Vista - Files backup versus Full backup

I went through most of posts and did not get a clear picture on:
- knowing that Files Backup is nor really incremental and Full back up is,
what is the best strategy for “normal� user in terms of backup files size and
time to make a backup?
Did I understand correctly that “files backup� backs –up all opened
previously files? So if you show 100 pictures in the evening to your family,
all those pictures, previously backed–up shall be backed up one more time,
with next schedukled “files backup “?

Thank you

--
Wieslaw, France

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:09:03 -0700, Wieslaw
<wieslaw@discussions.microsoft.com.> wrote:

>I went through most of posts and did not get a clear picture on:
>- knowing that Files Backup is nor really incremental and Full back up is,
>what is the best strategy for “normal” user in terms of backup files size and
>time to make a backup?
>Did I understand correctly that “files backup” backs –up all opened
>previously files? So if you show 100 pictures in the evening to your family,
>all those pictures, previously backed–up shall be backed up one more time,
>with next schedukled “files backup “?
>
>Thank you

Much depends on how paranoid the user is and if we're talking a home
or business setting. It also greatly depends on WHAT application and
which hardware you use to perform the backup.

A GOOD backup program will only backup files that have changed from a
previous backup or as of yet have no backup. If the file was opened or
not is irrelevant. Only files that have CHANGED need to be repeatedly
backed up to insure you have a backup of the latest version.

What a lot of people do is a full backup of their data maybe once a
week and a incremental backup nightly. This is more of a business
practice and probably overkill for most home users.

Remember what I said about being paranoid? Well, I spend a lot of time
doing my video projects. Some take weeks or longer to complete so I
want to be SURE I have good backups. Some people make the mistake of
simply duplicating some process. For example they "backup" to a DVD,
then just to be safe make a copy of that DVD and foolishly think well
I'm covered. No! If that original backup DVD has some corruption all
you've accomplished by making a duplicate is likely copying the
corruption to the second disk so in effect you now have two worthless
DVD backups.

A better backup scheme thou somewhat extreme and not for everybody is
to use different media that greatly reduces the risk of being without
one useable version of your data. So I "backup" to a burned DVD, then
I make a "backup" file copy to another hard drive, then since we're
talking video, to be extra safe I make a "backup" by copying the
finished project to DVD tape which is readable by a video deck or a
digital video camera. I now have three versions of each of my projects
on three very different types of media, so the odds all would fail is
extremely remote.

Thanks for comments. I use mainly MS Office for busienss so no long video or
so. But I do from time to time a copy on DVD, additionally to daily back-ups
on extrenal HD, for double security.
Yet you comments do not answer exectly my questions, on using Vista back-up
utility. Especially the question - do opened but not modified files, between
two backups are backed-up, as I think to read in one of the posts?
--
Wieslaw, France


"Adam Albright" wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:09:03 -0700, Wieslaw
> <wieslaw@discussions.microsoft.com.> wrote:
>
> >I went through most of posts and did not get a clear picture on:
> >- knowing that Files Backup is nor really incremental and Full back up is,
> >what is the best strategy for “normal� user in terms of backup files size and
> >time to make a backup?
> >Did I understand correctly that “files backup� backs –up all opened
> >previously files? So if you show 100 pictures in the evening to your family,
> >all those pictures, previously backed–up shall be backed up one more time,
> >with next schedukled “files backup “?
> >
> >Thank you
>
> Much depends on how paranoid the user is and if we're talking a home
> or business setting. It also greatly depends on WHAT application and
> which hardware you use to perform the backup.
>
> A GOOD backup program will only backup files that have changed from a
> previous backup or as of yet have no backup. If the file was opened or
> not is irrelevant. Only files that have CHANGED need to be repeatedly
> backed up to insure you have a backup of the latest version.
>
> What a lot of people do is a full backup of their data maybe once a
> week and a incremental backup nightly. This is more of a business
> practice and probably overkill for most home users.
>
> Remember what I said about being paranoid? Well, I spend a lot of time
> doing my video projects. Some take weeks or longer to complete so I
> want to be SURE I have good backups. Some people make the mistake of
> simply duplicating some process. For example they "backup" to a DVD,
> then just to be safe make a copy of that DVD and foolishly think well
> I'm covered. No! If that original backup DVD has some corruption all
> you've accomplished by making a duplicate is likely copying the
> corruption to the second disk so in effect you now have two worthless
> DVD backups.
>
> A better backup scheme thou somewhat extreme and not for everybody is
> to use different media that greatly reduces the risk of being without
> one useable version of your data. So I "backup" to a burned DVD, then
> I make a "backup" file copy to another hard drive, then since we're
> talking video, to be extra safe I make a "backup" by copying the
> finished project to DVD tape which is readable by a video deck or a
> digital video camera. I now have three versions of each of my projects
> on three very different types of media, so the odds all would fail is
> extremely remote.
>
>
>