Windows backup or R&R backup

I'm trying to decide whether to backup my OS with Windows backup, or Lenovo's Rescue & Recovery. (file storage i'm gong to backup with Karens replicator, this is just for the O.S and programs on my 80gb msata ssd)

If I use R&R, and i needed to restore without being able to turn on windows, i would need to create a recovery media (suppose that could go on the same drive as the full backup).

With windows, to create the recovery media, it doesn't let you do it with usb, you need a cd/dvd (how outdated! - I don't have one on the x220, get with the 21st century windows...)

One of the concerns i have with lenovo's R&R is that it completely hides any backed up data on the drive. Is that a good thing? (it's still invisible even when you select show hidden files)
With windows, you can see all the compressed folders. But I suppose there you run the risk of deleting them...

So which one do you recommend? Much of a muchness?

 

I use True Image. I find R& R to be bloated. I do a clean install, then make an image, which I can put back at anytime I wish. Then I just do any updates that are needed.

 

Is this for normal weekly backups or the initial creation of the factory disk set?

I thought you could create the factory disk set to a 16GB USB stick. If that method works, it's not a bad idea to create the stick and throw it in the box for a future potential buyer if you decide to ever sell.

 

This is for weekly backups of the OS.
I just created my factory backup using Lenovo's R&R, I did that using a 16gb SD card. Reason i used R&R was because it used the recovery partion that lenovo leaves there, so i have a true factory backup now.

But now i just want to backup as I go.
I suspect True image will not compress the files?
Storage space is somewhat important to me, as I am backing up my System drive which is an 80gb msata drive, to an external 1TB HDD. However this external drive is also going to be used to backup my internal 1TB HDD. So I'm using 1TB to backup 80gb plus 1TB...

 

Like ZaZ, I use True Image Home. Specifically, I use True Image Home 2010. I bought 2011 but they changed the UI and introduced a lot of bugs. True Image Home 2012 seems to have it share too if the forums are any indication.

Their 2010 product is very solid. I haven't tried the 2012 version yet. Still pissed about the buggy 2011 product.

Most backup products will do compression. With True Image you can decide on this balance in the settings. High compression creates slower backups. I use the normal settings which gives me about 4:1 compression. I'll look at things more closely in the morning when I am connected to the storage systems I use.

 

Also keep in mind that what you're backing up affects your compression ratio. For example, if you're backing up a great deal of music or jpg's, those files are already compressed by nature, so further compression by the backup program isn't going to yield much more.

Personally, I use a Windows Home Server to do network-based backups of all the machines on my network automatically. The upshot is that it's a full system image, so it's a snapshot of your machine on a given day. The downside is that of course, it can consume a great deal of disk space if you have a large amount of data involved. I've already had it save my bacon once when a BIOS update changed how my RAID was detected, causing me to have to rebuild the disks. I was able to boot from a disc that came with the server software, it found the server on the network, and restored my drive contents while I had some coffee. Not too shabby at all.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to point out that the system image backups are differential in nature, so there's one "large" backup, and then sequential backups are changes only. This keeps storage requirements sane, and allows a certain granularity in rollbacks, etc.

 

For some reason the windows backup doesn't work for me, it keeps saying to insert media when in fact there is a DVD-R put in.

 

I usually just back up my application installers and do a fresh install when things go bad. I find that it's not worth the time playing with Acronis and other 3rd party backup utilities.

I spent a couple of hours making an unattended install script so I can just plug in the portable HDD, click a button and come back in an hour and everything's all set up.

I slipstream some software and drivers right onto my Windows install DVD. Maybe I'll write an article about how to do this if people are interested.

For user data, I keep all documents and source code in Dropbox. It's enough space for my needs and all my data syncs back down if I reformat/reinstall. Plus they keep previous versions.

For music, photos, videos, and other big stuff, I back it all up regularly to an external HDD.