The key to any backup strategy is a good application: one that can scale in line with data volumes and user numbers.

Traditional data backup involves taking all the files on a system, or at least those of most importance, and either mirroring them to another drive or location, or copying them to some form of removable media, most commonly tape, CD or a removable hard drive.

This has the advantage that individual files can be easily plucked from the backup archive as needed. However, it can make restoration, particularly if a complete copy of the system was not kept, difficult and time-consuming.

This is where imaging comes in. Products such as Ghost and Drive Image capture a complete snapshot of the system, and create a compressed disk image of the entire hard drive contents that can be saved to a number of different media types.

This means that a hard drive image can be exported to a set of bootable CDs so that, in the event of a major system crash, hardware failure or other fault, the disks themselves can be used to effect a restoration of the entire system very quickly.

Extracting individual files is not easy, however. It can be done using tools to mount the images as virtual drives, but is not worth the hassle.

POWERQUEST DRIVE IMAGE 2002

The principal rival to Symantec's Ghost, Drive Image focuses on creating complete images of system drives as opposed to copying the individual files or directories.

As with Ghost, two versions are available: the basic Drive Image 2002, which is aimed at single desktops and laptops; and a more powerful version, which forms part of PowerQuest's PowerDeploy suite, aimed at centralised imaging and management of an entire network, including servers.

Drive Image can also operate within Windows, allowing for the creation of images while the system is running. However, it won't be able to image the boot partition in this mode. To do that requires it to be booted from DOS, in much the same way as Ghost, but with a more advanced interface.

Drive imaging can also be performed automatically at scheduled times and dates, with images saved to network locations for mass storage. There is DOS support for most CD-RW drives, including IDE, SCSI and PCMCIA drives, allowing for DOS backup to CD on laptops as well.

Unlike Ghost, Drive Image does not allow for the easy creation of bootable CD images, meaning that you will often require boot floppy disks. This is a minor drawback.
www.powerquest.com

DANTZ RETROSPECT BACKUP

Aimed primarily at small to medium sized businesses, Retrospect Backup comes in two flavours, one for the client and another specifically for servers.

The server product will not only deal with the backup requirements of a file server, but can be used as a central management console for backing up networked PCs and laptops, using automated backup scheduling and prioritisation for mobile devices that are not permanently on the network.

In addition, selectors let you filter the types of files that are backed up, and both software and hardware compression systems are supported to conserve disk space.

Retrospect can produce disk images, and bootable ones at that, although we found the process awkward as the feature appears to have been a bit of an afterthought.

One plus point for the bootable disk images is that you can create one from a file backup, rather than taking a snapshot of the system before it goes wrong.
www.dantz.com

VERITAS NETBACKUP

The NetBackup Professional client can be installed on desktops and laptops via email, FTP or software distribution tools, making deployment very easy.

A standard set up process handles installation and configuration, while a command line interface supports integration with other products and processes, including third-party server backup software.

When a hard drive fails or a laptop is lost or stolen, NetBackup Professional offers a low-level recovery feature to get the machine and user up and running again quickly.

The system administrator simply creates a bootable CD-Rom that reformats the hard drive and re-establishes the hard drive image as at the last backup, restoring operating systems, applications, unique data, user-specific settings and network addresses.

The CD contains the entire hard drive image, but the administrator has the option of only restoring certain files or directories.

For ad hoc backups, NetBackup Professional uses a Windows Explorer-like interface.

A single-click backup feature lets users simply right-click on a file or directory to mark it for backing up, while automated backups can also be specified. Backups can take place according to a calendar schedule or to coincide with a predefined event, such as start up, shutdown or remote dial-in.

Most interesting is the application interface, with much of the NetBackup environment being modelled on Microsoft Outlook. In fact, this works very well, and the user still has the option to default to a more traditional Windows Explorer view.
www.veritas.com

QUANTUM DATAKEEP

Datakeep is a software backup application for use in conjunction with Quantum's Snap Server network attached storage (Nas) devices. The smaller 1100 unit is the size of an external CD-Rom drive and contains a 40GB hard drive, so is small and light enough to be taken off-site.

