Thinkpads Forum

Is there any major difference between programs mentioned above? I hate RnR making 30 gigs of backup files on 60 gig disc. Totaly useless... Will I be missing something if I switch to System Restore and stop using RnR?

System restore does not back up your data or major applications - it corrects corruption in new applications and updates to old apps. I don't use RnR either. I backup my data files to another computer.
... JD Hurst

So if I understand this you are using system restore in case anything gets corrupted and copy personal data to another disc. This costs you only the space allocated in system restore.

I will turn the system restore on and stop using RnR frequently. Will make a backup DVDs when doing something major to my copmuter. This way I should spare some space...

Thanks.

System Restore does the following:

Windows Help wrote:System Restore is a component of Windows XP Professional that you can use to restore your computer to a previous state, if a problem occurs, without losing your personal data files (such as Microsoft Word documents, browsing history, drawings, favorites, or e-mail). System Restore monitors changes to the system and some application files, and it automatically creates easily identified restore points. These restore points allow you to revert the system to a previous time. They are created daily and at the time of significant system events (such as when an application or driver is installed). You can also create and name your own restore points at any time.

By default, System Restore allocates about 12% of your hard disk space for it's archives. System Restore requires a minimum of 200Mb hard disk space. You can turn it on or off. You can change the above by going to Start > Control Panel > System > System Restore tab.

You definitely should back up your hard drive to another medium - either another hard drive, DVD+-R, or CD/R. I wouldn't recommend using RW disks as they aren't that reliable. You can back up by doing a disk image with True Image, Ghost, or another imaging program. You can also backup with backup software such as Backup MyPC, Windows Backup, or R&R.

With most backup software, you can do a complete backup as well as incremental backups (which saves disk space as well as time). Note that with some backup software (doesn't apply to R&R), you need a Windows install CD to restore a backup when you can't boot up Windows (for instance when replacing the hard drive). AFAIK, disk imaging software doesn't have this limitation.

For some reason R&R is very slow in making a backup. I performed two backups back-to-back onto DVD's using Backup MyPC and R&R. R&R took over twice as long to complete. Also, R&R did not verify the backup after writing, while Backup MyPC did.

You should make complete backups regularly, with incremental backups in-between. It is recommended that you keep some of your backups off-site, in case of fire, flood, etc.

I understand the principles of those programs now. The only problem I have is, that base R&R backup is 13 gigs. If I make another five incrementals on the disk, this way it costs me 30 gigs (out of 60). And I don't really see a point in having so much space used for backups. So I was thinking about turning System Restore on (that costs me 12% of 60 gigs which is 7 gigs) and backing my system with R&R every so and so in case anything gets really wrong with my comp.

That way I spare about 20 gigs of space for personal files and other applications. Do you think is this the right way of thinking? Or do I really need complete backups on regular basis?

You can change the amount of restore space that System Restore allocates to a different value than 12%. It just requires a minimum value of 200 Mb.

Backing up to your existing hard drive is not a good idea for your main backup stategy. If and when your hard drive fails, you lose your backup along with your hard drive. I've had too many hard drives fail over the years to trust them (desktop and laptop).

You really need to backup to an external hard drive, DVD's or CD's; or you are not really protected.

O. k. Thank you very much for help.

I often see XP 'hints and tips' around the web which suggest turning off System Restore. Personally, I refuse to heed that advice as it has saved me at least twice in the past few years.

I don't use RnR, though. My actual data is backed up onto three external hard drives, so if my main HDD dies (and it almost has once - I caught it in time), re-installing is easy (but lengthy!).

Have thought seriously about investing in some drive imaging software.

krma-thkpds- your base backup may be 13GB but your incrementals after that are only comprised of data that has been added or changed since the last backup. Unless you are adding or altering huge amounts of data it is unlikely that 6 backups will amount to 60GB. Also if you have RnR version 3.0 or higher and select to Delete a backup (any backup except the latest) it will actually merge the information from that backup with the information of the next (newer) backup in the list insuring that you lose no information. Deleting the last backup will result in the full deletion of all that information. This would be an easy way to keep the total Backups size down, especially if you alter a lot of files from backup to backup.

What I actually did was that I deleted all backups then. And then made Basebackup, set up my computer as I wished it to be and made another backup (incremental). These are all backups which I have on my disk. I made them in case anything goes wrong, with my computer, so that I can get back all my applications and preferences, which I would lose if I only copied my personal files to another drive.

Now I regularly copy files to another disk, so the worst-case scenario would be: Windows gets corrupted -> I go to R&R partition and restore it form backup -> after restore I copy my personal files from network drive. Thus I get about 20 GB of free space.

Where is the backup stored (R&R)?

I store my R&R backups on my disc (they take about 10GB) and copy them to DVDs and keep them somewhere away in case of fire or anything like that. So there is double protection. On disc if I am travelling and on DVDs if I got computer stolen or lost.