Comparison of Windows Backup Software

After switching back to Windows, one of my biggest concerns was how to most efficiently back up my data. In Linux, I used the utility, "rsync", which incrementally syncs the source files to the destination. There were various options for it to have a high level of control over the backup. It was also very fast.

My default method for backing up files in Windows was to continue using rsync, but now in Cygwin, a Linux-like environment for Windows. It was usable, but there were various issues with Windows permissions which would cause certain files to not be copied, and the program does not seem to be very optimized for NTFS file systems. It is pretty slow. Now, I also do a backup of my Windows files to a Linux server, and for this, rsync using Cygwin is the only way I would know to do it, but for my local NTFS to NTFS backup, this method was getting old.

My main desire for a back-up program was to do essentially a one-way sync to the destination. I want to mirror a copy of my files on my working drive to the back up. I want it to be very fast, and I want it to be able to figure out if a file is missing on the backup drive and copy it back. I do not care about staged backups because I really just want to protect myself from drive failure. Things that I want to remember changes for will be staged using things like Git or other version control software. I do not really need version control for my filesystem overall. It turns out there are some pretty nice, free, backup tools for Windows. The four I used were Comodo Backup, Cobian Backup, GFI Backup, and EZBack-it-up.

Note: The "source" drive here refers to the working directory containing the files you want to backup. The "destination" or "backup" drive refers to the one that you want to backup to.

Comodo Backup - 1/5
I found this program to be way too big and complicated. It has a much more lengthy install than the others and has a ton of so-called features which I was not interested in. It was not immediately obvious to me how to set up a backup like I wanted so I quickly dropped it to look at other programs.

Cobian Backup - 2/5
I really like the interface of this one. It was very simple and intuitive to use. You could either do a full backup which would recopy all of the files or an incremental backup which would only copy over changed files. Clearly, incremental backup is the way to go. However, this program had a fatal flaw. It could only track changes on the source drive. That means, if for some reason, you manually deleted a file on the backup drive, but it was still on your source, the incremental backup would not recopy the file. Chances are, you won't be directly manipulating files on the backup drive, but this to me left too many chances open for incomplete backups. Also, doing a full copy of dozens of GB of data simply would not be an option and would take way too long.

GFI Backup - 4/5
This program was pretty good. It has a backup mode and a sync mode. However, the sync is two-way so that means if the backup drive is changed, it will update those changes to your source drive. Again, in principle, you shouldn't be manipulating files on your backup drive, but if you did, you could find yourself losing files on your source drive. It basically just synced them together with the most recent changes to either one. There was no option to make this just a one-way sync. Fail.

The backup option did exactly what I want. It would directly sync all of the files of the source drive to the destination, with the option to mirror them by deleting extra files on the destination or adding files that were manually deleted to the destination. However, it was slow. It took about 25 minutes for it compare all the files on both drives and sync them up. This was about 100 GB of data. This was a usable solution and probably similarly slow to the Cygwin rsync option, but I felt there had to be a better option. It turns out there is.

EZBack-it-up - 5/5
This is a program which was written a while ago and has not been updated since 2004, but it does EXACTLY what I wanted it to do and does it blazingly fast. It will quickly find any changes between the drive and do a one-way sync of the source to the destination. When I say it is fast, I mean FAST. For 100 GB, it will check the two drives against each other within about 10 seconds. If one letter is changed in a text file deep in your file system, it will update it on the destination. I was absolutely amazed with this program.

It basically seems to barely read the drives, and I am assuming it is somehow directly accessing the journal associated with NTFS file systems and compares them and updates the destination. All of the other programs seemed to read every single file on both drives to compare them. This backup program almost seems too good to be true, but so far, it seems to really work perfectly. I will probably check it over then next few months to make sure it is capturing every change, but I feel like I can probably use it with confidence.

It is very easy to set up the backup, and while it does have some more "advanced" features like setting up a backup schedule, it is a very simple and lightweight program. The only problem with it is that its log files don't work. This is due to permission on the places where it stores the log files. The program just doesn't have permissions to write them there. I tried changing the permissions but could not get the program to write log files unless I ran the program as an administrator. I do not want to this however, because then the ownership of the files is messed up. If anyone knows a fix for this, please let me know!

In conclusion, I had simple and specific needs for backup software, and I found a clear winner. EZBack-it-up really impressed me and is totally free. The developer has plans to update it at some point, but other than the logging issue, the program is pretty much perfect for my needs.

Backpack Review: Kata DR-466i and Kata DR-467i

For my future travels, I want to have access to the latest digital technology, which means for me having a powerful laptop and a DSLR camera with a couple of lenses. Due to my desire to carry a DSLR and laptop, I have decided it is probably best for me to have two carry-on pieces of luggage: one for clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc and one for my electronics that can be used as a daypack.

