Good data backup utility?
 

I'm looking for a good, reliable, easy to use data backup utility. I don't like Norton Ghost, mainly cause I don't like Symantec products... but I'm pretty much up for anything else. Ideas?

Are you trying to back up just the data or are you trying to create an "image" of your machine to reinstall at a later time (such as after a major crash)?

My two cents, spend $60 a year for a website and put your data there. Off-site storage, quick & easy (get an ftp program to send all your data to the site at 1 am every morning). Dot5hosting has plans starting at $4 a month or so.

i hate symantec, but i love Norton ghost 8.2. if you can find a copy of 8.2, it's wonderful.

I'm looking to backup my system before I reformat my computer. I don't want to really create an image because most images will retain errors in registry etc.

I'd highly recommend Acronis True Image, I've found it very easy to use and even the home version will allow you to make selective or whole backups, and then mount them as a drive for copying. If you to try their 15-day trial, it might be able to suit your immediate file backup needs (I'm assuming that's what you mean by backing up your system without imaging it).

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=121154
look at my post in this thread for my answer.

I second Acronis for home backups. I don't like it for corporate usage because if I need to restore and Exchange mailbox, I can't, but anyway....

Yeah, Acronis is good stuff.

Syncback is a great product for this type of backup.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html