There are several categories of backup and restore utilities:
This list doesn't even attempt to be complete, as there are literally thousands and thousands of backup software titles available.
The limited space for the descriptions of these tools doesn't always do them justice, so check out the manufacturers' web sites for more details.
| System recovery & migration / Image backups | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Manufacturer | Download | Purchase | |
| Acronis TrueImage Home 2009 | Acronis |  |
 |
|
| Acronis TrueImage 9.1 Workstation Edition (Windows) | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| Acronis TrueImage 9.1 Server Edition (Windows) | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| Acronis TrueImage 9.1 Server Edition (Linux) | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| Acronis TrueImage 9.1 Enterprise Server Edition (Windows) | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| Complete PC Backup | Microsoft | Native in Windows Vista | ||
| DriveImage XML | Runtime Software | |
Free | |
| Drive SnapShot | Tom Ehlert Software | |
|
|
| Genie Backup Manager Home Edition (1) | Genie-Soft | |
|
|
| Genie Backup Manager Professional (1) | Genie-Soft | |
|
|
| Image for Windows | TeraByte Unlimited | |
|
|
| Maxtor MaxBlast | Seagate Technology | |
Free (for use with Maxtor harddisk) |
|
| Norton Ghost | Symantec | N/A |  |
|
| Powercopy Disk Imaging | DataPower | |
|
|
| Seagate DiscWizard | Seagate Technology | |
Free (for use with Seagate harddisk) |
|
| Universal Imaging Utility (6) | Big Bang LLC | |
|
|
| UniversalRestore for Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| UniversalRestore for Acronis True Image 9.1 Server | Acronis | N/A | |
|
| VMWare Converter (2) | VMWare | |
Free (registration required) |
|
| VMWare Player (2) | VMWare | |
Free (registration required) |
|
| XXClone | Pixelab | |
|
|
| ZLON Disk Imaging | Zero Assumption Recovery | |
|
|
| Data archiving | ||||
| Product | Manufacturer | Download | Purchase | |
| Automatic File Backup (3) | Microsoft | Native in Windows Vista | ||
| BACKUP & RESTORE (3) | Microsoft | Native in all DOS versions | ||
| Backup Platinum | SoftLogica | |
|
|
| Backup Premium | SoftOptima | |
|
|
| Handy Backup | Novosoft | |
|
|
| Handy Backup Pro | Novosoft | |
|
|
| File Hamster | Mogware | |
Free (Donations welcome) |
|
| NTBACKUP (3) | Microsoft | Native in Windows NT 4/2000/XP/Server 2003 | ||
| RoboCopy | Microsoft | |
Free | |
| RoboCopy GUI | Derk Benisch, Microsoft | |
Free | |
| XCOPY | Microsoft | Native in all DOS & Windows versions | ||
| XXCOPY Free | PixeLab | |
Free (for personal use) |
|
| XXCOPY Pro | PixeLab | |
|
|
| ZipBackup | ZipBackup | |
|
|
| ZipBackup with 2 years of free upgrades | ZipBackup | |
|
|
| Undelete / file recovery | ||||
| Product | Manufacturer | Download | Purchase | |
| Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 | Acronis | |
|
|
| FreeUndelete | OfficeRecovery / Recoveronix | |
Free | |
| Handy Recovery | SoftLogica | |
|
|
| ZAR Zero Assumption Recovery | Zero Assumption Recovery | |
|
|
| Application specific backup & recovery | ||||
| Product | Manufacturer | Download | Purchase | |
| Compact Library Extension Organizer (5) | Chuck Baker | |
Free | |
| FileazeBackup | Rob van der Woude | |
Free (donations welcome) |
|
| Firefox Environment Backup Extension | Chuck Baker | |
Free | |
| Genie Mail Backup | Genie-Soft | N/A | |
|
| Genie Outlook Backup | Genie-Soft | |
|
|
| ZAR Digital Image Recovery (4) | Zero Assumption Recovery | |
|
|
| ZMEIL E-mail Recovery | Zero Assumption Recovery | |
|
|
| Miscellaneous | ||||
| Product | Manufacturer | Download | Purchase | |
| BartPE | Bart Lagerweij | |
Free (donations welcome) |
|
| BkAllDrv (Backup All Drivers) | Rob van der Woude | |
Free (donations welcome) |
|
| CreateCD | Alex Feinman | |
Free (donations welcome) |
|
| Driver Detective | DriversHQ | |
|
|
| Windows SteadyState | Microsoft | |
Free (validation required) |
|
| Notes: | (1) | Though listed under System recovery & migration/Image backups, Genie Backup Manager is actually an All-in-One solution. |
| (2) | This isn't really a backup solution in the strict sense, but
with proper preparation it may save the day in case of a system
crash. Either use it to virtualize critical systems right now, making future "image backups" a snap, or use the created VM as a standby/backup system while restoring a crashed physical system. |
|
| (3) | These native tools can not be used to restore your data to a different DOS or Windows version, often not even to a different servicepack level | |
| (4) | The digital image recovery functionality will work without limitations in the ZAR trial version. | |
| (5) | Compact Library Extension Organizer (CLEO) is an extension of Firefox Environment Backup Extension (FEBE) | |
| (6) | The Universal Imaging Utility is not backup software, but a tool to use existing image backup software to create a single universal disk image (per OS version) for "all" hardware |
Sometimes Microsoft/Windows Update needs to reboot after an automatic update. But that time may not be convenient, like when you're in the middle of a huge download, or print job, or spreadsheet recalculation, or... you get the idea.
You can tell Microsoft/Windows Update to postpone the reboot, but it will
be back nagging again after 10 minutes.
If you left the computer to finish the job on its own, and thus don't respond
to the nagging dialog, Windows will reboot the computer without saving your
data.
You might loose valuable data!
If you are at the screen the first time the dialog appears, the solution is simple. Execute the following command to stop the nagging:
NET STOP "Automatic Updates"
or:
NET STOP WUAUSERV
This will stop the update service until the next ("normal") reboot.
Don't forget to actually (schedule a) reboot real soon, after all there's a reason for the nagging!