Backup Software/Security

[Ole Anderson]

Having just cleared over 60 GB of files from my N360_backup folder (Norton) then having it repopulate three days later, I am looking for other solutions. I see it gets terrible reviews as a backup program. Cloud based or external hard drive (I have a WD Passport)? I wouldn't mind dumping Norton completely as I am now running Win 10 which, I am told is quite secure without addons. I do a lot of surfing. The reviews on https://www.cloudwards.net/ suggest Backblaze at $60 per year as a cloud based, unlimited storage solution. What do you folks do for security and backup?

[glenn bradley]

I use an inexpensive 1TB USB drive and "AllwaySync". I run incremental backups about once a week and have for longer than I care to think about. I've been using Allway for many years. Even when I worked in IT I had trouble filling a 1TB drive. Probably just file management habits left over from before storage was cheap.

[Mike Henderson]

I'm paranoid so I have cloud based - Carbonite - and a small local RAID server that I back up to. The small server I have is Synology and I have four 8TB drives in it which gives me a bit less than 24TB of storage. The reason for cloud based is that if your house burns down and your computer and server is destroyed you still have everything in the cloud.

Mike

[Frank Pratt]

I've used the free version of Veeam for years. It is rock solid, fast & reliable. I have a fireproof safe with a hard drive in it for back ups. And it isn't a recourse hog. I don't notice at all when it runs for it's 3 - 5 minute daily backup. I highly recommend it. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is the product that is free.

[Dennis Peacock]

I use Google drive for critical data and a USB drive for local backup. There are many options for backup for home machines. Acronis is one that I've used before and it worked well for backup and file recovery.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a multi-TB USB drive and use Acronis True Image.

[Mike Henderson]

I had a lot of trouble with Acronis and now use Macrium Reflect for full disk backup. The free version seems to do the same thing as the pay version.

Mike

[Jeff Body]

I use an inexpensive 1TB USB drive and "AllwaySync". I run incremental backups about once a week and have for longer than I care to think about. I've been using Allway for many years. Even when I worked in IT I had trouble filling a 1TB drive. Probably just file management habits left over from before storage was cheap.

+1 for Allwaysync

Works great with alot of options.
1 time purchase
You setup exactly what to sync, how to sync, and when to sync.

You can have it perfectly mirror a folder or drive or it set it up where it'll never delete anything on the backup even if you delete it in the main folder.
You can have it sync at a certain time or date or have it sync instantly or 5min, or 10min after a change is made.
Super cool program.

[John K Jordan]

Windows?

I asked my son that question a couple of years ago. He recommended Macrium Reflect and has been using it for a decade. This is a professional program used by businesses and corporations as well as personal users. It uses both full and incremental backups. It's not free but sometimes you get what you pay for. The one-time cost for home users is quite reasonable considering the quality and reputation. Setting it up is not for the faint of heart.

I schedule several backups a week and rotate between three multi-terabyte external drives so a complete drive failure won't lose more than a couple of days. The disk space is automatically maintained by removing the oldest backups. I use dual 500gb solid state drives on this laptop and the incremental backups can be very quick. Full backups can take a while.

There is a free evaluation period.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

JKJ

[Mike Henderson]

I'm pretty sure that the home version of Macrium reflect can be used free. I have two computers and only purchased one copy. I installed the free version on my other computer and it works the same as the pay version and I've had it on my computer for several years. I get updates on both copies automatically. I'm pretty sure the free home version is the same as the pay home version (which is different from the business version).

I think their philosophy is that if they can get you to use it you'll eventually buy it and not somebody else's product. And giving you updates doesn't cost them anything. I don't think you get any support with the free version.

Mike

[Brian Tymchak]

Question for those of you using online services for backup: If you get nailed with a ransomware attack, and files are encrypted, are your online backups protected from being encrypted? Any local drives connected at the time of attack will get encrypted.

[Mike Henderson]

Question for those of you using online services for backup: If you get nailed with a ransomware attack, and files are encrypted, are your online backups protected from being encrypted? Any local drives connected at the time of attack will get encrypted.

I think this is the way Carbonite works: Files are encrypted by Carbonite prior to being shipped over the Internet and stored on their servers. That way, even if someone was watching your Internet connection they could not see what your files are.

