What backup media to store Macrium Reflect images-file-folder backups

Hey Everyone,I am stuck on what type and size of hard drive that I should use and store my images on and backup my personal data. I am trying to choose between either a desktop external HDD, portable external HDD or internal drive that connects in an enclosure that I would connect via USB port. I am also trying to decide which one will perform the best for making images or even backing up my personal data.I am new at this game of imaging and trying to digest everything about it. I do own a purchased copy of Macrium. Any information I forgot to share please don't hesitate to ask for clarification.

My system internal drive is 1tb in size and currently at 40gb usage This will increase more as I work with my PC. The size I was thinking about was a 2tb, is that overkill? I think it was at 160gb at one point I believe before I did my clean install a few days ago.

My other older MyBook that I have has 2tb with 1tb of my personal data that I will also be either using the Macrium imaging option or using the Macrium File and Folder backup option. So, what would you choose imaging or backup file folder option for personal data? Currently at the moment I am using a program called Goodsync set to on file change to sync to another same drive, but I am looking for a better backup strategy for my personal data.

Here are a few choices I've been thinking about. Which ones would you choose and that would perform the best for image, file-folder backups & cloning? Should I buy multiple of these drives to store multiple backups?

1. External 1tb, 2tb, 4tb WD Easystore, WD Passport & WD MyBook or is there another brand you prefer?
2. Internal WD Blue 1tb.
   
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Thank you all for your help and assistance.

I don't use external hard drives, but many do. It's a matter of preference. I'll let others comment on that.

Regarding size:

You say "currently 40 GB usage".

I assume that is Windows, applications, plus all data and that your data is on the C partition somewhere.

An Macrium image of that is going to be somewhere near 20 GB.

Nearly 50 such images would fit on a 1 TB drive. But it isn't likely that you would keep 50 images.

Nor is it likely that your images will remain near 20 GB in size, assuming your data stays on C and that your applications and data will grow at a typical rate over time. You are the only one who can accurately gauge how fast your storage requirements will increase.

If you keep data on C, your images of C will grow at a faster rate than if data was elsewhere and backed up with a file by file backup program such as Goodsync.

I don't like to trust my data backups to imaging because I don't want to introduce a complexity such as imaging between myself and data backups. File by file is simpler. But if your data is on C, you will have to include it in images of C even if you back it up separately without imaging--unless you want to get involved with an application that will let you choose which folders on a partition will be contained in an image. I've never tried such a program, but they exist.

Have you rejected the idea of splitting your 1 TB drive into C and D, with Windows and applications on C and data on D? If you did that, your images of C would be smaller and not contain personal data.

Hey mrje1,
I have the exact setup in your option 2 for my backups (i.e. MR Backups, My User Files, etc) and it's only connected when doing backups ... to help protect my stuff :)

Hi ignatzatsonic!

Thank you very much for your time and assistance! I appreciate it.

ignatzatsonic said:

I don't use external hard drives, but many do. It's a matter of preference. I'll let others comment on that.

I am assuming you use a raid system or multiple internal hard drives?

Regarding size: You say "currently 40 GB usage". I assume that is Windows, applications, plus all data and that your data is on the C partition somewhere. An Macrium image of that is going to be somewhere near 20 GB. Nearly 50 such images would fit on a 1 TB drive. But it isn't likely that you would keep 50 images. Nor is it likely that your images will remain near 20 GB in size, assuming your data stays on C and that your applications and data will grow at a typical rate over time. You are the only one who can accurately gauge how fast your storage requirements will increase. If you keep data on C, your images of C will grow at a faster rate than if data was elsewhere and backed up with a file by file backup program such as Goodsync.

Yes, but not all data like my personal data PDF'S, Word documents, music files etc. are on a separate 2tb WD MyBook external drive. I don't think my C partition or the disk itself will be past 500gb anytime soon.

I don't like to trust my data backups to imaging because I don't want to introduce a complexity such as imaging between myself and data backups. File by file is simpler. But if your data is on C, you will have to include it in images of C even if you back it up separately without imaging--unless you want to get involved with an application that will let you choose which folders on a partition will be contained in an image. I've never tried such a program, but they exist.

What data is included in the data backups? Are they as said above like videos, music, txt files, word docs etc.?

Sorry if I am misunderstanding here, but can you explain further about the complexity of it? I did a test run with imaging my 2tb drive with my personal data and I have an image backup of the system C. Both are named specifically so I can recognize them. It seemed very simple. I also looked at the file by file option in Macrium and that seemed good too. If you say it is simpler and better I will go the file by file or folder by folder route.

Have you rejected the idea of splitting your 1 TB drive into C and D, with Windows and applications on C and data on D? If you did that, your images of C would be smaller and not contain personal data.

