Posted by F.M. Kearney on July 24, 2011 at 2:33 PM
Does anyone know if there is a way to back up programs like Photoshop and Lightroom along with all of their plug-ins? Every time I have to reset my computer to factory conditions, I lose all my programs and have to spend half a day reinstalling them. All the backup software I've looked at only talks about backing up files, but says nothing about programs. Is this even possible?
Software such as Acronis True Image makes a 'mirror' of everything (apps, data, registry, etc.) and will restore it all when needed. I use this app. whenever I make a clean Windows install and I have the computer exactly the way I like it. Saves a lot of tedious reinstallation when I decide to 'freshen up' Windows (back to clean re-install)!
There are some free versions of what TI does, but I can't think of them right now. If I remember later, I'll post the names here.
I will second the mention of Acronis True Image Home. I've been using it for a couple years now for backups and cloning my OS drive. I view the cloning feature as "disaster recovery" and clone my main drive about once every 6 months or so. The obvious issues there are that any program updates, patches or changes you've made to programs don't get updated. But the saving grace for me is that if the operating system becomes inoperable you can boot off this "cloned" second drive. It's really used for having to avoid re-installing Windows (in my case) and ALL the programs.
Acronis can also do compressed backups; full, incrementals, whatever you want to set up. I use that for weekly fulls, and daily incrementals to a 3rd internal drive. Manually, and occasionally, I duplicate my image files and other data files externally to 2 other USB drives.
But back to your direct question of backing up Photoshop. I don't know of a program that will back up the executables of PS other than cloning your drive as we mentioned. You can however, backup all your preferences, presets and config info in PS by backing up or copying the appropriate folders. I back those up daily.
Posted by F.M. Kearney on July 25, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Thanks to everyone for all your helpful suggestions. I will definitely take a close look at all of the software programs mentioned to see which one will work best for me. Anything that prevents me from having to endure the dreaded reinstallation of all my programs is an absolute life (and time) saver!
It sounds like resetting your computer is a fairly common experience. What gives? That's the real problem.
ME
Posted by F.M. Kearney on July 26, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Michael,
It's not like this is a monthly occurrence, but on average, I'd say once every 1-2 years I run into a problem that requires a complete factory reset. It doesn't seem to matter which brand of computer I'm using, or the fact that I perform diligent monthly maintenance. Since this simply seems to be the nature of computers, any software that will keep all of my programs intact will certainly make my life a lot easier.
I would like to note that if you are having problems with the OS, applications or malware, restoring a backed up image of your drive won't cure the problem. You have to make sure that the image you create is trouble free to begin with.
If push comes to shove, a clean install of the OS and applications may be your only recourse. It's certainly a pain in the hoobah, but your machine will play nice.
--P
Posted by F.M. Kearney on July 26, 2011 at 1:15 PM
Preston,
Right, the Dell online techs have isolated the problem to a bad hard drive. I'm scheduled for a tech visit today to replace it, so that should "hopefully" solve the problem. Once it's back in working order and all my programs have been reinstalled, I am definitely going to use one of the earlier mentioned programs to back everything up so that this nightmare doesn't happen again. Of course, no one is ever immune from computer problems, but having a properly functioning mirror image of my system will really reduce the hair-pulling factor.
>but on average, I'd say once every 1-2 years I run into a problem that requires a complete factory reset.
F.M., that seems somewhat excessive to me, but I wish I could conjure up a solution that wouldn't read like an advertisement. Since 1984 my wife and I have owned at least 30 desktops and laptops for business and personal work. Lots of hard use. Now two kids. All the computers have been Macs, and we've had only one crash: it was her original Macbook laptop hard drive going bad about three years ago. Laptops are more fragile indeed.
I back everything up with Superduper to a couple of places, but I would think something like Acronis works great in Windows.
ME
Posted by F.M. Kearney on July 27, 2011 at 7:27 AM
Michael, I guess I'm just a magnet for computer problems. A few months ago I had to replace a memory card that had gone bad. A tech came by yesterday to replace the faulty hard drive, so as of now, everything "seems" to be working fine. I'm using a Dell Studio XPS 9100...the top model of the line, and it's only 1 year old.
I'm just beginning the arduous process of reinstalling all my programs. I've always backed up my files on discs or external hard drives, but every (supposedly knowledgeable) person I've spoken with in the past either did not know, or told me it was impossible to back up a program. Even the tech who came by yesterday had not heard of Acronis, or any other software that would keep programs intake in the event of a major crash.
I posted this question to get advice from people with real-world experience in dealing with problems of this nature. I'd like to thank you, and everyone else who responded with all of your helpful suggestions.
There are two types of backup software relevant to home PC/photoshop type use and you should use both.
One is an imaging software such as Acronis True Image. Image does not mean photograph here. The other is a file backup software such as SyncBack.
The imaging type backup software is like having a complete snapshot of your hard drive. You can restore the complete snapshot on a new hard drive and the PC should be up and running. It wraps up all the files into a bundle for restore, and is typically going to compress that image. This is great for restoring a computer to factory fresh specs, but not so great for recovering that one photo you lost. Acronis true image is a very nice software of this type for home use on Windows. Norton used to market a competitor (ghost was the name I think), but I don't think they do any longer.
File backup software such as SyncBack makes a copy of your files in another location. Typically this type of software is going to have some comparison engine and give you the ability to create rules around your backups, like "always copy the newer file over the older file". But you can't just make a copy of your hard drive and restore it in case of a crash with this type of software. This is the type of software you want to backup documents, application data files and photographs with.