You can access (see or download) your files from any computer as long as you have your ID and password. I believe they said that they cannot see your files (because of the encryption) when they are stored on their server.

So if you had ransomware and they encrypted the files on your computer Carbonite might begin copying those files (because they are changed) to their servers. But Carbonite keeps backups for 30 days so as long as you access Carbonite within 30 days, you can see (and download) your regular files.

I suspect most backup services do a similar thing.

Mike

[You can't really upload files to Carbonite. The only way files get uploaded to their servers is when you change a file - or add a new one - and Carbonite detects the change or addition. In that case, Carbonite will upload the file(s).]

[Curt Harms]

I don't worry much about whole disk backup. I can recreate a basic OS install in about 10 minutes (linux user). It does take time to recreate the settings. My concern is data, that is irreplacable. I use a GUI front end for rsync that has worked so far. I haven't automated the process, I suppose I could but haven't felt the need so far. A risk I see with backups is file or disk locking malware with delayed execution. As I understand it, malware could infect my disk but does not do a thing for, let's say 40 days. 40 days after infection the malware triggers and encrypts my hard drive. No problem, install the backup made a few days ago. Install the back up, the malware triggers and I don't have any backups that are not infected. I guess the hope is that there is a fix for that particular piece of malware discovered in the meantime.

[Dave Mills]

I do the local backup to a removable disk.

Reminder to those doing similar, to keep that backup disk normally NOT connected/powered up to your computer. Ransomware will see it just like it sees all your other drives.

[Kev Williams]

Just my opinion, but there's no such thing as 'online security'. 3 times my plastic has been hacked, and in late 2018 my bank account was robbed of $17k by 2 different sources. Cash under my pillow is more 'secure'...

One headline from today: Logins of WHO, Gates Foundation employees circulate on fringes of the internet -- ouch...

And just a few minutes ago on our local news was a story of some database to do with people filing online for unemployment or stimulus money was just hacked, exposing info on something like 8500 people, best I recall- don't know the source of the story or better details at the moment, right now I can find no other news story about it, not even on the local news's website..

No cloud for me... it's just other people's computers, I'd rather just use my own.

[roger wiegand]

I've used Code42/Crashplan for a long time now, both at home and in companies I've worked in. The most important thing about backup software is that you actually be able to restore when the moment of truth comes. I've done that now dozens of times on multiple computers, pretty much flawlessly using Crashplan. I run backups at home to a NAS RAID, and to their cloud server. Having your own backup at home is useless when the house burns down; however you accomplish it offsite storage is a must. A drive you keep in the car is better than nothing, online storage is a lot more convenient and likely to be up to date. I also, for convenience sake, run Carbon Copy Cloner regularly to create disk images. It makes a restore as painless as can be and also lets you easily do things like upgrade drives. I don't think I'm well protected from ransomware at this point, I'll need to think about it.

[Mike Henderson]

After the recommendations above from Glenn and Jeff, I downloaded AllWay Sync and I have to say it works very well. Very easy to set up - lots of easy options to choose from.

I created certain folders on my local server and I sync certain folders on my computer to those NAS folders.

I also do a system image using Macrium reflect about once a month. That will give me back all my applications and settings, and then I can copy the folders from my NAS. Then, for anything more current, I can get it from Carbonite.

Mike

[Thomas McCurnin]

3-2-1 Rule

3 backup copies. 2 onsite. 1 offsite or cloud.

I use Folder Clone to synchronize files and backup.

i use a Synology NAS system hooked to your network and a Western Digital My Book Duo which is USB based to store the data. For $10 a month Hightail will give unlimited cloud storage.

[Lee DeRaud]

I use Acronis True Image. It automatically backs up all the computers to a folder on a Synology NAS, then backs up the NAS back to an external drive attached to the big upstairs desktop once per week. That "master" copy gets copied to one of a rotating set of USB drives: the newest goes into a fire-proof safe in the garage, the older ones get rotated out to a storage locker.

I've resisted cloud storage for both logistical and cost reasons: I'd need more than 1TB just for the photo and music folders. While my ISP download speed is pretty good, the upload speed is not. Last time I checked, it worked out to a couple of weeks to get everything into the cloud the first time. The storage locker is next door to Home Depot, which makes accessing it every week or so relatively convenient.

