I use Macrium Reflect to create system images before I make any changes to the system, like just prior to running Windows Updates, or installing new software. I have a fair number of HDD's, so I like to save new images on at least three separate drives in case one of them fails.
Nope, nothing wrong with my system, haven't reinstalled in more then a year. But things do happen. Rather then investigate the cause, a known good image is an easier fix. The weekly backups take maybe a 1/2 hour total, and I just carry on with what I'm doing, so no hassle. And as I say, great peace of mind. I have seen so many posts from people who say they have a backup image, but it's x months old. With all the tweaks I have made over time, programs won in contests and giveaways, etc. a clean install is not a #1 option. A Guy
My backup seasons are one heck of a lot shorter. I also use Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect) to image my boot drive once a week and just before I make any changes. It takes a hair less than ten minutes to make the image and verify it (it's all one operation so I just set it and forget it. I save my images to my main data drive (which gets backed up so the images also get backed up).
I use FreeFileSync to backup my data drives. It's a folder/file syncing program and is much faster than imaging (unfortunately, it can't be used to backup system files); so much faster, in fact, I can do daily backups of my main data drive. I keep two identical backup drives at home (and backup to both of them daily) and two more in a safe deposit box at my credit union which get swapped out with the two at home at least once a month.
I also backup my data to Carbonite. It costs only $60/year—that's only $5/month—and, imho, is cheap insurance for my data.
That tells me there's a lot going on with your PC.
My last backup on my 2 PCs (Win 7 and 8.1) a couple of days ago both took less than 10 minutes. My last "clean restore" was 2 years ago. That's not a clean install but rather a restoration from factory settings image. Always good to have an image of the original clean installation as a backup image, too.
I do have several giveaway programs too but I don't mind losing them if I have to. Those programs don't come with updates so that may screw up some things also. And those giveaways always come back anyway. An x month old backup is way better than no backup at all. That will already save one whole day of complete re-installation. :)
Are your data files on separate drive? or with the same drive as the OS? That may be the reason why your backup takes 3x longer to complete than mine.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how or how often we do it. As long as we all do it.
Backup, backup, backup! It's all but common sense. :)
Cheers!
Last edited by badrobot; 10 Sep 2014 at 07:09.
I back up with Macrium, after every update. I do not make many changes to the system and the monthly backup is more than enough for me. My backups did save me twice after virus attacks.
That first world problem where you can't even use Windows' Storage Spaces feature to set up a redundancy array to hold what's on your three TB hard drive because you don't have enough three TB hard drives...
All the data I really care about, documents and pictures and soon to be my music library, I have backed up on OneDrive. That totally saved my butt the last time a hard drive died on me, oh my God! ('o') That time sucked because I was right away to start backing up that hard drive, nope, it crashed before I could even do such. Luckily, my vital statistics were on OneDrive so it wasn't a total loss.
I'm toying with the idea of Blu ray disk backups to keep local copies of everything I have in OneDrive. The less volatile and mechanical the backup method is for me, the better.
That reminds me...I need to make a system image of my SSD before Windows 9!
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