Thread: Windows 10 - what backups to run?

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

On my XP computer I wrote a macro that did all my data backups to some external drives, but I never did actually backup everything.

What's the best way to backup the whole C Drive in Win 10? Clone the drive to an external SATA (how does one do that)? I imagine that would be the most comprehensive way to backup everything.

FWIW, the C drive is SSD 512Gb with 365Gb of free space atm.

I would still intend to run some smaller daily backups of regularly changed files via a macro, and do a weekly backup of everything.

Interested to know what backup routines other people run.

Windows has some good built in backup tools covering alot of requirements check this out if you haven't yet. http://www.howtogeek.com/220986/how-...ecovery-tools/

I currently use a cloud product called Crash Plan. I back up to this, and also to an external HDD.

I use Crash Plan to get an offsite copy of data in case of fire, theft etc.

If my parent's house had faster internet I'd just set up a VPN between both of us and back up both of our PC's to each other.

I haven't looked into backup tools specific to Windows 10.

Originally Posted by code4pay

Windows has some good built in backup tools covering alot of requirements check this out if you haven't yet. http://www.howtogeek.com/220986/how-...ecovery-tools/

Thanks for that. I followed it through to the tutorial on doing a System image backup.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/...-in-windows-7/

I just want to verify that this statement:
An image is an exact copy of everything on the drive and will restore it back to its current state.

means that it will take a copy of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g on the Computer?

Something like that would be good to run once per week. I can do data backups whenever I like (will write a new macro) because that's the stuff that changes frequently. So then, the recovery plan in case of a hard drive failure (although I'm using an internal 512Gb SSD as my C drive, so less likely to crash) would be to do a recovery from the System Image and then overwrite the data it restores with my more recent data backup (daily) to a 256Gb Flash Disk.

Ports are USB 3.0 (as is the Flashdisk) so transfer rate should be reasonable.

I also have a USB 3.0 BluRay writer arriving later in the week, and data files that don't change much (e.g. Music files) will be backed up onto that.

Am I on the right track here?

Yes it is an exact copy , it copies data from the hard drive at a lower level than the operating system. If you restored it your system would be at the exact point in time the image was taken.

And yes that's sounds like a good plan.

Ok, so while I'm in protection mode, I may as well pursue anti-virus/cleaning ideas too.

On the XP laptop I have Webroot, MalwareBytes (free version), Piriform CCleaner. The license for Advanced SystemCare 9 has expired but I won't renew it for that PC. It was good for cleaning up stuff the others missed, but the anti-malware side was pretty useless.

So, on the new machine, do I need something like Webroot or is the Win 10 firewall sufficient?

Should I put MalwareBytes on it too? If so, does the paid for version offer any great benefit over the free version?

I expect that a Win 10 version of CCleaner will be worthwhile.

I've also read good things about EmsiSoft, but do I need all of these different things or are they just overlapping each other?

The machine came with a 30 day trial of MacAfee, but everyone seems to think it's fairly useless, and the same for Norton.

I'm pretty lazy with my backups but I use EaseUS to clone the drive, I don't keep much on my laptop so backing up ~70GB doesn't take too long.

In regards to virus software, I haven't found the need since moving to 8 and 10, I use CCleaner to take care of the cookies and to remove leftover files etc.
I was running Hitman and Spybot but the only results they ever got were bogus so I just use Defender now.

XP was pretty poor at keeping viruses at bay, every few months I'd be removing something.

Depending on how static your software load will be, you may not need weekly image backups. I have run systems in the past where the OS/Application software load is effectively locked down at a point in time, backed up once and and that backup is verified then put away. I then run a full backup and verification of all data directories weekly and differential backups of these backups every day, and rotate the backups on a fortnightly basis.

I can then restore the original software load to a new disk, repeat any regular Windows/applications software updates direct from the source, restore the full data backup and a string of up to 6 daily differential backups to totally rebuild the drive content. The differential backups each only contain files amended that day, so the files are smaller but sequence dependent for restoration.

If I do a full data backup weekly and then daily incremental backups, I can restore the data component by restoring the weekly full backup and the latest incremental backup, but all of the incremental backup files except the first will be larger and each will take longer to backup, but it will be quicker to restore and much less sequence sensitive.

With the above system, if you change your software load, you create a new Windows/Application software backup and verify it then put it away, but keep the others as well.

Beware of using software that will continuously 'sync' your primary drive to a backup drive elsewhere as your only backup. This software will amend the backup as soon as you make a change to the primary drive content, so if you accidentally delete or damage a file on the primary drive, the mirror drive safe copy disappears or damages itself straight away as well, and when you discover the error later, there is nothing left to restore from. I didn't find out the hard way, but one of my bosses did, loosing the tool configuration files for his CNC router and a number of job files in one hit. Only four days to recreate from scratch, but the tool files weren't identical to the original ones , so rerunning older jobs was more awkward than it should have been.

Acronis Disk Image for entire C: replication that makes exact bootable clones on any drive big enough. Make a clone, put it in the draw.

If you have a Seagate drive, any Seagate drive at all in or attached to your system, it's free off their site.

This is a great solution for when you experience a cataclysm or you simply want to blow away windows and start fresh without the 7 hour install, 50 reboot update dance.

Next is SyncBack. It make copies of files to another drive or place as often as you want. Choose the drive/directory and it will do this automatically, including keeping "old" versions of the file so you can keep a historical log of changes.

