How do you backup your important data?

[Avinash]

Backup to External HDD, as I do not have a DVD Writer.

Compression depends on type of data.

@AVI - is 50% compression ever possible?

Try making a HDD image using a backup program like Norton ghost and you will know its possible. I have done that often. Obviously, max data I may have made image was 14-15 GB with the Image size around 8 GB with Maximum compression setting.

[Grr]

Try making a HDD image using a backup program like Norton ghost and you will know its possible. I have done that often. Obviously, max data I may have made image was 14-15 GB with the Image size around 8 GB with Maximum compression setting.

Thanks Avi.
How long does it take to do such image backup? and can we backup the HDD on which Norton Ghost is installed?

[Avinash]

Thanks Avi.
How long does it take to do such image backup? and can we backup the HDD on which Norton Ghost is installed?

For me with my old processor AMD and 2 GB RAM, it took me around 10-15 mins for this. I used to do this in bootup mode i.e. booting system with Norton Ghost.

[jelson]

I've been doing partition and drive backups for the last 4 years.

The one program I haven't tried is Norton Ghost.

But I've tried just about everything else that was free or promo'd.

The fastest backup program is ShadowProtect... However, they are focused on enterprise business and really don't want end-users: they'd even admitted on WildersSecurity forum. The feature list as well as their high price shows this.

One BIG consideration is whether you can restore a partition to smaller drive. Let's say, for a timely example, you have 100 GB drive (just one partition) and you decide to get a new 80 GB SSD. Some programs cannot restore your partition to the smaller drive even if you only have 60 BG used.

I'm sure Norton Ghost can do it, and I know both Acronis TrueImage and Paragon products can.

As far as speed of backup, compression efficiency, etc. you might want to check on dotTech.org: I recall Ashraf doing some reviews on this sort of thing.

Personally, I use Acronis TI. Why? I started out using MaxBlast 5 (which came with a new HD): limited version of TrueImage 9. And I simply liked it better than Paragon's products. Paragon is quite good and since they have free version and often have promos, it's what I recommend to most people.

Acronis TI is faster than Paragon... don't recall about the compression. One thing to consider about compression is the more you compress, the longer the (backup / imaging) will take.

One thing I strongly recommend is to put all your data on a 2nd (partition / drive) so in effect, your C:\ drive is just a system partition. I have most of XP's "special folders", like "My Documents", "My Music", etc on D:\ as well as all portable applications and my Firefox profiles.

Why? In the event of malware attack, or "damn! I wish I hadn't installed that program" or "Hmmm, the system is starting to act wierd" etc, I just restore an earlier system image and I'm back up and running again without any loss of data, bookmarks, etc (saved / created) after the restored system image was made.

Another big thing is, my system images are small and are done quickly!!! I make my images using "Normal" compression. 13 GB compresses to like 8 or 9 GB and take about 10 mins using the Linux-based bootCD (typically called the "Rescue Media.") Images made under Windows are even faster.

But you will want to make sure you can use the "Rescue Media" on your system so you can restore you boot partition. About a year ago, I tried setting up a friend with one of Paragon's freebies, BUT his old laptop didn't like the Linux distro Paragon was using then and refused to function correctly. (There can be big differences between the flavors of Linux used in the various "Rescue Media". There's no point in having a sytem partition image if you can't do what is called a "bare-metal restoration."

That said, I am using an internal drive to save my images too because SATA II is much, much Faster than USB 2.0. Later, I archive all my partition images and file backups to an external drive for safe keeping.

I haven't tried making a partition image to the same partition I'm imaging. (I guess it might be possible) However, if you have enough room to do that, then simply use something like Easeus Partition Manager to shrink your system partition and create a data partition on your main drive.

Hope my experiences help.

[Geo]

I'll copy and paste my important files to mobile hard disk

[Avinash]

I'll copy and paste my important files to mobile hard disk

That's what most users do infact as they are unaware of some of these complicated backup solutions.

[Geo]

That's what most users do infact as they are unaware of some of these complicated backup solutions.

I see, Avi. Frankly I don't trust cloud service. I doubt whether it's secure enough. The server has a high risk to be hacked.