I've done Google searches for information on backup software, but the results are so filled with marketing disinformation that I'm asking this here, because I trust the people here.
I need good backup software for backing up my hard drive to an external USB hard drive.
The external drive is much larger than the built-in drive, so there is lots of space on it for multiple copies of some things. The operating system is Window 2000. The external drive will be periodically attached to the system, and the software manually started to perform the backup operations. Here is what I want the software to do:
1) (Required) Maintain an image of the internal drive that can be restored in the event of loss of the drive or corruption of the system. This is to include all software on the system.
2) (Required) In specified directory trees, if a file has been changed, archive a separate archive copy of the old version of the file in an area on the backup drive that is distinct from the image of the internal hard drive. (This will eventually end up with many, many copies of some files, with the corresponding dates.)
3) (Desired) Maintain some kind of Windows recovery information so that Windows on the main drive can be reverted to an earlier configuration in the event that malware has corrupted the system. (I realized that 100% coverage for this is impossible, but I'd like to at least be able to make a reasonable attempt.)
4) (Desired) Some kind of protection so that the archive drive is protected against malware that may reside on the main drive. (Again, 100% is impossible, but I'd like something that does its best to try.)
5) (Desired) I actually plan to have two or more backup drives used in a rotating manner. It would be nice if the software can be aware of that, and intelligently manage the multiple archives.