Whats your backup software & strategy?

[chillyantelope]

I know Macrium is popular but noticed that the new version 7 is no longer free but now a 30 day trial. I very recently did a clean Windows install on my Asus laptop. After I installed the drivers and updates I did two backups - one with Windows System Image and one with Macrium 6.3
The Windows backup is about 13.2GB and the Macrium backup is 7.24GB. My original Asus restore partition was about 8GB and used two .swm files & imagex.exe. Back in the XP/2000 days I used an old version of Ghost and that worked quite well and fast. I've tried Clonzilla once but it was complicated.

I restored Windows System Image a couple of times and it work well but then had it fail once (something about unexpected error) and that left a bad taste in my mouth. I think I'm going to ditch my Windows backup and keep the Macrium 6.3 Free edition backup.


I'm just curious what is everyone's backup setup - software of choice?

 

[marsmimar]

FWIW: I've used Macrium Free for many years and stored multiple images on an external drive. Macrium always worked whether making an image or restoring an image. Until one day the external drive failed. It was then I realized that relying on one external drive and one imaging software could still lead to catastrophic failure.

Since then I use two external drives and two imaging software for redundancy. I'm thinking that having two external drives fail at the same time, or having two different imaging software fail at the same time, is less likely. I still use Macrium Free but I also use AOMEI Free. I find it to be just as reliable and easy to use as Macrium.

 

[Ranger4]

I use Macrium Reflect v5, paid for version. I run a weekly full OS image back up every week & I keep the last 3 back ups on an external hard drive.

 

[RolandJS]

Each of my computers have two dedicated platter-driven, usb, 1TB, pancake-sized external hard-drives; Macrium Reflect 6 and Image for Windows rotation; average around 2-3 OS partitions and 1-2 Data partitions.
Ranger4, I note you indicated several saves on an external hard-drive -- please consider adding another external hard-drive. Awhile back, I had HD A for laptop A and HD B for laptop B -- until A got a "logical" failure, forcing a format. Ever since then, two HDs per computer.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I voted Other since I have a multi-pronged strategy for my desktop machine.

1. The paid version of Macrium Reflect Free for imaging my System files (OS and programs on my C: drive and System Reserved partition). The images get stored on one of my internal data drives for convenience but that drive gets backed up onto external drives.

2. FreeFileSync, a folder/file syncing program, for backing up my data on my data drives data drives. FreeFileSysnc essentially makes clones of my internal data drives but does so much faster than cloning since only new, changed, and deleted data gets added or removed from the backup drive.

3. Carbonite.com, a paid cloud backup service (more on that later).

I image my C: drive before updating programs or the OS and after running my anti-virus and anti-malware scans.

The data drives get backed up at least once a week or sooner if I add a lot of data, or critical data, to my internal data drives. I have a set of four external backup drives—actually, bare, internal type drives that get plugged into a hot swap bay in my computer when updating a backup—for each data drive in my computer: two of each set are kept onsite (a drawer in my house) and the other two of each set are kept offsite (my safe deposit box at my credit union). The onsite backup drives get swapped out with the offsite backup drives no less than once a month; more often if I have added or changed an unusual amount of critical data.

Since my offsite backup drives will not have any data added or changed after they have been placed in my safe deposit box, to avoid losing that added or changed data should my computer's data drive and the onsite backup drives get compromised, such as from fire, theft, meteor strike, etc., I have a basic account with Carbonite.com, a secure, paid, cloud backup service. Should the worst happen, I can recover most of my data from the offsite backup drives, then download the remaining data from Carbonite. I exclude recorded TV programs and Macrium Reflect image files from being backed up on Carbonite because of their size would exceed my ISP's data cap and the amount of time it would take to upload and download them.

Carbonite is also useful when I'm on the road since I have a limited amount of space for data on my notebooks. Whenever needed, I can easily access the rest of my data from Carbonite from a secure internet connection.


My notebooks contain only data that exists on my desktop so the only backups I have for them is a set of two backup drives I carry with each notebook (one notebook is a spare should the other one die). One of the backup drives has images of the C: and System Reserved partitions of the drive in the notebook. The other backup is a clone of the notebook's drive and can be used to clone back to the drive in the notebook if the entire drive gets scrambled or I can pull the backup drive from its enclosure and replace the drive in the notebook with it. If I need any data that is not on the drive, I can access it from Carbonite.com. I also keep copies of the notebooks' images on my desktop computer.

