 | By Ian “Gizmo” Richards When I last discussed backup, in my Sept. 18 column, I noted that backing up your PC appears to be a simple process on the surface, but in practice it’s often complex. Well, folks, with the release of Acronis True Image Home 2009, backups just got a little simpler, though they’re still no walk in the park. |
Can one product meet all your PC recovery needs?
The complicating factor with backup is that different kinds of data need to be backed up at different frequencies and in different ways. For example: the only effective way of backing up your Windows operating system is to use drive imaging, whereas to backup important data files a file backup or synching solution is far more efficient. Additionally, you may want to back up Windows only once a month but important data files several times every day.
Because of this diversity of backup requirements, it’s hard to find a single product that will efficiently meet all your backup needs. Indeed, to back up my computers precisely the way I want to, I use three different backup products: a drive-imaging program, a data-backup program, and an online backup service.
Backup-program developers have tried to address this problem. For example, the developers of drive-image utilities try to add some kind of data-file backup capabilities to their products, while companies selling data-backup programs have bolted drive-imaging features onto their apps.
Alas, these initiatives have not been particularly effective. You’ll get a much better drive image by using a specialized program such as Acronis True Image rather than using Genie Backup Manager (GBM), primarily a data-backup program to which imaging has been added as an afterthought. By the same token, GBM and other data-backup apps are far better at backing up specific user files than True Image and other drive-imaging utilities.
Imaging app gains some new data-backup chops
Let me give you a tangible example: I use GBM once an hour to back up an important file containing notes I’ve made while browsing, ideas I’ve had for articles, and the results of any tests I’ve been conducting. This file has so much vital information that I want to keep multiple copies — not just a single backup file — in case I accidentally overwrite something or the file becomes corrupt.
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