Guest Maurice IRL Posted July 18, 2007 Posted July 18, 2007 Is there any enhancement for MS Backup, which seems to have useful backing up options, that covers NAS devices? If not, any recommendations for NAS capable backup software, please? -- Maurice
Guest Malke Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Maurice IRL wrote: > Is there any enhancement for MS Backup, which seems to have useful backing up > options, that covers NAS devices? > If not, any recommendations for NAS capable backup software, please? MS Backup is ancient and doesn't understand about NAS devices. I like Acronis True Image and also Second Copy from http://www.centered.com. Second Copy is strictly a backup program but it is very flexible and scalable. True Image is an imaging program that also does incremental backups. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Maurice IRL Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Thank you, Malke. Just what I needed to hear from someone more experienced. (I like your "Don't Panic!" message. My daughter has another one: "Quick, Panic!"). -- Maurice "Malke" wrote: > Maurice IRL wrote: > > Is there any enhancement for MS Backup, which seems to have useful backing up > > options, that covers NAS devices? > > If not, any recommendations for NAS capable backup software, please? > > MS Backup is ancient and doesn't understand about NAS devices. I like > Acronis True Image and also Second Copy from http://www.centered.com. Second > Copy is strictly a backup program but it is very flexible and scalable. > True Image is an imaging program that also does incremental backups. > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User >
Guest Maurice IRL Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Malke: What is the difference between backup and imaging? -- Maurice "Malke" wrote: > Maurice IRL wrote: > > Is there any enhancement for MS Backup, which seems to have useful backing up > > options, that covers NAS devices? > > If not, any recommendations for NAS capable backup software, please? > > MS Backup is ancient and doesn't understand about NAS devices. I like > Acronis True Image and also Second Copy from http://www.centered.com. Second > Copy is strictly a backup program but it is very flexible and scalable. > True Image is an imaging program that also does incremental backups. > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User >
Guest Malke Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Maurice IRL wrote: > Malke: > What is the difference between backup and imaging? Well, you can use an image for backup but you can't use backup as an image. ;-) When you image a drive or partition (with something like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost), it creates an identical "picture" of that drive/partition which can then be restored. As illustration - I have 6 Optiplex workstations to set up for a client this morning. I get Windows exactly the way I want it on one of the workstations - install the antivirus, other programs, do my configurations, etc. When I'm all done, I boot the machine with a CD previously created in True Image (from another computer) which starts the True Image program outside of the operating system. I attach an external hard drive to my target Optiplex and tell True Image to create an image of the Optiplex's Windows partition and store that image on the external hard drive. This takes just a few minutes on a new install. Now I can boot each of the other 5 Optiplexes with the True Image CD with the external hard drive attached and tell True Image to restore the image onto the Opti's hard drive. It only takes a few minutes for each machine and now I have 5 machines whose Windows installs are identical to my "master" machine. When we have to image 150 laptops for a school laptop program, we put the image on a server and attach all the target machines to the network and do multiple machines at one time. Backup programs handle backing up files - onto media such as CD/DVD-R or internal/external hard drives - in different ways. Some backup programs use a proprietary file format, like the old NTBackup. This means that if you don't have the backup program installed on a target machine or your target machine's operating system doesn't understand that backup format, you're SOL. This has happened to people who used the MS Backup in Win98/ME and found out that Vista doesn't get this at all. So for data backups, my own preference is to not have backups created in any specific file format. I like the backup files to be copies of themselves and nothing more. I haven't used True Image for doing backups so I don't recall offhand if it saves backups in a proprietary format. You can determine this by going to http://www.acronis.com and reading about it. Second Copy does exactly what its name says: it makes a copy of whatever files you want, where you want. Second Copy is not used for copying your operating system like an Acronis image; it is used for copying only your data files. So you see there is a use for both imaging and backing up incrementally (backing up only files that have changed). For my own work, I use a program that creates what effectively is an image of the hard drive that can be restored (it's a bit different on a Mac than on Windows) and I run this at least once a week. Once a month or so I burn my files to DVD to have additional coverage. I hope this has helped you. