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Looking for poweruser suggestions for incremental system drive backup.

My system is a laptop, and main backup would be a disk at home. Though would also like to "backup/restore on the road".

Preferably live, but I am able to do it from another installation.

Would like to view data a bit like in a version control system (when appropriate).

Currently Windows 7&8 (And might install a Linux distro).

In Windows 8, I am not able to follow the instructions for Windows 7. In Windows 7, the native solution wants to back up more than my C-drive.

Tuesday:

Think there are a few solutions around. I think the most important (After a proper image backup), is liveliness and then incrementalness.

Hennes
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Olav
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2 Answers2

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I'm assuming you've rejected popular Internet backup solutions like Mozy, Backblaze, Carbonite, SpiderOak, etc. (If not, take a look!)

CrashPlan is a unique option because they let you back up to your own systems remotely, or those of friends (encrypted) - sort of your own personal Disaster Recovery solution. It also reduces costs because you supply the storage.

Another less-known option is JungleDisk, which is neat because it uses Amazon's Simple Storage Service. It starts at $0.093 to $0.12 per GB/month for storage (more data is cheaper), and data transfer in is free. Data transfer out - recovery - is free up to 1 GB/month, then starts at $0.12 per GB after that. Quite an inexpensive option, depending on the quantities you need.

David
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  • The point is SYSTEM DRIVE - to be able to restore the entire C-drive so the OS can run. – Olav Mar 11 '12 at 08:04
  • I don't know much about backups, but I think image-backup is different from data-backup. – Olav Mar 11 '12 at 08:08
  • Also online backup is less interesting - if I lose my laptop, I want my data back, but i am not going to want the same image back.. – Olav Mar 11 '12 at 08:09
  • Having a bit-by-bit copy of the system drive conflicts somewhat with your desire to see historical changes. I think you're trying to solve two separate problems. The only thing an image-style backup seems to get you here is recoverability if you break the OS install, and that's what a System Repair disc/USB drive is for. (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-7) Here are some more options: http://superuser.com/questions/7423/does-an-equivalent-of-time-machine-exist-for-windows – David Mar 11 '12 at 19:53
  • I am a developer, so i need to easily be able to get back an earlier state of my system (the ideal is VirtualBox). The link is useful. – Olav Mar 12 '12 at 08:24
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For incremental backups, git is a useful tool.

Install git, you can use a live linux to do this, or install it with cygwin or something. Either way, find the directory that is the windows C:/ disk, this may be /host or /media/sfojeiosfjoefsjsoffehsifes(random stuff), then open in terminal, and link to the second disk using a remote mount, mount the remote on /host/.git or whatever is needed, then "git init" in /host (or whatever it is), "git add .", and "git commit . -m \"Today is blalbal\"". The \" are actual quotes to use.

http://pandorawiki.org/Mount_over_ssh

Not a Name
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  • I have been thinking of incremental backup with GIT. But for the system disk? – Olav Mar 10 '12 at 22:24
  • You'd need to script something to deal with the dates, but I can't help there. Git is highly reliable and that's why I'd use it for backups. – Not a Name Mar 18 '12 at 19:46
  • I think it is more than date ... security settings for example. All suggestions I have seen is not backup software (Except possibly native Windows and Mac tools) – Olav Mar 20 '12 at 08:32
  • Digressions: There seems to be some backup solutions "on top of" Git. Have you looked into some of those? – Olav Mar 20 '12 at 08:37