I have been through it all on the subject of using and trying to get a good backup.
I have learned one thing and that is you can not have an incremental/differential backup with out either a catalog being provided by the backup program or using the Archival attribute that NTFS provides though the latter is not an answer as I found out.
It makes me so mad to see so many backup programs use the word Differential/Incremental when all they are talking about is copying files. Most backup programs are no different then a "raid" type configuration and I don't see that as a true backup. If you can't get the data off your computer then you don't have it and the biggest obstacle to this is the size of the information that has to be backed up. With the large drives it is absolutely essential to be able to have some true Differential/Incremental capability in a backup program.
I have used a program called XXcopy which is a great program however I was trying to use the "Archival attribute" in NTFS to do the backup and I learned too late that you can not do that for not all of the files reset the "archival attribute" after they are modified. In my situation this was true for the WAB file of Outlook express which is the file used by "Address Book" in Outlook Express so I was not backing it up, a most important file I might add.
I have used programs like Roxio's backup program which does use a catalog type system however I found out that the catalog they use was located on my HD and is put on the DVD only in a special compressed form that needs the same Catalog file to access the information on the DVD making all my backups useless for I no longer had the information on the HD. I spent days and days backing up information that I could not get to without sending it to Roxio's special company to have them decipher the backup. Roxio should be sued for that mistake.
Backup4all is the only program I have found so far that not only allows for a true Differential/Incremental backup but also lets you backup the catalogs in any way you wish. I don't know how any body could rate any backup program other then defective if they do not provide this capability.
Every one knows how important backing up your data is so this is why I get so angry at many of the programs that are offered that fail this important test and I have tried most of them.
Backup4all you are the BEST. Thank you for your program and of the others you are dirt bags if you do not provide a way to do true Differential/incremental backups.
Marshall D'Arcy
Thank You for backup4all
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- Posts: 1978
- Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 7:57 am
Hi Marshall,
Thank you for your feedback and we're glad that you like Backup4all. I've added it to our user feedback page, since it's a very elaborated feedback. Right now we're working on changing the backup4all.com website (in the end it will include a forum too) and the feedback will be more prominent in the new design. Thank you once again for your feedback and for using Backup4all.
Thank you for your feedback and we're glad that you like Backup4all. I've added it to our user feedback page, since it's a very elaborated feedback. Right now we're working on changing the backup4all.com website (in the end it will include a forum too) and the feedback will be more prominent in the new design. Thank you once again for your feedback and for using Backup4all.
Do you know you can monitor your backups remotely with Backup4all Monitor? You can read more here: https://www.backup4all.com/backup4all-monitor.html