HDD Backup Software

Over time, people have developed several approaches hard disk drive backup (HDD backup), and most drive backup products fall into one of two main categories: image-based backup and files-based backup software. Image-based backup (often shortened to image backup) is usually performed for well confined physically contiguous data storage (hard disk, HDD partition, whole CD/DVD, etc.), whereas files-based backup is performed for a selected set (backup set) of files that have specified locations.

Concerning the way data is backed up, HDD backup can be full, full plus incremental, or full plus differential.

• File-based backup software usually implements both incremental and differential HDD backup strategies. Each consecutive execution of a backup job backs up only changes, that can be calculated from the first full backup, for differential, or from the previous backup, for incremental backup scheme.
• Most image backup solutions feature full HDD backup and only one optimization option, differential backup. Incremental backup is usually not supported, because it is generally to hard to calculate changes in several drive images (each of which may be of 100GB and more).

Handy Backup features file-level incremental backup, which is practically irrelevant for disk imaging, and byte-level differential backup, which works superbly for any types of data, but doesn’t allow saving increments from the previous partial backup (only from the full backup).

HDD Backup Optimization Methods

In any type of HDD backup the first thing to do is to create full backup of a backup set. At the next task executions, incremental/differential techniques come into effect.

• In incremental backup scheme, each new task execution backs up only those files that have changed since the previous run. It is a great way to save disk space and yet retain multiple intermediate versions of changed files. One drawback of the incremental backup comes if you need to do a full restore: you should go through all incremental backup copies.
• Differential backup is quite similar to incremental backup, with the only difference that it catches all files that have changed since the last full backup. Thus, to restore the data you only need full backup and the last differential backup.

HDD Image Backup

A convenient way of making exact copy of you hard drive (or creating a backup of a partition) is to use image-based backup. The basic idea of image backup is to use low-level disk I/O to just copy all the bits on your hard disk to another location, without any particular regard for concepts like files.

When image backup is carried out, there’s no question of accidentally forgetting to back up a particular file: if it was on the hard disk, then it got backed up. The HDD backup image not only includes the contents of all user-made files, but additionally contains the exact structure of directories, information about file allocation, file attributes and other related data. An image can be copied or moved like any ordinary file. The user can store backup images on external media (CD/DVDs, external USB or FireWire, etc.). This guarantees a high level of data protection as long as the backup media is kept secure. This type of HDD Backup allows easy restoring the system to its original state.

Handy Backup features a powerful Disk Image plug-in that allows you to create image backup of any local or external physical drive connected to your PC. To see exact instructions on backing up a computer HDD with Handy Backup, please see Image Backup in the User Manual.