PC back up.

[escallonia]

What do you use for backing up your computer? I have a recovery back up on a memory stick I am wondering if that is sufficient. I am running Windows 8.1.

[Pops]

Re: PC back up.

If the memory stick holds everything you want then its sufficient.
I have a Seagate external drive for storing copies of almost everything.

[escallonia]

Re: PC back up.

Morning Pops. My main concern is if the computer crashes, will the recovery usb stick recovery files. according to windows 8.1 it will.
By the way Happy Christmas to your family. John

[Pops]

Re: PC back up.

Any external storage drive will retain any data you have loaded providing it isn't connected to the computer at the time of the crash/lightening strike etc.
Christmas greeting to your good self & family.

[rogleale]

Re: PC back up.

Hi Escallonia,

I don't want to butt in here but it worries me that all you are talking about is data, not the OS. If the OS is corrupted no data will be recoverable from any possible storage device, and if the HD has failed you will be snookered.

If you have a cloned image of your OS which can be re-installed by software on the storage device, (I have always used TrueImage by Acronis) this will save you very quickly.

Just my pennoth,

Roger

[Ian]

Re: PC back up.

Roger makes a good point.

I would guess that your USB stick holds your documents, emails and phtos, etc., but not operating system or application files and programs. What capacity is your USB stick? There are big ones available now - 128GB for as little as £40 or so and USB 3 for a bit more.

If you are regularly backing up your data then if your hard drive crashed you would need to reinstall Windows and your applications.

If you are backing up the entire system then it's one operation to restore the system from your backup, but I wonder if even a 128GB USB drive would be big enough for this.

What software are you using to do backups?

Ian

[escallonia]

Re: PC back up.

The usb stick is 8gb this is only a recovery disk. this information I have got from computer active magazine page 54. I don't have a program for backing up my windows 8.1 operating system. John.

[escallonia]

Re: PC back up.

Hi Escallonia,

I don't want to butt in here but it worries me that all you are talking about is data, not the OS. If the OS is corrupted no data will be recoverable from any possible storage device, and if the HD has failed you will be snookered.

If you have a cloned image of your OS which can be re-installed by software on the storage device, (I have always used TrueImage by Acronis) this will save you very quickly.

Just my pennoth,

Roger

Thank you Roger no problem in butting in thank you. I will have a look at [Trueimage by acronis]

[rogleale]

Re: PC back up.

Hi All,

I will continue in case my backup method may be of use to anyone, especially if they are thinking about a new computer in the near future.

About 18 months ago my main HD started to show problems so I investigated the possibility, or practicality, of using an SSD for the OS. After installing a 128gb Crucial ssd as my main hd and after running it with no problems for about 6 months I bought a 256gb ssd, cloned the OS, Windows 7, to it as the main ssd, thinking that I may run short of space on 128gb. Actually my OS now, with things like CS6, LR5, Qimage etc is using 95gb.

My backup method now is:
Second Wednesday of every month I download all the available updates and install them.
I then mount the 128gb ssd via a usb3/sata cable, format the 128 ssd, and clone the updated OS to it, which takes about 20 minutes.
I then do a test boot using the F12 boot menu to boot from the usb.
Now if my main ssd, or the OS, has a problem I only have to boot from usb to be up and running again. Two minutes!

Acronis makes it so easy.

Roger

[Ian]

Re: PC back up.

The usb stick is 8gb this is only a recovery disk. this information I have got from computer active magazine page 54. I don't have a program for backing up my windows 8.1 operating system. John.

OK, yes I think that is a set of tools for repairing faults in the OS installation, not a backup.

As a first step I would recommend you get a USB hard disk drive and copy all your documents, photos, etc. so you have backups in their original form.

Then you can investigate using Acronis (which I also use).

Ian

PS What size of the HD in your PC and how much is used?

[Ian]

Re: PC back up.

Sounds like an excellent solution to me.

Ian

Hi All,

I will continue in case my backup method may be of use to anyone, especially if they are thinking about a new computer in the near future.

About 18 months ago my main HD started to show problems so I investigated the possibility, or practicality, of using an SSD for the OS. After installing a 128gb Crucial ssd as my main hd and after running it with no problems for about 6 months I bought a 256gb ssd, cloned the OS, Windows 7, to it as the main ssd, thinking that I may run short of space on 128gb. Actually my OS now, with things like CS6, LR5, Qimage etc is using 95gb.

My backup method now is:
Second Wednesday of every month I download all the available updates and install them.
I then mount the 128gb ssd via a usb3/sata cable, format the 128 ssd, and clone the updated OS to it, which takes about 20 minutes.
I then do a test boot using the F12 boot menu to boot from the usb.
Now if my main ssd, or the OS, has a problem I only have to boot from usb to be up and running again. Two minutes!

Acronis makes it so easy.

Roger

[escallonia]

Re: PC back up.

Hi Ian & Roger I have down loaded "True image Acronis"
Will now look into how it works. Will let you know how I get on thanks for your help never get let down on this site have a great Christmas both of you regards John.

[patmoore]

Re: PC back up.

I've used the cloud storage company Carbonite for two years and have been very happy with it.

[Ian]

Re: PC back up.

I've used the cloud storage company Carbonite for two years and have been very happy with it.

I use cloud storage too, but it's not yet practical to restore complete systems from cloud backups unless your backups are not very large or you have a truly unlimited and very fast internet connection.

I have around 4TB of data and I calculate that it would take about a week to download this over my 60 megabit connection at home - if that speed could be maintained for 24 hours a day. This is an unlimited connection but does have variable download rates according to how much you are downloading throughout the day so in effect the overall download rate would be much less than 60 megabits.

At the office we have a 36 megabit connection so it would take even longer, but we'd exceed our download allowance many time over costing us a small fortune in excess charges (although we have an unlimited upload allowance).

And on top of that you aren't guaranteed your connection to your cloud server will run at the same speed as your internet connection.

Nevertheless, cloud storage is a great second line of defence behind removable storage, like USB hard disk drives.

Ian