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[gruvnfunk]

"Back up my computer" v "Back up selected files and folders" - Which one should I choose? Norton Ghost 15

It appears "Back up my computer in Norton Ghost 15 does everything plus more than waht "Back up selected files and folders" option does.  Why would I choose the the 2nd option when the first option seems to cover more?

[Brian_K · Accepted solution]

I'd forget the second option completely.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Ghost-Image-Backup-vs-File-and-Folder-Backup/td...

[DaveH]

Your correct that a full system image (Backup My Computer) is a much better option.  Most of us here do not use the file and folder backup at all because it is not very robust at all.

See this post here by Allen that explains the differences and the shortfalls with the file and folder backups.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Ghost-Image-Backup-vs-File-and-Folder-Backup/m-...

Dave

[Brian_K]

Dave,

Nice to see our brains work seconds apart.

[DaveH]

It took me a couple minutes extra because I was trying to be polite.

I was going to say that file and folder backups suck. :)

Dave

[gruvnfunk]

lol

Thanks Dave

[gruvnfunk]

Thanks Brian for helping me again

[redk9258]

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DaveH wrote:

It took me a couple minutes extra because I was trying to be polite.

I was going to say that file and folder backups suck. :)

Dave

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I've always felt that F&F Backup was poorly patched in from another product that Symantec bought just to add to the 'feature' list. If it was done the right way it would create something like a pv2i (partial volume image?) or just a plain old zip file with only the files / folders you picked. It would be easy to use Recovery Point Browser to retrieve the files. Maybe even mount the 'image' file as a drive letter.

[DaveH]

Maybe it was patched in from Norton 360?

I have never bothered to compare the 2 or even use the feature in Ghost but I have used the one in 360 before.

They seem to use the same type of backup files with the cryptic names you can't tell what they contain.

However with 360 you get an "backup drive" added into my computer that lets you browse the backups in windows explorer.

You can actually see the folder structure unlike in Ghost where you just see a whole mess of files.

Personally, I would never use a backup program that didn't include a stand-alone tool like the Ghost image explorer that lets you get to your backups on other systems without installing the program.

Or even better, like you said, it should use a standard form of compression like zip.

I can't understand why they have never bothered to improve the feature or make it work better.

Dave

[redk9258]

I was thinking it came from Veritas or something.