| Backup Option Comparison Table | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of Backup | Size | Speed | Price per GB (not including drive) | Ease of use | Durability | Other |
| Tape | 12-36 GB or more | 1-3 MB/s or more | $0.33 | Relatively difficult | Above Average | Requires backup software |
| CD | 700 MB | 7 MB/s (48x) | $0.10 | Average | Above Average | Requires CD software |
| DVD | 4.5/8 GB | 22 MB/s (16x) | $0.02-0.33 | Below Average | Above Average | Requires software that can write to DVD |
USB Flash memory | 256 MB to 8 GB | 4-8 MB/s | $50-70 | Very easy | Below Average | Ultra portable |
| Hard Drive | 80 GB to 500 GB | 25-65 MB/s | $0.30-0.60 | Easy | Average | |
| External USB/Firewire Hard Drive | 80 GB to 500 GB | 20-35 MB/s | $0.40-0.80 | Very easy | Below Average | Durability less due to fragility of the drive |
| Internet Service | 100 MB to 40 GB or more | 10-500 KB/s | $10-40 per month | Varies | Varies | Durability is potentially awesome, depending on service |
Combination of Backup Types is Best
While you can trust just one backup type, it is a good idea to use multiple types, depending on the data that you are backing up. Archive data can go on hard drive and/or DVD while important or faster changing data can also be on an internet service or USB flash keys. This gives you the flexibility to make sure everything is archived but you still have quick access to backup and restore the important data.
Of course, at least use one backup option to get everything backed up. It’s not guaranteed to be foolproof, but at least it gives you good odds of getting most of your data back. No backup at all is a guaranteed loss.
Software Options
Backup software has been used for ages. Because tapes couldn’t be written to like disks, different software had to be used to read/write tapes. Also, because it took many floppies to do a backup, software was required to split the backup into floppy-sized chunks and write to each floppy.
Is Software really necessary?
Today, software may or may not be necessary. It is possible to copy over every file (save for the swap file, “System Volume Information,” and “Recycled” directly from one hard drive to another using Windows Explorer. That’s extremely easy to do… the only downside is that you have no additional information with your backup (date/time of backup, how long until the backup is complete), and you can’t really automate the next backup. Each one has to be done manually. That’s not a big deal if it works for you, but it is still something to be aware of.
Writing to CD or DVD does require some additional software, such as Nero or Roxio. Backup-specific versions, e.g. Nero BackItUp (preview) or Roxio Backup MyPC (review) are also available, and they do offer somewhat limited multi-CD/DVD backup support. The free OEM versions, such as Nero Express, do not typically include that backup software, but the for-purchase suites like Nero Burning ROM and Roxio Easy Media Creator usually do.
When using minimal/no software, the restoration process depends on how much data needs to be restored. Since just a few files are easy for any of them, the bigger challenge is what happens when the hard drive completely dies. In that case, the solution for most options, including most backup software, is to install Windows, basic drivers, and the backup software on the new hard drive, and then restore the backup. Some software, such as Symantec Ghost, can be restored directly to a blank disc. That definitely makes for easier and usually quicker restoration.
Open Source
Unfortunately, most open source backup software requires a linux machine set up to be the backup server. That is an additional requirement that can dramatically complicate matters. If you aren’t comfortable working in linux, then those won’t be options, and you’ll be severely limited.
Here is the list of software I came up with:
SyncBot – Backs up to an FTP server (internet or local network) or a local drive. It offers encryption and compression and can backup on a custom interval. This is probably the only open source software that might be able to serve an average user’s needs.
NASBackup – Nice, powerful software that requires a Linux server for backup.
BOBS (browsable Online Backup Systems) – Backup software that requires an internet server. If you want to run a remote backup server (in effect, your own internet backup service), this is one option to look at.
Freeware
Cobian Backup – ZIP-64 compression, FTP up/down, FTP speed limiting, Blowfish/DES/Rijndael, file splitting
Back4Win – ZIP compression (variable), restoring from damaged backups, spanning disks, burn to CD, backup to EXE, versioning
Back2Zip – Very simple software that uses ZIP-64 compression and can work in the background
File Sift – This is not a backup software, but it is interesting that it will group files together in directory structures that are the size of the removable media you are burning.
Arkeia Smart Backup Free Version – Linux backup software. Free version available for <50 GB backup. Network backup and total/incremental/differential backups.
Commercial
Commercial software is for-purchase and typically has some level of official support, be it phone, email, or some combination of the two. Prices, features, and support can all vary dramatically. In the case of backup software, the commercial options dramatically outpace the free options’ features, so be prepared to plunk down the money for easiest backup/restore.
NTI Backup NOW ($70) – Extremely flexible and powerful backup software. Includes 256-bit encryption, DVD DL support, drive/media spanning, bootable restore CD/floppy. This is one of the first pieces of backup softwares to consider.
Backup My PC ($60) – Backup to all sorts of devices, including DVD DL support. Includes a “One button” backup wizard. Boot disk option.
Backup Plus ($40) – Backup to removable media, hard drives, network drives, FTP, and CD/DVD w/ packet writing. Also has a direct write to DVD option with Backup Plus DVD.
BackTrack ($20) – support disk spanning to removable media, including DVD-RW. Compression and encryption support.
Norton Ghost ($70) – Considered the industry standard hard drive cloning software. It is used if you simply want to create an image of a hard drive onto another hard drive (including compression) and later restore the image to a bare drive so it is to the exact point of the backup. It is not a true backup software because it operates at the hard drive level instead of the file/directory level for backup (though you can view/restore files on demand)
Aid System Restorer ($20) – uses MS-DOS boot disk to restore to a bare hard drive. Somewhat similar to Norton Ghost
Conclusion
Backing up your data is vital to an ongoing computer experience. Storage media regulary fail, so you need to plan for it. The best backup options for home users are usually an external hard drive and/or DVDs. Adding in other options like a USB flash drive or an Internet backup service can keep the backup more available no matter where you happen to be at the time of the data failure.
You may find that you don’t need software at all, especially if you’re doing a hard drive to hard drive backup. However, it does make life easier, keeping older versions, doing incremental backups, and automating drive spanning. Commercial software is generally much more feature-filled, and there are plenty of good options out there.
But whatever you do, don’t assume you’re ok without a backup. You may find out later how much that lost data is worth to you.
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