Teflon said:
Daave, I have moments when I think I understand the whats, whens and
hows of backing up stuff on my PC, but every time I read one of these
threads that discusses all the variations and permutations of doing
backups, I have other moments that make me wonder if I am really
doing / using all of the 'right' tools at the 'right' time to minimize
the negative impact of some hardware or software mishap.
I've read enough of your posts to conclude that you know what you are
talking about and that you have undoubtedly established a standard
routine for backing up your stuff.
So, if you would, I would appreciate your sharing your 'best practice'
backup routine. What components do you backup? How often do you
backup each component? What application(s) do you use to backup each
of the various components? What media do you back up each component
on? And anything else you feel is relevant to your backup scenario.
Like a lot of folks, I am looking for a good recipe, not a grocery
store. Thanks Daave.
Thanks for the kind words, Teflon.
Actually, there are many good recipes. And since everybody has different
needs, know that there is no one-size-fits-all method. Some people have
extremely important data, which if lost, would cost them thousands of
dollars (or more). Others don't have any data at all and use their PCs
only for Web-related activities. Somehwhere in between would lie most
people. Many have important data (including family photos and videos,
etc. and office-related documents, etc.) that should defnitely be backed
up. But perhaps this library of data doesn't change too often. Of
course, if new data is being created every moment, a more rigorous
backup strategy would need to be implemented.
I see the term "backing up" (which is a vague term!) as comprising two
aspects:
1. Saving a recent working version of the operating system and all the
programs, including customized settings and the most recent updates.
2. Making sure data (e-mails, music, photos, videos, Word and Excel
files, etc.) is safely backed up.
I am actually in the process of changing my backup strategy.
But for
now, my method is very simple.
I have only one partition on my hard drive. I use Acronis True Image
Home to make a full image archive of my drive (which is stored on an
external hard drive). Then once a week, I make incremental images, which
don't take that long. Then again, it happens either over night or in the
background, so it really doesn;t matter how long it takes.
I've
always favored manually doing things (even drove a manual transmission
for a number of years!). For instance, I go to the Windows Update site
several times a month and manually install critical updates. This isn't
necessarily "best practices," mind you! For most others I recommend
letting Automatic Updates handle this function. And I'll probably try
that once again myself. But in the past, I recall having performance
problems unless the AU service was turned off. So I just got into the
habit of manually updating. It's probably time to revisit that strategy.
Same with imaging. For a long time, my method was to make one large full
image and subsequent weekly (manual) incremental images overnight. But
lately I have finally started scheduling automatic incremental imaging
sessions, and that works just fine.
What I like about imaging one large partition is it's easy; there's very
little to think about! And not is all my data backed up, but the OS,
programs, etc. are perfectly preserved. So if something funky happens
and my PC can't boot, all I need to do is restore the most recent image.
Some people might need to run the incremental images once a day. It
depends on the person's needs.
But I think I might change my partitioning structure so that the OS and
programs reside on C: and all the data reside on D:. I would image the
C: drive and simply copy the data on D:. Again, Acronis can easily
handle this situation.
This page should help get you started if you are interested in Acronis:
http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/Acronis_image.htm
There are also some tutorials on Youtube that might be helpful.
There are other imaging programs, too. This is the one that I have used.
Since I like it, I recommend it. But there are other good ones, too!
If you choose Acronis (and there is a free trial version), there are
some forums you can post to if you have specific questions. Here's one:
http://forum.acronis.com/forums/acronis-discussion-forums/acronis-true-image-forum
But I believe it is extremely user-friendly.
Hmmm, I realize the above wasn't much of a "recipe," but I hope you find
it helpful.
