Mirror Softwares and Such

OK... My DAW's boot drive just died. This makes the 3rd in this machine in less than 3 years...

I've been too broke to do anything such as buying an extra drive and mirror/backup software, but now it's being forced on me.

I may be a little lucky as I tried a software called Macrium Reflect back in May and I'm currently doing a restore. That would at least get most of my system back to normal. My data is safe as I copy that to a few drives as well as burn to dvd...

But I can't stand dealing with this over and again. This is my only "modern" machine and uses SATA II drives. My other machines have lived far longer with few drives dying on me. I'm wondering if the SATA drives are more prone to it?

Anyway... What I would like to try setting up now is a drive mirror so that I can simply leave two drives that the system copies to simultaneously (as in the RAID mirror feature)...

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any leads? Any warnings? This is currently for my system drive tho I can see I'd like to set the same thing up for my audio drive(s)...

I just found a software made by Paragon called Drive Copu Personal that claims to make virtual copies to a USB drive that can be run anywhere... Any thoughts? It's only $30 so if it might help I can actually manage to buy a copy...

I've also just downloaded a freeware backup software called Drive Backup Express 9... Has anyone heard of this? I'm really stretching right now...

Here's a link, what d'Ya think?

http://www.paragon-softwa...personal/features.html


Many thanks for any leads and info... Macrium Reflect is now showing 23% complete restoring the old backu on the rescue disc I created. I have no idea what kind of mess this is going to create...

Keni

Jim Roseberry

Thanks Jim...

Yeah, I'm trying to avoid actually installing a RAID system tho it sure would make things simple after the head-bashing to get it setup... ;-)

Would it slow the system? I've heard this argued many times and places, but if you setup the RAID aarray to do both split-wrting for fast saves/restores as well as mirror so that everything is duplicated all of the time... Wouldn't that somewhat equal out?

Anyway, I can't afford to get involved in that right now...

I'm running a Macrium Reflect restore which is only a few months old. Hopefully it has everything I need. My data is safe elsewhere and I can handle a few fixes (I'll bet I have to update all the Cakewalk synths and such)... I did this backup after my last drive crashed (unbelievable) but was very uncertain of the actual backup... I'm running Vista Home Premium on that machine (don't ask) and it doesn't include the OS in it's backups... I'd have to upgrade to ultimate (win7 now) to even get that...

So I'm looking at this software I mentioned...  Paragon's Drive Copy Personal... It seems to do most of what I'm looking for and maybe a lot more.... I'd love your opinion if you either know of it or have a chance to check it out.

One of the problems I have with Macrium Reflect is that it can't backup/restore to network or USB drives...

Here's a link, what d'Ya think?

http://www.paragon-softwa...personal/features.html


I take it you use and like True Image? It's only $20 more than Drive Copy Personal... Can it backup/restore to networked drives or external USB drives?



 Much thanks for the valued information as always. Thanks for "being there" when we so need help...

Macrium Reflect = 44% complete after 1.5 hours restoring a 372.GB partition.

Keni



Hi Keni,
 
For most folks, mirrored RAID is more trouble than it's worth.
I'd certainly not want any 3rd party software/application creating a mirror/backup in the background.  That would kill performance.
 
Maintaining an up-to-date backup image file (using True Image or similar) is a safe/reliable/convenient "safety-net".
A HD shouldn't go defective every single year... that's just plain bad luck. 
Even so... that amounts to 15-30 minutes (restore time depends on the size of the backup) per year.  If you maintain an up-to-date backup image file, that's not overly cumbersome.  The system as a whole is restored.  You may have a couple of plugins that need re-authorized... but most will restore and be ready to use.

Thanks again Jim...

No... I don't really want the RAID array tho the thinking is wonderful. I've had many problems with it in the past.

What I'd like is a simple software that will do a drive mirror function... but I'm sure I can handle a regular backup as I have so many times in the past...

Funny, but I just found a $22 copy of Acronis... Will the Acronis software do the USB thing? That's an issue for me as I'l like to use an external USB drive for my backups...

As to the Macrium Reflex restore? It's now at 60% complete. The partition is 220.559 used and 152.050 Free... I'm also restoring the MBR from the backup... What a mess! ;-)

Keni

Thanks for the heads up... The $22 version is last "year's" (True Image 2010) while 2011 is the latest...

I guess I'm gonna opt for that as I see it in many top lists in an equal competition with Norton Ghost...

I seem to remember something I had a problem with Paragon somewhere in the past... I can't remember...........

Macrium = 70% completed...

Thanks... I remember doing incrementals long ago on backup tapes.... Not fun to sit thru...

And honestly, I backup my data manually and constantly, so all I need is a new backup when I add/modify software/hardware...

I'd really rather have nothing extra running on that poor machine (Only a core2 duo once I get the new drive and install it)

I just managed to get the machine to bootup after a Macrium Reflex restore... I've gotta go start rebuilding and do a new backup in preparation of the new drive I'm expecting Tuesday to replace this one... I don't trust it now...