Just that with synctoy you end up with the actual files exactly as they are on your machine. With Acronis and others I'm sure you end up with like a .TIB or .BAK file which is proprietary, it contains all your files and their utilities can extract it, but somehow having the exact real files is comforting. I've been using both approachs (synctoy and acronis). I haven't decided going forward what to use exactly, I will try backup assist. Is there something like synctoy which does copies raw files, doesn't stuff them in an archive?
If I am understanding you, I would say this is not true. Acronis, for example, you can click on any backup, and all the files are there in a tree format. Or you can mount the image, which is to this day, a feature I have only found with Acronis. It says archive, but I think that is a misnomer. To be able to mount the image with a drive letter so it is there until you unmount it is very cool. And, you have the exact replica with the same permissions.
The only backup I have seen that you can't see without the program is the SBS image backups, which are very good.
The other thing, while cloud backups should be incremental or dedupe (I prefer dedupe as you have one backup), I very much prefer full backups. I just don't like going to a Wednesday backup and needing to depend on five incremental backups between that one and the full backup.
The other irony is that NAS has the connotation of being rock solid. I like NAS, but I think of it as another safeguard. I really want backups on an internal drive along with backups to five external eSATA drives or using USB 3.0. Five for me, but at least two.
Backup Assist rocks! Period. It just works. It will backup SQL, SharePoint and Exchange if you have them, I had more options (not little tweak options) but more options for how you want to back up and where you want to back up. They continually update it, click on the new version in the right bottom corner and download and update. Never a bug, period. Emails from the owner with the new versions and why they are better. (just don't read his jokes). Support is out of control good. Unbelievably good. There are the same five techs for the past ten years. I can't say enough about Backup Assist. And, with the SQL module, to do transaction log backups every one minute of the day in less than a second is, well, ridiculous.