[Myk Rian]

Cloud based or external hard drive (I have a WD Passport)? What do you folks do for security and backup?
WD Backup came on my 5tb WD Easystore USB drive, so I use that. For security use a VPN.
https://support-en.wd.com/app/products/product-detail/p/266#WD_downloads

[Anuj Prateek]

I use Google drive for critical data and a USB drive for local backup. There are many options for backup for home machines. Acronis is one that I've used before and it worked well for backup and file recovery.

I have something similar. I do these additionally:

- Store photos (RAW) in S3. These are configured to go into Glacier after few days to save on cost.

- I have created a VeraCrypt container. I store important files in the container. Container itself if saved in Google drive.

[Ole Anderson]

I started by uninstalling Norton and deleting 62 GB of Norton backup files on my C: drive. Then I got my 2012 1 TB WD Passport drive running, updated the firmware and software. Not confidant yet with the WD backup software. Running Windows 10. Norton is nasty, after doing an uninstall, every time I reboot it pops up asking me to install a new Win 10 compatible version. Only way to get rid of the popup is to go into Task manager and stop the application.

[Frank Pratt]

I started by uninstalling Norton and deleting 62 GB of Norton backup files on my C: drive. Then I got my 2012 1 TB WD Passport drive running, updated the firmware and software. Not confidant yet with the WD backup software. Running Windows 10. Norton is nasty, after doing an uninstall, every time I reboot it pops up asking me to install a new Win 10 compatible version. Only way to get rid of the popup is to go into Task manager and stop the application.

I pretty much gave up on Norton products about 15 years ago because of that sort of nonsense. Uninstalling it left so much garbage behind.

[Myk Rian]

Norton installes itself so deep into a system, there is only one way to get rid of it. And that means days of rebuilding the system from scratch. I stopped using it way back in the 90s.

[Frank Pratt]

Norton installes itself so deep into a system, there is only one way to get rid of it. And that means days of rebuilding the system from scratch. I stopped using it way back in the 90s.

Bingo! More than once I've had to do just that. Apparently I'm a slow learner, but fool me half a dozen time and I'll catch on.

[Kev Williams]

Norton installes itself so deep into a system, there is only one way to get rid of it. And that means days of rebuilding the system from scratch. I stopped using it way back in the 90s.

I've used Regscanner twice to save my computers. Once to rid a computer of AOL and Norton, and the second time fixed the old E-machine that's still sitting next to me. Both times I was planning on having to scratch build these computers so I had nothing to lose, and no fear of damaging the registry. I simply uninstalled the programs, then I searched the hard drive for any trace of the programs/names using every variation of their names I could think of, and shift-deleted it all. Then I ran regscanner and searched all the same variables and deleted every last one without looking back. The nice thing is, you can backup the registry before you start weeding out the garbage in case something does go awry...

Just for fun, since I know for a fact I have not willingly installed ANY Norton anything on this particular computer, I scanned for Norton...

No surprise, there's 3 instances of Norton in my registry...
431344
I haven't yet, but I'll be backing up then deleting these entries. Pretty sure the computer won't notice the difference ;)

[Ole Anderson]

I found the file and folder that was causing the popup, deleted it, but it just pops back up. How does Norton get away with it? Free with Xfinity. Not brave enough to get into the registry.

[Mike Henderson]

Norton installes itself so deep into a system, there is only one way to get rid of it. And that means days of rebuilding the system from scratch. I stopped using it way back in the 90s.

That's been my experience, also. I won't touch Norton. I think somebody bought them a few years ago - don't remember who.

Mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Norton installes itself so deep into a system, there is only one way to get rid of it. And that means days of rebuilding the system from scratch. I stopped using it way back in the 90s.


That's been my experience, also. I won't touch Norton. I think somebody bought them a few years ago - don't remember who.

Mike

Ditto! Me too!

[Curt Harms]

That's been my experience, also. I won't touch Norton. I think somebody bought them a few years ago - don't remember who.

Mike

Think it was Symantic that bought Norton.

[Lee DeRaud]

Think it was Symantic that bought Norton.That was several decades ago.
Symantec also bought LifeLock (2016?) and have been merging the two brands/products since then.