DSLR Photography Forum

Hi all... I recently bought a maxtor shared storage plus Network Drive, which is pretty cool for making storage space available to all my machines on my home network. The proprietary backup software (Maxtor Backup) that comes with it really sucks though, it takes ages to process folders with lots of files in it, and is quite unreliable. It can say that everything is backed up ok, but when you look at the logs, the backup failed or didn't run.

Anyway, enough whinging - what backup software do people use? I've been looking at different solutions:
- Cobian Backup - nice freeware one, but the interface is a bit dodgy
- SyncBack - pretty good, but more for file synchronisation

There are also paid versions like:
- Backup4All - nice backup interface
- Second Copy - sync/backup
- Simply Safe Backup - has restrictions on # of files depending on how much you pay

And also some drive imaging or commercial software like:
- Acronis True Image
- Dantz/EMC Retrospect
but these might be a little too expensive


In terms of requirements, I would like a simple, straightforward backup utility that is able to do either incremential/differential backups, or backing up changed files only (so that regular backups are fast) to a network location. Compression is not a requirement, storing historical versions is a very nice to have. Scheduling is good, backup/sync on change detection is even better. Cost is also a factor... I wouldn't mind paying up to $50 for a quality product. I saw some very nice ones like Memeo Autobackup but apparently you need one license per machine, and at $30 a pop... eek!

Anyone have any suggestions? TIA

I have actually started backing up ro a second harddrive... my program of choice, a simple batch file! Long Live DOS!

I agree with you about the usefulness (?) of Maxtor backup software, I use Handy Backup and it backs up everything at 6.00pm every evening to my Maxtor hard drive. Easy to use and never lets me down. First off did a full backup and now backups only changed files.

I use Norton Ghost

Howdy,

I have use both Second Copy and Acronis, depending on I am trying to achieve.... For what you are wanting to do I would suggest Second Copy.

It is easy to configure and if you make the right choices it won't let you down. I use to transfer files to my external hard drive. I have done 1 full copy accross and now just incremental. I haev set it for manual, but you can set it up however and how often you may want.

The main reason I have manual is I only have th hard drive on for the purpose of backing up, which I do staright away after a photo download session.

I bought a 300GB internal drive today, space is becoming a real issue !! See my other post.

I don't trust hard drives any more. I want to backup the important stuff on cds or on the internet. All my writingis on the internet and most of my better (in my opinion at least) photos are on line.