I did think about it after I learned that can be an option before, but then I thought that if my internal drive gets corrupted then it would be pointless. I guess. Not sure if I am right or wrong on this. Let me know your thoughts!

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Thank you very much again for your help. I really appreciate it.

Eagle51 said:

Hey mrje1,
I have the exact setup in your option 2 for my backups (i.e. MR Backups, My User Files, etc) and it's only connected when doing backups ... to help protect my stuff :)

Hey Eagle51! Good to see you again! Thank you for your time and assistance!

Wow! Making sure here! You have exactly the WD Blue internal and enclosure? If so, how do you like the performance? Do you think that would be the way to go over the external one like the MyBook or Passport?

I am finally getting it through my thick skull about disconnecting a hard drive to protect my stuff too especially after losing my stuff two years ago!

Thank you so much again!

I use a combination of internal hard drives, USB flash drives, and standard "internal drives" that are actually put into an external dock and connected to my PC every couple of months for backup purposes. Then they go back in the closet. I don't keep a hard drive enclosure connected to my PC. I don't use RAID because that's another complexity.

Sounds like you are complicating your data backups by keeping some of it inside and some of it outside on an external. That's your choice.

I keep all possible data on an internal D that is in fact a totally discrete drive, rather than a partition on my OS drive. That is backed up to another internal E with one click on my backup application (Syncbackfree--similar to your Goodsync). I don't image my data. Data includes PDFs, Word, Excel, pix, videos, mp3s and anything else you can name. All possible personal files.

Browser bookmarks and Email lives on my C partition. That's personal data too and I back it up with Freefilesync just like any other data in a separate operation than my backup of D.

I've never used Macrium's file by file capability, but would assume its excellent. But it's not imaging.

Making an image doesn't mean you can restore it with 100% certainty. I can easily survive losing Windows and applications--it just takes time to reinstall. All an image would do is save me time. My personal data is infinitely more important than Windows and applications. I can't replace it. I want simplicity and multiple instances of simplicity. To me, Windows and application backups are just a time-saving convenience, while data backups are about risk reduction. Given a choice between 99% probability of success and 99% plus probability of success, I'll take the latter.

Re splitting a drive into C and D. Sure, either C or D or the entire drive can go bad for any reason at any time. I use a totally different drive for D, but of course it could drop dead in 30 seconds just as easily. The primary reason to split (assuming you don't have a totally separate drive for D) would be to keep the images of C to a smaller size and having more control over your data backups---you can do a drag and drop of the entire D or do a file by file backup of the entire D without Windows or applications being involved at all.

Thank you very much ignatzatsonic for the explanation. I appreciate it.

ignatzatsonic said:

I use a combination of internal hard drives, USB flash drives, and standard "internal drives" that are actually put into an external dock and connected to my PC every couple of months for backup purposes. Then they go back in the closet. I don't keep a hard drive enclosure connected to my PC. I don't use RAID because that's another complexity.

What is the brand and model of internal drives you use? What external dock do you use? This information will be very valuable for me to help make my choices, because I am having a hard time choosing which one at the moment.

I know you said that you don't use external hard drives and you wanted to let others comment on that, but I am curious to hear why for my learning. I like to hear all opinions and I think yours could be very valuable to me.

Sounds like you are complicating your data backups by keeping some of it inside and some of it outside on an external. That's your choice.

No backups internally. I did my first image backup the other day of the system with OS/Programs to an external drive. All my personal data, which is 1tb is on a separate external 2tb WD Mybook hard drive. Any files that are there internally are copied over or synced to the external drive. Then from there I use Goodsync to sync those 1tb of files to another same model external hard drive. Last time both drives went down, so I am trying to redo my strategy, but for some reason being stuck on deciding.

I keep all possible data on an internal D that is in fact a totally discrete drive, rather than a partition on my OS drive. That is backed up to another internal E with one click on my backup application (Syncbackfree--similar to your Goodsync). I don't image my data. Data includes PDFs, Word, Excel, pix, videos, mp3s and anything else you can name. All possible personal files.

Why do you keep it discrete? What are the benefits of doing that? Does Syncbackfree have on file change sync option or auto options? Overall How do you like it? Had any problems?

Browser bookmarks and Email lives on my C partition. That's personal data too and I back it up with Freefilesync just like any other data in a separate operation than my backup of D.

How do you like Freefilesync? Why not use Syncbackfree for this? Why use two separate programs?

I've never used Macrium's file by file capability, but would assume its excellent. But it's not imaging.

I haven't used it fully yet as I just bought it, but I did do a one folder test and so far so good. I need to really learn it before I can explain the process.

