Advice/help with my backup strategy

jetablack4 said:

So after looking into a bunch of different options I think I found a backup solution that I will go with. I think I am going to purchase Macrium Reflect (paid version) as it will give me the ability to do full, incremental and differential backups for imaging and data files. It has the ability to mount an image as a virtual drive either on my own computer through Macrium or on another computer. I like this feature as it ensures me that the image is good. It has the ability to create multiple backup schedules and keep logs of it as well (also allows you to schedule deletion of older backups). Overall, this program seems to be the most straight forward and easy to use while still providing all the features that I am looking for as well as not putting to much of a strain on my computer.

Two questions for anyone who is familiar with Macrium:

1- I currently have my external hard drive connected to my computer via a eSATA cable, will this be a problem?

2- From what I can tell you have the ability to schedule the deletion of older backups, however, do you the ability to keep certain images or backups despite the deletion schedule?


In addition to using Macrium I am going to take whs advice and create a partition for my data to go a long with my OS. I also want to try and implement pparks1 robocopy commands to make copies of my files that are not in a "backup container" in case it becomes corrupt. I think this will be a good start to my backup plan.

1. I don't think e-sata is a problem although I don't have that myself.

2. If you want to keep a particular backup for a long period just create another with no space management and it will stay until you manually delete it. One of the great features of Macrium is that you can create as many mackup sets as you want.

A further piece of advice if you don't mind. Make sure you create and test that the recovery disk can see your backup drive. I have found the WinPE disk to be the most reliable.

jetablack4 said:

So after looking into a bunch of different options I think I found a backup solution that I will go with. I think I am going to purchase Macrium Reflect (paid version) as it will give me the ability to do full, incremental and differential backups for imaging and data files. It has the ability to mount an image as a virtual drive either on my own computer through Macrium or on another computer. I like this feature as it ensures me that the image is good. It has the ability to create multiple backup schedules and keep logs of it as well (also allows you to schedule deletion of older backups). Overall, this program seems to be the most straight forward and easy to use while still providing all the features that I am looking for as well as not putting to much of a strain on my computer.

Two questions for anyone who is familiar with Macrium:

1- I currently have my external hard drive connected to my computer via a eSATA cable, will this be a problem?

2- From what I can tell you have the ability to schedule the deletion of older backups, however, do you the ability to keep certain images or backups despite the deletion schedule?


In addition to using Macrium I am going to take whs advice and create a partition for my data to go a long with my OS. I also want to try and implement pparks1 robocopy commands to make copies of my files that are not in a "backup container" in case it becomes corrupt. I think this will be a good start to my backup plan.

1. I have never used eSata myself, but I have seen other people confirm that it works. But you better try this out on a little test partition.
I have tried USB3 and that did not work. It work for the backups, but the problem is the recovery with the Linux recovery disk. But if you use the pro version, you can use the BartPE disk and I am sure there will be no problems.

2. For that case I suggest you move the images you want to keep to another folder/partition/disk. That is possible with Macrium - you can start a recovery from anywhere.

I use eSATA for most of my backups and it's no issue at all.

I needed nothing else with my Dell E6400 latitude with built-in eSATA when using Macrium. I just booted from their standard rescue media in the free version and it saw my eSATA enclosure and drive.

Yes you can do that. A better approach may be to create a small 100MB test partition., Put some files in it, back it up then make some changes and see if you can restore it.

This tutorial shows how.Imaging with free Macrium

WinPE is a Windows based CD and the other one is Linux based. I never used the WinPE version because I always stuck with the free Macrium. But you do have more function in the WinPE. Ask SIW2, he is the expert for WinPE and he can also tell you how to add all kinds of bells and whistles to it.

kado897 said:

Yes you can do that. A better approach may be to create a small 100MB test partition., Put some files in it, back it up then make some changes and see if you can restore it.

