[ANSWERED] Should You Backup EVERYTHING? - Comments Page 2

Hi Bob,
I use the same basic strategy as you: a weekly image copy and daily incrementals to an external hard drive. I also then copy the weekly and the dailys to a second external hard drive - a backup of my backup - on a daily basis. The main backup is scheduled, so I never have to worry about it. This has saved my bacon more than once. Once in a while, a program like Thunderbird will go south on me (or I break it), and trying to recover all the piecey-parts can be a nightmare. A full restore is faster, and has the broken application up and running again in no time. I've also recovered individual files from time to time. Recently the power supply on my computer burned out, and since the computer was several years old, I decided to invest in a new one. I have a lot of programs that I use or want to have around, and I've done the bit of having to reinstall Windows and all my applications more times that I care to remember. It always takes at least a day (on a good day). When my new machine arrived, I started it up and let it install all the necessaries, then ran a full image copy, which I named Original State and set aside, in case I ever need it. Then I ran a full image restore of my "old" system, and I was back in the saddle again. The whole process took around four hours, and was as smooth as silk. Macrium Reflect Backup is my weapon of choice. It's pretty easy to use and understand, and it runs like a champ. To anyone who still hesitates, I'm with Bob - back up your whole system routinely - some day (and the day will come), you'll be happy you did.

I have both DropBox and Google Drive "copies" of several of my file folders (the really important ones). However, NEITHER of them ever seem to be current. I'll save a new file to my disk, and the copied/synced folders online are NOT updated. I've looked at both DropBox and Google Drive, and found NO place to check settings or get the Sync to work.

Some of you guys make backup so COMPLICATED. It is so simple to follow Bob's advice, and make an image backup of everything, in one step, followed by incremental images every day. It can all be automated (scheduled). All you need to do is swap the USB disks and check the logs!

Why make it difficult?

@Bob Hill For starters, automating "backups" requires that the backup drive be powered up and connected to the computer at all times. That exposes the "backup" to the same viruses and other malware the computer can catch.

If the computer is set up correctly, using full images only for the OS and programs and folder file syncing for data is actually quite simple and takes far less time and storage space than imaging everything.

I'm with Jeannie on backing up and partitioning.
Even though you have a full image of your hard drive you can have backup drive failures.
I occasionally make a full drive image backup.
More frequently I will make a system image, especially before every new Windows 10 semi annual up date.
Then even more frequently I use the old fashioned copy/paste backup for my data. All on different drives.
Having had images fail, it helps to have more than one.
In the worst case scenario, if you have to rebuild the system from scratch, you really want to have a printed copy of Belarc Advisor...
Also, I have been using Acronis forever with excellent results. You should note that there are free versions of Acronis at Western Digital and Seagate. In order to install either free version you need to have one of their drives installed or attached to the computer, even if you don't use it for the source or target drive.

Having a printed, recent copy of a Belarc Advisor (free) summary is absolutely priceless!!

I ordered your ebook and haven't got a link to it nor have you responded to my emails. Whats up?

I still use Karen's Replicator and have recently made a donation to her family. https://www.karenware.com/karens-power-tools-utilities-for-windows

Also https://www.z-dbackup.de/ for Windows Live Mail and others.

Thanks for the informative emails!
Durban

I saw this article after searching for our company name which ironically is called Backup Everything. The answer here is, well no you dont need to backup everything unless you really need it. user files yes, operating systems info...i mean do you really need to if your cost conscious. Your paying for storage, so why not reduce what you pay by selecting to backup less. If your server crashes, what you need is that financial excel spreadsheet not a windows file. everyone is different but we get asked this a lot, i.e. what to backup. Your choice, but play to your budget, we have told people loads of times, save your money and backup the critical stuff only....hope this helps to all. our site is www.backupeverything.co.uk if anyone wants to know more. all the best.