PC Back Up

[Dave Fritz]

Do you back up your PC? If so, do you back up everything or just certain files? What have you used and how do you like it? Thanks.

[mike stenson]

Everything gets backed up. Drives fail, that's what they do. I have a synology NAS, but it's kind of a big hammer. If I didn't have that luxury, I'd backup all the non-os files I have to an external drive (encrypted), or a cloud service daily.

[George Yetka]

OS on primary drive all files on a secondary drive. If computer fries replace computer and install secondary drive in it. If primary fries replace it get computer up again and files are still there. Backup secondary drive monthly Unless it has critical info then do it daily. Its fast to backup once it is done the first time.

[Jim Becker]

My Macbook Pro backs up automatically with the Apple Time Machine utility...it's a constant process and the backup is on an outboard RAID drive. Some materials also backup to iCloud as they are shared across multiple devices. And some material, largely media like photos, videos, etc., also get uploaded to my Microsoft OneDrive storage as a manual process as well as to a second RAID drive in the same physical enclosure as the Time Machine backup for archival reasons. To-date, I have not had to take advantage of that backup, but I'm glad it's there.

[Bill Howatt]

They'll tell you in every computer store, "it's now if it will fail, it's when it will fail". I admit that with the increased reliability of drives over the years it is understandable that people think they are bullet-proof, but they aren't totally at all.
My perspective is that the files that must be be backed up are your personal data files like financial information, treasured pictures or sound files, documents, and the like. These are available nowhere else at any cost if the one place they are goes bad. Your operating system and application programs are usually just a case of reloading if you have no backup, a bit of a time-sink but not impossible. But then again, this can be avoided too.
There is also the situation, that causes much angst among those who worry a lot, the case where your house burns down or some other disaster or theft and your backups are lost too. In this case, you need to have a backup referred to as an off-site backup. This needs to be an extra one for convenience.
What I do:
I run a program (SyncBack, but there are others) that is scheduled every day to copy new or modified data files to a backup drive. The place it copies it to is also linked to my OneDrive account on the web and OneDrive then copies these added files to my cloud storage. This takes care of the off-site storage as well. My OneDrive also keeps the files on my local backup drive so they are locally accessible should the internet go down (rare). If any of the files are sensitive, I encrypt them locally before they get backed up although I think the security is good without doing that, but I feel better.

Now the OS and applications. I use a disk imaging program that will make a bootable image of my drive. If my drive fails, I can restore Windows (in my case) and the applications in a few minutes. I use Macrium Reflect but there are others, and it can be scheduled if desired. Since I consider this of less concern than my personal data files, I just run it manually when I think I should. I do not bother putting this image on OneDrive besides it is a large file but some people do. I can't speak about Apple setups but on my PC I do not put important data files in the default locations on the C drive. This permits quicker imaging and also you can restore an older image for any reason without worrying about overwriting new versions of data files.
Imaging programs will backup your data files too but I prefer to use a different program. There a many ways to skin the backup cat. If you aren't aware, have all the files and folders will not permit you to make a bootable OS on a new disk, you need the underlying stuff too. (Again, I'm using a PC.)

[John M Wilson]

Do you back up your PC?

Yes, I back up all my PCs (Mine, wife's, laptop) daily.

Like Mike Stenson, I also use a Synology NAS (I used to be a bit of a computer nerd, and for me, setting all this stuff up was sort of a hobby). With an automated backup, you have to do a lot of initial configuring and fiddling, but once everything is set, it's pretty brainless until something goes wrong.

If so, do you back up everything or just certain files?

I back up everything, just because I have the capacity and it's easier. For sure, the picture files are irreplaceable, and the system files (Windows, programs, et al) would be replaceable, but a hassle. If I had limited capacity, I might worry about which folders to back up, but the price of storage hardware keeps going down, and even with a hobby, my time is worth something.

What have you used and how do you like it? Thanks.

I have had several kinds of back-ups over the 40 years or so that I have had a computer. I started with floppy back-ups, went to a tape drive, but it wasn't until I got my first server that the backup process became so automatic that I don't even have to think about it.

I have had several generations of Synology Network Attached Storage, and I really like both their hardware and their software. They have anticipated all of the routine tasks that a homeowner (or small business) would do, and have easy to implement solutions in hand. Also, there is a pretty robust community on line, and whenever I am trying to do something new, a quick Google search reveals the paths that others have taken.

One unanticipated benefit is access to all my files remotely, so when on rare occasion I need to find a particular file when I am traveling, I can quickly find it on the server, and don't have to worry if I remembered to pre-load it onto the laptop.

