Need Simple weekly backup of main drive - too many opionions makes con

[seven66226622]

Hi,

I have a 1 tb external drive that I would like to use as a backup. Something that I can either manually run weekly or have the software do it by itself.

If my main drive dies, I would like to be able to redirect bios to boot to my backup (which is bootable thanks to whatever 'software' I will wind up using for this purpose.

It appears that what I am looking for is very simple however after reading post after post after post, I am more confused than a newbie on 8.

I am not looking to do ANYTHING other than what I posted above.

Any help greatly appreciate.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The simplest way to get a bootable backup onto another HDD would be to use cloning software. Macrium Reflect Free (do not download from the homepage; this page is safer to download from). Macrium Reflect is best known for imaging but its cloning ability is also excellent. A clone is an exact copy of the original drive.

There are better ways to make backups but, since you stated you aren't interested, I won't discuss them here.

 

[seven66226622]

Thanks

Thank you Lady. I appreciate that.

I am not totally against 'better' options if you can think of something I might like. It's just that I am one guy here and don't want to get way too heavy into something that is way over the top and complicated.

Sincerely,

Me

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

As I said, cloning is the simplest way to accomplish what you want. If you have a large amount of data, it will be slow, especially when going over USB. Any other options are going to get a bit more complicated than you are likely to be comfortable with and may involve extra hardware, especially to get a bootable backup. Bootable backups aren't necessarily the best form of backup.

The main point is to get some kind of a viable backup and cloning can accomplish that. You are to be commended for wanting to backup your computer instead of waiting until after you have a fatal disaster.

 

[seven66226622]

Thanks, Im guessing I can use slave drive as my usb replacement to help speed things up a bit. Just keep the slave in a slot and remember to never use it.

 

[seven66226622]

Ps: Your right, I've lost too much, too many times and this reinstalls/drivers/tweaks etc are a nightmare!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks, Im guessing I can use slave drive as my usb replacement to help speed things up a bit. Just keep the slave in a slot and remember to never use it.

Actually, using a slave, or any other internal drive, would be a bad idea. Keeping your backup separate from the machine is much safer. An internal drive is subject to being corrupted by the same viruses, hardware failure, etc. that could take out your computer. Keeping the backup disconnected from the computer when not making a backup is the best way to protect it from those dangers.

 

[seven66226622]

True

Your comment about the usb 3.0 taking forever has me wanted better transfer speed now that I think about it.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

True

Your comment about the usb 3.0 taking forever has me wanted better transfer speed now that I think about it.

The only way to get anything faster than USB 3.0 would be to use an internal type drive in an external dock that uses an e-SATA connection. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Use what you have and just let the clone run overnight; that's what I used to do.

 

[seven66226622]

Good Idea. I'll just let it run overnight twice a week. I'm new to solid state and it worries me that they go without warning and data no-recoverable with paying fortune.

Thanks again Lady!

 

[pabuman]

My tool is aomei backupper, which support Schedule Backup. I often do monthly backup because I think weekly backup is to short. What's more, my tool is a freeware. That's what I know.

 

[whs]

Aomei Backupper is a good program, but I am not sure whether you can 'hide' the run. With free Macrium you can 'hide' the backup and go on doing whatever you want to do - then it does not matter how long it takes for the backup. It does not interfere with the backup process because Macrium freezes the image at the beginning of the process. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

You can also schedule your images. Just right click on the XML file - see pic.

 

[pabuman]

Aomei Backupper is a good program, but I am not sure whether you can 'hide' the run. With free Macrium you can 'hide' the backup and go on doing whatever you want to do - then it does not matter how long it takes for the backup. It does not interfere with the backup process because Macrium freezes the image at the beginning of the process. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

You can also schedule your images. Just right click on the XML file - see pic.

hi,
aomei backupper can use VSS: VSS is short for Volume Shadow Copy Service. This technology allows the program to backup data without interrupting the work of applications. If don't use VSS, the program will automatically use the built-in technique instead of it for live backup. Choose one of the modes to begin your backup task.
Use VSS
uh ,the screenshot is omited....

 

[whs]

I know, that is the same way Macrium works. I call it 'freeze' because then I don't have to go thru a lengthy technical discourse.