[ANSWERED] Should You Backup EVERYTHING? - Comments Page 1

I downloaded and set up windows update this Tuesday. Laptop got slow and then came up telling me PC had done something wrong and I needed to reboot to no restart. I had to use a system image backup and laptop rebooted fine. then used CCleaner to clean pc and reinstalled windows update and laptop is working fine, thanks for help full info

I downloaded and set up windows update this Tuesday. Laptop got slow and then came up telling me PC had done something wrong and I needed to reboot to no restart. I had to use a system image backup and laptop rebooted fine. then used CCleaner to clean pc and reinstalled windows update and laptop is working fine, thanks for help full info

We have all heard countless times the need to back up...blah blah blah..... Guess it is important when that fateful day arrives and your computer has died as mine did 1 year ago!! 6 hours on the phone with Apple confirmed my dear Imac had gone to be with Steve. Arriving at the store confirmed the DOA Imac which precipitated the purchase of a new one....hurray. Now was my Cloud backup going to work? Answer.... a "kinda of"yes it worked. Problem was it took a few hours chatting with my pals in India and a computer buddy of mine to get everything restored but unfortunately lots of info landed in different spots. Once we finally got most of it arranged I promptly backed up in a couple of places--thank God! About 4 months ago my new Imac froze up after installing Norton via LifeLock....must say Norton really worked in that even I couldn't access my computer! Another 8 hours on the phone with Apple and we were able to restore everything back. Bottom line I now have back ups in a couple of places and my new 4T hard drive arrived yesterday and I plan to do a full back up of this computer once and for all. Bottom line don't be foolish enough like me to think this will never happen to you because it will. Thanks Bob for your great info which I pass along quite a bit.

Bob, looking forward to your new edition of your backup e-book--things are always changing and new methods coming to light.
I especially want to comment on your preferred paid backup software, Macrium Reflect. I bought that on your advice many months ago. I soon found that it is better to leave your computer untouched while the backups are in progress. The only failed backups I've had are the ones going on while I'm using the computer to check emails or some other task. My own full backups only take up to 45 minutes and the daily backups usually about 4-5 minutes. I CAN keep my hands off the computer that long! Keep up the great work you are doing to save all of us catastrophic experiences with our devices!

I use Macrium Reflect V7 on Windows 10. Would I still need boot media since I have the “Macrium Boot Menu” that comes up on startup? If the hard drive fails and meeds to be replaced would the “Macrium Boot Menu” still come up with the new hard drive installed or is the “Macrium Boot Menu” stored on the hard drive? If it's on the failed hard drive and not stored elsewhere on te computer what would I have to do?

There is simply no substitute for cloning your hard drive to protect yourself and your data from catastrophic failure. If your hard drive fails or some unknown virus or maddening software glitch affects your machine, you can spend HOURS trying to find the problem or reinstalling your operating system and program. A cloned copy has saved me on a couple of occasions, and I try to make a clone every 2-3 months.

first like james, thank you...anything personal, medical, bills, musics, pics, and info are backed up on my own external drives 2x's...never use clouds or whatever, don't trust them...again thanks bob

I keep all my data (documents, pictures, email PST file, etc) on a separate HDD partition and back it up automatically every night. I also run Synctoy manually from time to time as a secondary backup to this same data onto a different hard drive. I have 9 hard drives on this system so space is not an issue. Then, every Friday I do a complete system image of my C: drive which picks up any downloads or other files I may have missed getting over to my data partition.

You can tell I have been bitten with losses since buying my first XT computer in 1984.

Recovery must be tested from time to time. by this I mean a full recovery is actually done using your backups. Again, the school of hard knocks has let me down in the past when the recovery failed when I needed it. Hence having more than one backup, using different software and different destinations is the safest way that works for me.

I use the cloud (google groups) to track and maintain forum discussions and I upload important files into this forum. This then works as a backup for others who often don't know how to manage data.

Hope this helps.

Well did the complete back on to a external drive all went well as to checking it.But, my drive failed I used the external drive to restore my new disk,but it wont work as it tells me there is no boot file.So stuck with a back up that wont work and have lost all my files.I know I did a complete system and total back up what went wrong have o idea.

One thing I learned while slaving...er...working for Corporate America is to keep copies of everything (it saved my ample asset many times). Though retired now, I still backup everything to the teeth. I've had several occasions where doing so has saved my bacon...er...data. I've used images to restore my System (OS and programs) to an earlier date and used my data backups (essentially duplicate data drives created and updated using a folder/file syncing program) to restore lost data due to senior moments (I'm very "senior") and other mishaps, like dead or corrupted drives.

I'm running my life as paperless as possible (I only keep physical copies--titles, birth certificate, etc.--when I'm required to by law) so backups are extremely critical for me, thus well worth the additional expense of my extreme backup routine. For people who don't keep much, or any, important data on their computers, far simpler (and less expensive) backup routines would be adequate.

I only use full imaging. I do not recommend incremental or differential images; they just open up too many failure points. Also, I do not recommend using imaging for backing up data. Imaging is essential for backing up and restoring System files but, for data, it just takes too long, creates too many drive writes (critical when using SSDs), and eats up too much storage space. Folder/file syncing is much better for backing up data, being faster, less write intensive, and taking up far less drive space.

