I have upgraded my computer (so that I do not have to wait days while HMRC PDFs files load) using windows 7 Prof. I have my computer home networked to another computer. Windows back up does notrecognise the network for back up. I am looking for software that will back up folders from my PC and the other computer thru the network onto external hard drive, for either free or reasonable price. All the software I look at currently either a) does not allow back up thru the network from the other computer or b) does not allow a "set" to be made up so that I do not have to choose folders everytime I back up, or isa silly price.
Any ideas gratefully received :-)
Iain
Replies (9)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
I used Second Copy for a few years
It will do what you need it to do, is very flexible and easy to use, and is cheap.
I now use online storage and the software comes free.
Buffalo
I have a Buffalo network hard drive box with 4 hard disks of 500 Gb each. I use two hard disks to keep data and the other two hard disks keep exact copies of the first two using RAID 1.
Online backup
Have you considered online backup?
Several options including LiveDrive which gives you 5 TB of space across up to 5 PC's for £14.99 a month. Not bad if you have real volume to look after.
http://www.livedrive.com/ForHome/#CompareProducts
Dan
Home or busines
Business is twice as expensive for less online space.
What is the difference between home and business? As opposed to personal and business.
SpiderOak
Try using spideroak, they give you 2GB free to start with or use voucher code worldbackupday to increase that to 5GB or for 100 US dollars PA upgrade to 100GB.
You can use it to sync between Pc's (though i have not used this feature) and you can also install it on as many machines as you like and backup those machines until you reach your limit.
Home or Business
Nothing as far as I can see. I would have to ask some of our client base which they go for. It is not obvious that there is any difference in the level of service or the level of support supplied.
They do offer free trials to test out either system.
We have no affiliation to them at all, I should add.
Dan
Another vote for Livedrive
I use these on two machines. Can access files from either machine anywhere via Livedrive account. £2 per machine per month.
Carbonite
I use an online backup http://www.carbonite.co.uk/ , which has been sucessfully tested in the last 2 weeks following a bit of a disaster. Had to restore the operating system, so could have lost all data. Took 2 days to fully restore all files, but you can choose which files to restore first, so I was working within an hour.
It doesn't do networks, but the subscription is only £42 per year, unlimited space, so you can just subscribe for each machine without breaking the bank.
Backs up automatically, hasn't noticably slowed down my PC, but can be paused or stopped if you want to.
Good to hear Gilly's news
I started using SOS backup software a few weeks ago. There are rave reviews from PC Adviser or some similar magazine on Google for them. I left my computer on all weekend for the backup to be done and the whole thing crashed when I actually needed to use it again. Their helpline service was rubbish and they have now given me my money back. So don't use them!
I then decided to follow recommendations on Aweb and am now with Carbonite. Carbonite's interfaces are much better and the software actually works - another plus. It's such a relief to hear that restores work well.
I have a Lacie hard drive that can be plugged to the back of my computer for another backup, but it was running rather slowly. I therefore bought a removable drive that is installed in my machine. I use the Lacie program to copy files over and this works well and it's much faster. Only trouble with the removable drive is that it's easy to remove but you need a great deal of perseverance to put it back into the computer. So if someone were to burgle me, they've have both the computer and second drive. So online backup is a must.