Time Machine backup equivalent for Windows [closed]
Time Machine backup equivalent for Windows [closed]
What is the closest piece of backup software to being Time Machine (the great backup utility built into Mac OS X) for Windows (particularly Windows 7).
"It's a bit of a tangential answer to your question, but if you've got multiple computers, and you want a combination of a central backup and media server, then take a look at Windows Home Server.
It automatically takes nightly (incremental) backups of all connected PCs, but when viewed, the backup looks like a complete timestamped snapshot of the entire contents of the connected PC. By default, nightly snapshots are kept for 3 days, then weekly for 3 weeks, and monthly for three months. These can be changed to suit your needs.
You can view the contents of the snapshots, and choose one to restore all or some of the files from the given date.
It's saved my bacon a number of times, both when I accidentally deleted folders of digital photos, and when I needed to rollback to previous versions of files."
"The built in Windows Backup tool in Windows 7 is pretty good. The XP product was workable but hard to use, Vista provided insufficient ability to specify a particular folder or exclude a particular folder, but Windows 7's backup tool is actually pretty good.
Combined with Previous Versions, and some batch files (.cmd files) that use 7zip to compress certain source code folders into nightly snapshots (I'm a programmer), plus my version control system. So, I like to see HOW MANY kinds of backup and redundancy I can implement that don't take any daily input from me.
I don't mind that the Previous Versions Client uses up a tonne of space on my local hard disk, in fact, I prefer it that way. I also don't mind that System Restore lets me roll back driver changes separately, and I prefer it that way.
What I have not found yet, is any third-party software that does not cause me more pain or trouble than it is worth.
I use a mac at home, and while I find Time Machine sufficient, there is actually LESS error recovery and less levels of safety there, than I am using in Windows. You could say, however, that I feel I need more levels of safety and security given that Windows has a long history of instability. However, with Windows 7, I have had fewer problems than with any previous version of Windows. (That being said, the operating system can't prevent hardware failures, and I have lost my primary hard drive once in the last 7 years, so backups are a MUST.)"