This tutorial shows how.Imaging with free Macrium[2]=Backup%20Restore

You are right. That is what I always recommend. Here is a little guideline I made for the students in my computer club:

Imaging test

1. Shrink 2GBs from C and define a logical drive (partition) - let's call it Y
2. Move some files (any files) into Y - I always also move the sample picture folder in (you'll see why)
3. Define a test folder on your external backup disk - call it Mtest
4. Make an image of Y to Mtest - requires that you make a new definition
5. Delete a couple of pictures from the sample picture folder on Y (I always use the 2 animals)
6. Reboot and tap (ESC, F2 or whatever it is on your system) to get into the BIOS boot sequence
7. Set your boot sequence to CD/DVD reader
8. Put in the Macrium recovery CD and let it run, then hit Enter
9. Now you are in the recovery wizard, set it to Mtest where it says "Locate Image" and to Y where it says "Choose partition to overwrite with the image data".
Note: the partition letters may not be the same as on your system. Macrium uses its own lettering. Best is to go by the size of the partitions and open it with the little + in the front.
10. Watch out when it asks whether to replace the Master Boot Record - say no.
11. When you have to specify whether the partition is “active”, “primary” or “logical” – take “logical”.
12. When you get the little window saying "Your computer will now reboot", you have to hit "Cancel" (on the bottom) to get it to reboot. That's a little strange way to end the session, but that's the way it is.
13. Check whether the 2 animals in the sample picture folder are back. That shows you that the recovery worked.

When you have done these steps, you did the whole cycle and have learned

1. That your recovery disc works
2. How to recover
3. That you are not the dummy you thought you were

Now you can delete the little 2GB partition and add the space back to the originating partition.

If you are not familiar with the creation and deletion of partitions, watch this tutorial: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72427-data-partition.html

Great robocopy tutorial pparks. Im going to experiement with this myself as I have never used it and find it quite interesting.

But I am curious about one thing.

Lets say you delete something accidently, or it gets over-written with a updated version. Lets also say, for the sake of argument, you run the back up with out realizing it at the time.

Unless I missunderstand, RoboCopy will mirror the source, removing that file or updating it to the changed version to match the source, correct?

How can you retrieve the said file?

For example, I use differential backups w/Acronis for my documents. So in case like this, I can always go back a few days or a week to retrieve a deleted or previous version of a file.

The chance of this may be slim, but I was just curious as to how the RoboCopy method can cope with such a situation.

Thanks :)

Wishmaster said:

Lets say you delete something accidently, or it gets over-written with a updated version. Lets also say, for the sake of argument, you run the back up with out realizing it at the time.

Unless I missunderstand, RoboCopy will mirror the source, removing that file or updating it to the changed version to match the source, correct?

Yes, that is exactly how it would work. You aren't missing anything. With robocopy, it will always mirror whatever the source is with the destination.

Wishmaster said:

How can you retrieve the said file?

You would need multiple copies of the file backed up. In my case, I use 2 different external hard drives and keep 1 offsite. So, if I screwed up something, then overwrote it unknowingly and then realized after the first external drive was written with a new sync...I would have to rely on the second drive.

Wishmaster said:

For example, I use differential backups w/Acronis for my documents. So in case like this, I can always go back a few days or a week to retrieve a deleted or previous version of a file.

Yes, other backup solutions offer multiple point in time copies of something. Depending upon the type of user that you are, this may be a better solution. It's something that I simply haven't needed over the years.

I just like the raw simplicity of the files being in their natural native format on the external drive and the fact that my backups complete in seconds, since 99.9% of the files don't change regularly. Unlike a backup application, i don't have to be concerned with having the latest "full backup" and any incremental backups which all are used together to put the data back together. With my backups, if a file is corrupt, I might lose the 1 file. With backup apps, if the incremental backup itself is corrupt, I might lose everything stored within it.

At home, i keep all of my data on a dedicated file server box. Inside of that physical box, I have a second hard drive that is synchronized every 4 hours to the first. Then, I attach 2 different external hard drives on a regular basis and synchronize to them. Therefore, I have...more or less....4 copies of the same file at different points in time (1 on the source right now, 1 on the backup drive potentially 4 hours behind...1 on my external drive about a month old...1 on my other external drive....maybe another month old). That's always covered my needs.