For those who make backups of their PC

JustAnotherSaver

Thankfully i think i'm going to be able to save files but it was a close call. I really should've backed up. The annoying thing is i even have Acronis True Image installed. I just don't remember the last time i used it.

What is your procedure for backing up your PC out of interest? Do you have a separate drive specific for the backup? What if that drive was to also fail?

I recently had to backup my iPhone. I have some very important (to me) stuff on there so i made a backup, moved the backup & then made another backup. Good job i did too because when i came to restore - the first backup turned out to be corrupt. So i would've lost everything.

I think i'm going to look in to setting up an auto-backup for the early hours of Sunday morning when i finally get things up & running again.

Mr.Generous

I backup to a removable drive but only every couple of months. Photos would be ok but I'd loose a few emails.

giraffe69

Using the cloud has something to be said for it in that you don't have to remember to do anything. I also back up to an external hard drive but am poor at remembering.

onomatopoeia99

I have an svn respositry for important files on a separate server and commit updates to my important documents to there.

This is not a solution for most people.

buglawton

Ransomware is as big a threat as a hardware failure these days. Trouble is, you'd lose all files in a Cloud drive and any connected drive to the Ransomware too.

Heedtheadvice

If something is important t to you:
Backup to two separate systems, preferably in two separate locations such as unplugged external hard drive (copy over the whole c drive Image every so often too) and a (collection of) DVD(s) or the cloud. Possible security or availability issues with the latter?
Backup as frequently as you make changes that you do not want to loose and can cope with! If it is not automatic put it on a calendar and be disciplined.

securityguy

Crashplan.

Gillor

Having had an HDD failure and a virtually impossible to remove root-kit infection a few years ago when I lost everything, I am now almost OCD with regard to back-ups.

So probably an extreme reaction but for what it is worth my current back-up routine is:

Daily…

• Data back-up scheduled nightly to iDrive cloud storage (5GB free storage).
• All photos and music from PC and phone automatically sync’d to OneDrive free cloud storage.
• Data back-up also scheduled nightly to USB flash drive using free version of FBackup.

Weekly/Monthly…

• A complete disk image to external HDD using free Redo Backup and Recovery.

In addition I have also installed Raxco Instant Rescue in the event of system failure, corrupted software or malware infection. Not free but worth every penny.

All external back-up drives only are connected to the PC as required, to reduce the possibility of malware corruption/ransomeware encryption etc..

OTT? Probably, but at least I no longer have to worry about loosing precious files, photos, and software keys.

getmore4less

Sync == very bad.

To back up properly you need to capture the history of everything in a non corruptible way.

Verification before deleting older copies.

Robisere

3 years ago, after a particularly bad PC infection, I bought Kaspersky Total Security (upgraded every year) and a simple, 1-bay NAS box (Network Attached Storage) with a 2-TB Hard drive. I reinstalled Windows and managed to reinstall most of the important stuff I lost. Now, twice a week, I backup my PC and my wife's laptop to the NAS. Once a week I backup the NAS to an external Hdd. I also made Recovery Disks for my desktop and my wife's laptop. I advise anyone buying a new PC, to do that. Almost every manufacturer has a system for that.

I regularly clean out the Temp files of both PC's and once a month I use Windows' own "Disk Cleanup" to clean out dross. I'm not paranoid, I just remember all the work that I had to do to clean out and reinstall.

I support getmore4less's statement - verifying a backup before deleting any old ones, is most important. If you delete a previous backup without knowing that the new one is OK, how can you be confident of the new backup?

ARandomMiser

I have recently switched to pcloud ... Brilliant product and more flexible than many other cloud providers. Just download their desktop client, tell it which existing directories to synchronise .... Job done .... Automatic real time backup/sync with multiple revisions kept (i think it keeps all revisions for up to 6 months) Also gives up to 20gb free online storage.