Best Back-up solution for Beginner

Vesuvius803

Honorable
Feb 4, 2014
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10,530
Hello, I just need some advice on how to set-up a comprehensive back-up for my PC. Whatever is cheapest would be good but protecting my information is paramount so ..... let me know where to start with this. Thanks in Advance

 
go to EaseUS ToDo Backup http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm and download their freeware version - i've been using it since 2008 and have had no issues whenever i've it to restore a cloned copy back to the OS drive

i'd tried all the others, and they're slow and a few of them (acronis and samsung migration) corrupted the backups so they weren't any good when i needed the.

Additionally, i don't know why, all the others seem awfully slow (3-8 hours for a complete clone) where EaseUS is 1.5 hours thru a USB port, and 30 minutes going from one sata drive to another

The interface is super easy to understand - select "clone" vs backup, and then after selecting the target drive to clone, on the next page be sure to select "sector by sector" at the bottom. When i forget to, when i clone back it won't boot and i have to use the windows dvd to "repair" the boot files

fwiw
 

Rookie_MIB

Distinguished
I use EaseUS Backup as well, very good program. What you will need is:

1) drive to backup to. I suggest an external USB drive which you can backup everything to, then unplug and put somewhere safe. You can get a 3TB external drive now for $125.00 or so from almost anywhere (or cheaper if you shop carefully).
2) Download and install the EaseUS backup software.

For the first backup, I would do two backups.

First, do a full system backup of your installation. This way, if the system goes to complete hell, you can restore it and have everything you need back and functional.

Second, do a backup of the specific files that you want backed up. The reason why is simple enough: after you do the original backup, subsequent backups can either be a differential backup which takes far less time. Differential or incremental backups basically means that your only backing up files that are 'different' from what it already has backed up - so - only the changed files, not the full set. Much quicker.

Last thing to do is this: PUT THE INSTALLATION FILES FOR EASEUS ON THE BACKUP DRIVE. Just in case something happens to EaseUS - they go out of business, their backup methods change, website gets hacked, or you just don't have access to the internet, you can always reinstall a basic system OS, install the backup software, and restore your files.
 
actually, once installed on the OS drive, EaseUS ToDo Backup is copied when you clone

one item i forgot - be sure to make a EaseUS ToDo "Emergency Disk" - you will need it to clone the clone drive back to the OS drive in the event of a major failure.

As i clone weekly, the few times i've had a seriously bad malware / trojan infection or attack, rather than waste time researching how to rid the system of it, i just clone the cloned drive back to the computer - as i'm using an internal SDD and my OS drive is a SSD, total time lost is 30 minutes approximate