PC Backup Software

[Tessian]

What does anyone use for backing up their computer? I only recently started doing this... picked up a WD 500GB MyPassport drive which I like, but I know both the included software and even Vista's backup software are crap. I want to be able to backup most of my drives (but not all) and be able to compress the crap out of it so as not to waste space... don't mind that it'll take longer to restore, not like I'll be doing that often.

Does anyone use any specific software they like for backing up to a USB drive?

[Zeus]

Would Norton Ghost work well to create an image of your HD on your USB drive?

[Tessian]

Would Norton Ghost work well to create an image of your HD on your USB drive?

Perhaps, but can't do incrementals. Shoulda mentioned that-- would like to be able to do weekly incrementals without having to redo the entire image again.

[SineSwiper]

tar zvcf backup.tar.gz *

EDIT: Well, if you need incrementals, then something like rsync, or for something more Windows friendly, IZArc. For that matter, you should be using IZArc for your compression needs, anyway. Be sure to use the update option.

Note: If you are backing everything up into a single file, you do run the risk of a corruption fucking up everything. You might be better off just do everything uncompressed. Hell, here's something I found from a quick search: DeltaCopy.

[Kupek]

Right now, everything that's vital (code, academic papers, dissertation - everything managed by source control) is in multiple places, and backed up to a file server managed by my research group. That's the stuff that if I lost it, it would actually harm me.

For everything else, it would merely be annoying if I lost it. But... I'd rather not. I'm going to buy the 1 TB Time Capsule soon. It would be great if we could avoid the common Apple discussion, but yes, I am willing to pay $300 for a harddrive with a wireless router built in that performs automatic, incremental backups for me.