I'm after suggestions for an easy to use software to back up my sister's Windows laptop (running Vista Home Premium - I think it's the 64-bit version)

I've emphasised the words easy to use as she's not at all technically-minded (bless her), but does at least recognise the importance to back up her files - so I'm half way there I suppose! I can set it up next week when I'm over there, but she'll need to run it herself maybe once a week - and I don't really want phone calls all the time saying it won't work. So, the words "idiot-proof" spring to mind - ideally it'll have no confusing interface, just a big button that shouts "BACKUP NOW". Hopefully you know what I'm trying to say.


I've already bought her a 32Gb USB2 stick to use (a bargain £13 on ebay), so ideally the backup software will have to work with USB flash drives. It would also be good if it's freeware, but would consider reasonably priced shareware too (I'll even buy it myself for her, if it means less hassle!).

So, enough waffling, just wondered what backup software you guys use. Being a Mac head, I've not got much clue what's good and bad on the Windows side. I've already tried Nero's BackItUp 4 as it came free with a USB HDD, but it was a bit rubbish - confusing to set up, hung halfway through, plus backups were compressed into archives of up to 4Gb on the backup drive - ideally I want a straight copy of files in their uncompressed format, so it's nice and easy to copy them back in an emergency.

As always, thanks in advance!
Steve

Does she save all her important work in "My Documents"?
Does she use an email client or webmail?
Are you going to set it up for her?

Backup software isn't psychic, so it's important that she has a set place for important stuff. Different email clients work differently, so that may have a bearing.

I would probably put a simple shortcut labelled "Backup Now" on her desktop to xcopy with the relevant parameters. You can copy only new and changed files by either using the archive or date switch, and could set it to copy her entire profile in documents and settings. Once you'd set it up, all she'd ever have to do is stick the drive in and click the shortcut.

I can see no obvious advantage to using any other software.

Windows explorer, control C, windows explorer, control V?

I just use Microsoft's SyncToy to copy my docs/pictures/music etc from my PC to an external drive.

You have to setup folder pairs to start with but after that its just a one button push.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

Yes, as far as I know, though last time I looked was Christmas. She has her iTunes library (in My Music), and the photos are in the "My Pictures" folder (uses Google Picasa). Any other files are stored on either the desktop or in "My Documents".

Currently she uses webmail (Microsoft Live addresses). One of the other jobs I have to do is set up these in an email application - I will probably try Microsoft Live Mail. Where does this email application store its email databases, so I can make sure that's backed up as well?

Unfortunately, yes! But I'm hoping it will be easy enough for her to run subsequent backups - what I'll need is something that does incremental backups too, so it only copies over new or altered files. I wouldn't really want it to backup 20-30Gb each time it runs. Actually, there will probably be less than 10Gb at the moment, but it will get larger as time goes on. It will be a long time until she fills that 32Gb flash drive!

What's xcopy - is this built into Windows Vista? I don't use Windows as my main system - though we have a few XP systems at work - so I'm not an expert in Windows.

Unfortunately, I don't think this would be be as, ahem, idiot proof as I require. Plus, wouldn't that copy everything - replacing all files on the destination drive, even if they haven't changed? Ideally, I would like something that does incremental backups, so the first backup will take a while (copying everything I choose to include) and after that further backups will only copy files that are new or have changed since the previous backup.

One thing I forgot to mention is, she already has Norton 360 installed - came bundled with the system - and that seems to have a backup section as it keeps nagging her that she hasn't yet backed up. I'm in two minds whether to try this, as I suspect when the initial 12 months subscription runs out she'll want to uninstall it and use one of the free (or cheaper) alternatives for antivirus/anti-malware. She's probably only got 6 or 7 months' left on that, so it might not be the best choice. Might try it out and see if it does the job - if it does, will try to persuade her to renew the subscription.

Thanks, will check this out - I've got a week or so to play around with some options. If anyone else has any links, I'll do some testing this week. Cheers.

Xcopy comes with all flavours of Windows. It's not that obvious how to set it up, but it's very simple and once done it'll do an incremental backup with one click.

Synchtoy is very good, but to be honest I think it would be more complicated.

I don't have Vista to hand right now so I can't double check, but I think you just need to create a new shortcut the same as on NT:

xcopy %UserProfile%\*.* Z:\ /M /E /C /H /Y

where Z: is the drive letter of the stick. The other letters tell it to only copy new files and mark as archived, do all sub folders and hidden files, don't stop if there's an error and don't confirm every file.

Note, Userprofile will include the desktop, My Documents, Pictures, Music and also application settings and emails for the currently logged in user. Unless she saves stuff somewhere weird, that should get it all.

I'd set it to run as a scheduled task too, to ensure at least a weekly backup. The user can then perform more frequent backups if required. Users always forget to backup "just that one time when it mattered" though.

I use TimeMachine on my Mac (bear with me), but I also use Carbonite to store the data offsite.

Install the App, create an account and that's it. It automatically backs everything up in the user directories, excluding music and video in the free trial, once you take the subscription out it will take music as well and will also let you add videos. It isn't free, but it is good.

If you take out a subscription, use the code "crank" to get an additional 2 free months in the first year.

I use Time Machine for my Mac and Acronis True Image Home for my Win7 PC.
I also backup my user profile and Steam folder to an external HDD.

I used Acronis on XP. But my version is now incompatible with 7, so I'm backupless at the moment. But Acronis is easy to use and top notch.

I would go with JJ's batch file suggestion, but I would go one step further and put it into the startup folder, so every time she logs on she gets a "Do you want to backup your laptop?" message.

That's the way it's set up at work, and even the most PC illiterate can use that method.

That's not a bad idea. You'd just need a pause statement after echoing "plug your dongle in now if you value your data!!"

+1 for automatic offsite storage. I use Bullguard, which scans certain folders and then uploads them in the background; I'm not usually aware the backup has happened unless I check the logs. Bullguard is a bit pricey, I only signed up as it came with a good deal with PC Pro and I left it to late to switch to another supplier without my Bullguard subscription running out. I'm sure you could shop around. I think Bullguard can also backup to local media too.

For online backups I use a combination of Gmail and Dropbox, which gives 2 gigs for emails and 2 gigs for my important documents and pictures. It's free and automatic.