How Do I "Back Up" My System?

[Batdude]

Hello folks,

I would like to "back up" everything I currently have in real time just in case of hardware failure. The OS itself, and everything else that's in my main drive. How do I do that? What do I need? What's new these days? The easiest and less expensive process? Reliability is the most important thing here I would say.

Most likely I'm going to get this done at my local PC installation/repair shop.

Thanks for your input.

 

[SC489]

You want to clone your drive. You need external media that is at least the size of your drive.

Least expensive will be an external USB HDD.

Imaging is more versatile and reliable than cloning since you can schedule backups and select full / differential and incremental backups.

 

[SC489]

Hello folks,

I would like to "back up" everything I currently have in real time just in case of hardware failure. The OS itself, and everything else that's in my main drive. How do I do that? What do I need? What's new these days? The easiest and less expensive process? Reliability is the most important thing here I would say.

Most likely I'm going to get this done at my local PC installation/repair shop.

Thanks for your input.

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free to backup all your system and user files. You can augment this with File History to backup user files frequently.

I schedule backups to an external drive and also do manual backups to another drive stored remotely from the PC.

I've had a poor experience with Acronis backup and would never recommend their products due to poor software engineering and support. Macrium support is excellent by comparison.

You should not use the built in Backup & Restore (Windows 7) which is deprecated and no longer supported.

 

[Ho72]

Imaging is more versatile and reliable than cloning since you can schedule backups and select full / differential and incremental backups.

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free to backup all your system and user files. You can augment this with File History to backup user files frequently.

I agree with the first point, but not the second re user files. Imaging is necessary in order to have a restorable, bootable copy of the OS/apps disk. Data files, OTOH, are just that and don't require any special handling. If they're locked up inside an image file, there is no way to access (or even see) them without the software that made the image in the first place. IMHO, a simple file copy operation is better for data files because the data can be accessed quickly by virtually any computer.

 

[SC489]

Imaging is more versatile and reliable than cloning since you can schedule backups and select full / differential and incremental backups.

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free to backup all your system and user files. You can augment this with File History to backup user files frequently.

I agree with the first point, but not the second re user files. Imaging is necessary in order to have a restorable, bootable copy of the OS/apps disk. Data files, OTOH, are just that and don't require any special handling. If they're locked up inside an image file, there is no way to access (or even see) them without the software that made the image in the first place. IMHO, a simple file copy operation is better for data files because the data can be accessed quickly by virtually any computer.

I do that too using SynchFolders

 

[The Ghost of Caravaggio]

You should have one or more backups of irreplaceable data on an external drives are not connected to your computer except when updating theses backups.

Ransomware can not encrypt/destroy data on storage devices that are not physically connected to your computer. Unfortunately this means fully automated backups are not possible. Every time you save new, irreplacable data to you computer you have to manually connect the external storage device(s) and initial the backups.

Not simply ummounting the backup drives without physically disconnecting them is insufficient. Ransomware can mount connected storage devices.

Using reliable cloud storage services offered by Amazon, Google and Microsoft (for example) also affords protection against ransomware. However it is necessary to manually connect and disconnect to the cloud storage service with a effective password that is saved in not stored on your computer. Unless you have a fast internet connection and backup hardware, restoring large data files form cloud services can be very slow.

--

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E.T Jaynes, Probability Theory: The Logic of Science

 

[Batdude]

Wow looks like there are several really good yet different recommendations and as always confusing to me that I wouldn't know where to start. Is all this stuff automated or something once you load the software? I'm only going to guess not because I'm sure some configuration options are involved?

Does any of that software contain customer support to contact them and get help for proper installation?

 

[Carey Brown]

I'd start with Macrium Reflect free version. Reflect is best used for system backup but can be used for data backup as well which might be a good way to get started.

Get at least 2 external hard drives as big as your internal drives plus 25% for good measure.

Set up a schedule. My schedule does a Full backup every Monday early in the morning and then a Differential backup every morning except Monday.

Get a USB thumb drive and make a recovery "disk" in case your operating system get corrupted. I don't think you need to update this but if you want to be conservative you can repeat this after MS downloads a new Windows update.

Rotate your 2+ drives and keep one off-site (friend, neighbor, work, safe deposit box).

That will get you covered.

Later, when you want to dig a little deeper into this topic you can look into separate backups, one for System and one for Data.

As previously mentioned it is useful to not have your Data backed up using a proprietary file format, you just want plain vanilla file and directory copies on a disk that you can plug into any computer and retrieve. (Reflect is proprietary.) A good program for Data backup is FreeFileSync.

For System, keep using Reflect but adjust the configuration so that the backups don't include your Data.

 

[BobKnDP]

You should have one or more backups of irreplaceable data on an external drives are not connected to your computer except when updating theses backups.

Ransomware can not encrypt/destroy data on storage devices that are not physically connected to your computer. Unfortunately this means fully automated backups are not possible. Every time you save new, irreplacable data to you computer you have to manually connect the external storage device(s) and initial the backups.

