Windows 7: What is the best way to save my data?

Help please,i have done my first system backup in windows7 i used 6 disks,my question to you is should i do a system image ,will this save me DVDs at the moment my PC want to do a backup each month i have to change the settings ,im googling this at the moment.What is the best way to save my data so i can use it if need be,and do i need to do a backup each month.
Cheers Rob

You don't want to use DVDs for backups. They will ne unmangeable and it will be expensive in the long run. Use an external disk of 500GB or more.

The system you should image - I do that 2 or 3 times per week. Data belongs on a seperate data partition. There you have several options. Imaging is one, but sync is faster. The frequency depends on the rythm of change.

Thats great whs thanks so much for your reply,just a question why do you save a system image 3 times a week ,is this necessary and why please.
Regards Rob

I use two of these: Newegg.com - Western Digital Elements 500GB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive to save any backups to.

The frequency of imaging really depends on the frequency of change. I am on the computer 6 to 8 hours per day and a lot of changes happen during that time. If I had images spaced several weeks apart, then I would lose several weeks worth of work the day I have to restore the last image.

If, however, you usually have little change in your system and with your data, then you can space the images further apart. Its a judgement call on how much risk you want to take.

Here is a tutorial for free Macrium that may be useful: Imaging with free Macrium