It's 2006 and Backups For Home User Still Tricky?

CranberryKing asks: "What is it about backups that always seems so difficult? I am trying to do a simple backup on my home XP system/s (about 30GB of files) that will write to my DVD burner. I don't want compression (most of it is MP3s, which don't compress well). I want a routine to simply write my selection to the DVD writer and spread it across however many discs are required (rather than me manually approximating and copying to each disc). I want the files on the disc readable from any system, so no proprietary backup wrapper or DAT files, please. My last attempt was using a free program that looked good called Simply Safe Backup, but it created two coasters before crashing with an unknown error. If I can just get a full backup to work smoothly, then I'll worry about scheduling, incremental, and encryption. This seems like a very common scenario for home & small offices. Is there an elegant, reliable & cheap (free) solution to this?"

Comments

You run XP Home and you're asking us?

[Andrew Tanenbaum]

Sorry, we neither endorse nor use Windows XP Home. Our backups use rsync. You might want to try asking on www.noobhelp.com.

XP

[iliketrash]

"I am trying to do a simple backup on my home XP system/s"

Patient to Doctor: It hurts every time I do this."

Doctor to Patient: Stop doing that.

Re:OS X 10.5: Time Machine

[Overly Critical Guy]

At this point, rabid Windows fanboys will descend to tell you that Apple is copying Microsoft, even though the functionality is only in Windows Server 2003, and Vista's version is nowhere near as easy to use or as intuitive as Time Machine. Expect a boring calendar control and file list from Microsoft.

Re:Backups don't need to be tricky these days

[myowntrueself]

(I find that unless you are really willing to lay out for a very good gigabit switch (as opposed to hub)

Wow, where can I get a gigabit *hub*??

Re:Backups don't need to be tricky these days

[JerLasVegas]

The average home users parent watches thier children????? Are you yankin my chain?

Re:Backups don't need to be tricky these days

[rtyall]

Why not use one of these Blu Ray Drives. Only £530 for the drive and £25 for a blank disk.
It's the way of the future

Re:Mozy - Free / Pay , Auto Online Backup

[xtracto]

I don't work for Mozy or know anything else about them;

https://mozy.com/ ?ref=UPYJ5F

Free slashdot refering: Priceless

Re:Raid-5, Hotspares, and no Backups

[KillerEggRoll]

rm -rf would change your opinion pretty quickly :-)