Backup Software Help

I am after some backup software for Windows XP. Ideally what i need is a desktop icon that you click and it backs up all the my Documents folders on the PC of up to 3 users.

I want to backup to an external hard drive ideally with a one click desktop icon. Is this possible?

Any help appreciated

 

There are literally hoards of backup programs out there. Were you using a backup program before, or is this the first time you'll be backing up?

Almost certain you could use a modified shortcut on the desktop to run your backups from the desktop. However, this would require a backup program with support for command line. I guess they mostly do, but it would be necessary, and there might be some research required to determine what command line command is needed. This would mean finding a backup program with a good support forum would be required.

Personally, I think an imaging program to backup the whole drive, combined with a daily routine for backing up personal files is the way to go. Again, there are so many ways to treat backup You could use a folder synching program, an imager, or any traditional backup program.

The imagers are fast and tend to have the most options I would say...

 

Pretty much every app these days offers to create a desktop icon. If you install a backup program that doesn't create one, someone here could walk you through that simple process of creating one yourself. Many backup apps will backup automatically on a schedule so you could actually dispense with clicking altogether.

Like AtlBo, I use disk imaging backup software so I'm not very versed in file copy backup apps. The last one that I used was Cobian Backup and it allowed for selective copying and desktop icon (in addition to scheduled backups). It's a very configurable program (lots of options) but you could leave most of them at their default settings.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/cobian_backup.html

If you would like to choose a more user-friendly backup program, this site has a whole section devoted to backup software:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/back_up.html

And, I would feel irresponsible if I didn't recommend that you look into doing disk imaging backup in addition to the file/folder backup. See following link for a simple explanation of the different types of backup software.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/con...-disk-imaging-file-based-backup-or-synchroniz

The main advantage of disk imaging software is that you can restore your system if it is rendered unbootable for whatever reason (malware, corrupt registry, missing system files, damaged MBR, etc.). If your computer suddenly stopped booting, what would you do? A regular file based backup program like Cobian would do you no good in such a situation because 1.) you can only use it once Windows boots up, and 2.) It can't address the 'failure to boot' problem. On the other hand, a disk imaging program can be run directly from a CD or USB thumb drive, and it will fix anything short of frank hardware failure. If you're interested, we could suggest some programs to try.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I went with using xcopy in the end as none of the backup software programs seemed to have what I wanted.