How does Veeam Endpoint Backup compares to Backup & Restore

[JChris]

Hello, I currently use Veeam Endpoint Backup to backup one of my computers to my SOHO NAS. I'm thinking about using Veeam to backup my main computer too, but I was wondering how does it compare to Microsoft's default backup solution, currently named Backup and Restore (Windows 7). I know this is a cross-software question but I only have two options, ask it here or some Windows forums, I decided to post here as people that uses Veeam tend to have more knowledge on backup solutions. Some of the questions are:

- Which one is fastest? I'm on a wired 1Gbps network. Veeam seems quite fast to me, taking up the entire bandwidth when in use, can Backup and Restore achieve that?
- Veeam uses incremental backups, does Backup and Restore too?
- Veeam seems quite low on resource use, what about Backup and Restore?

In general, I like to keep things as "original" as possible, so using the built-in backup solution would be a plus, but if it's not as powerful as Veeam Endpoint Backup I wouldn't do that!

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Juan,
I am by far not an expert in Backup & Restore from Windows 7, and personally I never like to "compare" other solutions since I do work for Veeam .

I believe the biggest difference is the different options we have for protecting data and restoring data. One of the biggest advantages I believe we have is some possibilities such as "eject the drive" after backup, put it to sleep after backup (as an example) and when restoring the possibility to recover a data volume or specific files or even booting to our recovery media where you can do some troubleshooting first (in case of boot issues) before actually doing a full recovery. I personally believe also that our scheduler is more flexible than the one from Windows Backup & Restore (and you can even use task scheduler if you believe you even need a more flexible schedule...) For example, I am what they call a road warrior and have a default policy to protect my data at 11 PM every day. However, since I jump in and out time zones rather often, my machine is not always connected to the external media or even on at that time. But I do combine that default schedule with different options such as starting the backup when I connect my media again. So if I miss a default schedule, and my latest backup is older than x hours (another schedule option) then it will take the backup the moment I attach or reconnect to my media.

I do understand that you like to keep things as original as possible but on the other hand I strongly advise you to try out both and then decide what feels better and more natural for you. In the end, it is all about your use-cases and what functionality you need, and more importantly, what you want and can restore

Not much, but my 2 cents

Mike

[JChris]

Thanks for the reply, well I'm indeed inclined to the Veeam side, mainly because I don't trust M$ as they took away this backup solution from W8 and just put it back on W10 because people complained. Is it possible to at least hide the systray icon? Veeam doesn't use much resources and is working very well for me, but having this additional icon on the systray is a bit inconvenient. This way I keep my backup jobs and don't have to see this icon everyday

[Mike Resseler]

Juan,

By default the icon should be hidden. It is only when you change the settings that it remains visible. But it is a standard "windows" tray icon so you can hide / unhide it as much as you like

Cheers

Mike