Backup Now! 3 Deluxe Suite backup software

Question

I have been remiss in baking up my Dell 8300, so I carefully read the recent PC Magazine article on utility software and decided to go with the Backup Now suite. This was because the magazine wrote that this suite was pretty easy to use. Well, I tried it for the first time today. (Understand that I am unfamiliar with the ins and outs of back up. I assumed you just selected your files and backed them up). First I received a warning that my systems files might not backup correctly. Then I had some problems with backing up to my DVD writer (Dell loaded a Teac DV W58E on my computer). My job was going to need 2 DVD RW disks. After the program finished with the first disk it just kept on writing to the first disk assuming that it was the second disk. I never had a chance to change disks. When I tried to stop the program so that I could change disks both the program and the disk writer froze. I had to reboot and lost the backup.

So, my questions are: Is Backup Now indeed an easy program for novices? If not, what program should I be using? Is backing up something that a novice can do in the first place, or is this just for pros? Is the Teac a lousy disk writer? Am I just going through the learning curve? Any help would be appreciated.

Note: I am running XP home edition, 512 meg of RAM, 2.8 ghz chip.

msgale · Answer

Maybe this will help, read the cons
Pros: Easy install and update - and thats all. Prompt access to product support - but they could not solve my problem. It seemed to write fine to a backup HD - but after my troubles, I would not trust the restore function (which defeats the whole purpose).
Cons: Tried this product on 2 different machines - same significant glitch: Say you have 15GB to backup (about 4 DVDs required). Unless you set the option to prompt for instructions during a backup, IT WILL OVERWRITE EACH VOLUME - this means that you end up with only 1 DVD instead of 4 and the program insists that it backed up 4 DVDs!!! Even with the prompt set as an option, you cannot eject voume 1 and then insert volume 2 - it wants to IMMEDIATELY overwrite - you can only eject by going to My Computer and telling the DVD writer to eject - thereby bypassing NTI. Next major glitch - it insists on formatting, after doing an erase of your media (I tried using DVD-RW and DVD-RAM), so you can count on an extra 4 hours of time wasted on just formatting 4 DVDs. Not worth the hassle and frustration.

Message Edited by msgale on 07-04-2004 11:14 PM

sholomg · Answer

Thank you for your comment.  At least I know that I am not the only one who was burnt with this program.

msgale · Answer

I posted so you would know how to eliminate the overwrites.

oldtraveler · Answer

I have at various times used Backup Now; Drive Image, and Norton Ghost. All have had problems with the Teac CD drive that Dell installed. My solution which works very well was to partition my hard drive. Then I could write the images to the second partition and restore the C Drive from those images. This is also much faster than burning CDs or DVDs.

As an additional backup I then used my Rovxio software to burn the saved image to CDRs. Then since Ghost doesn't like my CD-Rom and if I should lose my hard drive, I can just re-copy the CD images to a new hard drive second partition and restore from there.

sholomg · Answer

Thank you for the good advice. I am not a computer maven. I wouldn't know (nor trust myself) to partition a hard drive. I am just trying to learn how to do a simple backup. The latest is that I have tested the TEAC drive that came with my Dell by formating a CD, copying a file to it, reading the file from the CD, and then erasing the file. Everything went fine. I defined my backup so that it would all fit on one CD. I also updated to the latest version of the program. The backup seemed to go fine until the end. Then there was an error message to the effect that the file could not be found. The program asked if I wanted to try the backup agin. When I answered no I received a message that the backup had been cancelled by the user.

So I am still stuck. Can one do a backup with a Dell computer? Is the problem with the TEAC drive? In this case is the only way to do a backup by buying another external CD/DVD writer? Is the problem with my software? In this case is there a backup program around that will work with the TEAC drive on a Dell computer?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

msgale · Answer

I have used bot Norton's Ghost and PowerQuest's Drive Image.  They both worked for me.  However I backed up to CDs not DVDs.  Also note, Symantec which makes Norton Gost bout Powerquest who makes Drive Image.  Probably one will disappear sometime it the future.  Now for my suggestion, go to each web site and look at the specification of each product, there may be a compatability list for output devices.  In alswer to your next possible question, 'What Do I Do For Backups',  I use a 4mm Sony tape drive for the hardware and Backup Exec from Veritas for the software.  It is vert reliable, but is very expensive and is overkill for general use.

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Backup Now! 3 Deluxe Suite backup software

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