Contrary to popular belief, I have only two backups of my kitchen sink, not three. One of them is a miniature kitchen sink I keep in my purse to show the jolly jokers who claim I have everything except the kitchen sink in my purse.

 

[johnhoh]

Super simple here: house has two win7 systems with identical hardware, so each can be macrium cloned onto the other if a full system restore is needed, but mainly I just synchronize all data on both machines once a day using a batch file that invokes robocopy.

 

[mjf]

I used to use both (free) Macrium and Windows inbuilt system imaging (50:50) but have dropped using Windows inbuilt most of the time. I've carried out many images and restores using both without any significant problem. I now mainly just use Macrium since it is both reliable and significantly more capable than Windows inbuilt. I make the occasional Windows inbuilt image just in case.

Definitely do not rely on one backup drive. I tend to use 2TB HDDs in Docking stations (currently using WD Blues). I make images before any Windows updates or software installs then another after everything looks ok. Outside of this I make a couple of images on different drives ~ every 2 weeks.

 

[SIW2]

I mainly use Aomei Backupper and Windows system image.

 

[jacky99]

I use Acronis True Image - Full backup sector-by-sector, while restoring perfectly the same as before.

 

[Layback Bear]

Macrium Reflect.
It works.
It is simple to use.

Jack

 

[Sky Ranch]

I use both Acronis and Macrium. Acronis seems to be a little faster but not by much, while Macrium is probably more user friendly.

For those that prefer Macrium's backup solution, the free version will be available sometime this month after about a dozen or so patches since 7.0 was released back in ending of February.

 

[RolandJS]

Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows are my pay-fors
Each computer has two dedicated pancake-sized, platter-driven, usb, 1TB hard-drives.

 

[jacky99]

FYI, Acronis now releasing a "free edition" for Seagate & WD hard drives, so we can use Acronis True Image WD Edition for free (it needs at least one WD hard drive attached in your system to be able to install and run the product) - Same thing for Seagate too - Free download at their site!

 

[Layback Bear]

The only free Acronis program were trial version.
Free to try for 30 days.

I'm not sure why a backup program would care what brand drive one is using.

Jack

 

[SIW2]

The WD and Seagate Acronis versions have been available a long time. They have some limitations compared to the full version, but do the basic job.

Acronis WD Edition Software

Seagate DiscWizard

They are quite large, and other 3rd party soultions have more features.

I recommend Aomei Backupper.

 

[jacky99]

The only free Acronis program were trial version.
Free to try for 30 days.

I'm not sure why a backup program would care what brand drive one is using.

Nope, there is a notice with yellow highlight at the bottom: "This product edition has limited functionality". So, you should get the full paid version to complete all the functions to run.
In this free edition, the Disk management only allows: Clone disk, Rescue Media Builder, Backup transfer settings, Import & Export backup, and Mount / Unmount image, and the rest with blue text to open paid apps to their site if we click.

But, as long as we need Backup only, it's very convenient to use.. right?
Me myself use up until now (WD edition), and all backups & restores are running fine.

 

[jacky99]

@SIW2, yes you right, thanks for correction. But the link you suggest is very big filesize, do not select it,
please choose here: Acronis True Image Western Digital Edition Software 6126 (261 MB)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/acronis_true_image_western_digital_edition_software.html

 

[jadinolf]

I use 2 backup programs and yes, Macrium Reflect is one of them.
I, of course, have two external drives attached to each of my 5 computers.
If this plan fails me I will cry like a baby.

 

[chillyantelope]

Thanks everyone for responding, I'll check out all the programs mentioned.
So I currently have one external drive where I back up my personal data and keep the image files. I decided to keep both the Macrium & Windows System image for the time being since I'm not short of space.
Sounds like redundancy is the key in backing up. I figure if the laptop HD dies I have the data on the external, if the external dies I have the laptop data.

 

[OvenMaster]

Macrium Free v5.3 images every 10 days, just in case. Better safe than sorry, and whenever I've needed it, it works.