up vote 0 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

While I am still looking for a backup solution that works for dummy users, I have found one feature that (apparently) none of the backup+imaging software tools I've found does:

Doing a harddisk image to a NAS drive (and esp. verifying it) takes a long time. Therefore, the best option would be to do this at system shutdown (in addition to any scheduling).

I have recently tried Acronis B&R 11, Macrium Reflect Professional and ShadowProtect (with ImageManager) as these seem good and mature Backup/Imaging solutions for Windows.

However, none of them appears to be able to:

When a user initiates a shutdown (or hibernate, ...) it opens a friendly Window informing him that a backup (or verification) is still in progress/missing/planned and ask him if he want's to run this now and shutdown the PC afterwards.

I find this requirement very natural, so I'm wondering whether I'm missing something in the tools or maybe this ain't technically possible with Windows (XP through 7) or whatnot ...

Note: I simply will not use online solutions for doing full disk images, therefore I haven't even looked at cloud backup tools.

link|improve this question
48% accept rate
I disagree that shutdown time is a good time to take the image. What happens when a user wants to shut down just over lunch, or to apply windows updates? What about users who let their machines run for weeks or even months at a time? Better to have this done in a scheduled way. Another option is a system like DeepFreeze, that redirects and then throws away changes to the disk, rather than relying on images that take up diskspace and time to generate. – Joel Coehoorn Oct 3 '11 at 14:45
@Joel - I already put "in addition to scheduling" ih the question. If a user has his box always on, it gets backed up by schedule. If it's shut down each day, it gets backed up at shutdown. And obviously adding an opt-out to do a quick reboot would be needed, but for your average Office user (those I'm targeting) a reboot is rather exceptional. – Martin Oct 3 '11 at 17:20
feedback

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote

There are some utilities that let you schedule tasks to run at windows shutdown. One is LastChance, described here: http://sysadmingear.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-execute-programs-on-windows.html. You might use these tool (or another tool with similar function) to schedule a backup using your favorite backup tool.

link|improve this answer
[googling around](techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/software-suggestions/4704-would-you-‌​like-run-at-shutdown-utilitiy.html) it seems the solution may not be as clear cut – Martin Oct 3 '11 at 17:24
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.