Re splitting a drive into C and D. Sure, either C or D or the entire drive can go bad for any reason at any time. I use a totally different drive for D, but of course it could drop dead in 30 seconds just as easily. The primary reason to split (assuming you don't have a totally separate drive for D) would be to keep the images of C to a smaller size and having more control over your data backups---you can do a drag and drop of the entire D or do a file by file backup of the entire D without Windows or applications being involved at all.

Because I clean install my computer a few times a year and the operating system slows down or sometype of issue where it seems to not work as good as when I first clean installed it. That is kind of a main reason I like to use an external or maybe in the future a separate internal drive to put my personal data or other data, but like we discussed I have Goodsync to quickly backup any data that is on that drive so it stays off the system drive. I not sure if I would split or partition the drive in that manner, but you never know as I get better with my experience.

Otherwise, I like that idea to make the C drive smaller to have more control and smaller sizes so I might try splitting it for that reason.

Data drive is a Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, now over 7 years old. It was one of the fastest 1 TB drives in 2011 and still has no defects according to SMART after 42,000 hours. It will probably be full in 2 or 3 years and I hope to replace it then with a 2 TB SSD. Those are now about $400 and I hope will be maybe half that when I have to replace.

Backup drive is a WD 3 TB Green WD30EZRX from 2014. No defects in SMART after 25,000 hours.

The dock is a Rosewill RX301-PU3-35B USB 3.0 that accepts 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives. Just a generic commodity.

I wouldn’t pay much attention to my hardware as I’m just one more yokel with anecdotal experience. You can easily find comments saying all of the above products are mediocre or trash.

Re external drives: I don’t like the desktop clutter. Externals operate slower than an internal. I don’t want to inject a flimsy USB port and cable as a possible point of failure. I like to have more control over the brand and model for all of my drives. The dock will accept any drive I choose.

All I meant by you maybe having a complicated setup is that it’s generally simpler to back up if ALL ORIGINAL versions of data are on one drive. That way you should be able to back up all data with a single routine in your file by file backup program. If I understood you correctly, you have SOME originals on an internal and SOME originals on an external. Two locations for originals that I assume you’d want to back up to some third location. Maybe I’m misunderstanding you.

I like discrete C and D so I don’t have to worry about one of them growing faster than anticipated and thereby forcing me to resize. I spent only about $60 for my 128 GB SSD C drive. An SSD big enough for both C and D would have cost me a lot more at the time. I just continued to use my Samsung for D. I don’t have any anxiety about possibly overwriting data when I’m fiddling around with my OS drive.

I haven’t had any issues with Syncbackfree. Used it for about 3 years now. I was satisfied with 2 or 3 other backup programs for years, but eventually ran into some non-disastrous issue with them and so I changed. If I eventually have trouble with Syncbackfree, I’ll change again. If Goodsync works well for you, stay with it. The most important thing is that you understand how it works. Most of the file by file backup progs do the same thing, but the interfaces differ and can be confusing.

I had a brain fade when I mentioned Freefilesync. I used it several years ago before switching to Syncbackfree. I had some issues with its interface that I found confusing or unnecessary—I don’t really recall. I use only Syncbackfree now.

From time to time, I think about using Macrium for file by file backup, but I’m a cheap SOB and don’t want to spend $70 when I’m happy with what I have.

Re clean installs. I haven’t done one in close to 10 years other than when I rebuild with new hardware from the ground up—every 3 or 4 years. From Windows 7 on, I haven’t had any OS issues serious enough to be forced to reinstall. Not sure what might be causing your issues that require several reinstalls a year.

Thank you very much ignatzatsonic again for this great exlanation! My computer which is 10 years old in about a month or two, Happy Birthday huh! .

Are sata 3 SSD backwards compatible with older sata or sata 1 back 10 years ago?

It is great to see you picked some great drives that are lasting you. I am currently using a WD Black Drive I bought 10 years ago and no problems on my end either!!! I plan on doing a new build I think sometime next year. I usually would like to do a new build every 3-5 years, but this round I went for the gold and got about 10 years in. I would like to start using SSD's, but like you said way too expensive for bigger sizes.

ignatzatsonic said:

The dock is a Rosewill RX301-PU3-35B USB 3.0 that accepts 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives. Just a generic commodity.

Now, when you use this dock, how does the internal drive perform on this? Better than putting inside the case? Also, does the internal drive get hot? Let's say if you were to do a couple of hours of backups, wouldn't that be bad for the drive since there are no fans cooling it?

Are you concerned about static electricity shocking it or dust or dirt getting on top of it since the internal drive is not enclosed with anything? If it is fine either way how you use these I might go this route over the external ones.

