Comments for What's an incremental backup?

Comment from Robin Clay on 2009-11-17

2009-11-17T19:56:27Z

Chris Faulkner at August 27, 2008 5:19 AM :-
"I do a monthly backup in XP by just burning the Documents and Settings folder to a DVD.... important files kept safely."

Leo replied:-
"Except that you don't."

There's another aspect in which Leo is correct, but that Leo didn't mention - that is, that a DVD may have a life of only five years...

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from jake on 2008-10-30

2008-10-30T21:09:58Z

THANK YOU. Wow. I've taken two A+ classes that have gone through this, read through sections in 3 different books, but your article completely clears it up for me! Thanks so much for this article. The different backup types can be confusing because (as you said yourself) they SOUND similar, and that's where the confusion starts. Thanks again

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Claire Gehrett on 2008-09-08

2008-09-09T03:50:35Z

I can't backup my computer. There's too much to put on a DVD. What's my solution? I need to backup before I install XP3.

It depends on exactly how you backup. A good backup program will automatically let you backup to multiple CDs or DVDs.
-Leo

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Jim on 2008-09-06

2008-09-07T05:01:53Z

Hey Leo,

I've been looking everywhere for a solution that goes like this:

-Full backup beginning on Sunday

-Incremental Backups Monday->Saturday

-On the Following Sunday, my incremental backup from Monday gets merged with my Full Backup, thus creating an "updated" Full Backup.

Effectively, this will give me a week's worth of incremental backups, and a Full backup that's always a week old. This way, if I lose something on Saturday night, and don't realize it till Monday, my full backup won't have been replaced with the latest files from Sunday's Full Backup. Do you know of any programs that do this?

Thanks!

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from nani on 2008-09-06

2008-09-06T07:22:20Z

ya, itz very nice and helpful to me, i know some thing only abt backup and i know the words of incremental, full, differential and don't know full.. not i can feel i knew that too.. so thx.

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Harish on 2008-08-28

2008-08-28T16:24:39Z

very good information. It cleared all my doubts. Thanks so much...
Harish
http://indexviews.blogspot.com/

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Chris Faulkner on 2008-08-27

2008-08-27T12:19:40Z

A bit complicated for me Leo.
I do a monthly backup in XP by just burning the Documents and Settings folder to a DVD, it follows that I get all my documents, music, pictures,outlook express [.dbx files] folders on disc. I reckon that most people would be able to fit everything on one DVD.
It's re-assuring to know that you have all your important files kept safely.

While I'm happy that you're doing something (which is, sadly, more than most people), I do want to take exception with one statement you make:

"It's re-assuring to know that you have all your important files kept safely."

Except that you don't.

"Documents and Settings" is important, don't get me wrong, but it is not everything. For example if you were to lose your hard disk you would have to reinstall Windows from scratch, reinstall all your applications from scratch, re-customize those applications from scratch (those "settings" are typically NOT in "Documents and Settings"), and it's likely that there are programs you run that keep documents in places other than "Documents and Settings".

I, personally, feel that backing up only "Documents and Settings" is not nearly enough. Better than nothing, but still ... not enough.

-Leo

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Dave on 2008-08-27

2008-08-27T09:06:36Z

Avery good defination and explanation of Back-up
structure. Very well explained. Worth Saving for future reference. Thanks.

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from Tony Starkey on 2008-08-26

2008-08-26T18:02:37Z

Thanks Leo - that is the clearest explanation of the three types of backup that I have ever read. I have read many and most have left me confused and none the wiser.

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from DeeJ on 2008-08-26

2008-08-26T17:13:51Z

Thank you for this article it is timely. I am operating Windows Vista Basic Home. I attempted backup files at the urge of a warning. The back up did not complete. I cleared files. I don't know what else to do. However, since the attempt at backup; I have not received anymore warnings.

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

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Comment from novice on 2008-08-23

2008-08-23T21:51:12Z

Dummies guide to backup. I like. Now i only need dummies guide to bare metal restoration.

I am trying out Acronis but i couldn't figure out if in respect of data files it could copy ONLY the changed files and copy them OVER the respective previous versions of those files so that:
a) the backup is exact replica of the original (i.e. same size uncompressed, same folder structure); and
b) every day it backups only the changed files so that the process doesn't take time.

Currently, I am achieving the same through Briefcase utility (tho it has some limitations) and through Cobian's differential backup, but uncompressed unencrypted. It won't overwrite older files if you use compression.

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A comment on: What's an incremental backup?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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