Help me revise my backup system.

anxiousinfusion · Sep 28, 2014

For years, I've been gotten by with an external USB hard drive which I would just drag and drop folders to. Though I now have so much content to preserve that this method has grown tedious and difficult to keep track of.

I'm looking for advice on two things:

1. Is there a non-invasive tool like Richcopy that actually gets maintained and updated?

2. Best way to go about securing/encrypting the external drives I backup on?

digitaldoc · Sep 28, 2014

The manual backup method of dragging and dropping files is ok with small amounts of data, but as you have more to backup, a better solution is needed. Thankfully, there are software solutions.

One freeware solution I have used is Genie Timeline 2014. It will scan for changes and do incremental backups. If you want the drive encrypted, it will require the paid version. This will work with any external hard drive.

The other option is an external hard drive that comes with the software. I currently use the WD My Passport Ultra. The software is updated a few times a year, and it is password protected and encrypted. Basically you plug the drive into the USB drive, setup the software, and it automatically backs up the main drive. Pretty simple and cheap insurance.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1000#Tab2

terry4536 · Sep 28, 2014

What operating system are you using?

If you are using Windows, I would recommend using the Windows backup function.

As far as encrypting the external hard drive, I would recommend Windows BitLocker to encrypt the whole system. There are also software products from Symantic and others to encrypt just the hard drive.

anxiousinfusion · Sep 28, 2014

Thanks for the answers so far! Drag and drop worked fine when I was in my teens but now I've been around long enough to accumulate more data than I care to do that with.

- I'm using Windows 8.1. I have had trouble in the past with Windows' built in backup so I'm not keen on trying it again.

- My backup drives are never plugged in for more than a few minutes, once every few weeks. Active filesyncing isn't my thing.

- Does that WD software have the fine-grain control of a utility like Robocopy/Richcopy?

digitaldoc · Sep 28, 2014

You can plug in the backup drives intermittently with the WD Smartware or the Timeline Genie. There is not much granular control, but they do effectively find the incremental backups so it can be done quickly and efficiently.

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Help me revise my backup system.

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