Backup Software - Is there a Dantz Retrospect for dummies?

Author

Is there a Dantz Retrospect for dummies?

louise

2006-12-04, 1:17 am

My parents are willing to backup their computer to an
external hard drive. I set up Retrospect for them but they
are unable to figure out how to successfully restore a file
from a previous date, without managing to mess up all the
backup settings.

I would like something that will allow for nightly backups
and will keep at least a month's worth of versions so that
when they mess up a file, as they frequently do, they can go
back a week or two and replace the file from that date.

But I need something simpler to operate - more handholding
and perhaps, user friendly. I myself have never found
Retrospect to be user friendly, just a good piece of
software. It doesn't have to do anything but backup as they
are running AV and Antispyware software.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Louise

Peter Wilkins

2006-12-06, 7:14 pm

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:25:40 -0500, louise <louise@invalid.invalid>
wrote :

>My parents are willing to backup their computer to an=20
>external hard drive. I set up Retrospect for them but they=20
>are unable to figure out how to successfully restore a file=20
>from a previous date, without managing to mess up all the=20
>backup settings.
>
>I would like something that will allow for nightly backups=20
>and will keep at least a month's worth of versions so that=20
>when they mess up a file, as they frequently do, they can go=20
>back a week or two and replace the file from that date.
>
>But I need something simpler to operate - more handholding=20
>and perhaps, user friendly. I myself have never found=20
>Retrospect to be user friendly, just a good piece of=20
>software. It doesn't have to do anything but backup as they=20
>are running AV and Antispyware software.
>
>Any recommendations?
>
>Thanks.
>
Retrospect isn't really that difficult, but you could try Retrospect
Express HD which is simpler and more user friendly, although a bit
less capable. It comes free with Maxtor Series 2 external HDD's.

Backups are completely automatic on a schedule and Restore is just a
case of selecting the date then selecting the files to restore, and
where to restore them if you don't want to restore to original
locations. I don't think you can get any simpler than that.

Is their data all that important? Perhaps a bi-weekly backup would do
rather than nightly. Although I do like Knightly - Keira, that is.

Actually, it seems that restoring the data isn't the real problem -
it's keeping the computer in correct operating condition that's the
main difficulty. You could try to educate them in the use of System
Restore and getting stuff back out of the Recycle Bin - that can help
solve many finger troubles, but having a recent full system backup of
the system in good working condition is always a desirable backup
strategy. Ghost and Acronis will do that. But if your parents can't
handle Retrospect you can forget about Ghost or Acronis True Image!

Perhaps they could just keep using Retrospect to backup and then call
you for help if they need to restore something? Or perhaps you could
give them some intensive training - I've found with many computer
resistant (not computer illiterate) people that it takes about 50
repetitions spread evenly over several weeks before the penny drops.
Then if they don't use it for a few days, it's gone again and it's
back to square one.....

Sorry to be such a pessimist - bitter experience dictates.
--=20
Regards,
Peter Wilkins