I've recently installed and am trying to use Comodo Backup, but it is taking a staggering length of time to do the initial backup. I know initial backups take longer than subsequent incremental ones, but seriously, this is ridiculous! The backup size is ~146 GB...I set it going 1.5 days ago and it's only at 43% complete and is predicting it's going to take another 2 days and 4 hours to finish!!!! 

 

I think something, somewhere has gone a bit gaga with Comodo so I'm looking round for a suitable replacement.

 

My PC is running Win 7 Pro 64 bit (i5, 8GB RAM) and I'm backing up onto a 300GB external hard drive (mainly photos and music). There are a bunch of reviews of various backup software products out there, but as usual the reviews seem to vary from one reviewer to another so I was wondering what those who backup prefer to use? Any recommendations? It doesn't need to be uber s****y, I just need the ability to do incremental backups (system and file) and be able to restore individual files as well as full restore.

 

Thanks... 

 

Is it the software or a drive issue?? If it is writing/verifying on a USB connection, that may be the problem, especially if they are small files (and lots of them).

 

I have used Acronis TrueImage and like it.

First one probably will take an age, next one will be incremental  so much smaller.

Well, it's still going...!!   So that's now just over 4 days it's taken to do ~58% of a 146GB backup!!! I think it's safe to say that something, somewhere isn't quite right!

 

I did wonder whether it was down to backing up to an external drive over USB, but it looks like that's a common way of backing up and lots of people do it without any issues.

 

Half of me is intrigued to see just how long one backup could possibly take (could be a call to Guiness...!) but then I'm not sure I've got the will! Could be time to ditch it and look elsewhere...

Are you cloning or just backing up?

For backing up I use Microsoft SyncToy - love the little program and works everytime...

Wow... I am guessing something is not right there...

 

Are you backing up the OS also?

May save your time to just backup files, photos etc?

Do you use a wireless mouse/keyboard, or use anything else that might be clogging up the USB channel??

I use a simple solution . I store all my re install stuff + anything I want to keep (word.doc etc) on a partition on a  hard drive. Every so often ,i back up to an external CHEAPO hard drive, which only is used as a back up to store partition . Drive is then removed and kept safe.

I use a simple solution . I store all my re install stuff + anything I want to keep (word.doc etc) on a partition on a  hard drive. Every so often ,i back up to an external CHEAPO hard drive, which only is used as a back up to store partition . Drive is then removed and kept safe.

 

Everyone should do this, but the issue then is the time taken to get the PC back to a working condition after a problem. A manual install of the OS and the swath of your favourite software can take DAYS, a software back-up program can do it in as little as 30 minutes.

if your using Windows 7 or 8 just use the built in backup software, it may not be installed by default and require adding by "add/remove windows components". Works really well even to a USB HDD. I backup my home server which has more than 600GB of data on it to several USB HDDs, first backup took about 8 hours and the daily ones take about 20mins now.

 

The windows backup tool has the ability to create a bare metal restore configuration, so you can take that backup and restore it onto any computer with no issue straight from the windows setup DVD without even having to install windows.

 

I really hope the problems you are seeing backing up are not a result of a failing HDD otherwise some of your data may already be corrupt.

Are you cloning or just backing up?

For backing up I use Microsoft SyncToy - love the little program and works everytime...

 

Just had a look at SyncToy and it was just what I was looking for. Thanks.

 

Am now going to use to sync my laptop against my portable drive for backup.

I use Veeam Endpoint backing up to a Qnap NAS, its a great free bit of software. Lots of options. 

I use dropbox, anything I want to keep is is the dropbox folder structure.

Gets important files off the PC and even better out of the house.

Can get expensive if you want to backup years of photos and music though.

I use dropbox, anything I want to keep is is the dropbox folder structure.

Gets important files off the PC and even better out of the house.

Can get expensive if you want to backup years of photos and music though.

 

I hope you encrypt your files. 

I hope you encrypt your files. 

 

 

This ^^^ and also what happens if dropbox goes bust or gets closed down by copyright chasers. Dropbox is not only used by you and I, a quick search on google will reveal many links to copyright material stored on dropbox.

 

Many legit organisations lost LOTS of data when megaupload was closed down and their servers seized by the NZ government. I'd never use a cloud storage solution for important data, the risks are just too great.

 

I am happy with my USB HDD backup solution, two copies are always away from my home and swapped weekly with the connected HDD. If the worst were to happen (house fire, storm damage etc.), at most I'd lose a weeks worth of data changes.

 

My server runs 24x7x365 so as it ages there is an increased risk of HDD failure, its 4 years old now and never been turned off in that time. I have however as a preventative measure replaced all 4 HDDs over the last 6 months.

Thanks for the tip on synctoy - now working well on Windows 10

This was useful as well

Schedule SyncToy

While you do not have to schedule SyncToy to use it, some users may find it helpful to schedule recurrent SyncToy runs. Perhaps you have a folder pair that takes a long time to sync and you want to run SyncToy in the middle of the night, for example.

SyncToy does not provide a user interface to schedule folder pairs to run at designated times. However, there is a method to schedule tasks using the Microsoft^© Windows^© operating system.

 

Windows Vista/ Win7

To schedule a task using the operating system:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Task Scheduler.
2. Select Create Basic Task in the Actions pane on the right.
3. Add a Name and Description and select Next.
4. Choose when you want the task to start and select Next.
5. Choose date/times (if applicable) to run task and select Next.
6. Choose Start a Program option and select Next.
7. Select Browse and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe.
8. Type "-R" in the Add Arguments textbox. –R all by itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R “My Pair” to the end of the command line. 

No I not encrypt, there will be a small risk there but at the moment I accept it.

If dropbox goes bust the files are still on my PC and laptop. So no data lost.

It's an easy option for people to look at and decide if it suits their needs, against other options given.

Everyone should do this, but the issue then is the time taken to get the PC back to a working condition after a problem. A manual install of the OS and the swath of your favourite software can take DAYS, a software back-up program can do it in as little as 30 minutes.

GG- Used to take days. But ,with MODERN hardware, i can have both my OS (xp +win 7 64) back in a n hour or two. I keep a CD/DVD  holder with the important CD/DVD  for a re install handy and a USB stick with W7 /64 as a boot up to re install w7.

Agreed, the OS doesnt take long, but getting all of your other programs on can take a long time, media players, social network programs, office programs, AV, AM, firewall, the list goes on and on.

 

SWMBOs PC is pretty lightly loaded as she isnt a big tech-freak, but it still took 15 or so hours (spread over 2 days), to get the majority of the programs installed, updated and configured.

 

This is mostly my fault, I hadnt checked to make sure she was making proper back-ups, Win7 system restore failed (BSOD'ed twice, then claimed there werent any back-ups) where as a disk image would have worked.

 

Luckily, she had stuck to storing photos on a different partition, so we havent lost any of Heidi's photos or videos.