I'm running 7 Enterprise 64 bit
My system has 2 Raid 0 arrays... one for OS and Apps, the other for Data.
I've attempted to use the windows system backup, and it tells me it cannot create a backup for systems larger than 2TB.
Does anyone know of a way around this, or an alternate software package that I could secure my system with?
First, why would you ever put data on a RAID0 array? That's playing with fire because if 1 drive dies, you lose all of the data.
With regards to backup, what sort of backup are you looking for? i.e : do you want to be able to restore the whole system with the OS and apps, or are you just looking to be sure that your data files are backed up.
For me, I use the "system image" utility to back up my 80GB OS/apps SSD drive to my 1TB storage drive. For my data drive, I simply connect an external drive and run robocopy to "mirror" all of the data from my D drive to my external. It's nice because it only grabs the files that have changed...so subsequent backups are fast. And for safety sake, I actually have 2 external hard drives that I use....and 1 of them is stored offsite in case my house is robbed or burns to the ground. Robocopy is free and is built-right into Windows Vista and Windows 7.
we have the data on a RAID because my wife and I are graphic designers / videographers. RAID 0 drastically improves performance when editing HD video, and when working with those 3GB adobe files.
I have a 1TB external which for the time being, would be big enough to form a system backup. I burn my final products onto Blu-ray's to archive them, so I'm more or less looking for a system backup that would save me the 1.5 days of installing / updating the OS and all the software.
So with the OS's own system backup not being 2TB+ friendly... what other solutions does everyone recommend? If there are any free solutions, I would prefer to consider those first, but am open to paid options as well.
What you should do is shrink the partition that contains the Windows installation, programs and user folder. Basically, temporarily move anything that is not essential to Windows running, such as your video files, music files, documents etc.. to another storage medium.
Make it whatever you want, but leave overhead. After doing that, say it takes up 40 GB space - make the partition 100 GB or even 150 GB. Create a new partition for the remaining drive space and move whatever was on the drive you temporarily moved before, to this partition.
Now you could backup just that Windows partition, saving lots of time and space. Now for example, in a system malfunction, you could overwrite an existing install with the backup you made and then boot normally. Problem gone.
You can use Acronis Disk Director suite to accomplish this.
So you are essentially looking for an imaging program. Apart from the usual suspects like Acronis and Norton Ghost (which I use), there is a list of free programs that you can try (see below). Easeus is the last edition and my be the most modern. Many people also praise Macrium.
7 Freeware Acronis True Image & Norton Ghost Alternatives
I decided that since my data is backed up on DVD's and I'm more or less wanting to avoid the 2 days of reloading and updating software, that I just should partition my C drive into a smaller size that can use the Win Backup & Restore.
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