TonyWilliams said:

I have Acronis v8, does that do the same as the latest version? I can't rememeber it adding the Backup option to the right click?
Tony

No, this is the 2010 version.

Apologies. I completely missed you had V8.

karlsnooks · 23 Sep 2010

I use very regularly Win 7 Backup and Restore to perform what MS calls "System Image" backup. The backup I create this way I also have used to perform a restore.

This works marvelously well. Works flawlessly. With this feature I can backup just the C or I can backup the C and the D partitions on my hard drive. My hard drive is divided into two partitions. C , the system, boot, paging partition and D where I keep all data such as documents, pics, videos, etc.

A system image will produce a VHD file for each partition "imaged".

This is NOT the same as the folder backup feature of Win 7 Backup and Restore which essentially zips the folders.

The Zip side of the game is what can take an inordinate amount of time and which has resulted in a hot fix being released by MS for the case where your are backing up to an internal drive and the new backup is bigger than the old. This is where the backup has some difficulties. Personally, I backup to an external drive so the hotfix is not applicable.

For my D drive, which as previously stated, has all of my data, I use SyncToy. Since SyncToy's "echo" mode is only going to write to your backup device when you've renamed a file, changed the file or created a new one or deleted a file, then the backup is quite rapid.

In summary, I "system image" the C drive with Win 7 Backup and Restore and backup my D (data) drive with SyncToy.

Mark Phelps · 23 Sep 2010

Used Acronis for YEARS and always found it to be fast and reliable.

Then, I upgraded to ATI Home 2010 on an XP box -- and networking got disabled.

Spent a lot of time with ATI support, who were completely unable to solve the problem.

Tried Macrium Reflect. Found it to do everything I needed with ATI, so I switched to it. The free version works quite well and allows you to build a Unix-based restore CD. The paid version comes with the ability to create a Windows-based restore CD (which works better in cases where controller drivers are needed).

Plus, it comes with the ability to add restore boot capability to your Windows boot selection menu, so if your machine crashes, you can boot using that and run a restore -- without having to look around for your restore CD.

Also, once you make the Windows-based restore CD, you can use it on ANY machine, even the ones with the free version of MR installed.

So, since we've already started mentioning alternative backup/restore apps in this thread, I'm putting in my plug for MR.

CGA1 · 23 Sep 2010

Mark Phelps said:

Used Acronis for YEARS and always found it to be fast and reliable.

Then, I upgraded to ATI Home 2010 on an XP box -- and networking got disabled.

Spent a lot of time with ATI support, who were completely unable to solve the problem.

Tried Macrium Reflect. Found it to do everything I needed with ATI, so I switched to it. The free version works quite well and allows you to build a Unix-based restore CD. The paid version comes with the ability to create a Windows-based restore CD (which works better in cases where controller drivers are needed).

Plus, it comes with the ability to add restore boot capability to your Windows boot selection menu, so if your machine crashes, you can boot using that and run a restore -- without having to look around for your restore CD.

Also, once you make the Windows-based restore CD, you can use it on ANY machine, even the ones with the free version of MR installed.

So, since we've already started mentioning alternative backup/restore apps in this thread, I'm putting in my plug for MR.

Plus the ability to make incremental and differential backups. And yes, this is a very reliable program. I have done numerous restores with it and never had a hickup and I believe backup software should be judged by the ability to do reliable restores.