Image backup or data backup? Best both!
The actual overall data backup is often not made because it makes the circumstances: The computer is not usable during data backup, it is ongoing CDs or DVDs in the burner, it takes too long. The lost data to restore sometime, but still takes a lot of long. Acronis True Image offers in version 9.0 a practicable solution – if only for a single computer.
How is it now with the good predatances for the new year? No longer smoke? Oh, not started? Good. No longer drink? But, self-resistant, daily a liter of tea! Only with your own partner to bed? What, a own, quite for yourself? Great! And always best thought of the backup? Oh yes, though already thought – done but not. It was good so far. Hard drives now keep much more long than in the early years. And viruses, which make everything flat, get only Daus on the hard drive. or?
Not 100% safe for data backup, but very comfortable: external hard drive
Yes, it is unfortunately sad fact: every woman can lose data irrevocably in a few seconds if the hard drive gives up the mind, but it’s the thought until it then crashes. And so are already 14 days of work of a whole team Hinuber, which used a common computer, or a diploma thesis – or there is succinctly significantly fewer articles than usual at telepolis. And even if the texts were secured on floppy disks or today’s modern CD-RS, so you have guaranteed to forget search material or the e-mail program – or chews at least two days to re-establish operating systems and programs on a new hard disk.
For data backup, two tactics are ugland. One is to secure a complete image of the whole hard drive. The advantage: If the hard disk is plated by a virus or falls it off and must be replaced by another, can immediately be replayed again a run-up system – the work to reinstall all the programs and make all the personal preferences again in the settings Must, remotely. The disadvantage: the backup is tedious and requires a lot of space – to secure today’s hard drive with CD-RS, is an impertinence, and even with DVD-Rs the matter can still be distributed.
A little better will the situation when you pack programs and data on different hard disks or different partitions of the hard disk. In the system partition then only the operating system itself and the installed programs. All stored user data, on the other hand, come to another partition. The system partition must then be secured only once, as long as nothing changed at the installation, only the user data must be ongoing. However, if you can not sign the home sugar of some software: For example, the e-mail program from Microsoft’s e-mail program tend to hide stored emails in a subdirectory of the operating system instead of a user directory. And also the Windows typical folder "Own files" First of all, is on the system partition and must be relocated, which in turn does not get any previously furnished software.
Incremental backups are worthless if not all versions are available
The rough amounts of data and thus correspondingly long backup times can be reduced by making so-called incremental backups: Only the first time the complete hard drive is secured, and for later backups only changes. But what such an incremental backup saves when creating time is rattling, if you have to play him later later on the plate back: then, in addition to the original first-complete backup, all later updates must be processed to the restore last condition.
An image backup has another disadvantage, when it gets us restore the data: it can only put the hard disk into the state in which the backup was pulled. If the hard disk itself is not broken, but only a single file is missing, so the complete resuming games of the image is not only time consuming, it also makes it all after the backup changed changes. The one file that you have saved may be hundreds of opposite, which have been lost because the data backup was already a few days old.
A file-oriented backup is much more very useful here, as you can locate the missing file in it and access them individually. Fruher already reached a MS-DOS batch file to take such a backup and only backward files against the last backup. Today, this is no longer so easy as operating system and application programs will defend that files that are in use are copied. This is how much the most important data is missing. One had to put the computer in virtually idle and ensure that no program is possible, not the word processing, not the browser – and not the operating system. Or you need a backup software that does not make any rules in data arance.
True Image from Acronis is in the latest version 9.0 Apply for both backup methods – the complete hard disk image, but also the backup of individual files – and is also capable of saving data during operation of the computer. Also, the resuming of individual files or even the operating system should be possible during operation. Since it can certainly take some time until the correct condition of a single file can be reconstructed on the basis of a basic security and some incremental data backups, it is quite use if you can continue to work on the affected computer.
In the practice test, it turned out that the program is quite his promises. For this purpose, instead of TRUE Image in principle also usable CD-Rs or. DVD-RS an external 250-gigabyte hard disk made as a backup medium connected by Iomega, which was landed in the cabinet, because the plate not only reached vacuum cleaner loudly, but also the supplied backup software of Iomega had proved completely unusable: She sometimes broke abruptly with a C-Runtime Error and then hindlave each time not ligeable gigabytegral data mull on the hard disk, which was thus unusable in the long run.
A hard disk for data backup – instead of a dedicated external hard disk, is also suitable for this purpose a second computer or a network drive – has the basic disadvantage that it is affected in case of damage of viruses as well as the already infected computer hard disk affiliated. On non-changeable and loosening backups, for example, on DVD-R, should not be omitted. However, it is faster and easier to handle than CD-R or DVD-R.
Corrupt e-mail directories can stop a backup run
On the external hard drive, an image backup was created and disclosed a data backup selected subdirectories. There were problems only as long as the conscious hard disk was connected via Firewire: Here she said goodbye to the Windows file system as soon as True Image tried to analyze its structure. Probably this was the reason for the early failure of the hard drive. With a connection over the unfortunately far slower USB-1.1-port, however, did not occur these problems anymore. Here, however, a complete backup can certainly take all night, especially when you check the data check what you should never save: What helps a quick backup when he turns out as useless in an emergency. However, later incremental backups are completed in 15 to 20 minutes and can even be further worked on the computer, as long as this moment does not require highest performance at this moment.
Unlasted struts produced only some old Netscape mail directories, which ran through recompressing the mailing archives within Netscape. Otherwise, the backup software ran in contrast to the software supplied with the external hard disk from Iomega fault-free. And the price of just under 50 euros appears quite acceptable. The Tucke, however, is in small printing: You can only install and use the software on a single machine. So if you want to secure files from your desktop PC to the notebook hard drive and vice versa the same from the notebook to the desktop, actually has to buy two program packages. If you have a family with many computers, accordingly, requires many program packages.
The possibility to buy only additional licenses for more computers does not offer the manufacturer. However, he does not check how many computers the software is installed. In commercial use, however, failure to comply with the license conditions can contribute a lot of Arger. In companies that have more than one hand full of computers, however, anywhere, network systems are used for data backing, with appropriate software supplied. For the one who has only one computer, TRUE Image is a help against the everyday Schlendrian during data. A 15 day reviewed trial version is free of charge; So you can try it before buying if the program suits one.