Why not backup files in original format?

Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to want to backup
a session into some big file with a strange file extension like a cab file.
Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc. When you go to Restore from these, it
probably works fine if your setup is the same, but if the backed up drive
fails it seems you'd just want to take certain files and put them in the
appropriate place on a new drive. Am I making sense? It seems there's no
flexibility. I thought that the most flexible backup would be a duplicate
of the actual files that you feel are critical and then you can copy them
anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

02befree wrote

Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to
want to backup a session into some big file with a strange file
extension like a cab file. Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc.

Because there are advantages in that approach, particulary compression
which allows you to get more files on the backup media.

When you go to Restore from these, it probably works fine if your setup is the same,

It'll work fine even if the setup isnt the same if its properly implemented.

but if the backed up drive fails it seems you'd just want to take
certain files and put them in the appropriate place on a new drive.

Any decent backup app can do that fine.

Am I making sense?

Yes.

It seems there's no flexibility.

There is with any decent backup app. You can restore
the entire contents of the archive, restore individual files
to where they came from or to somewhere else etc.

I thought that the most flexible backup would be a
duplicate of the actual files that you feel are critical

There are operational advantages in having them in a container of
some kind so you can move that container and its files around too.

One obvious example is where you want to put the container on
DVDs for offsite backup etc. Its more convenient to create those
containers and fill them with files on free hard drive space and
then later write them to more than one DVD as a separate op,
rather than having to sit around and twiddle your thumbs waiting
till the backup app asks for a new blank DVD etc, and you can
write each DVD sized file to more than one DVD of different
media manufacture for more reliability of the media etc too.

and then you can copy them anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

Use any decent backup app and you can do all of that.

I like True Image myself.

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
02befree wrote

Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to
want to backup a session into some big file with a strange file
extension like a cab file. Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc.

Because there are advantages in that approach, particulary compression
which allows you to get more files on the backup media.

When you go to Restore from these, it probably works fine if your setup
is the same,

It'll work fine even if the setup isnt the same if its properly
implemented.

but if the backed up drive fails it seems you'd just want to take
certain files and put them in the appropriate place on a new drive.

Any decent backup app can do that fine.

Am I making sense?

Yes.

It seems there's no flexibility.

There is with any decent backup app. You can restore
the entire contents of the archive, restore individual files
to where they came from or to somewhere else etc.

I thought that the most flexible backup would be a
duplicate of the actual files that you feel are critical

There are operational advantages in having them in a container of
some kind so you can move that container and its files around too.

One obvious example is where you want to put the container on
DVDs for offsite backup etc. Its more convenient to create those
containers and fill them with files on free hard drive space and
then later write them to more than one DVD as a separate op,
rather than having to sit around and twiddle your thumbs waiting
till the backup app asks for a new blank DVD etc, and you can
write each DVD sized file to more than one DVD of different
media manufacture for more reliability of the media etc too.

and then you can copy them anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

Use any decent backup app and you can do all of that.

I like True Image myself.

Just used True Image for the first time and it saved my bacon, even though I
messed up a few things as I stumbled and fell my way through it without any
readup on it.
I'll try doing some selective restoring with some of these programs I have.
It seemed I had to restore in exactly the same location and All of the
files, but I probably have some options I didn't follow through on.
Trying to find some easy backup to use with some tech clients on their home
pc's to backup their mp3 stash, email, and docs in an automated fashion. I
guess everyone has Microsoft Backup if they're running Windows.
Thanks

Previously 02befree wrote:
Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to want to backup
a session into some big file with a strange file extension like a cab file.
Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc. When you go to Restore from these, it
probably works fine if your setup is the same, but if the backed up drive
fails it seems you'd just want to take certain files and put them in the
appropriate place on a new drive. Am I making sense? It seems there's no
flexibility. I thought that the most flexible backup would be a duplicate
of the actual files that you feel are critical and then you can copy them
anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

You can do that. The problem is, what is critical? And which files are
interdependent? If you do this wrongly, you end up with a worthless
backup. The only simple way around this is make a snapshot of the whole
installation or drive.

As to the format, a single file is far better for handling, e.g.
compression. And easier to put on tape or other secondary storage.
But you can do remote backups with, e.g., rsync, that copies over
all files tht have been changes since the last backuop.

Arno

Previously 02befree wrote:

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
02befree wrote

Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to
want to backup a session into some big file with a strange file
extension like a cab file. Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc.

Because there are advantages in that approach, particulary compression
which allows you to get more files on the backup media.

When you go to Restore from these, it probably works fine if your setup
is the same,

It'll work fine even if the setup isnt the same if its properly
implemented.

but if the backed up drive fails it seems you'd just want to take
certain files and put them in the appropriate place on a new drive.

Any decent backup app can do that fine.

Am I making sense?

Yes.

It seems there's no flexibility.

There is with any decent backup app. You can restore
the entire contents of the archive, restore individual files
to where they came from or to somewhere else etc.

I thought that the most flexible backup would be a
duplicate of the actual files that you feel are critical

There are operational advantages in having them in a container of
some kind so you can move that container and its files around too.

