Computers - Backup

Backing Up Your Computer Regularly is a "Must"

It is not without some embarrassment that I need to confess that I have lost valuable data due to not following this cardinal rule.  We have a tendency to become complacent as things are running smoothly.  In my case I was doing backups rigorously first daily then weekly then monthly and finally only sporadically.  I got caught.  One of my drives failed, the one with all my data, and I had a hell of a time recovering it.  I did have some software that enabled me to recover some data but some, including hundreds of scanned photos were lost forever.  Not to mention that the recovery process took several days and was filled with one frustration after another.

That incident taught me a lesson... for a while.  I got caught again but this time I was lucky.  No I did not backup regularly but it so happened I did the night before.  Now its an automated process running on my PC.

I'm in no way claiming that my backup procedure is the best but it definitely works for me as proven by numerous incidents when a recovery was necessary.

The program I primarily use is Acronis TrueImage.  I used to use PowerQuest Drive Image and later Norton Ghost (when they bought PowerQuest) but found that TrueImage is a bit easier to use and actually was configured to backup whole drives and folders before Ghost had that capability.  It also performs backups and recoveries faster.

The cost of the application is $49.99 (Version 10) at this time which is quite cheap considering the value this application has when a recovery is necessary.

Acronis TrueImage is imaging software.  It creates a copy of your entire had disk including boot sectors, Operating System and Data.  When your drive fails you simply install a new hard drive, boot from the Acronis Recovery CD and restore your PC to the last configuration backed up.  You can create incremental images that allow you to recover to backups from previous dates. 

In my case when I did a clean install on my PC I created images after installing the OS, Drivers and updates, after my major applications (MS Office Adobe Creative Suite & updates) and incrementally after I install additional software. 

Below are several examples where I used the Image Recovery:

• After installing software my system began to perform very sluggishly.  Uninstalling the software did not help.  Instead of trying to troubleshoot this for hours maybe days I just restored my system using the latest image.

• After two years, Microsoft and Adobe came out with new versions.  Instead of uninstalling / upgrading I restored my OS Image and installed the new apps clean.  Yes, I also had to re-install the other apps, but ultimately I wound up not installing several of them as I really did not need them.  I saved all the time of re-installing the OS and drivers.

• I got hit by a virus despite all the precautions I take.  This turned out to be a pain to troubleshoot so I just reinstalled the latest image.

• File backup allows me to regularly backup selected folders.  Since all my data is on other partitions on the same hard disk or other internal disks I backup my folders regularly.  I have not had to recover any since I've been doing this but the time will come.

I have a total of three hard disks on my PC, all three are Seagate and have 750GB of storage each for a total of 2.25 Terabytes. Drive 1 is partitioned and has both the OS on Partition 1 and the Data on Partition 2, Drives 2 and 3 are all data (MP3s, Video, Graphics... tons of it).

To keep my videos MP3s and graphics backed up I actually purchased several external backup drives and keep them synchronized.  I could save space by using Acronis TrueImage and the built-in compression but chose to take the synchronization route.

My external drive of choice is also from Seagate (see picture).  Over the past few years I have lost six or more hard drives, five of them Maxtors and one Western Digital.  Several of the Maxtor USB 2 External drives have failed and lost their formatting.  None of the Seagate drives have failed thus far.  Now that Seagate has purchased Maxtor it remains to be seen whether that will affect quality of their products.

• Purchase an imaging program (TrueImage or Ghost)
• Purchase as many external USB 2 drives as necessary to backup your data and Image of your OS (Calculate external storage needs to be about 75% of your total internal storage capacity, 100% if you do not intend to use compression.)
• Perform data backups weekly if not daily
• Create incremental images of your boot disk when you receive your new PC, after you installed major applications and then incrementally as you add applications.
• If you lose a drive and did not do recent backups, Ontrack Easy Recovery Professional ($499) may be able to help you recover some of your data.  You will need to know what you are doing to use this application, however and it's really cheaper to buy the backup software and drives.

Remember: All Hard Drives Will Fail Eventually!