[SAGE] reliable Windows backup/recovery software

[Ruth Milner <rmilner@nmt.edu>]

[Note: this is for personal use, not in an enterprise environment,
although many of the same issues apply.]

I am trying to find a reliable program to do disk image backups (and
recovery :-) ) under Windows XP. Besides reliability, I really only
have three capabilities that I care about:

   1. Make a complete image of the system disk contents (preferably
      only the used space, not the entire surface) into a *file* on
      a separate hard drive.
   2. The choice of browsing the image to restore selected files, or
      to restore the entire image.
   3. Support CDs as bootable rescue media.

I don't mind if the program has to boot itself into DOS (or whatever)
to image the system disk correctly. Frankly, I'd have more confidence
in the integrity of the backup if it does.

I have been using PowerQuest DriveImage 2002 on my older XP system.
It can handle #1 & #2, but that version only supports rescue floppies,
and the newer PC doesn't have a floppy drive. So I went hunting for
a newer alternative.

The results were frightening. Not only do just a small fraction of
the available programs (regardless of whether they're intended for
personal or enterprise use) support disk images, but the user reviews
for *all* products included large numbers of people reporting serious
problems with them. E.g. two out of three images wouldn't verify
correctly; or, even when it had, the image didn't subsequently
restore properly. Quite a few of these were written by people who
appeared to be clueful (let's face it, most of the clueless don't
do backups :-( ) and none had anything good to say about any of the
vendors' support. Perhaps I'm naive, but I just don't understand
how such a critical function is being left to such a sorry-looking
bunch of prospects.

Now, I do realize that people are far more likely to report negative
experiences than positive ones, so it's entirely possible that most
people never have any problems with them. But given that most people
also never have occasion to see whether the complete restore works,
I find the absolute number of reported problems appalling. So I
figured I'd ask here. :-)

Do you have experience with such software under Windows, and if so,
have you found a program with these capabilities that has *proven*
reliable for you? I'd be willing to sacrifice the imaging capability
if it's the only realistic way to get high reliability on restores,
though it's not clear to me that there's a technical reason why that
should actually be necessary.

Suggestions would be appreciated. Please reply to me and I will
summarize to the list around the end of next week. Thank you!

Ruth