One obvious example is where you want to put the container on
DVDs for offsite backup etc. Its more convenient to create those
containers and fill them with files on free hard drive space and
then later write them to more than one DVD as a separate op,
rather than having to sit around and twiddle your thumbs waiting
till the backup app asks for a new blank DVD etc, and you can
write each DVD sized file to more than one DVD of different
media manufacture for more reliability of the media etc too.

and then you can copy them anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

Use any decent backup app and you can do all of that.

I like True Image myself.

Just used True Image for the first time and it saved my bacon, even though I
messed up a few things as I stumbled and fell my way through it without any
readup on it.
I'll try doing some selective restoring with some of these programs I have.
It seemed I had to restore in exactly the same location and All of the
files, but I probably have some options I didn't follow through on.

Which is most likely a limitation of your OS and applications.

Trying to find some easy backup to use with some tech clients on their home
pc's to backup their mp3 stash, email, and docs in an automated fashion. I
guess everyone has Microsoft Backup if they're running Windows.

Best bet: Put them on separate partitions and then only backup those
partitions. For MP3s, email this works without problem, for
applications, it depends. You may have to backup the whole system
partition as well.

Arno

02befree wrote:
"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
02befree wrote

Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to
want to backup a session into some big file with a strange file
extension like a cab file. Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc.

Because there are advantages in that approach, particulary
compression which allows you to get more files on the backup media.

When you go to Restore from these, it probably works fine if your
setup is the same,

It'll work fine even if the setup isnt the same if its properly
implemented.

but if the backed up drive fails it seems you'd just want to take
certain files and put them in the appropriate place on a new drive.

Any decent backup app can do that fine.

Am I making sense?

Yes.

It seems there's no flexibility.

There is with any decent backup app. You can restore
the entire contents of the archive, restore individual files
to where they came from or to somewhere else etc.

I thought that the most flexible backup would be a
duplicate of the actual files that you feel are critical

There are operational advantages in having them in a container of
some kind so you can move that container and its files around too.

One obvious example is where you want to put the container on
DVDs for offsite backup etc. Its more convenient to create those
containers and fill them with files on free hard drive space and
then later write them to more than one DVD as a separate op,
rather than having to sit around and twiddle your thumbs waiting
till the backup app asks for a new blank DVD etc, and you can
write each DVD sized file to more than one DVD of different
media manufacture for more reliability of the media etc too.

and then you can copy them anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

Use any decent backup app and you can do all of that.

I like True Image myself.

Just used True Image for the first time and it saved my bacon, even
though I messed up a few things as I stumbled and fell my way through
it without any readup on it.

Yeah, its pretty intuitive in most areas.

I'll try doing some selective restoring with some of these programs I
have. It seemed I had to restore in exactly the same location and All
of the files, but I probably have some options I didn't follow through on.

Yeah, you can do it, you just need to specify that properly.

Trying to find some easy backup to use with some
tech clients on their home pc's to backup their mp3
stash, email, and docs in an automated fashion.

TI will do that fine.

I guess everyone has Microsoft Backup if they're running Windows.

Yeah, but its got some real downsides.

Nero 6 Backitup makes a separate file for each backed up file. If you don't
enable compression/passwords, the files are in their original format - just
copies.

Since Nero 7 is pretty much a pretty 6, I'd guess that it's Backitup is the
same.

There is another way.

In Nero main app, on DVD's, using the UDF file system and multisessions, you
can set each updating session to add new files, replace changed files, and
hide deleted files. In Windows Explorer or an equivalent, you see the files
the way they were at the time of the last session. If you want to go in and
get an earlier version of the file, just buy Isobuster, which will let you
browse the sessions and pick out what you want to extract. Each session
appears with the set of files as they were then. It is best/mandatory to
name each session with the date, else you can't tell what the date of the
session was.
--
Ed Light

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

PS I totally agree that compressing everything into one file is dangerous.
In fact, I had a zip file that turned out to be corrupt.

--
Ed Light

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

"Ed Light" wrote in message
...
Nero 6 Backitup makes a separate file for each backed up file.

I forgot that it has the "Drive Backup" feature. I haven't used that.


--
Ed Light

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org

Send spam to the FTC at

Thanks, robots.

02befree wrote:
Looking at several file backup programs and they all seem to want to backup
a session into some big file with a strange file extension like a cab file.
Nero backup, Microsoft Backup, etc. When you go to Restore from these, it
probably works fine if your setup is the same, but if the backed up drive
fails it seems you'd just want to take certain files and put them in the
appropriate place on a new drive. Am I making sense? It seems there's no
flexibility. I thought that the most flexible backup would be a duplicate
of the actual files that you feel are critical and then you can copy them
anyway, anywhere you want. Suggestions?

The reason for putting them into a single archive file is that many and
varied. You can compress a single file better than multiple separate
files, in theory. If you need to span media, then you can split up and
track a single file much easier than tracking multiple split files. Etc.

Yousuf Khan