Backup hardware / software suggestions

I'm ready to make the move from just backing up my important files on DVD disks to getting an external drive.  Every time I think I've found a good product (like Seagate or WesternDigital) I find a bunch of comments alternately praising or trashing the drives.

Of course, the problem with internet recommendations is that you don't know if the 'problem' is with the drive or exists between the chair and the computer.

So I turn to you all.

Any recommendations for external drives of at least 1TB?

Then for software:  Should I get a separate package or just use what comes with some of the drives?  I want a solution that lets me make backups when I want, as opposed to the software constantly trying to mirror the internal drives; that seems too invasive to me.   Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

I'm ready to make the move from just backing up my important files on DVD disks to getting an external drive. Every time I think I've found a good product (like Seagate or WesternDigital) I find a bunch of comments alternately praising or trashing the drives.

Of course, the problem with internet recommendations is that you don't know if the 'problem' is with the drive or exists between the chair and the computer.

So I turn to you all. Any recommendations for external drives of at least 1TB?

Then for software: Should I get a separate package or just use what comes with some of the drives? I want a solution that lets me make backups when I want, as opposed to the software constantly trying to mirror the internal drives; that seems too invasive to me. Any suggestions?

First of all, stay away from Seagate external drives for a little while. They're having a lot of trouble with quality control, and several of their 1 TB (and higher) drives are failing prematurely.

Mirroring the drives can be a bit "invasive" and resource-heavy--especially if it's done in software. And unless you have an entire internal drive dedicated to data (and that doesn't sound what you're dealing with), mirroring isn't practical.

First, we need to find out a few things: What is it you're trying to back up, your entire hard drive or just your audio data? Do you have Firewire or eSATA ports or will you use USB 2.0? How much do you want to spend on the software? On the hardware? Have you considered off-site storage options?

If you just want to run a scheduled backup, you could just use whatever backup software comes with your version of Windows. That's the cheapest option, though it's rarely the best.

Most of the software the comes with external drives is relatively limited, either to imaging the entire internal drive, or to just backing up your "My Documents" folder.

Second Copy is a low-cost, easy-to-use app I offer my clients. It makes "native" copies: the files on your external drive are just like they are on your internal drive; they're not compressed into a proprietary backup file. (You could effectively take your external drive to another computer and be up and running in a minute. With proprietary software, you'd need to install it first to get your files back.) You can set Second Copy to run on a schedule, or when you log off, or every four hours...or whenever you want, really. It's quite flexible. It will also e-mail you with a report of the backup, if you want, and it can keep multiple versions of each file.

SyncBack SE is freeware, and it's similar to Second Copy in that it keeps your files in their native format on the external drive. It's not as easy to use or maintain, but it's free. The paid version offers a few more bells and whistles, but the interface is no better.

Acronis makes pretty good backup software, but I've seen it fail without reporting errors. Many people like it, though. It offers drive imaging in addition to standard backups (they're stored in a proprietary format, however).

Hope this helps, and once we know more about what you're trying to do, I can offer a few more suggestions, if you'd like.

If you use a commercial product then most have the option to start with a complete copy and then only save the changes from there on.  That's about the same as "should just copy over specific files myself".

Karyn and Jim - Thanks.
Yeah, I failed to mention, I have USB and Firewire ports.

I'll look at the eSATA idea.   The PC is a home build so I'm comfortable opening it up. 

Thanks all.

Jim - I found an eSATA bracket.  That's pretty slick.  We'll be moving large files to it'd be nice to have that speed.

I've been using Acronis True Image 10 to back up my Windows 7 DAW. But I recently had an occasion to attempt a restore of the Windows 7 partition on another computer, and it failed. I've been able to restore Vista partitions (though I always have to do a repair).

So is it necessary to upgrade to True Image 2011 to backup a Windows 7 partition?

You shouldn't need TI 2011 to back up or restore a Windows 7 partition. I think the problem here is that you were trying to restore a Windows 7 partition onto another computer.

Without knowing everything you were trying to do, all I can say is that Windows 7 doesn't like to be moved around too much. You can ask the tech support people at Acronis, but it really all depends upon what you were trying to do, how the drives were formatted, and which errors you got. You might also want to ask them why you have to do a "repair" after restoring Vista partitions. That shouldn't be necessary. (You don't mention what you have to repair, so I'm afraid I can't really help there, either.)

I have an external USB  Western Digital 1TB drive for back up.

I also have Acronis on the machine. Let it make a drive image of the C drive in case you have problems, so you can easily restore the original config.

Then, just do the backup with copy/paste to save and update the data files you are working on.


I used Acronis to image my new DAW... it took 40GB to save the C drive config in a file..... and about 10 minutes to do it.  I copy the song files as needed to that drive as well in Bundle format.

HD's of all descriptions can be suspect...I've had more than one and not only Seagate, fail right out of the box in my time