Linux based Backup/Cloning Applications

Having already covered cloning and backup solutions for OSX and Windows, here are some Linux based solutions I use from time to time.

My favorite Open Source solution is by far Clonezilla. Clonezilla allows you to do bare metal backups/Images and restoration of partitions/volumes or whole drive duplication. It comes in 2 flavors, Clonezilla Live, and Clonezilla SE (server edition) for massive deployment supporting multicast. It supports ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, and HFS+ for the Mac OS. Providing maximum flexibilty for cloning GNU/Linux, MS windows and Intel-based Mac OS.

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3rd Party Backup/Cloning Apps For Windows

Whether you're backing up your desktop(s) for archival, preparing for disaster recovery or just re-formating a PC, it's inevitable that you will need a good backup solution in your Windows environment. Here's a short list of common ones you may want to look into:

• Norton Ghost
• Paragon’s Drive Backup Express
• Acronis True Image
• DriveImage XML
• XXCLONE
  

Depending on your needs, some of these have personal free or demo downloads available. Although, I've used or seen most of these in action, the 2 most widely used i business/corporate with support for both multicast & unicast are Ghost and Acronis True Image.

3rd Party Backup/Cloning Apps for Mac OSX

There are many ways to go about backing up your Mac hard drive locally. In another article I'll go over how to do this from within OSX using Disk Utility. However, there is something to be said for well designed applications that simplify the steps needed into a few clicks for both Backups and Restore.

I tend to go back and forth between Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. Both of these programs are just as good. They both support incremental and bootable backups. So what's the difference? Mainly the price. Carbon Copy Cloner is Free, but they accept donations. Super Duper will allow you to make free full disk backups, but the full registered version costs $27.95.

• Super Duper
• Carbon Copy Cloner

Dropbox: Simple file syncing

Simply put, Dropbox gives you the ability to keep your desktop files synced with “the cloud”, and your other computers. Think of it as online data storage(backup), file sharing, and file synchronization, in a simple no fuss implementation.

A folder created by the Dropbox installation exists on your computer(s) to handle all the heavy lifting.

• Anything you place into this folder will be uploaded to your account's online drive (accessible from any web browser) and synced between all of your computers via the Dropbox client.
• You can share a folder with your Dropbox friends, and everything you drop into that folder will be synced between both accounts.
• Drop a file in your Public folder, and you can share it with anyone.
• Placing photos in the Photos folder, creates a web gallery for you.
• Most important, Dropbox provides file versioning. So if you delete a file by accident? Dropbox can restore it for you.

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Re-Installing your Windows PC for a fresh start

We've all been there. Windows needs a fresh start every 6 months or so due to stuff accumulating in the registry or even more common these days, "Malware". Most of us jump into this task feet first, and realize midway through that we forgot to document important information from our old configurations and backup our files. WHOOPS!

IT departments, have this down to a science. Usually keeping virtualized images on a lan, or bootable Ghost images ready to go. Here are some tools and tips to help you get your fresh start done right.

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