Hi all,

Had a bit of a scare a fwe days ago, thought I’d lost everything on my hard drive, so keen to get a decent back up system sorted out.

I have just bought a 1TB hard drive, which everything will fit onto.

Not entirely sure whether I just want to back up my personal data (pics, vids, docs etc), or clone the current HDD, so I can plug that in should it die. Even though everything can be downloaded online pretty much, I guess it saves the hassle of all that? Any other advantages? If you clone the drive, can you still set it to sync all new files etc?

I’m thinking of just running through MS Backup (I’m on Windows 7) and see what it recommends, but any other suggestions? MS Synctoy?

Don’t really want to have to pay for any fancy software, and going away tomorrow so would like to get it setup quickly tonight so I can start it backing up before I leave. But also want something a bit better than just dragging and dropping all my files.

Thanks, Duane.

I would clone the current HD …

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I am getting it soon … Just want to clone my SSD to Samsung SSD.

I can’t be asked so cloning means I can simply swap the HD to boot up anytime I like … just make sure you get your boot order right in the BIOS setup.

Plenty of cloning software. I rate Acronis, but Easeus is decent, and free. There’s a whole raft of Linux-based options too.

Once you’ve done your backup, what are you going to do with the disk? Only, if it’s in the computer desk drawer, it’s not going to do you much good in the event of a burglary or a house fire. Mine’s at my mum’s.

Not entirely sure whether I just want to back up my personal data (pics, vids, docs etc), or clone the current HDD,

You could just set up a regular backup job. Built-in MS backup does two things (optionally): create a system image, and back up your files. If you have a system image you can just restore it and like magic, your computer is back.

You could always set up RAID, if you are worried about disk failures. If you are worried about burglary/fire then you can buy two disks and leave one at another location (parents etc). Then whenever you go visit, do a new back up, take the new drive with you and swap them over.

Thanks for the replies.

To be honest, I’m not a tech head, so just want a simple option.

My new HDD (Samsung) came with a bunch of software (Samsung AutoBackup etc) on it, should I bother with it, or just format?

Also, what’s the deal with system restore disk etc? I made a Windows Recovery disk last month, should I make a System Repair disk too?

Cloning a disk using Macrium Reflect v5

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwBdbhqtjA8[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWM79HCzdDA[/video]

Step by Step Windows Drive Cloning & SSD Optimization! Ignore the presenters … 😀

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duW_jYVCYEg[/video]

This proper instruction …

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1cRq5SuFpY[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRqsw4U8S60[/video]

MS backup software is pretty decent, generally no need to install anything more.

I’m not familiar with it, but it’s probably bobbins. I’d format the disk.

I’m not sure what you mean with the recovery discs. Are you talking about the Windows one and a PC-specific (eg, Dell) one?

MS backup software is pretty decent, generally no need to install anything more.

The only ‘gotcha’ I’ve found with it is it’s generally not compatible between Windows versions (unless they’ve changed that now, anyway). So if you make a backup with XP and try to restore it with Windows 7, say, it won’t work. Most of the time it’s not an issue, but I’ve been legged up by it in the past.

I have two HDs on my system with one for OS while the other for data only. At the moment I only image (Win 7 standard imaging tool) the OS to external back up drive and use Syntoy to back up the rest of the data to the same external HD.

I have had several HD failures in the past but now that I have back up of all my data I am not that concerned any more but trying to reinstall OS is still a pain as my installation disks are all over … arrghhh … so I am just cloning my OS.

The only ‘gotcha’ I’ve found with it is it’s generally not compatible between Windows versions (unless they’ve changed that now, anyway)

Hmm.. the image is actually a virtual disk file. I think MS have their own format for those, so maybe the format has changed since XP. However it’s a useful thing to know, cos you can use the storage manager to attach the virtual disk and rummage through the files at will.

Oh, now that I didn’t know. (I think the last time I used MS Backup in anger was on NT4…)

I use Syncback http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/ Just set it up to to sync folders onto the external hard drive. I just sync documents, photos, videos and music. Do you need to sync the whole hard drive?

Bear in mind with mirroring that if you have a constant mirror, it only saves you from some things (eg hardware failure], for example if you delete everything, it goes on the mirror too.

Yep, and that’s also true for using synchronisation tools like sync toy.

Bear in mind with mirroring that if you have a constant mirror, it only saves you from some things (eg hardware failure], for example if you delete everything, it goes on the mirror too.

But only if you plug the HDD in between deleting the data and realising you deleted it right?

MS and other backup tools are ‘incremental’ meaning that it only records the changes you made to a set of files each time you do it. Which means that you can go back to earlier versions. This way, even if you deliberately delete files you can get them back from an old backup at a previous point in time – going back as far as you’ve kept the backups.

Really? So if I keep modifying files, it will keep all versions of them? Won’t the HDD fill up pretty quick?

So if I keep modifying files, it will keep all versions of them?

Yes.

Won’t the HDD fill up pretty quick?

Depends what you modify. And you can tell it to limit the size too, at which point it’ll lose the old versions I think.

However – you may have GBs of files, but you aren’t going to be making GBs of changes generally. Unless possibly video editing. This sort of thing works better for general documents.

I use MS backup for my work stuff and documents, then all my pictures are in my photoshop elements catalog and I use their backup tool.

I use a combination of different backups, to try and ensure that if one fails there will always be another to fall back on.

I have the following:

Small external HDD with a complete system image, and always synchronised backup of my documents. This one lives on my desk.

Large external HDD with exactly the same as the first, except it lives at work and only gets updated once a month.

Another Large external drive with backup of photos, which lives at work and only comes home once a month, but, not at the same time as the other.

Crashplan online backup with an online, always in sync, copy of every single document, photo, music file and anything else that is important.

All are encrypted incase someone decided to break into work.

I am properly paranoid of data loss though.

Thanks for the replies.
What happens if I rename a bunch of folders, or move their location? I guess it’ll update to the new location/name, but also remember the old?

– Especially if it’s a folder with 50gb or so of pics?

You select folders (or the Windows libraries like My Documents, My Pictures etc which can actually be multiple folders) that you want to back up, and if you move one within that it’ll realise you’ve deleted the old location and created the new one, so yes it’ll work. It may even realise that it’s the same file moved.

I have a 1tb hdd too – just periodically backup pictures and music.

The rest of the laptop could engulf in a ball of flames as far as I am concerned.