I wouldn’t pay much attention to my hardware as I’m just one more yokel with anecdotal experience. You can easily find comments saying all of the above products are mediocre or trash.

Re external drives: I don’t like the desktop clutter. Externals operate slower than an internal. I don’t want to inject a flimsy USB port and cable as a possible point of failure. I like to have more control over the brand and model for all of my drives. The dock will accept any drive I choose.

This might be the route I take depending on the answer above I might go with this.

All I meant by you maybe having a complicated setup is that it’s generally simpler to back up if ALL ORIGINAL versions of data are on one drive. That way you should be able to back up all data with a single routine in your file by file backup program. If I understood you correctly, you have SOME originals on an internal and SOME originals on an external. Two locations for originals that I assume you’d want to back up to some third location. Maybe I’m misunderstanding you.

Thank you for clarification! Original versions, yes, but most of my Original Data are located on an external drive. Other original data like making a new Word Doc, txt file, pdf file or downloading something etc. might be temporarily stored on the desktop or documents folder etc., but I eventually or immediately sync or copy and paste it to my external drive. Now, There are some originals that a program created for example that I keep there, but do the same as above and have a copy on my external. Let me know if that helps clarify.---

I like discrete C and D so I don’t have to worry about one of them growing faster than anticipated and thereby forcing me to resize. I spent only about $60 for my 128 GB SSD C drive. An SSD big enough for both C and D would have cost me a lot more at the time. I just continued to use my Samsung for D. I don’t have any anxiety about possibly overwriting data when I’m fiddling around with my OS drive.

What SSD brand is it? Can you explain further on the reasons why? Still not 100% clicking yet.

I haven’t had any issues with Syncbackfree. Used it for about 3 years now. I was satisfied with 2 or 3 other backup programs for years, but eventually ran into some non-disastrous issue with them and so I changed. If I eventually have trouble with Syncbackfree, I’ll change again. If Goodsync works well for you, stay with it. The most important thing is that you understand how it works. Most of the file by file backup progs do the same thing, but the interfaces differ and can be confusing.

Awesome! Thank you! I will most likely stick with Goodsync, but free is always better if it works the same and same features.

I had a brain fade when I mentioned Freefilesync. I used it several years ago before switching to Syncbackfree. I had some issues with its interface that I found confusing or unnecessart—I don’t really recall. I use only Syncbackfree now. From time to time, I think about using Macrium for file by file backup, but I’m a cheap SOB and don’t want to spend $70 when I’m happy with what I have.

. Also, if you contact Macrium and I did this. Ask them in some way for a discount and you possibly might get 20% off. Most people have and I have. So I am guessing you will too!

Re clean installs. I haven’t done one in close to 10 years other than when I rebuild with new hardware from the ground up—every 3 or 4 years. From Windows 7 on, I haven’t had any OS issues serious enough to be forced to reinstall. Not sure what might be causing your issues that require several reinstalls a year.

That is awesome that you haven't had a need to clean install for all those years. I wish that was the same for me. It seems every time I use my computer for a certain amount of months the performance starts to be different like things get more stallish or sluggish etc. something I need to think about and document to see the bigger picture. Especially when I am downloading off the internet it seems to slow my performance of my machine. That is one thing I noticed. I can't use other programs because the programs run very sluggish.

Thank you again for your help.

The internal drives get warm to the touch in an external dock, but they are in the open air, not confined inside a case within inches of a CPU.

I don’t worry about static charges or dust. I don’t touch the circuit board. The dock and the drive are only used for 3 hours every month or two and then both go back to a box in the closet.

If you need to use some type of external every day, maybe you’d choose one that had an enclosed drive and was constantly connected—rather than a dock. That’s not my case.

From the studies I’ve seen, the correlation between heat and drive failure is quite weak, assuming heat isn’t extreme. Barring design flaws, sheer random luck is the big factor.

Here’s some speed tests I did for comparison:

All data copied from an internal Samsung 1 TB drive to an internal WD 3 TB backup drive; 662 GB, 90,939 files; 174 minutes; aka 228 gigs per hour; average file size 7.3 mb.

All data copied from the same internal Samsung 1 TB drive to an external Rosewill dock containing a WD 1 TB Blue drive through the case’s USB 3.0 port; 630 GB, 88,400 files; 190 minutes; aka 199 gigs per hour; average file size 7.1 mb.

The target drives in each instance (WD 3 TB Green and WD 1 TB Blue) aren’t identical. I haven’t tested, but I suspect the Blue is faster than the Green generally. But this gives you some idea of speeds to expect from an internal to an external docked drive—about 199 gb per hour in my case, using USB 3.0.

I can’t make it clearer on why I like discrete C and D drives.

I use a Crucial MX100, which was a mid-level performer at the time I bought it.