Posted by David Chauvin on August 1, 2011 at 5:08 AM
Two pieces of software I strongly recommend are Easeus Todo Backup 2.5.1 and Second Copy 8.0. One is free, the other very affordable and both work fantastically well for me. Easeus Todo will clone your boot drive (and all programs as installed) to a second bootable hard drive. I had an old 80GB drive that I used for the clone and then removed it from the machine for safe storage. If my main drive crashes I can simply install the cloned drive in it's place and be back up in minutes. You can also clone to a partition on a second physical hard drive. BTW,,,,I always test the cloned drive after cloning to be sure it will boot and run. I've had some bad experiences with other cloning software that did not work as advertised. So far Easeus has performed flawlessly through numerous clonings.
Second Copy is a file backup program that makes copies of the actual files to another drive location. It does not create a proprietary compressed file that requires the back up software to read. It has lots of scheduling and automation features and for the price it can't be beat. So for about thirty bucks you can get both clone and file back up software that is simple and works.
Posted by F.M. Kearney on August 1, 2011 at 8:24 PM
Many thanks to Mel and David. Had I known that such software existed years ago, I could have saved myself hours of frustration.
Posted by David Bostedo on August 2, 2011 at 5:51 AM
It wraps up all the files into a bundle for restore, and is typically going to compress that image.
Actually, if you make a clone of the hard drive, nothing is compressed. It's an exact copy of the original drive and is completely bootable. I use it both for backup, and to be able to load in a new hard drive in the event that mine fails. I wouldn't recommend mucking around with Acronis (or any other programs) compression or data type unless you have a good reason to do it. Go the clone route.
Discussion
16 repliesThere are some free versions of what TI does, but I can't think of them right now. If I remember later, I'll post the names here.
Acronis can also do compressed backups; full, incrementals, whatever you want to set up. I use that for weekly fulls, and daily incrementals to a 3rd internal drive. Manually, and occasionally, I duplicate my image files and other data files externally to 2 other USB drives.
But back to your direct question of backing up Photoshop. I don't know of a program that will back up the executables of PS other than cloning your drive as we mentioned. You can however, backup all your preferences, presets and config info in PS by backing up or copying the appropriate folders. I back those up daily.
Hope this helps,
Lon
ME
It's not like this is a monthly occurrence, but on average, I'd say once every 1-2 years I run into a problem that requires a complete factory reset. It doesn't seem to matter which brand of computer I'm using, or the fact that I perform diligent monthly maintenance. Since this simply seems to be the nature of computers, any software that will keep all of my programs intact will certainly make my life a lot easier.
If push comes to shove, a clean install of the OS and applications may be your only recourse. It's certainly a pain in the hoobah, but your machine will play nice.
--P
Right, the Dell online techs have isolated the problem to a bad hard drive. I'm scheduled for a tech visit today to replace it, so that should "hopefully" solve the problem. Once it's back in working order and all my programs have been reinstalled, I am definitely going to use one of the earlier mentioned programs to back everything up so that this nightmare doesn't happen again. Of course, no one is ever immune from computer problems, but having a properly functioning mirror image of my system will really reduce the hair-pulling factor.
F.M., that seems somewhat excessive to me, but I wish I could conjure up a solution that wouldn't read like an advertisement. Since 1984 my wife and I have owned at least 30 desktops and laptops for business and personal work. Lots of hard use. Now two kids. All the computers have been Macs, and we've had only one crash: it was her original Macbook laptop hard drive going bad about three years ago. Laptops are more fragile indeed.
I back everything up with Superduper to a couple of places, but I would think something like Acronis works great in Windows.
ME
I'm just beginning the arduous process of reinstalling all my programs. I've always backed up my files on discs or external hard drives, but every (supposedly knowledgeable) person I've spoken with in the past either did not know, or told me it was impossible to back up a program. Even the tech who came by yesterday had not heard of Acronis, or any other software that would keep programs intake in the event of a major crash.
I posted this question to get advice from people with real-world experience in dealing with problems of this nature. I'd like to thank you, and everyone else who responded with all of your helpful suggestions.
One is an imaging software such as Acronis True Image. Image does not mean photograph here. The other is a file backup software such as SyncBack.
The imaging type backup software is like having a complete snapshot of your hard drive. You can restore the complete snapshot on a new hard drive and the PC should be up and running. It wraps up all the files into a bundle for restore, and is typically going to compress that image. This is great for restoring a computer to factory fresh specs, but not so great for recovering that one photo you lost. Acronis true image is a very nice software of this type for home use on Windows. Norton used to market a competitor (ghost was the name I think), but I don't think they do any longer.
File backup software such as SyncBack makes a copy of your files in another location. Typically this type of software is going to have some comparison engine and give you the ability to create rules around your backups, like "always copy the newer file over the older file". But you can't just make a copy of your hard drive and restore it in case of a crash with this type of software. This is the type of software you want to backup documents, application data files and photographs with.
Second Copy is a file backup program that makes copies of the actual files to another drive location. It does not create a proprietary compressed file that requires the back up software to read. It has lots of scheduling and automation features and for the price it can't be beat. So for about thirty bucks you can get both clone and file back up software that is simple and works.
Actually, if you make a clone of the hard drive, nothing is compressed. It's an exact copy of the original drive and is completely bootable. I use it both for backup, and to be able to load in a new hard drive in the event that mine fails. I wouldn't recommend mucking around with Acronis (or any other programs) compression or data type unless you have a good reason to do it. Go the clone route.