Wayfarers of Veeshan

Knowing that I need backups to my computer hard drives, I've played around
with a few. The first was what came with my first external hard drive I used
for a backup, a Western Digital. I hated it
because it didn't do what I wanted, which is to create an actual mirror
image of files of interest to me. Instead it'd create a compressed "archive"
file. Yuck.

So I got used to a little thing called "SynchToy" which Microsoft swears wasn't
designed for backups, but does EXACTLY what I want...only it can't be
scheduled. I have to remember to run it regularly.

So on my newly rebuilt computer (after the whole "dead SATA drive" episode), I now
have a new external hard drive that came with software for backing up, called
Black Armor. Guess what? Once again it ONLY makes compressed "archive" files,
not searchable copies of the directories of interest to me.

So, any advice? I'm looking for something that will be:
1) Schedulable
2) Let me pick a group of multiple directories to backup
3) Create a backup that is searchable
4) Will only change the backup by making whatever changes I have made since the last backup

Thanks,

Drex

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

As a non-technical person, I use the non-scheduled, read manually, copy the necessary stuff to another drive, either in the machine, or external.

_________________
Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

There is a 2.1 version of Synctoy now. I have not used it, but the release notes say that it supports command line instructions; you may be able to use the Windows Task Scheduler to run the program to do what you want.

I am unable to vouch for all of these apps, but they sound like they may do what you're looking for.

Geek to Live:Automatically back up your harddrive
http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to- ... 147855.php

Personal Backup: http://personal-backup.rathlev-home.de/index-e.html
Backup Maker: http://www.ascomp.de/index.php?php=prog ... ackupmaker
Ace Backup: http://www.acebackup.com/index.htm
GFI Home Backup: http://www.gfi.com/backup-hm/backup-hm-features.htm

Then there are the online backup services which range in price per month or year:
Carbonite http://www.carbonite.com/
Mozy: http://www.mozy.com/

A couple of places to store your important data and you should be covered for the inevitable crash.