Not simply ummounting the backup drives without physically disconnecting them is insufficient. Ransomware can mount connected storage devices.

Using reliable cloud storage services offered by Amazon, Google and Microsoft (for example) also affords protection against ransomware. However it is necessary to manually connect and disconnect to the cloud storage service with a effective password that is saved in not stored on your computer. Unless you have a fast internet connection and backup hardware, restoring large data files form cloud services can be very slow.

Good advice.

I have been told by an IT pro that when ransomware criminals attack commercial systems, the malware may be present for weeks before it acts. The idea is to infect backups as well as the current system.

I doubt that it would be a concern for most private users.

My point? Perfect security may not be possible for systems that are on the Net, or even ones that indirectly get downloads from the Net.

However, good security is practical.

 

[DerKeyser]

Just get Veeam like I recommended ealier. It’s much much more mature and user friendly that the remaining suggestions. Anyone can click next next and answer the couple of questens given to have a backup pr. Your desire (scheduled, manual by autodetect).

It’s a full image backup the first time, after that it’s differential (fast), and it maintains as much history as you set up. After that it has a simple visual explorer that shows your systems point in time backups that you can explore and recover any individual file or what not from - just by browsing.

Apart from that it creates the boot USB stick you need to do bare metal recovery if needed.

Everything as simple as peaches compared to the other “engineer like” software solutions. This is for users - made by the industys fastest growing (for a reason) backup provider.

 

[Chris Noble]

I'd start with Macrium Reflect free version. Reflect is best used for system backup but can be used for data backup as well which might be a good way to get started.

Get at least 2 external hard drives as big as your internal drives plus 25% for good measure.

I do one local HDD + Cloud.

Set up a schedule. My schedule does a Full backup every Monday early in the morning and then a Differential backup every morning except Monday.

I do monthly Full, weekly Differential, daily Incremental.

Get a USB thumb drive and make a recovery "disk" in case your operating system get corrupted. I don't think you need to update this but if you want to be conservative you can repeat this after MS downloads a new Windows update.

I have both a MS and a Macrium recovery stick, just in case.

Rotate your 2+ drives and keep one off-site (friend, neighbor, work, safe deposit box).

My Cloud one is Amazon Glacier. Very cheap.

As previously mentioned it is useful to not have your Data backed up using a proprietary file format, you just want plain vanilla file and directory copies on a disk that you can plug into any computer and retrieve. (Reflect is proprietary.)

Yes, but they are not going out of business soon, and their backup file is password-encrypted.

For System, keep using Reflect but adjust the configuration so that the backups don't include data.

Too complicated for me. I do it all at once, and it's at night anyways and all automated.

 

[Carey Brown]

I'd start with Macrium Reflect free version. Reflect is best used for system backup but can be used for data backup as well which might be a good way to get started.

Get at least 2 external hard drives as big as your internal drives plus 25% for good measure.

I do one local HDD + Cloud.

Cloud is certainly a consideration after OP has the basics up and running.

Set up a schedule. My schedule does a Full backup every Monday early in the morning and then a Differential backup every morning except Monday.

I do monthly Full, weekly Differential, daily Incremental.

I actually use incremental but it's in the paid version only

Get a USB thumb drive and make a recovery "disk" in case your operating system get corrupted. I don't think you need to update this but if you want to be conservative you can repeat this after MS downloads a new Windows update.

I have both a MS and a Macrium recovery stick, just in case.

Rotate your 2+ drives and keep one off-site (friend, neighbor, work, safe deposit box).

My Cloud one is Amazon Glacier. Very cheap.

Thanks.

As previously mentioned it is useful to not have your Data backed up using a proprietary file format, you just want plain vanilla file and directory copies on a disk that you can plug into any computer and retrieve. (Reflect is proprietary.)

Yes, but they are not going out of business soon, and their backup file is password-encrypted.

For System, keep using Reflect but adjust the configuration so that the backups don't include data.

Too complicated for me. I do it all at once, and it's at night anyways and all automated.

 

[vett93]

I switched to Windows 10 from MacOS about 1 month ago. After asking this forum and researching around, I have decided to use the following:

1. Use Windows' File History to back up versions of data. I set the interval at 12 hours.

2. Use Windows' Backup and Restore to copy the entire disk once a month.

3. Use Backblaze for Cloud backup once a day.

Microsoft's system image backup is deprecated, so no longer updated.

MS recommends using a 3rd party product, "We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors".

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/planning/windows-10-deprecated-features

Thanks for the info. I have replaced Windows' Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect and performed the first imaging backup. It seemed to work very well.

 

[The Ghost of Caravaggio]

Good advice.

I have been told by an IT pro that when ransomware criminals attack commercial systems, the malware may be present for weeks before it acts. The idea is to infect backups as well as the current system.

I doubt that it would be a concern for most private users.

My point? Perfect security may not be possible for systems that are on the Net, or even ones that indirectly get downloads from the Net.

However, good security is practical.

I agree. There is no such thing as perfect security. There are only ways to significantly reduce risk. Reducing risk usually involves increased costs and, or inconvenience.

