Internet Withdrawal

Just spent the last 24 hours without my computer. Downloaded the latest version of Cobian Backup recently and installed it but just got around to using it for the first time just before I left for work yesterday. What I hadn’t realized was that by default it was set to do a complete backup of my drives; not just of files that had changed. I can now confirm that it takes 17 hours to transfer 40 Gigabytes of material over USB 1 without compression.

Yes, I know that USB 2 is faster but when I bought my present computer it was just out and too expensive and new to be considered practical. Apparently it’s possible to use one’s computer during backup but I’d prefer to let the process proceed unimpeded; the objective here is an undamaged copy of my drives. At least I’ll not have to spend that much time waiting in future. Windows XP has a built-in restore mechanism but I find it uses too much disc space, is of limited effectiveness, interferes with the programmes I want to run on my computer even to the point of causing them to crash, and hogs computer resources when I want to use my computer, often at the most inconvenient times. I used to use Norton Ghost in DOS Mode but haven’t figured out how to do that with the new version that’s compatible with Windows XP. I also prefer the added security of having my backups on an external drive and in DOS that adds another magnitude of complexity to the process. I’ve tried Go Back but find it even more intrusive, especially when it decides to renew its entire archive without warning and monopolize my computer for the next hour or so. The point of all this discussion is that although live continuous backup may be the safest plan but I prefer the compromise of choosing the timing for my backups, using an external drive, and making an exact copy of my drive. Perhaps when I get a new computer with unlimited drive space I’ll do things differently; for the present I find a once a week backup sufficient. If one did everything the supposed experts would have you do your computer would be so protected it wouldn’t be possible to use it.