Most people image more often than necessary. If using imaging for backing up system files and not data files, the only times one needs to make an image is just before (or just after, both if being really cautious) making any kind of change to the system, such as updating the OS or a program, before installing or uninstalling programs, and/or changing settings. Daily or weekly is a waste of time (and writes) if nothing has changed.

The only time I recommend partitioning drives is when one has only one drive in a computer. System files and data files should be kept segregated for efficient backing up. Ideally, the System files should have their own drive and the data files should be kept on their own drive(s). Partitioning should never be used to categorize data; it's simply too cumbersome and inefficient for allocating adequate space for each category. Using folders are a far more efficient way to segregate data into categories.

However, segregating System files from data files is not possible on a computer with only one drive, such as my little notebooks, without partitioning. For example, my notebooks have four partitions: System Reserved, OS and programs, Data, and the factory recovery partition.

I keep my personal files on an external disk. Once a month, I run a full Macrium data backup to each of two external disks. Every few days, I run a differential backup, alternating between the two disks.
I run Acronis system backups the same way. (Acronis writes files smaller than Macrium's 30 GB differentials.)

I learned the hard way that backing up means nothing unless you can restore. I learned this when some weirdness prepended 16 null bytes to a bunch of files on one of my backup disks.

@John Tyler You still need to have recovery media. If your drive ever went belly up, you would have no way to restore your image since the rescue media on the computer that you can access from the boot menu is also on the drive.

Also, it's a good idea to have more than one rescue media in case one goes bad in storage.

@Steve While cloning is a viable way to back up a drive, it's not the only way and, in fact, it is not the best way. Imaging System Files is far more efficient and takes up less storage space. It's far easier and more practical to store multiple images than multiple clones.

Data files are best backed up using a folder/file
syncing program. It's faster and takes up less storage space.

@Art Hunter Keeping your backups on a partition of a drive, or even another drive, in your computer is a very bad idea. If the drive the "backup" partition is on dies, your backup goes with it. If a virus infects your computer, your backup is likely to also get infected, whether on a partition on the same drive or on a separate drive. if a thief takes off with your computer, the backup is also gone. There many other ways you scenario can go horribly wrong.

For data to be reasonably safe, it MUST exist in three separate places. For most people, this is on the computer, on an onsite backup drive, and on an offsite backup drive. For a backup drive to be a true backup drive, it must be kept powered down and disconnected from the computer and stored away from the computer except while updating a backup (this pretty much rules out automatic backups, btw). Also, one should run antivirus and other antimalware scans before updating a backup.

A few months ago the hard drive of my desktop was acting a bit squirrelly. It was 7 years old so I suspected it to be past its useful lifespan. Sure enough, it died. Fortunately, I kept a mirror image of the 130GB of data on my hard drive on an external drive. I bought a new hard drive for my desktop and was back in business in less than 2 hours. The cost in money and time of the external hdd, new hdd and software were minuscule next to the cost of time and aggravation of replacing all of that data piecemeal. From past experience, that would have taken about a week.

Thanks Bob, I regularly silently thank you for value at no cost for you insights and training. I have bought a number of your publications, partly as a thank you for your support in your excellent free guidance. I am meticulous in Acronis differential backups of full image, daily, weekly and monthly off-site. This has saved my arse (USA ass?) many times over the decades. Please keep up your excellent work. In appreciation, Ken, Cape Town

Lore from ancient history: While working for a nursing magazine, I did a technical, labor-intensive chart on my Radio Shack Model 3. It set out all the blood components that could be transfused and for each gave the dosage, contraindications, side effects, etc.

I got so involved in the project that I didn't want the distraction of backing up. When I typed the last period in the last cell, the computer froze. All my work was lost. It was like a devil was in the machine waiting for the exact moment to screw me.

I learned the only way to beat the devil: Back up.

Howard

Thank you for this explanation on what to back up. I do have an external hard drive I have put things on and hopefully your new ebook will help me understand better how to use it to back up everything. You are really good at explaining things, and I do appreciate you and the work you do to help folks like me, I am in my 70s and if not for you and your help, probably would have given up when I received my first computer. Keep up the good work and hurry with the ebook

Bob, I am an ancient relic. I still have an old flip phone (Samsung) which is tough as nails; but I can scarcely use most of its capabilities, simply because I am not digitally oriented. I am an analog man, lost in a digital world. Every time "they" "improve" things, I get farther behind! In truth, most of what you write I don't even understand! I'm certainly not stupid; I am in the 99th percentile of IQ. Thanks for "listening".

I back up with Macrium Reflect - making full image backups to an external drive. Depending on the PC, mainly whether it has a USB3 port, a backup takes from 15 minutes to 2 hours. I run it overnight.
A year ago I had an HDD crash during the operating day. I had a salvaged HDD of adequate (but smaller) size. I popped it in, and 20 minutes late the PC was exactly restored = OS, partitions, programs, documents, email, browser favorites, even desktop icons in the same position.
(Then I bought a new HDD, made another image, and restored everything on the new HDD.
Image backup is the way to go.