What is a sensible and pragmatic backup strategy for Win10?

I am going buy a computer with Win 10 probably -64. I need to estimate how much space I need allow for just the operating system so what is reasonable balance between safety and having million backups. Of course we have to allow for other files.
Currently I have Win 7 Premium and the system backups have totally clogged up the reserve partitioned drive- I didn't buy the computer.

What is the reasonable strategy just for the operating system?

cloa513 said:

Currently I have Win 7 Premium and the system backups have totally clogged up the reserve partitioned drive- I didn't buy the computer.

Can you explain what you mean by "reserve partitioned drive"? Your backups should be saved to an external hard drive, such as USB or network attached. At a minimum the backups should be saved to a second HDD installed in the computer.

cloa513 said:

I am going buy a computer with Win 10 probably -64. I need to estimate how much space I need allow for just the operating system so what is reasonable balance between safety and having million backups. Of course we have to allow for other files.
What is the reasonable strategy just for the operating system?

The System disk requirements grow over time. I just checked my two desktop computers. The test system currently has 33 GB free of 80. The main system has 44 GB free of 100 GB. Each desktop has 3 physical hard drives. A small 100 - 160 GB for the system. One TB drives for data (Documents, Downloads, Media) and 2 TB drives for backups. The test machine also has a large HD for Hper-v virtual drives.

On my laptops, I re-partition the HD into a small (60 GB) partition for system, the remainder for data. I only use the laptops for travel and testing, so I only clone the HD monthly.

I use file history daily to the backup drive, do a system image weekly, and clone my system and data drives monthly. I also periodically copy my data to the other desktop. All of this is done automatically EDIT: [Except for the monthly cloning].

cloa513 said:

What is the reasonable strategy just for the operating system?

Are you implying that you intend to put the operating system and applications on separate partitions?

Not unheard of, but quite uncommon.

The last time I did a clean install, a bare minimum Win 10 Home 64-bit install took about 14 GB, but that was bumped up to around 23 GB within hours by Windows Update and a few small applications. 6 months later, the occupied space passed above 30 GB--for Windows and applications. Now, 18 months later, C has 41 GB occupied. All data is elsewhere.

I just make a full image of C and related partitions once a month with Macrium. That file is circa 20 GB and is saved to a different drive entirely. I keep the most recent 2 or 3 of those images.

ignatzatsonic said:

Are you implying that you intend to put the operating system and applications on separate partitions?

Not unheard of, but quite uncommon.

The last time I did a clean install, a bare minimum Win 10 Home 64-bit install took about 14 GB, but that was bumped up to around 23 GB within hours by Windows Update and a few small applications. 6 months later, the occupied space passed above 30 GB--for Windows and applications. Now, 18 months later, C has 41 GB occupied. All data is elsewhere.

I just make a full image of C and related partitions once a month with Macrium. That file is circa 20 GB and is saved to a different drive entirely. I keep the most recent 2 or 3 of those images.

The computer I have is an ancient Win 7 Premium Japanese Version with C and D drive- I am pretty they are just partitions.

Do you do a backup before you install applications or operating system updates? Do you discard them if there are no problem?

cloa513 said:

Do you do a backup before you install applications or operating system updates? Do you discard them if there are no problem?

I do a backup within a few hours of installing Windows (after Windows has updated and the PC is working OK, but before I've done much configuration or installed applications) and keep that particular image indefinitely.

After that, I make an image in the first few days of every month, before the second Tuesday. Every time I make a new one, I delete the oldest one I have, EXCLUDING the one I made right after I installed Windows.

So---I'll be making a new December image in about a week and at that time I will delete my October image. In January, I'll make another, and delete the November image. And so on.

I make backups of my image files just as I would any other important file.

That's just what I do. Do what gives you a sense of security. Most people don't bother with any imaging. Some people who make significant system changes more often than I do might make an image every day or every week. My system doesn't change much week to week.

Takes about 8 minutes for a full image for my particular PC. If you have 400 GB occupied, it would take considerably longer.

I don't use incrementals or differentials as I don't want to introduce complications for something that critical.

I don't make an image just because I might be about to install an application, but I know some do that.

I rely on System Restore at times and haven't had major issues, but I know it's problematic for some.

lolnothankyou said:

I would say 10-15GB would be enough for the OS, drivers, some updates, and some small programs.

My system backups run 30 - 40 GB and that is with Data, Downloads, pictures, videos and Virtual folders moved to another physical drive. User and Windows folders grow a little every month. My programs folders take up about 10 GB and Program Data takes up about 5 GB.