Also, I have the server back up to the cloud on a schedule, so that in case of loss of the NAS, I still have a copy of all my stuff in cyberspace somewhere.

All that said, I can count on one hand the number of hard drives I have had fail in four decades, so my actual experience with data loss is very limited. I tend to think of it in terms of insurance: I truly hope I never have to use it, but an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.

[Dave Fritz]

Thank you Bill, that was really helpful. I too have Macrium Reflect however when it had an update I found they are now charging for it. I called the computer tech I use and he suggested just using it as is because it will work fine. However that doesn't solve the issue of a house fire or any other disaster since the back up is sitting beside the computer. I'll have to look into SyncBack or some other options.

[Bill Howatt]

Yes, you can use Macrium Reflect (MR), free version too, for as long as it runs on your computer and their history of programs running on older computers is very good - people with Windows 7 still use it. They stopped issuing performance updates for the free version so it is at V8.0 whereas the paid version got updated to 8.1 which I believe has had speed improvements to take advantage of features of newer hardware. I also think any security or serious problems with the free are still being updated. If you have a paid V8 license then updates are still free to you since it still is the current major verison.
The next version or to buy the latest and greatest current version is now strictly paid and they seem want to move to a subscription model where you pay a fee every year to keep it operational. This has NOT been stated as the only upgrade path with the next version and there is a lot of negative comments from the current users if this is indeed the case but only time will tell.
You are probably aware you can do what is called a Files and Folders (data) backup with MR but if you are using the free version I don't think you can make an incremental backup but I'm out on a limb talking about Files and Folders since I don't do them. The reason I prefer a program like SyncBack is that backs the Files and Folders up into the same structure of Files and Folders on the backup media where MR puts them into a big container file and that's not my preference.
I have the paid SyncBack so I can get enable Versioning. This means that a backed up file does not overwrite the previous copy such that the previous is now gone - it saves a copy of the previous so you can go back in time with old "versions" if you need to. Try the free SyncBack to see what you think, like I said, it isn't the only game in town.

[Bruce Page]

My Mac gets backed up to a 2TB drive daily.
That said, I've never had a drive fail in almost 40 years, but there's always a first time.

[roger wiegand]

I keep three local backups and a remote backup. I suppose I should pare one of them, I was comparing them and never finished the evaluation. The local ones are done by Carbon Copy Cloner which makes a disk image, by Time Machine, and by CrashPlan. Remote backups are by Crashplan. I've recovered disks from Crashplan and CCC successfully, never tried it from Time Machine. In addition photos and financial data also get backed up to a different, more convenient remote site for online access and because the photos database is too big to keep on my laptop. Files I want to share get put onto Dropbox, yet another backup. The local backups are all to a Synology RAID server. The photo database is kept on the NAS and backed up to Crashplan remotely.

I haven't had to recover a disk since the introduction of solid state drives, I'm happy to say. (now I've done it!)

[Paul F Franklin]

I use IDrive to back up everything to the cloud every night automatically, desktop and two laptops. For the daily backups, IDrive just sends any files that have changed since the previous day, so it tends to be very quick. All my sensitive stuff is kept in encrypted partitions and all the cloud backups are encrypted a second time by IDrive. Every couple of months I do full system backups, first to IDrive and then to portable hard drives. I have two, one goes in my safe deposit box, the other in a fire resistant safe. Periodically, I swap the safe deposit drive with the one in the safe. Knock on wood, but I have never needed to restore anything from backup, (although I do test them from time to time) but I'm confident that I can if I need to.

The other thing I like about IDrive is that I can still back up the laptops while we are traveling, even outside the US, so no worries about losing photos, etc., on long trips.

[mike stenson]

I keep three local backups and a remote backup. I suppose I should pare one of them, I was comparing them and never finished the evaluation. The local ones are done by Carbon Copy Cloner which makes a disk image, by Time Machine, and by CrashPlan. Remote backups are by Crashplan. I've recovered disks from Crashplan and CCC successfully, never tried it from Time Machine. In addition photos and financial data also get backed up to a different, more convenient remote site for online access and because the photos database is too big to keep on my laptop. Files I want to share get put onto Dropbox, yet another backup. The local backups are all to a Synology RAID server. The photo database is kept on the NAS and backed up to Crashplan remotely.

I haven't had to recover a disk since the introduction of solid state drives, I'm happy to say. (now I've done it!)

I've recovered from both Crashplan and TimeMachine. TimeMachine is much faster (way faster via Thunderbolt3, but still fast off of Synology), but they both work well. Now, I just need to build a bot to backup images from the synology to smugmug.