The software is licence-free, allowing it to be installed on an unlimited number of machines. It backs up incremental updates to the Snap Server or other Quantum Nas products.

Datakeep allows multiple, time-sensitive backup versions to be stored on the same storage device, allowing for the creation of an audit trail and the resurrection of older files from previous revisions if needed.

There is extensive support for mobile devices, with support for offline pre-archiving of content and automatic detection of an internet or local area netwotk connection to enable backup to the Nas device.

A powerful application with a small footprint, Datakeep is let down by a poor interface. For simplicity, everything is based around a single interface, but this makes for a jumbled display.
www.quantum.com

AMACOM FLIPBACK

The maker of the popular FlipDisk portable hard drive has created a combined solution based around the larger capacity Flip2Disk portable hard drive.

Its proprietary FlipBack backup software is intended only for use with Amacom's own hardware, but the end result is a quick and efficient backup to a device that can be stored off-site or used to image multiple machines.

FlipBack works by initially taking a complete snapshot of the system. Next a small utility called DataSync, which is placed on the client, performs incremental backups, copying only the files that have been altered from the original image.

FlipBack also incorporates a HotSync utility, which automatically launches DataSync each time the Flip2Disk is attached to the target desktop or laptop, reducing the amount of user intervention needed to backup the system.

The Flip2Disk drive supports interchangeable connection cables, meaning that you can use parallel, PCMCIA, USB 1 and 2 and FireWire interfaces.

An optional removable drive tray can be fitted to a PC, allowing the drive to be mounted as an IDE device.

With FlipBack drives available in sizes from 10GB to 40GB, it is more than suitable for backing up laptops, desktops and smaller workgroup servers. However, it does not offer an option to capture the larger capacity drives found in most file servers.
www.amacom.co.uk

SYMANTEC NORTON GHOST 7.5 AND 2002

One of the most popular backup and disk-cloning tools on the market, and the preferred choice of most PC manufacturers, Symantec's Norton Ghost applies a catch-all approach to data backup, taking a complete snapshot of the target machine's hard drive and exporting the data to tape, CD, another drive partition or even across to a network share.

Ghost operates in DOS, and is small enough to fit on a single floppy disk, depending on which features you need. Despite its size, the package includes drivers for most network and SCSI cards, supports most IDE CD writers, and even has basic USB support. However, the interface is not particularly friendly and the documentation is unhelpful.

The strongest feature of Ghost is the ability to create bootable CD images of drives, which is invaluable for fast recovery or mass-deployment of set-ups to multiple identical machines.

Two versions are available: the domestic 2002 version, which is more than capable of dealing with laptops, desktops and servers in a small business or workgroup environment; and the more substantial Enterprise 7.5 edition, which has extra features including network multicasting of images and a Ghost image server that can be used as a central repository for images.
www.symantec.co.uk

AELITA ERDISK 6.1

Heavily geared towards recovery rather than just backup, this is one of the more powerful tools we looked at, for both servers and workstations.

ERDisk is based around an Emergency Repair Console, an MMC-style environment where you can administer and trigger backups, and the creation of bootable disk image and backup CDs with which a machine can be reinstated in the event of a problem.

The Emergency Repair Console also allows you to gain access to corrupted partitions, making it possible to salvage critical files at the point of failure.

Emergency repair disks can be stored in a central location, or several locations on a distributed network, and on selected computers with physically restricted access. Access to repair information files can be restricted using native Windows NT security mechanisms.
www.aelita.com

QUICKSYNC 3

Originally released as a backup application for use with its own Zip and Jaz disk drives, Iomega has now opened up QuickSync to allow its use with third-party drives and devices.

Aimed mostly at desktops and laptops, QuickSync is a very straightforward tool with an easy to navigate interface that allows you to choose which files, directories or even complete drives you want backed up to tape, high-capacity disks such as a Zip disk, CD or external hard drives.

The latest edition also supports mirroring of files to network locations. Every time a user saves a file onto a drive monitored by QuickSync, it will automatically be copied to the specified network location transparently to the user.

QuickSync is at the low end regarding features. It is also not very configurable, being designed for out-of-the-box use. If this fits with your needs then QuickSync's small footprint and transparent nature make it worth a look.
www.iomega-europe.com