Backing up

David · Mar 18, 2011, 17:27:01

Having bought another ! desktop and having made the recovery discs , was simple enough now I would and should get into the habit of backing up my files etc and this should be easy enough (no dont laugh poor soul )I see the message back up and follow the onscreen prompts but no it wont happen I just get the message no back up took place.I have put the memory stick in usb ..no deal ok then I will try a DVD no again

So here is my question I how often do you back up I would imagine this is one of those questions how often do you use your pc etc so I am blindly assuming that you back up when you need to but as a rough guide once a week ? bearing in mind my usage of stuff is not really that often photo,s are stored both online and on seperate drives plus on disc so its just a back up of what I have added say for the week why for instance isnt it just backing up and do you overwrite each time ?if that makes sense

I would like to get into the habit of backing up after the last scare which thankfully and thanks to your help didnt end in anything more than a few pounds spent out .... but would like the comfort of knowing the data is safe

Glenn · Mar 18, 2011, 17:29:30

My laptop is backed up every night between 12 - 6, to my Windows Home Server.

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 17:32:29

You back up whenever important data changes, David. My own regime is a daily backup to 4 external hard drives and one internal one. I also do a weekly backup to an additional hard drive, which is stored off site.

The backup routines take about five minutes a day, the weekly one takes about 10 (all routines back up all changing data and program data).

Once a month, I image the OS and apps drives as a further precaution.

It probably sound like overkill, but those few minutes effort mean that I have not lost any data since 1989 - though some of it can no longer be used due to software changes.

David · Mar 18, 2011, 18:01:49

Thanks for that I think another couple of external harddrives are required so pop out tomorrow and get them this should do it for me its possible that there is not enough space on the memory usb or discs to complete the job ,only one point and that is at what point is your media full so you have to overwrite to keep the external or whatever it is up to date if you see my point so I will buy a 250 GB external and this should be ample ..I hope

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:03:04

I'd go for a 500GB or thereabouts, David, photo files fill disks quickly.

Steve · Mar 18, 2011, 18:07:56

Probably worth a couple ,no harm except cost in having two copies of data you can't replace. i.e photos.

pctech · Mar 18, 2011, 18:23:30

Yould always pay a small amount each month for a service like Mozy or ZenVault (others are available) and have it backed up to a remote storage platform.

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:24:24

Though I would never trust my data to a third party

pctech · Mar 18, 2011, 18:27:48

All I would say is that both of those services use 256-bit blowfish encryption and the encryption is done at the client end before upload so noone at the service provider can get access.

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:28:56

I still don't trust a remote environment, Mitch. Plus, of course, it would be a pain to upload large files unless you're on fibre.

David · Mar 18, 2011, 18:32:36

Quote from: Rik on Mar 18, 2011, 18:03:04
I'd go for a 500GB or thereabouts, David, photo files fill disks quickly.

Thanks for this guys I will get this 500 tomorrow and sleep better using something I cant control has its advantages Mitch but I will keep it simple,bit like me really

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:33:22

As Steve says, David, backing up to two drives is even better...

David · Mar 18, 2011, 18:35:41

Do you mean having two lots of the same date backed up ?

Seagate Free Agent Desktop 500 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive

Would these do the job ?

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:37:39

I do, David. As I've said, I make five copies of data daily - it just takes a few minutes as only the changed data is copied. And yes, if they are self-powered, rather than bus powered.

David · Mar 18, 2011, 18:42:43

Rik I just want to be ahead of the game for once....

Rik · Mar 18, 2011, 18:43:43

gizmo71 · Mar 18, 2011, 19:25:22

If you're on Windows 7 and use the built in backup you'll automatically get what are effectively versioned images, provided that the backup media is large enough. I use a load of trayless SATA bays (like this) to allow me to easily drop a SATA drive into each machine for backup purposes, and I bought three 1.5TB drives (which still appears to be the sweet spot for bytes per pound) that I rotate round all my machines monthly.

David · Mar 18, 2011, 19:50:16

Thanks I am on windows 7 and this looks to be beyond my abilities I do have a E-sata plug but

I have not got to finding out anything about this yet

My new machine is an Advent Processor AMD Phenom II X2 545 Processor
- 3.0 GHz
- 2.0 GHz HT
- 6MB L3Cache
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
RAM - 4 GB installed DDR2 RAM
- 4GB maximum RAM capacity
Graphics card ATI Radeon HD 5550
- 512GB dedicated GDDR5 memory
Screen type None
Hard drive 500GB 7200rpm SATA II
Optical disk drive DVD/RW
Memory card reader 25-in-1
USB 8 (4 in front, 4 in rear)
FireWire 1
Modem/Ethernet 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi No
Bluetooth No
Video interface 1 x DVI
1 x VGA
1 x HDMI
Audio interface 3.5mm, SPDIF
TV output 1 x VGA (analogue output)
1 x HDMI (digital output)
Extension card slot 1 x PCIEx1
2 x PCI
Sound 5.1 High Definition Audio
Additional features 1 x eSATA port

whatever this lot means

D-Dan · Mar 18, 2011, 20:55:29

You may want to take a look here: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/53645.aspx for details of how to set up automatic incremental backups on Windows 7 - then you don't have to worry about remembering.

