I've done some testing with the Win-7 backup pgm.  That's what drove me to
look at alternatives   :(

That's largely the lack of xp compatibility.  Also, the command line syntax
is totally different.  I've had a backup system in place for many years that
met most of my goals (but not image backup) using the old ntbackup pgm, plus
some batch files and task scheduler.  Been doing this with minor changes
since the days of Windows 95 and server 3-point-something.

With the changes to command-line syntax, and the fact that cross-network
backups work in the opposite direction, I'm facing a total redesign anyway,
so might as well design around something that will work with XP too, not
just Win-7.

And the Win-7 program can't even read the old ntbackup files.  There is
supposed to a utility from Microsoft to let a Win-7 box read the old
backups, but I couldn't get it to work on my Win-7 test machine.

One glitch I encounted with the Win-7 backup:  after taking a full image
backup to a usb 3 drive I tried to test actually restoring from it by
booting from my emergency CD and discovered that the Win-7 restore routines
wouldn't even find the drive until I unplugged it from the usb 3 prog and
connected it to a usb 2.  The one free program I have tested so far (EaseUs
Todo) passes that test, although it isn't totally satisfactory.

I saw in various forums that lots of people have been unable to restore from
Win-7 backups when they need it.  Not sure how many of them had the same usb
3 problem I had or whether there are other issues.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gilles Schipper" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 15:12
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: free or cheap PC backup software


> Windows 7 backup can do most of what you want.
>
> The exceptions are:
>
> - backing up WindowsXP machines
> - backing up other machines across network
>
> And to backup TO a network resource, you must have Windows 7
> Professional or Ultimate.
>
> And the backup/restore program - including scheduling - is included
> for no extra charge with all versions of Windows 7 - notwithstanding
> the network capabilities cited above that are included only with the
> Professional and Ultimate versions.
>
> And it works.
>
> At 06:03 PM 2012-01-30, Dave Powell, MMfab wrote:
>>Anybody have any experience?  Special loves or hates ?  I've been reading
>>specs and user comments on several, but would like input from the list
>>too.
>>
>>Priority is full image backups that will let me recover a whole system
>>without reinstalling anything, working with enough USB drives so I can
>>have
>>a least 2 full backups of every machine, with at 1 offsite at all times.
>>
>>Ability to restore individual file from full image backups is nice but not
>>vital.   (I have daily file backups of important files working with
>>xcopy --
>>that's good enough so I don't need new software to improve on it).
>>
>>Must be possible to schedule recurring jobs.
>>
>>Must work across a network -- copying from other PCs to external drives
>>connected to my PC.  Ideally it would be controlled by my PC reaching out
>>to
>>read the other machines.  The free/cheap pgms I have seen so far work the
>>other way round -- running on the machine being backed up and writing
>>across
>>the network.  I can live with that as long as I get some kind of
>>notification of success or failure to my machine (perhaps an email), and
>>my
>>share passwords are not visible on the other machines.
>>
>>Must work with XP and Windows 7  (backing up from XP 7 & Win-7 to Win-7).
>>
>>Must work !  (can't pretend to work and flake out on me when I need it).
>>
>>* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
>>* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Gilles Schipper
> GSA Inc.
> HP System Administration Specialists
> 300 John Street, Box 87651   Thornhill, ON Canada L3T 7R4
> Tel: 416.702.7900
> email:  [log in to unmask]  web: http://www.gsainc.com
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

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