Best Back Up Tool

Hi
Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good back up tool as there are so many to choose from. I want to back up home PC's with the intention if the worst happens I can just put in a boot disc that I created and it will restore my PC to the exact way it was before the disaster ie all my favorites desktop shortcuts etc

Any advice most welcome

Macrium Reflect Free Edition (Windows).

Thank you. I think I got a trial version with one of the PC magazines a while back. I must have a look.

Cheers

In reply to a post by NuttyMucker:

Hi
Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good back up tool as there are so many to choose from. I want to back up home PC's with the intention if the worst happens I can just put in a boot disc that I created and it will restore my PC to the exact way it was before the disaster ie all my favorites desktop shortcuts etc

Any advice most welcome

No need for third party backup programmes with Windows, it has a good backup facility.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/Back-up-...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/search#q=...

Edited by deleted (Sun 18-Nov-12 18:44:11)

An impossible question to answeer. There are many programes and many different back up strategies. Do you just want to back up your data or your data and the applications?

I would suggest making an image of your applications and just backing up youe User Data.

Geniesoft do some good ones which are very simple to use

http://www.genie9.com/home/home_solutions.aspx

Thanks for the replies. I will look at them. The windows back up I have used before but I obviously set it up wrong as all I had after a recovery were my user files. Maybe I was meant to set up a back up disc also?

Most back up programes tend to just back up user data by default. Doing a full back up is a big job and wuld take quite a while . You are talking tens of gigabytes of data

I've tried nearly all of them (including windows!!). The best I've come across and the one I now use for the whole of my home network is Memeo Premium

http://www.memeo.com/en/home/

Edited by Garyilka (Mon 19-Nov-12 07:39:01)

According to me best Windows backup tool is SyncBack , it full-featured backup software available in both freeware and shareware versions.




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But the freeware version is seriously short of capability such as incremental/differential/auto folder name etc. etc. etc.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/compare.html

To get the sort of capability I wanted you still have to pay - and memeo is a heck of a sight easier to use and quicker in operation. It also sits nicely in the background and just works. Everyone to their own of course, but it's worth trying a few free trials first and then settle on the one that best suits.

Most routers have their own backup & restore on their menus.

Thanks for the replies.

I have looked at syncback and also Memo unfortunately the memo site is down for maintenance so will check it when its up. I will update when I have decided and let you all know

There are two basic types of backup - File and Disk/Partition..... You seem to require the latter.
Acronis true Image seems to be the "paid for" standard these days, whilst Macrium Reflect and EaseUS ToDo seem to be the favourite freebies.
Ideally, you should create a series of images of each drive/partition - A pristine copy, a copy where all your normal soft/hardware is installed and perhaps a weekly image.

Whilst image backups are lifesavers, you should also consider a "file" backup regime such as Windows Backup or similar as well.