The fact is, ~85% of cyber crimes are caused by human error (2021DBIR ). For individuals, following well-known security practices is sufficient.

If I were working an economically or historically important photography project, I might do all post-production work soon a computer system that had no internet connection. This would increase capital and software expenses and work space needs.

For commercial systems, delaying malware attacks to spread infections to backups is also risky for the attackers. Everyday an attack is delayed, is another day cybersecurity methods can discover and mitigate the ransomware.

 

[vett93]

The simplest “plug and play” backup there is, would be “Veeam Agent for Windows”.

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html?ad=downloads

‘It’s a free product with the perfect features for single desktop backup to a USB drive or a network share. It runs as a service and can automatically update your backup by schedule or when you plug in your backup USB drive.
It also creates the bare metal boot USB stick you need to boot your machine, so it can see and restore your backup.

Beats macrium reflect in simplicity and ease of use/install.

Does Veeam backup software provide file versioning/history? In other words, if I modify the files, will it be able to keep all these versions?

I just found out that Windows 11 will limit its backup file history: You can no longer backup folders using FIle History on Windows 11 (windowsreport.com)

 

[BobKnDP]

The simplest “plug and play” backup there is, would be “Veeam Agent for Windows”.

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html?ad=downloads

‘It’s a free product with the perfect features for single desktop backup to a USB drive or a network share. It runs as a service and can automatically update your backup by schedule or when you plug in your backup USB drive.
It also creates the bare metal boot USB stick you need to boot your machine, so it can see and restore your backup.

Beats macrium reflect in simplicity and ease of use/install.

Does Veeam backup software provide file versioning/history? In other words, if I modify the files, will it be able to keep all these versions?

I just found out that Windows 11 will limit its backup file history: You can no longer backup folders using FIle History on Windows 11 (windowsreport.com)

Interesting. A Windows feature that I never used.

The work-around would be to keep your data in folders within the pre-defined folders.

Maybe MS is trying to "deprecate" the feature, though.

 

[Chris Noble]

The simplest “plug and play” backup there is, would be “Veeam Agent for Windows”.

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html?ad=downloads

‘It’s a free product with the perfect features for single desktop backup to a USB drive or a network share. It runs as a service and can automatically update your backup by schedule or when you plug in your backup USB drive.
It also creates the bare metal boot USB stick you need to boot your machine, so it can see and restore your backup.

Beats macrium reflect in simplicity and ease of use/install.

Here is a detailed comparison that prefers Macrium:

Loading…

symmetric.co.nz

 

[DerKeyser]

Does Veeam backup software provide file versioning/history? In other words, if I modify the files, will it be able to keep all these versions?

I just found out that Windows 11 will limit its backup file history: You can no longer backup folders using FIle History on Windows 11 (windowsreport.com)

Yes it does in the sense that every time it runs you have a FULL copy of your partition/machine (depending on your backup selection).

But if you have 5 versions of a file between a backup run with veeam, only the current version @ backup time is directly recoverable in the veeam explorer.

Technically, if you enable windows file versioning (VSS) and have windows keep versions, all those versions are also in the backup @ every run. But you can only recover the current version in the veeam explorer. If you want the previous versions, you need to recover the machine image (fx. To a Hyper-V Virtual Machine), and recover it from there.

 

[DerKeyser]

The simplest “plug and play” backup there is, would be “Veeam Agent for Windows”.

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html?ad=downloads

‘It’s a free product with the perfect features for single desktop backup to a USB drive or a network share. It runs as a service and can automatically update your backup by schedule or when you plug in your backup USB drive.
It also creates the bare metal boot USB stick you need to boot your machine, so it can see and restore your backup.

Beats macrium reflect in simplicity and ease of use/install.

Here is a detailed comparison that prefers Macrium:

https://symmetric.co.nz/blog/post/macrium-free-vs-veeam-agent

Yes, exactly like I wrote - user friendly and simple - not an engineers product.

Much easier to use and the only reason he selects Macrium is because he want’s to fiddle with a trillion settings and has intimate knowledge of computers.
Exactly the opposite of what the OP requested.

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See my articles and galleries at: https://wolffmadsen.dk

 

[Chris Noble]

The simplest “plug and play” backup there is, would be “Veeam Agent for Windows”.

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html?ad=downloads

‘It’s a free product with the perfect features for single desktop backup to a USB drive or a network share. It runs as a service and can automatically update your backup by schedule or when you plug in your backup USB drive.
It also creates the bare metal boot USB stick you need to boot your machine, so it can see and restore your backup.

Beats macrium reflect in simplicity and ease of use/install.

Here is a detailed comparison that prefers Macrium:

https://symmetric.co.nz/blog/post/macrium-free-vs-veeam-agent

Yes, exactly like I wrote - user friendly and simple - not an engineers product.

Much easier to use and the only reason he selects Macrium is because he want’s to fiddle with a trillion settings and has intimate knowledge of computers.
Exactly the opposite of what the OP requested.

Not what the review actually said, but never mind; I'm sure the OP knows how to read.