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Maurice IRL Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Dear Malke: What can I say but "Wow"! You've given me a powerful condensed tutorial on the subject of my question that anyone else would take pages to explain. Thank you so much: I really appreciate the time you have given to answering me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you also touch type at speed… -- Maurice "Malke" wrote: > Maurice IRL wrote: > > Malke: > > What is the difference between backup and imaging? > > Well, you can use an image for backup but you can't use backup as an > image. ;-) > > When you image a drive or partition (with something like Acronis True > Image or Norton Ghost), it creates an identical "picture" of that > drive/partition which can then be restored. As illustration - I have 6 > Optiplex workstations to set up for a client this morning. I get Windows > exactly the way I want it on one of the workstations - install the > antivirus, other programs, do my configurations, etc. When I'm all done, > I boot the machine with a CD previously created in True Image (from > another computer) which starts the True Image program outside of the > operating system. I attach an external hard drive to my target Optiplex > and tell True Image to create an image of the Optiplex's Windows > partition and store that image on the external hard drive. This takes > just a few minutes on a new install. > > Now I can boot each of the other 5 Optiplexes with the True Image CD > with the external hard drive attached and tell True Image to restore the > image onto the Opti's hard drive. It only takes a few minutes for each > machine and now I have 5 machines whose Windows installs are identical > to my "master" machine. When we have to image 150 laptops for a school > laptop program, we put the image on a server and attach all the target > machines to the network and do multiple machines at one time. > > Backup programs handle backing up files - onto media such as CD/DVD-R or > internal/external hard drives - in different ways. Some backup programs > use a proprietary file format, like the old NTBackup. This means that if > you don't have the backup program installed on a target machine or your > target machine's operating system doesn't understand that backup format, > you're SOL. This has happened to people who used the MS Backup in > Win98/ME and found out that Vista doesn't get this at all. So for data > backups, my own preference is to not have backups created in any > specific file format. I like the backup files to be copies of themselves > and nothing more. > > I haven't used True Image for doing backups so I don't recall offhand if > it saves backups in a proprietary format. You can determine this by > going to http://www.acronis.com and reading about it. Second Copy does exactly > what its name says: it makes a copy of whatever files you want, where > you want. Second Copy is not used for copying your operating system like > an Acronis image; it is used for copying only your data files. > > So you see there is a use for both imaging and backing up incrementally > (backing up only files that have changed). For my own work, I use a > program that creates what effectively is an image of the hard drive that > can be restored (it's a bit different on a Mac than on Windows) and I > run this at least once a week. Once a month or so I burn my files to DVD > to have additional coverage. > > I hope this has helped you. > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User >
Guest Malke Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? Maurice IRL wrote: > Dear Malke: > > What can I say but "Wow"! > You've given me a powerful condensed tutorial on the subject of my question > that anyone else would take pages to explain. Thank you so much: I really > appreciate the time you have given to answering me. I wouldn't be at all > surprised if you also touch type at speed… You are most welcome. Actually, I do type pretty fast but not as fast as when I was young. Accuracy is another story. ;-) Cheers, Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest cornedbeef007-groups@yahoo.com.au Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? On Jul 20, 3:12 am, Maurice IRL <Maurice I...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > Dear Malke: > > What can I say but "Wow"! > You've given me a powerful condensed tutorial on the subject of my question > that anyone else would take pages to explain. Thank you so much: I really > appreciate the time you have given to answering me. I wouldn't be at all > surprised if you also touch type at speed... > -- > Maurice > > Maurice, With Malke, speed is not what's important, her advice is INVALUABLE at any speed. Good Luck, BarryG
Guest Malke Posted July 20, 2007 Posted July 20, 2007 Re: MS Backup: NAS? cornedbeef007-groups@yahoo.com.au wrote: > With Malke, speed is not what's important, her advice is INVALUABLE at > any speed. > > Good Luck, > BarryG > Awwww... Thank you. Since another poster in another newsgroup just called me nasty names, your kind words are even sweeter. Thanks so much and I'm glad to be here for you. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
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