No excuse any more for failing to take decent Backups

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  1. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #1

    No excuse any more for failing to take decent Backups


    Hi there.

    I think we've all said this "Ad Nauseam" but these days with decent computers and reasonable HDD's (better if SSD's) there absolutely is NO reason not to take a backup before even doing relatively maintenance.

    I've just taken a backup of a test W10 system running on a modest i3 CPU - the OS partition was approx. 40 GB used, backup file 22GB using medium compression setting (default) and the total time was just over 6 mins -- hardly a lot of time that can save you HOURS if anything goes wrong. Backup was to an external USB portable Toshiba HDD.

    Using latest version of Macrium here's the screenshot.

    No excuse any more for failing to take decent Backups-macrium.png

    (If you don't like Macrium there are other good programs too) -- the point here is to USE THEM - they don't take a long time and you will save oodles of time and grief later - even if you don't alter your system much -- Components fail, HDD's break or you might want to swao them for bigger ones or SSD's etc.

    ALWAYS TAKE REGULAR BACKUPS !!!!!! They don't take long these days.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,169
    64bit Win 10 Pro ver 21H2
       #2

    Well said jimbo!
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  3. Posts : 9,754
    Mac OS Catalina
       #3

    But Jimbo it is too hard.

    With NAS's coming down in price and same with the larger USB sticks and cards are available really cheap, no reason that anyone should "forget".

    Had one guy on the FB Microsoft page, that assumed that since it is Windows, he should not have to make backups. He felt that it is Microsoft's responsibility.

    I do a once a month image backup on the three machines. No need for a weekly, since all documents and media are on a Amazon Cloud storage.
    Last edited by bro67; 11 Mar 2016 at 01:11.
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  4. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
    Thread Starter
       #4

    bro67 said:
    But Jimbo it is too hard.

    With NAS's coming down in price and same with the larger USB sticks and cards are available really cheap, no reason that anyone should "forget".

    Had one guy on the FB Microsoft page, that assumed that since it is Windows, he should not have to make backups. He felt that it is Microsoft's responsibility.

    I do a once a month image backup on the three machines. No need for a weekly, sinca all documents and media are on a Amazon Cloud storage.

    Hi there
    That's a bit of a feeble excuse -- I'm not sure what planet the Ms guy is on --- Hardware does get broken / lost / stolen/ updated etc. so a small backup every so often should be a matter of course.

    As far as the wretched cloud is concerned -- I'm not sure on the usefulness of it or otherwise when you are dealing with several TB of data -- even a fast wifi connection will take time and upload speeds are usually considerably slower than downloads.

    Data backups are another issue - I'm referring specifically to the OS -- if your computer breaks / unuseable then you probably won't have decent access to the cloud -- you won't want to do complex spreadsheets for example on a tiny tablet or mobile phone even if you can retrieve your data.

    For NAS - yes prices are cheaper than desktop computers these days -- I'm using a GEN 8 HP PROLIANT 4 Bay microserver with 256GB SSD, and 4 X 4 TB HDD's running CENTOS 7 on it.

    I used the DVD connector for the SSD and used the built in RAID controller so I could boot from the SSD (otherwise you can only boot from HDD bay1/2 or USB / Micro SD card in AHCI mode) . In RAID 0 I created the SSD as a single RAID 0 device which could be booted and 2 X 8 TB Raid 0 logical devices -- good enough for what I need. Every so often I run an "incremental / differential" backup on data and copy also to a backup external USB. It's good enough for data. My machines are backed up to the NAS and the images also copied to external USB. Works fine so far.

    This NAS box is used as my PLEX and Music server too - the Raid 0 works fine that way I get full access to all 5 Disks and can boot from the SSD. I don't need full RAID 10 etc. This is a HOME server !!!.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,249
    Windows 8.1, Win10Pro
       #5

    jimbo:

    To begin, I heartily agree with your backup approach, as I use Macrium Reflect on ALL my PCs -- even the ones in the "extended family" (which none of them EVER make an effort to back up).

    MR has been offering their amazing SW for Free for years now, so it's not the cost of the SW, and now that 1TB spinners can be had for $50 USD, it's not the cost of additional drives.

    That said, I don't think "excuses" is the issue; instead, I think that a great majority of folks simply either (1) aren't aware that backups are needed, or (2) think the process is too hard for them to even try.

    When I TRY to explain the need for backups to other folks, I get the all-too-common response "Whatever!"
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  6. Posts : 29
    Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
       #6

    Shout that from the roof tops, It simply cannot be stated enough!!!!
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  7. Posts : 9,754
    Mac OS Catalina
       #7

    Jimbo you know that I was joking at the first sentence. I totally agree that there is no excuse these days to do a backup or image of your hard drive. Sometimes I feel like reaching through the Internet and smacking those that keep blaming Microsoft for them losing their files, when they are not paying attention during upgrades.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 298
    Win-10 Pro x64
       #8

    I wanted to add quick trick to make things even easier (which I've posted before, I know).

    I added shortcuts for Macrium & AOMEI to the context menu, so I can knock out a quick back up while I stretch. Once you configure the output destination for the image, it's pretty much 3-4 clicks and that's it. Plus, it appears that with Macrium you configure it to delete older back ups, as you replace them with newer images, if you want.

    (I used Ultimate Windows Context Menu Customizer to create the context menu shortcuts.)


    b1rd

    No excuse any more for failing to take decent Backups-1.jpg
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  9. whs
    Posts : 1,935
    Windows 7
       #9

    That's nice but not really necessary. I hate to overload these context menus. A simple shortcut does the same.
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  10. Posts : 42,636
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #10

    Problem with image backups now is it takes too long to actually find the backup drive (assuming use of an external USB drive), connect it, and start the backup...

    And I've even made sure my backup USB drive is always allocated the same drive letter so it matches the backup plan.

    (That's using SSD + USB3, differential or incremental)
      My Computers


 

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