Does anyone have any experience with the system backup utility called RestoreIt! ? Is it known as a good or bad backup program?

what is the cost and proposed use? are you in the market for some software? I don't have any info on the program you are asking about, but I have used and recommend the following for the appropriate uses: Norton Ghost (Home Use) - allows you to create a backup image to CD and restore entirely from CD only much like HP/Dell OS System Restore CDs. In fact E-Machines are now using Ghost Images for their restore CDs. Can be purchased for $14 OEM @ www.newegg.com Veritas Backup Exec (Commercial/Business Use) - The ONLY program to use in my opinion.. Veritas has some very slick options for copying open/in-use files and with the appropriate tape store device can make your business backups VERY efficient. Restoring is very easy too! Can be purchased at New Egg, but comes in much more expensive at $499. There's my 2 cents worth for Backup/Restore programs... Anything cheaper than the $14 for Ghost and you might as well use the regular Windows backup utility... IMHO. Thanks.

Actually, RestoreIt! (by Farstone) came bundled, along with a lot of other software, with my MSI 6600gt video card. I tried installing it once and I think it caused some problems on my system. Now I'm wondering whether to give it another try, and wanted to know about its reputation. I had the impression that it is a good program, but I'm not sure anymore. I'm looking to backup my home computer. I'm a intermediate-advanced computer user, but I have no experience with backup utilities. I wonder, is the Windows backup utility any good? Can it backup to DVD, does it compress files, and is it overall a good option? I also have Nero Express that came with my DVD burner, and I think it has a backup option. what do you think of that? Basically I'm looking for a good, easy to use, hassle-free backup utility, and would prefer to use one that I already have, if possible.

If you think your backup file will remain under 5 Gigs (being the limitation of DVD) and you have a startup process that enables writing to your DVD on the fly then backing up to DVD may be an option though I have never tried it. The problem with using XP's defualt burn to CD/DVD is that it writes the files to a temp holding spot until you initiate writing them to CD/DVD and since this temp spot is on the HD it does no good as a backup solution. For CD burners there were many options for writing to the CD on the fly or "drag and drop" however I not familiar w/ DVD burning a whole lot to know if this same thing applies to DVD. There is the obvious route of using the windows backup to the local drive and manually burning it later, but I think that at some point you will max the file size that is capable of burning to DVD, being the "intermediate-advanced" user (probably have lots of files to backup). For this reason I think that going w/ Ghost would be an inexspensive good option... also if you have a 2nd drive you can back up your files to that... the most common occurence for loss of data is 1) OS corruption (software) and then 2) HD failure (hardware)... keeping your data files on a drive OTHER than the OS goes a long way in preventing the first from being a cause of lost data (even at that there are many recovery programs that will get your files despite the crippled OS). Other options that require little/no manual effort but involve cost and setup may be to raid some disks. Do a Mirrored Raid between 2 HD's... however if your OS & Data are both on this raid array, then you are back to the possibility of your OS crashing. Lots of options exist.. if you give me some ideas of cost vs. concern (how much do your really want to fail safe your data loss) I can give you some more detailed options. Any data backup is better than nothing though!!! :-D Hope that helps! Michael

Ghost will span multiple disks and you can use just about any media. I have images of partitions that span 5 CDRs. I also have spanned more than one DVDR. This is with Ghost 8. Earlier versions may not perform the same. Ghost 9 will also perform incremenal backups. This is similar to how the Veritas software works. Not to say they are equal. Veritas is a very robust program that is intended for business use. I recommend backing up to removable media like DVDR or CDR. Backing up to a second HD is OK but if a PSU goes out it can take eveything with it. Also the backup drive is subject to the same vulnerabilities as the primary drives in your system. Offsite backup is a very good way but not cost effective for the home user. I keep my backup business files in a fire resistant hiding place.

Thank you for your replies, Michael. This is a brand new computer, which will be used for general family use (word processing, spreadsheets, internet, email, and some gaming). As you know, the games are by far the most space-consuming programs. By the time I finish installing all the system utilities and other general programs, it will probably use up about 3-6 GB of my 200GB hard drive. (I have a single SATA hard drive) The games will probably take up 10-20+ Gigs and I have more that I will eventually install. There is no mission-critical information on this computer; accordingly I don't want to spend more money on software if I don't have to. I will inevitably keep more than one copy of the important files (mainly homework). The backup is basically to safeguard those files, the personalized settings, and the drivers, utilities, etc. If, in the event of a system disaster, I could clean install the OS and then use the backup to restore as much of the previous settings and utilities as possible I would be satisfied. The games are not as important to back up. This way I would avoid having to reinstall and redownload a whole bunch of drivers and software and reconfigure the system.

Oh, thanks for your reply, OtheHill. I hadn't seen your post. It's good to know that Ghost can span multiple disks. It sounds like you do some serious backup up, as would be expected for important (business) data, and such. However, I don't need that kind of protection. For the mostpart, this computer will not have mission-critical data; the backup is mainly a convenience for recovering more quickly. And in any case, I will still be backing up my most important files to my USB key, just to have another copy with me, and also to be able to work on them when I'm not home.