Hi! I discovered that Backup Exec can only backup onto a tape device (not to another hard drive). I have two machines with nt4 on them. Is there a good backup program which can save files from one to the other? (I created a little bat script which was scheduled but I had problems with the more-than-eight-digits files and before I start investigating that, I was wondering if maybe there are any easy-to-use backup programs somewhere?) Seasonal greetings

There are several veteran "experts" here on the forum who will agree with me that backup programs and tape drives are a major waste of money. Of course, others will argue that they've had good experiences, but I think those are the exceptions. My advice is that the most dependable way to back up a system is to use DRIVECOPY with a second hard drive which is an exact duplicate of the drive on which your OS is installed. That way, if the system crashes, you will be able to remove the old drive and replace it, re-cable, and boot up immediately. Always store your documents and other application files on a separate, preferably an external hard drive, like a 30 GB+ USB, or SCSI drive. Then you'll be able to move them over to another system in the event of an OS failure. We're still living in a world where the tradeoff between getting what you want, and spending a lot of money over a long period of time are working at odds with what the hardware and software manufacturers want from you. Even when designers and engineers are exercising the utmost integrity, marketing and accounting people are interested in maximizing profits and minimizing costs. Their jobs are at stake if they don't keep the company's priorities above those of the customers. Hopefully, this will change when the US of A goes to war against rogue nations like the US of Halliburton, and Bush's cronies at the US of Enron. But let's not get our hopes too high. Here's a link where you can learn more about DRIVECOPY: http://www.powerquest.com/drivecopy/ If my memory serves me correctly, you can run Drivecopy as a DR DOS utility from a floppy disk. That's the method I'd recommend, since it minimizes the involvement of OS's that are themselves running on the hard drive you're attempting to copy. You will have to swap hard drives in and out as masters and slaves, and might have to reset some jumpers to accomplish this. All of this might seem like a lot of work, but it is the most dependable method I've found in 15 years of trial and error. If you're looking for easy, you're in the wrong place. You should go to Best Buy or Circuit City, where they'll tell ou what you want to hear.

Interesting essay Dr. Zhivag. I would disagree that backups are a waste of time. They ARE the best way of restoring a file that has been overwritten with another. Not something you are going to do with DriveCopy. But lets explore this a bit. You believe cloning a disk is a better method of backup. You are doing manually what raid, both hardware and software, can do more reliably and up-to-the-moment. Coping a disk drive is a freeze frame in time. This does not compare favorablily with a raid mirror. You have down time with doing a drive copy. You don't if using raid or backup hardware/software. In essance your arguement is like saying I have a router doing NAT between me and the Internet so I don't need Antivirus software. A similar arguement I have heard is I have mirrored my drives so I no longer have to backup. Different kinds and levels of protection. The same is true with backup to tape. First off tape is still the fastest and has the largest storage capacity. But without a OPEN FILE module you are not getting a complete backup. You don't know you have a good backup unless YOU TEST YOUR backup. From your response I suspect you were caught with your pants down due to a untested backup. We all have. One of the reasons I never do incremental backups anymore. Backup does not replace redundent hardware. You should always raid1 your OS and raid 5, 0+1, or 10 your data. Backup and redundent hardware do not replace good data management, defragging the drives, security audits, antivirus updates or any of the normal maintenance that goes into maintaining a server. With that said Nooner the question you have to ask yourself is how important is your data? The answer will determine the appropriate actions you need to take on your part. I personally have found that even after the maintenance and hardware safety nets have broken that having a tested backup was what saved my job. If you still wish to "backup to disk" Ntbackup can do it. Built in and its free. Just backup to "file". If you are just coping data files a simple batch file and scheduled with the AT command will do that easily. You shouldn't need anything more than "xcopy *.* distination" after mapping some shares and going to the folder you wish to copy.

I have a RAID array installed among my hardware systems at home, but it was pretty expensive. Less in time, than in the cost of the SCSI backplane, and several drives. You are more experienced than me in these matters, most likely. I have never used a software RAID system. But the real issue is whether Nooner is working on a corporate budget, or from worker's wages. Pants down? Well, doesn't everybody wax nowadays? Like my waltzing dragon tatoo? I had a bad experience with an HP Surestore T20 external. It cost me several hundred dollars and totally failed after about 6 months of use. You can bet I'm not going that route again. If I were the IT buyer at my office, I'd happily experiment with tape drives, but for someone who is talking about "two machines" I still think Drivecopy is the best alternative. As for copying from one machine to another, your advice about NTBackup is sound too. Nooner posted the message on Dec 22nd. Chances are pretty good he or she has resolved the problem with or without us by now. This is just friendly conversation.

I have enjoyed this conversation with you. Glad to see you have a good sense of humor concerning pants :-) You make some good points about HP hardware, cost and if home vs business. Hopefully Nooner got something out of this. See you 'round !