6 ms·

If I understand well, Arq does not backup the whole computer. I am looking for a tool that allows for recovery of single files, but also that has a backup of th

by blue1 11y ago

If I understand well, Arq does not backup the whole computer. I am looking for a tool that allows for recovery of single files, but also that has a backup of the whole machine, so that if the HD crashes it is possible to rebuild it verbatim. What does HN suggest for such a tool? I used Norton Ghost for years (but it has been discontinued).

mike 11y ago
Either of SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription... or Carbon Copy Cloner https://bombich.com/ https://bombich.com/ is great for making a complete, bootable copy of a drive.
gcb0 11y ago
for disk deaths I'd just settle with raid. life should be simple.
- wrboyce 11y ago
  Not always feasible (laptops, macs).
  - gcb0 11y ago
    my netbook from 2003 accepts two ssd (Asus eeepc 1000). you should stop getting work equipment because of looks or peer pressure.
- leejoramo 11y ago
  RAID does nothing in case of `rm -rf /` the physical death of a drive is not the only reason you may find yourself needing a bootable backup: * accidentally deletion of system files * theft, fire * system update that goes wrong
- reiichiroh 11y ago
  raid isn't for backup. it's for uptime.
  - gcb0 11y ago
    what i suggest was not for back up, it's for disk death. it was a one line comment...
jmnicolas 11y ago
Windows 7 has this included. They discontinued it for 8 and 10, I guess it was harming the backup market.
- prplhaz4 11y ago
  System Image backup was re-enabled shortly after due to all the complaints. It is still available in 8, 8.1 and 10. http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5495-system-image-create-windows-10-a.html http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5495-system-image-create-...
leejoramo 11y ago
In addition to SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner there is ChronoSync. http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html SuperDuper is the easiest to use, and I would recommend it to anyone as their first choice. CCC and ChronoSync both have more advanced features: including bootable network copies, and backing the recovery partitions. ChronoSync also offers two-way folder sync's, enterprise features, and more.
- reiichiroh 11y ago
  What is there for Windows?
  - leejoramo 11y ago
    Window's folks generally refer to this as "ghosting", after the discontinued Norton Ghost. I have used Acronis in the past, but there are alternatives: http://alternativeto.net/software/norton-ghost/?platform=windows http://alternativeto.net/software/norton-ghost/?platform=win...
vxfxf 11y ago
Veeam Endpoint Backup Free [1] is Windows only but can do incremental file level and volume backups. [1] https://www.veeam.com/endpoint-backup-free.html https://www.veeam.com/endpoint-backup-free.html
Stratoscope 11y ago
What OS? Windows, OSX, Linux, or...? On Windows, my favorite by far is ShadowProtect. It's actually a sector-by-sector backup that pretends to be a file-by-file backup when you restore a file. What's great about this is when you modify a huge file, it only backs up the actual sectors you changed. (Most Windows backup programs detect changes on a file-by-file basis.) I have it set to run a full incremental backup every 15 minutes; the backup typically takes 15-30 seconds and is unnoticeable when it happens. Even though it's a sector backup, you can still restore specific files or do a complete system recovery, either to the same/compatible device or with a Hardware Independent Restore to different hardware. I've done each of these many times. On OSX, I'm using Time Machine, but I wish there were something as good as ShadowProtect. It is a bummer when I touch a few sectors in a huge file like a VM disk image, and the best Time Machine can do is back up the entire file again.
- Razengan 11y ago
  > It is a bummer when I touch a few sectors in a huge file like a VM disk image, and the best Time Machine can do is back up the entire file again. You could exclude those kinds of files from Time Machine, and use your VM's own backup system.
reiichiroh 11y ago
I loved Acronis TrueImage for years until it became bloated. Macrium Reflect has since replaced it. There's a Free edition for you to try out.
bouncingsoul 11y ago
I suggest Arq. You're incorrect about not backing up the whole computer: You can tell Arq to back up an entire drive.
eps 11y ago
https://ax64.com/ https://ax64.com/
somberi 11y ago
I could not recommend Carbon Copy Cloner enough. It makes your external hard disk bootable and verbatim has the same files as your mac. This is for Mac only. Think of a dd with a nice interface. Costs $40. https://bombich.com/ https://bombich.com/
nowbacktowork 11y ago
Do you really need to protect the entire system? Or have you not captured the setup of your system in a provisioning tool like ansible or chef or the like? And then protect only the necessary files to restore the configuration and user data of the system. Protecting the entire system should be something that is done near line so if you have a catastrophic loss your time to recovery is less than that if everything was stored somewhere in the cloud. Or Just not do it at all and rely on a tool manage the configuration of your system. Data files and configuration are really the best thing to protect with a tool like this. If you have a total loss your playbook should include something like replacing the failed hardware, Installing and patching the OS, replaying configuration of the system using ansible or chef, restoring data files. To me this is the fundamental gap that cloud backup solutions need to fill to really capture the consumer market well. The SMB market already has this as you goto IT and get your system reloaded and then restore your user data, its pretty much the standard for larger corps.