For my electronics bag/daypack, I wanted to get one which would allow me to carry a small amount of semi-pro camera gear, a laptop, and other things such as a raincoat, guidebooks, snacks, water, etc. I considered several bags such as the Tamrac Adventure 9, Lowepro Fastpack 250, Naneu Pro Alpha-L, and the Kata 466i and 467i packs. I end up deciding on either the Kata 466i or 467i. So I decided to order both to try them out. Check it out:

I wanted to get a small enough pack that would feel comfortable enough to use on a daily basis but also big enough to hold a good amount of gear. In the end, the 466i was just too small and the 467i was just about perfect. I wore the 467i on a 15-mile hike yesterday with my camera and a bunch of other supplies, and it was very comfortable. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how big they 466i and 467i are on my back (click on them for bigger sizes):

Kata 466i

Kata 467i

The Kata 466i is only a tiny bit smaller overall on my back and the bigger size of the 467i actually makes it a bit more comfortable for me. The size of the top compartment was an important consideration for me too. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of the top compartment (click on them for bigger sizes):

Kata 466i

Kata 467i

As you can see, the upper compartment of the 467i is significantly larger than the 466i. Overall, I feel like the 467i is a much better designed bag with more optimal use of space.

Buy the Kata 467i and 466i here and here.

My Stupid Little Battle with Amazon Kindle's Dictionary

One of the most useful features of Amazon's Kindle e-book platform is the ability to highlight a word and get a definition for it instantly from the New Oxford American Dictionary installed on every Kindle device or Kindle application for PC, iPhone, etc. No internet connection is required to look up words in the built-in dictionary. This is a VERY valuable feature.

Nonetheless, I did not recognize or use the dictionary feature for a while. I had been using Kindle on PC a bit and there was no indication that the New Oxford American Dictionary was installed. It turns out it is there, but it never shows up on your "Home" or "Archived Items" on Kindle for PC. It is just there in the background, ready to be used to instantly define words.

A little bit later, I bought an iPod Touch and installed the Kindle App for it. While looking at installed books, I noticed that the "New Oxford American Dictionary" was installed and showed up in my "Home" directory (unlike Kindle for PC). At this point, I had no idea that Kindle interfaced with this dictionary to provide instant lookup of words. My thoughts were "Why do I need a dictionary for Kindle?" There were much easier ways to lookup words offline with other Apps on the iPod rather than manually searching through the dictionary.

Being somewhat of a "digital neat-freak", I decided I need to figure out a way to consolidate my Kindle library and get rid of books I did not want anymore. It turns out that Amazon only recently made this feature available. 

By logging in on Amazon and going to the "Your Account" page. Go down to "Digital Content" and click on "Manage Your Kindle". This takes you to a new page where you can register Kindle devices to your Amazon account as well as set up some other options. At the very bottom of this page, you can see all of your orders. By clicking on the "+" to the left of the book's name, a new menu comes up and at the bottom right corner of this you can click on "Delete this title." When you do that this pops up:

By clicking yes, you can permanently delete books from your Amazon account. 

In doing my digital clean-up, I wanted to get rid of some of the free public domain Kindle books which I had downloaded. This, to me, seemed like a completely reversible thing to do as all of those books could be downloaded again for free if I ever wanted them again. I probably would never permanently delete a title I paid for as I would not want to pay for it again if I did want to read it at some point in the future, and the cost to keep it in my library was pretty minimal, ever for a digital neat-freak such as myself.

While looking at my books, I came across the "New Oxford American Dictionary" discussed earlier. I didn't remember downloading it, but nonetheless figured it was some sort of free book that could easily be downloaded again. So I permanently deleted it.

I didn't notice any problems for a while until, while reading a Kindle book on my iPod Touch, I wanted to highlight a section of the text to make a note. I end up only highlighting one word and a little box came up saying "Dictionary not found" along with saying how it could not be found in my archive and to contact customer service. When that happened, let's just say I felt a bit stupid. But it wouldn't be a problem, right? Since every Kindle device in the world has the New Oxford American Dictionary (except now for mine), I could easily re-download it from Amazon's website to get it back on my device. Wrong.

I went to Amazon's web page, and while they had the print version of the dictionary for $32 or so, the Kindle version was not available as a download at all. There was even the little link under the book's picture to "Tell the Publisher!" that you'd like to read the book on Kindle. I tried reinstalling the Kindle for PC software as well as the Kindle App for my iPod but this did not work either as the book is linked with the account and not the software itself. So I called Amazon customer service around 11:30 pm on a Friday night. I was definitely a bit upset about losing my ability to look up words instantly from within a Kindle book. (It turns out I actually could buy a different dictionary for Kindle for about $10 and use it for this feature.)

A nice gentleman from India answered, and I told him my issue. Well, he just didn't know what to do. It was not something he could just fix instantly. He suggested that I make a new Amazon account although this would clearly not be ideal as I had other paid books linked to my current account. I admittedly felt a bit embarrassed for deleting the dictionary, but I did not recognize it as something I had downloaded nor felt that its utility was made clear. On top of that, I was "sure" it would be easy to re-download the free book.

The customer service representative told me he would work on the problem and call me back, although he probably wouldn't get back to me until the next morning as he knew it was getting late on the West Coast of the United States. I almost wanted to tell him to just call me as soon as he figured it out or had a resolution. I spent a few more mointues researching my issue on the internet to no avail and about 15 minutes later, I got a call from Amazon. They figured out a way to relink the dictionary to my account, and he wanted to verify it worked. And it did. I had my dictionary back.

It all worked out in the end, but I was surprised how difficult it was, and a bit surprised no one had experienced this issue before. My new policy is to just not permanently delete anything on my Kindle anymore. As my "Archived Items" folder fills up with a bunch of useless books I will never read, I'll remember this.

Buy the Kindle here.