Steve

David · Mar 18, 2011, 20:59:36

Thanks Steve just reading this and it will really help

thanks its really appreciated

armadillo · Mar 18, 2011, 22:42:30

I agree with everything about backing up to separate drives. I take a full backup monthly and then daily changes every day, relative to the latest full monthly backup. I keep three months of those. Every time I take a new monthly full backup, I delete the backup that is three months old. The full monthly backup goes onto an internal dedicated backup drive, an external drive and DVD. Daily backups just go onto my dedicated internal backup drive unless I do something I would be desperate to lose, in which case I copy it to all media.

I don't keep backups off site, like Rik, but I should do and I would if I had anywhere to keep them!

I would not trust any Windows backup mechanism in any version of Windows. I use Acronis True Image and I have restored my OS at least 50 times. Backup takes about 3 minutes per day. I wonder if those who rely on the native Windows backup have ever restored their OS using the backup!

David · Mar 19, 2011, 11:03:45

The final piece of the jigsaw in relation to how long to keep the data thank you for this now another point which I need to look into ,Acronis

This reminds me of Noreen who,for me is so clued up on this and partitions and the like which to some of us is double dutch but its time I learned about it all,well a little at a time

davej99 · Mar 19, 2011, 11:13:37

I have been using Microsoft Synctoy for backup because it is so simple and no software is need for recovery. It is basically a synchronisation tool that can be set to echo one folder to another to create an incremental mirror copy. Changed files can be dumped to the recycle bin or trashbox of the receiving drives or kept in place. You can have back ups on a spare drive, a second internal drive or network storage, all three, as you will.

I have found people that have not previously had a backup regime take to it well because they end up with a simple easy to find copy of their stuff on drives that can be locked away and used on any machine. Basically you just press an icon when you feel like a backup, or use windows task scheduler and a DOS version od synctoy. Though be warned this is not a restorable system files backup. It's just a simple way of keeping a copy of your personal stuff with no fancy backup software to go wrong. I ensure I capture my email and favourites as well amounting to about 30GB in total.

The other point I would offer when choosing a backup drive is in terms of speed. The fastest is a second internal drive, then an esata external drive, then a usb external drive. For domestic network drives, gigabit ethernet is tolerable but slow, except for small or incremental backup, and regular ethernet is very slow indeed. I rejected domestic RAID because if the power supply or the box goes down it a real nuisance and some boxes are proprietary, so drives cannot be read independently. I rejected complex BU software because I want to find my stuff on any drive on any operating system without it. Total cost £40/drive.

So my amateurish policy is: keep it simple, very simple; do not trust proprietary backup software; ensure backup media can be read on any operating system.

pctech · Mar 19, 2011, 11:21:20

Quote from: David on Mar 19, 2011, 11:03:45

This reminds me of Noreen who,for me is so clued up on this and partitions

I'm sure she prefers open plan living.

David · Mar 19, 2011, 11:21:31

This thread is as per usual here getting very informative indeed thank you for that davej99 I had just read Acronis and now this its all learning and at the moment done nowt but for once I will reserch first and as always learning from generous people here who share this valuable knowledge...

David · Mar 19, 2011, 11:22:53

Quote from: pctech on Mar 19, 2011, 11:21:20
I'm sure she prefers open plan living.

If I may be permitted

pctech · Mar 19, 2011, 11:24:08

Rik · Mar 19, 2011, 11:51:53

I agree with Dave on data, keep it simple. I use Synctoy, but I augment that with SynBack SE (there's also a free version) which better suits some bits of the backups I do. However, I do recommend the use of Acronis to image at least the OS partition. When you need to recover a sick machine, I've found no better tool.

Ray · Mar 19, 2011, 11:55:24

I agree about Acronis, Rik, I do automatic daily full computer backups of all my machine to my Windows Home Server and weekly Acronis backups to a NAS drive.

Technical Ben · Mar 19, 2011, 16:51:25

Quote from: David on Mar 18, 2011, 18:01:49
Thanks for that I think another couple of external harddrives are required so pop out tomorrow and get them this should do it for me its possible that there is not enough space on the memory usb or discs to complete the job ,only one point and that is at what point is your media full so you have to overwrite to keep the external or whatever it is up to date if you see my point so I will buy a 250 GB external and this should be ample ..I hope

Probably.
Windows Backup likes to backup the entire drive. So if you have 100gb of stuff, you need that size backup disk (else you have to swap DVDs, I'm not sure windows supports this).
Best to get a like for like size. My main drive is 500GB, and my backup is 300GB (Plus a little 70gb one). So as long as I don't install 300+gb worth of programs, I'm fine. Oh, and it's amazing how quickly you can get to this. My screen cap software for recording games can take up 1gb per min. But looks cool when wining a race in Grid!