I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.

I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an incremental
backup each night to a USB hard drive.

I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get it to
work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this software it
seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file and the whole
file is backed up again.

I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the changed
elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial version of
continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just backup the
changes to a PST file.  I left continuity@work running overnight and had to
stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this morning. It calls it
synchronization rather than backup and from the error messages it seems that
it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up as several files were not
backed up as they were in use.

As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my whole C
drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes only to
the PST file not the whole PST file.

Thanks


Ian

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

The only way that a program could backup just the changes to your Outlook
file is if the original backup is still online so that it could tell what
has actually changed since.  As most full backups are done to removable
media this would not be possible.  Most incremental backups just look at the
modified dates of files to see which ones have been updated since the last
backup and then backup the whole files.

Just the changes to a file are stored when you use a revision control
system.  Both of my products, AJC Directory Synchronizer:
http://www.ajcsoft.com/ProductsAJCDirSync.php
and AJC Active Backup:
http://www.ajcsoft.com/AJCActBk.php
use a revision control system for backup which can be on a USB drive.

They are intended to protect your working files rather than be a full system
backup but you are welcome to give them a go.

--
Andrew Cutforth - AJC Software - www.ajcsoft.com
The best folder synchronize and directory compare tool available.
AJC Active Backup instantly archives every file you edit giving you
unlimited undo and automatic revision control.  Never lose your data again.


"nicoll" <generalnicoll@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42b90c8a$1_3@alt.athenanews.com...
> I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.
>
> I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an incremental
> backup each night to a USB hard drive.
>
> I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get it
to
> work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this software it
> seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file and the whole
> file is backed up again.
>
> I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the
changed
> elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial version of
> continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just backup the
> changes to a PST file.  I left continuity@work running overnight and had
to
> stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this morning. It calls it
> synchronization rather than backup and from the error messages it seems
that
> it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up as several files were
not
> backed up as they were in use.
>
> As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my whole
C
> drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes only to
> the PST file not the whole PST file.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Ian
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"nicoll" <generalnicoll@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42b90c8a$1_3@alt.athenanews.com...
> I'd appreciate suggestions/help with backup on my XP PC.
>
> I want to backup my PC for disaster recovery and then do an incremental
> backup each night to a USB hard drive.
>
> I tried Retrospect which came with the USB hard drive. I couldn't get it
> to work to well. I've been using the MS backup utility. With this software
> it seems any new email causes changes my large Outlook PST file and the
> whole file is backed up again.
>
> I've been trying to find backup software which will backup just the
> changed elements of the pst file and have tried downloading a trial
> version of continuity@work from Mobiliti who claim to be able to just
> backup the changes to a PST file.  I left continuity@work running
> overnight and had to stop it as it was only 50% through the backup this
> morning. It calls it synchronization rather than backup and from the error
> messages it seems that it doesn't create a shadow image before backing up
> as several files were not backed up as they were in use.
>
> As it takes an overnight run to test any new backup software with my whole
> C drive I'd welcome any suggestions, particularly to backup changes only
> to the PST file not the whole PST file.
>
> Thanks
> Ian
Why don`t you give `Syncback` a try, it`s freeware, and I`ve found it to be
pretty useful.
www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html
Hope this is of use to you. best wishes..J

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]