When you bugger something up or want a version from 10 versions back, it's just a file, no complex restoration or digging around.

I copy my bulk drive to a few older spare drives on my own system and a complete differential copy of additions (but not delete deletions) to my sons machine via wifi daily.

I found this yesterday https://allwaysync.com/ it is free and is so simple to use even I can do it. You can create specific jobs in tabs, specify if you want to run those jobs automatically or if you wish manually and overall I haven't found anything to not like about it.

Originally Posted by wodjie

Acronis Disk Image for entire C: replication that makes exact bootable clones on any drive big enough. Make a clone, put it in the draw.

If you have a Seagate drive, any Seagate drive at all in or attached to your system, it's free off their site.

This is a great solution for when you experience a cataclysm or you simply want to blow away windows and start fresh without the 7 hour install, 50 reboot update dance.

Next is SyncBack. It make copies of files to another drive or place as often as you want. Choose the drive/directory and it will do this automatically, including keeping "old" versions of the file so you can keep a historical log of changes.

When you bugger something up or want a version from 10 versions back, it's just a file, no complex restoration or digging around.

I copy my bulk drive to a few older spare drives on my own system and a complete differential copy of additions (but not delete deletions) to my sons machine via wifi daily.

Have you cloned a SSD to a regular spinny HDD? The first time I did it it took a couple of boots to sort itself out then I realised you can select if you are cloning to a SSD and then it seemed to fire up fine first time.

Originally Posted by Ubernoob

Have you cloned a SSD to a regular spinny HDD? The first time I did it it took a couple of boots to sort itself out then I realised you can select if you are cloning to a SSD and then it seemed to fire up fine first time.

Yes. I do that.

I *tend* to do a yearly "blow away" and use the old/original image from a fresh install that was fully updated and goodies installed before mirroring. There are always plenty of old drives around that are good for this*.

I think your problem with going "back" is AHCI is set in your BIOS. If you switch it back to boring SATA/IDE/RAID** then it should boot immediately.

Sometimes its the opposite. I've helped a few friends go from spinnies to SSD and when switching to AHCI first Windows chucks a spack***. Boot it, let it realise its a SSD, then shut down and do the BIOS thing, reboot and you should be fine.


* I use TrueCrypt everywhere and on everything, so security is a zero issue, unless the G-men start using soldering irons....
** It's a dance. Every PC is different.
*** Windows 10 seems to not have any hassle. Win7 is a demon.

Ok, I've done some backups, including a System Image. I did that onto a Samsung T1 256Gb SSD and it was blindingly fast! I backed up data onto a Sandisk 256GB Flash drive (somewhat slower of course). At the end of the SI it asked me if I wanted a System Recovery Disc burnt so I did that to a BluRay.

A couple of questions have come out of that:

1. I had to format the Samsung drive to NTFS in order to do the Systam Image, and it seems that nothing else can be written to this drive now. Is that right? If so I'll have to get a cheap SATA drive to do SIs to because it a waste of the capacity of such a fast drive.
2. When I do another SI will it write another generation to the external drive (of choice) or just overwrite it? It might be handy to have a couple of generations on hand - particularly as I won't include much of my data (I don't use the allocated folders - always directly on C drive). Data will separately to the SSD on a daily basis (once I get a SATA ext drive for SI)
3. Can I do a SI to a Sandisk Flash Drive? I would have to format it to NTFS of course. My thinking here is that I would post it to my son in case of total catastrophe (house burns down). I would probably send him a Sys.Rec.Disc as well.
4. What is the difference between a System Image and a System Recovery Disc? They kinda sound the same......?

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Ok, so while I'm in protection mode, I may as well pursue anti-virus/cleaning ideas too.

On the XP laptop I have Webroot, MalwareBytes (free version), Piriform CCleaner.

So, on the new machine, do I need something like Webroot or is the Win 10 firewall sufficient?

Should I put MalwareBytes on it too? If so, does the paid for version offer any great benefit over the free version?

I expect that a Win 10 version of CCleaner will be worthwhile.

Hi,

Firstly you should not try to run several anti-virus programs together, as they may possibly collide and cause trouble. You only need one good one from the Net. Win 8 and 10 do have a built in anti-virus app called Defender, and in my experience it does not cause this type of conflict with other anti-virus programs for some reason.

McAfee and Nortons are powerful but big, and gobble resources. I like myself MalwareBytes. The paid Pro version has some major advantages in that it is resident in the PC from startup. The free version is not resident at startup and has to be called in whenever you want to do a scan. The Pro version also offers free tech advice via the MWB forum, which is expert stuff in my experience. My PC got a new type of rootkit infection which no anti-malware knew about yet, but the MWB consultant got rid of it for me.

MWB also offers plugins to its main anti-virus app, called MWB Anti-Ransomware, and MWB Anti-Exploit. I have installed both, and they go very well (I have no connection with MWB apart from this). Further info at (calling Batman)

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

Be clear on the difference between anti-malware software and a firewall. They are not the same thing. A firewall is a data sieve which screens incoming data for suspicious patterns and attempts to connect to your PC. It does not scan the PC nor remove malware which is already there. Anti-malware packages have a wide range of capabilities, but at base level they will scan your PC on a regular basis, alert you to attempts by downloads to do something nasty, and remove any nasties which they find.

Win 8 and 10 have a very competent firewall as part of the system, so you won't need another. Also most modems have a hardware firewall, as an extra layer.

Cheers