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I consider review is poorly done. A review about Backup should not forget the 2nd and the most important part: RESTORE. I do a backup just so I can restore it when needed. I'd like to see how to do a full recovery when OS is damaged by virus or failures, or HD is replaced (one of the comments talked about it) or other hardware is somewhat different, partial recovery, image mounting (apparently not allowed), ... Hope you would put out another review at some point to cover the topics, I guess it'll be on Win8.
Windows 7's Built-in Backup
#22
theredmaw 
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Posted 01 June 2012 - 03:42 AM
VHMP01 has it correct - SyncToy is an awesome tool. It does require some computing knowledge as the decentralization of the "My Documents" directory has happened in most versions of Windows since 2000 (plainly apparent in Vista and Windows 7 - yet another example of how Microsoft is pandering to 3rd party companies.) Really, should not my saved games files be in "My Games" within "My Documents" and not within the local appdata directory? This becomes an issue with SyncToy as it does require some study as to how to use this software. Should not "My Music" or "My Pictures" be within "My Documents" and not a hyperlink? And why should it be such an issue to find out how to backup your documents in the first place? Why is it so difficult to find the "backup" procedure? Would it not be prudent to put this tool within the taskbar or the desktop? Or perhaps even within System Tools where it could be easily found!
Another reader commented that they were able to restore the disk image on their primary hard drive. I'm happy that you were able to do so. But let me ask you this: If your system was polluted with male-ware or spyware, would you not think that re-imaging the primary boot drive would put you in the same situation as you had in the first place? Do you understand that the system restore directory in Windows XP was/is a huge target for the runts that create these invasions do so for a purpose? Knowing this, if you backup the O/S which might be polluted, the restore that you might do would also be corrupted - which is why System Restore was/is a failure. And on a backup image in Windows Vista/7 - so it would be too...
In defense of Microsoft (and I have a hard time believing that I am doing so) they do own 80% of the corporate and desktops in this world. If anyone wants to make some $$$ creating male-ware or spyware they go to their target audience. Sure, Apple's Time Capsule does make perfect sense but as we know MAC OSX 10+ is using a version of linux and if they were running that same percentage all of these security exploits would be...well, exploited.
I digress - but Microsoft should be putting a decent backup program within their O/S. It should not be hidden and be easily accessible. And stop trying to backup the operating system - we understand that your O/S needs to be reinstalled perhaps once a year or so. I just want a solution to easily keep my data (and my customer's data) safe.
Another reader commented that they were able to restore the disk image on their primary hard drive. I'm happy that you were able to do so. But let me ask you this: If your system was polluted with male-ware or spyware, would you not think that re-imaging the primary boot drive would put you in the same situation as you had in the first place? Do you understand that the system restore directory in Windows XP was/is a huge target for the runts that create these invasions do so for a purpose? Knowing this, if you backup the O/S which might be polluted, the restore that you might do would also be corrupted - which is why System Restore was/is a failure. And on a backup image in Windows Vista/7 - so it would be too...
In defense of Microsoft (and I have a hard time believing that I am doing so) they do own 80% of the corporate and desktops in this world. If anyone wants to make some $$$ creating male-ware or spyware they go to their target audience. Sure, Apple's Time Capsule does make perfect sense but as we know MAC OSX 10+ is using a version of linux and if they were running that same percentage all of these security exploits would be...well, exploited.
I digress - but Microsoft should be putting a decent backup program within their O/S. It should not be hidden and be easily accessible. And stop trying to backup the operating system - we understand that your O/S needs to be reinstalled perhaps once a year or so. I just want a solution to easily keep my data (and my customer's data) safe.
VHMP01, on 20 January 2010 - 10:38 AM, said:
The easiest way I have found, and for most users in the company, to solve the backups is SycnToy, which is a ‘Free’ application from MS by the way, so it functions great and with the most simplicity I have found.
You simply select a folder to be backed up in the left (c:/documents for example) and a folder to store in the right (f:/documents on an external USB drive for example); you can create as many folders to be backed up as you wish. It has options to Sync, Echo and Contribute. Once configured you simply Run All folders.
The main reason is its simplicity, but also files are exactly the same format as originals, so if you plug in the drive in another computer, just open them. If you make changes to those and chose the Sync option, next time you run it on the original PC, the changes will be there. Although for some files like PST (Outlook data) we recommend the Echo option better.
You simply select a folder to be backed up in the left (c:/documents for example) and a folder to store in the right (f:/documents on an external USB drive for example); you can create as many folders to be backed up as you wish. It has options to Sync, Echo and Contribute. Once configured you simply Run All folders.
The main reason is its simplicity, but also files are exactly the same format as originals, so if you plug in the drive in another computer, just open them. If you make changes to those and chose the Sync option, next time you run it on the original PC, the changes will be there. Although for some files like PST (Outlook data) we recommend the Echo option better.
#23
jeffindayton
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Posted 30 November 2012 - 06:15 AM
it will not back up ghost files (.gho extension)
#24
cny730
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Posted 15 February 2013 - 07:00 AM
Quote
Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.
LOL... First OS in history??? You poor PC users... have you heard of Mac OS & Time Machine? No instructions needed, just works.
#25
brainout
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Posted 16 February 2013 - 06:31 AM
cny730, on 15 February 2013 - 07:00 AM, said:
Quote
Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.
LOL... First OS in history??? You poor PC users... have you heard of Mac OS & Time Machine? No instructions needed, just works.
Excuse me, but I was using GoBack since 2000, and it was designed for Win95; so that tells you how long time-machine type software has been around.
Wildly Insane Now Dumb Or Willfully Stupid. :)
#26
rburrhead
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Posted 24 February 2013 - 02:35 PM
Why does W7 have such a lousy backup system. Th first backup goes all right, but when you try to backup again it goes until the green backup line turns RED and then tell you there is not enough room. Then it says you can make more room by deleting the first backup. So it is not just updating the first backup but making another backup? Is there anyway to change it so that it don't male another new backup?
#27
fliesfliesflies
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Posted 27 March 2013 - 04:40 AM
Consider carefully were you put your files and what you do with them.
In windows 7 if your pc fails completely and you are left with just a hard drive that works then normally you would be able to put this in any other pc and recover your files but windows passowrd protects the documents folder and I think the backup folder so that you can't do this very easily at all!
I know this from my own experience. It is much better to put your files in a folder of your own creating and back up that folder onto another drive without compression or passwording etc...then you can be pretty sure you can get to your files if you have a failure of your PC
In windows 7 if your pc fails completely and you are left with just a hard drive that works then normally you would be able to put this in any other pc and recover your files but windows passowrd protects the documents folder and I think the backup folder so that you can't do this very easily at all!
I know this from my own experience. It is much better to put your files in a folder of your own creating and back up that folder onto another drive without compression or passwording etc...then you can be pretty sure you can get to your files if you have a failure of your PC
