BACKING-UP YOUR PC INFORMATION

[cqaigy2]

For windows, i use Veeam Endpoint Backup. Free, but you still have to have media to backup to. Very nice bare metal restore and file/point in time restore too.

 

[newbury]

A few things to consider -
If you think your time or your data is valuable backup frequently to multiple sources. I've got 3.5" and 5" USB backup drives, I generally backup to one of them a month, alternating the backups. But being retired I don't generate much differences/extra data each month. A stable chair requires at least three legs. My stable data requires three copies. I once backed up a complete system and lost both the source hard drive and destination hard drive due to bad electronics. But I had a slightly older copy on a third.

Pictures (and anything REALLY important) are probably best backed up to media with holes in it versus something dependent on magnetics. Punch cards, CD's, DVD's, Blue-Ray etc. As long as they are good and don't delaminate.

Perhaps you are all doing it but -
A backup is a wish
A VERIFIED backup is a promise

Most good backup software does a verification but I've had many a user that went to retrieve something but they "backed" it up in a hurry, no verification, and it wasn't all there. But the initial backup had run quicker because they didn't verify.

 

[dmccarty]

I backup my home data on USB drives, an spare internal drive that replaces my BD/DVD play, and USB thumb drives. I even have some data on DVDs.

Every two years or so I buy a new external USB drive and back up to it so I have multiple drives with data. My backup problem is photos. I have thousands and my camera can use up to 75MB per image. It does not take long to consume quite a bit of disk pace.

I keep data is very specific directories so all I have to do is copy them to the whatever device I want. I happened to do some backups this weekend. :thumbsup: I have an extra drive that fits into my DVD/BD slot that I need to put into use. However I have to power down the system to put the new drive in so I have been procrastinating. This drive is 1 TB and the old one is 3/4 TB. They are cheap enough that I can backup to one of them, put the other one in the system, and put one in a drawer. I need to store one of these off site. I have some DVDs store offsite but I need to store some other stuff too...

Later,
Dan

 

[fordmantpw]

I use CrashPlan for my backups: Online Data Backup | Offsite, Onsite & Cloud | Crashplan

It's not free, but it is real-time, and I don't have to do anything to keep it working. I've got over 2TB of data backed up (family photos, videos, important documents, etc.) and it's nice to know it's all safe if anything happens to my machine(s).

PS: I'm in IT as well, and know the importance of routine backups.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

With external USB drives in the terabyte capacity costing so little these days, that's the way I go. I keep what's important to me backed up on it and it only takes a few moments of my time. Just start copying and walk away till it's done. Things like my iTunes library are several gigabytes but it is all backed up and organized just like it is on my network server.

Yep.

And for system config info, use Clonezilla. When I build or buy a new computer, it gets cloned even before the first boot up. That way, I can restore the hard drive exactly as it was before first boot. All partitions, including the OEM restore partition.

Then I install all of my programs, set everything up the way I want it, but without any of my data on it, and clone it that way.

It's sort of like setting a restore point, but MUCH better, and it's stored away from the drive that is being cloned, so it won't be lost if the drive dies.

You can put the cloned image on any kind of external storage; USB, DVD, whatever.

 

[vvanders]

I use CrashPlan for my backups

It's not free, but it is real-time, and I don't have to do anything to keep it working. I've got over 2TB of data backed up (family photos, videos, important documents, etc.) and it's nice to know it's all safe if anything happens to my machine(s).

PS: I'm in IT as well, and know the importance of routine backups.

Crashplan, Carbonite, heck even Dropbox. Anything that you can just setup and don't have to do anything afterwards is the way to go.

Also ransomware is on the uptick these days, just as important if not moreso. Just today another 0-day was disclosed in flash and is being actively exploited.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep.

And for system config info, use Clonezilla. When I build or buy a new computer, it gets cloned even before the first boot up. That way, I can restore the hard drive exactly as it was before first boot. All partitions, including the OEM restore partition.

Then I install all of my programs, set everything up the way I want it, but without any of my data on it, and clone it that way.

It's sort of like setting a restore point, but MUCH better, and it's stored away from the drive that is being cloned, so it won't be lost if the drive dies.

You can put the cloned image on any kind of external storage; USB, DVD, whatever.

And another benefit of that is that many times, if a PC becomes infected with malware, virus, etc... the restore points are often targeted as well. So when you do a restore, you end up restoring the problem.

 

[sdef]

Lots of good comments. I am also in IT and really want my data backed up. Can't afford to lose all of the ammunition hand loading recipes I have developed with chronograph data along with legal documents, etc.. My strategy for years has been to direct all data to a separate internal drive- be that on a laptop or desktop PC. If a separate drive is not available, then to a separate folder. I call that drive/folder: DATA. On a regular basis I backup the data drive/folder to a NAS with auxiliary backup software, including the C:\USERS\xxx folders. And the NAS is backed up occasionally to a USB drive. Plus I do Windows backups occasionally of the entire system to make things easier in case of a catastrophic failure.

This process may seem excessive to some but all aspects have been used over the years due to various failures. Recently I had a NAS failure and was able to rely on the NAS data that was backed up to the USB drive.

Also with a NAS it is pretty easy to backup all computers on a schedule to the NAS, not to mention stream audio and video. I currently have two NASes, one a Synology and the other an inexpensive consumer model and would not be without at least one of these devices. During Black Friday sales I am looking to upgrade to a new Synology NAS due to new secure chat software being produced to run on the newer models.

 

[dickfoster]

Yep.

And for system config info, use Clonezilla. When I build or buy a new computer, it gets cloned even before the first boot up. That way, I can restore the hard drive exactly as it was before first boot. All partitions, including the OEM restore partition.

Then I install all of my programs, set everything up the way I want it, but without any of my data on it, and clone it that way.

It's sort of like setting a restore point, but MUCH better, and it's stored away from the drive that is being cloned, so it won't be lost if the drive dies.

You can put the cloned image on any kind of external storage; USB, DVD, whatever.

Good info.

 

[dickfoster]

Lots of good comments. I am also in IT and really want my data backed up. Can't afford to lose all of the ammunition hand loading recipes I have developed with chronograph data along with legal documents, etc.. My strategy for years has been to direct all data to a separate internal drive- be that on a laptop or desktop PC. If a separate drive is not available, then to a separate folder. I call that drive/folder: DATA. On a regular basis I backup the data drive/folder to a NAS with auxiliary backup software, including the C:\USERS\xxx folders. And the NAS is backed up occasionally to a USB drive. Plus I do Windows backups occasionally of the entire system to make things easier in case of a catastrophic failure.

This process may seem excessive to some but all aspects have been used over the years due to various failures. Recently I had a NAS failure and was able to rely on the NAS data that was backed up to the USB drive.

Also with a NAS it is pretty easy to backup all computers on a schedule to the NAS, not to mention stream audio and video. I currently have two NASes, one a Synology and the other an inexpensive consumer model and would not be without at least one of these devices. During Black Friday sales I am looking to upgrade to a new Synology NAS due to new secure chat software being produced to run on the newer models.

Basically what I do with the exception of the OS backup. I do just the data.