by blue1 11y ago

mike 11y ago

Either of SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription... or Carbon Copy Cloner https://bombich.com/ https://bombich.com/ is great for making a complete, bootable copy of a drive.

gcb0 11y ago

for disk deaths I'd just settle with raid. life should be simple.

wrboyce 11y ago
Not always feasible (laptops, macs).
- gcb0 11y ago
  my netbook from 2003 accepts two ssd (Asus eeepc 1000). you should stop getting work equipment because of looks or peer pressure.
leejoramo 11y ago
RAID does nothing in case of `rm -rf /` the physical death of a drive is not the only reason you may find yourself needing a bootable backup: * accidentally deletion of system files * theft, fire * system update that goes wrong
reiichiroh 11y ago
raid isn't for backup. it's for uptime.
- gcb0 11y ago
  what i suggest was not for back up, it's for disk death. it was a one line comment...

jmnicolas 11y ago

Windows 7 has this included. They discontinued it for 8 and 10, I guess it was harming the backup market.

prplhaz4 11y ago
System Image backup was re-enabled shortly after due to all the complaints. It is still available in 8, 8.1 and 10. http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5495-system-image-create-windows-10-a.html http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5495-system-image-create-...

leejoramo 11y ago

In addition to SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner there is ChronoSync. http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html SuperDuper is the easiest to use, and I would recommend it to anyone as their first choice. CCC and ChronoSync both have more advanced features: including bootable network copies, and backing the recovery partitions. ChronoSync also offers two-way folder sync's, enterprise features, and more.

reiichiroh 11y ago
What is there for Windows?
- leejoramo 11y ago
  Window's folks generally refer to this as "ghosting", after the discontinued Norton Ghost. I have used Acronis in the past, but there are alternatives: http://alternativeto.net/software/norton-ghost/?platform=windows http://alternativeto.net/software/norton-ghost/?platform=win...

vxfxf 11y ago

Veeam Endpoint Backup Free [1] is Windows only but can do incremental file level and volume backups. [1] https://www.veeam.com/endpoint-backup-free.html https://www.veeam.com/endpoint-backup-free.html

Stratoscope 11y ago

What OS? Windows, OSX, Linux, or...? On Windows, my favorite by far is ShadowProtect. It's actually a sector-by-sector backup that pretends to be a file-by-file backup when you restore a file. What's great about this is when you modify a huge file, it only backs up the actual sectors you changed. (Most Windows backup programs detect changes on a file-by-file basis.) I have it set to run a full incremental backup every 15 minutes; the backup typically takes 15-30 seconds and is unnoticeable when it happens. Even though it's a sector backup, you can still restore specific files or do a complete system recovery, either to the same/compatible device or with a Hardware Independent Restore to different hardware. I've done each of these many times. On OSX, I'm using Time Machine, but I wish there were something as good as ShadowProtect. It is a bummer when I touch a few sectors in a huge file like a VM disk image, and the best Time Machine can do is back up the entire file again.

Razengan 11y ago
> It is a bummer when I touch a few sectors in a huge file like a VM disk image, and the best Time Machine can do is back up the entire file again. You could exclude those kinds of files from Time Machine, and use your VM's own backup system.

reiichiroh 11y ago

I loved Acronis TrueImage for years until it became bloated. Macrium Reflect has since replaced it. There's a Free edition for you to try out.

bouncingsoul 11y ago

I suggest Arq. You're incorrect about not backing up the whole computer: You can tell Arq to back up an entire drive.

eps 11y ago

https://ax64.com/ https://ax64.com/

somberi 11y ago

I could not recommend Carbon Copy Cloner enough. It makes your external hard disk bootable and verbatim has the same files as your mac. This is for Mac only. Think of a dd with a nice interface. Costs $40. https://bombich.com/ https://bombich.com/

nowbacktowork 11y ago

Do you really need to protect the entire system? Or have you not captured the setup of your system in a provisioning tool like ansible or chef or the like? And then protect only the necessary files to restore the configuration and user data of the system. Protecting the entire system should be something that is done near line so if you have a catastrophic loss your time to recovery is less than that if everything was stored somewhere in the cloud. Or Just not do it at all and rely on a tool manage the configuration of your system. Data files and configuration are really the best thing to protect with a tool like this. If you have a total loss your playbook should include something like replacing the failed hardware, Installing and patching the OS, replaying configuration of the system using ansible or chef, restoring data files. To me this is the fundamental gap that cloud backup solutions need to fill to really capture the consumer market well. The SMB market already has this as you goto IT and get your system reloaded and then restore your user data, its pretty much the standard for larger corps.