Backup programs
Everyone ought to back up regularly. Contrary to what many PC users seem to think, Windows System Restore does not make a complete backup. (More on System Restore is in this post.) A separate program is required and a good way is with imaging software that creates an image or copy of the entire system. I wrote previously about my experience with imaging programs and my unhappiness with what Symantec had done to two of my previous favorites, Ghost and Drive Image. Apparently Symantec has improved Ghost since then (they killed Drive Image after acquiring it) and have renamed it “Norton Backup and Restore”. However, I have been using Acronis True Image and it is now my backup program of choice.
A review of five imaging programs has just appeared at Information Week. The author’s conclusion is:
Image for Windows carried the lowest price tag and the smallest feature set (no differential backups, no file/folder backups), but it also carried the least bulk and got the job done with little or no difficulty. I liked Norton Backup and Restore for being the most flexible, and it did have some of the best features overall, but it also carried the most heft. However, my personal favorite, Acronis True Image, had almost the same mix of features as Symantec’s offering and carried a lot less bulk.