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Question

Which backup/image software should I use? I currently have 3

Jun 11, 2011 4:03PM PDT

Hello all,

I searched several spots on the forum and didn't see any that matched my question. If it is posted somewhere and I missed it, i'm sorry.

Hitachi external hard drive: 320GB, Lenovo G560 Laptop w/ 254GB hard drive and Windows 7.

The Hitachi drive's software is ArcSoft Total Media Backup

Lenovo is OneKey Recovery 7.0

Windows 7 backup software

I have a Lenovo G560 Laptop (new) and I just purchased a new external hard drive to use as a backup. The hard drive came with backup software on it. The laptop has a designated backup button above the keyboard that you push when you want to start a backup. And Windows 7 has its own backup software installed.

So, my question is; which software should I use?

I like the idea that the hard drive has the software installed on it so even if I move on to another computer, or I want to backup two different computers, I have that software no matter which machine I am using.

But, then I think that there is software taking up space on the external hard drive that isn't related to the information that is backed up.

I like the idea of the designated button to backup my system when I wish, and since that software is on the laptop I can simply format the external hard drive, get rid of the pre-installed backup software from it and have a completely empty drive.

But, then I think that going the Windows 7 route and use that software to backup my system since that one also seems to be very easy to use.

Are there any thoughts on this?

I know that there are two different types of backup I can do; system image & standard backup (folders, files, etc.) So, I would actually like to do both.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I can partition my external hard drive and use one side as a system image space and the other as a traditional backup. This way if I get rid of a document, pic, etc that I need I can just pull it from my backup and not have to completely flash my hard drive. But, with a major system failure I could flash my hard drive. Correct?

Now my external hard drive is not that big, 320GB, and the laptop hard drive is 254GB, so I think I would need to compress either the image or the basic backup. I am not sure how to do either and hoping someone here could point me in the right direction.

Thank you very much for all of your thoughts & help.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Let me comment about full machine backup.
Jun 12, 2011 11:11AM PDT

I DO THAT! And I never had to partition the external to do this. I use CLONEZILLA and can backup the entire machine for easy restore. HOWEVER!!! It does take overnight due to the speed of USB.
Bob

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Answer
Clonezilla
Jan 20, 2012 4:55AM PST

Yep, Clonzilla is one of the best free tools out there for creating an image of your primary hard disk. Its not the simplest to use but the tutorials are pretty good. Once you create the CD to boot from you can easily plug in an extenal usb drive and clone to or from it. Try the live version - http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php

The Windows 7 backup tool really sucks. It just not user friendly at all and frankly doesnt seem to work properly. For simple backups of your important folder and files try Bitser. It has a nice explorer interface similar to windows xp's backup but compresses the backups using non-proprietary formats of zip and 7zip (which has a great compression ratio). It also has strong encryption so you can put your backups anywhere (online etc) and they cannot be opened without a password. Its free also - http://www.bitser.org