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Thread ID: 150592 2022-04-12 20:59:00 Best way to back up the entire PC Roscoe (6288) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1485502 2022-04-12 20:59:00 What can you recommend to back up the entire PC?

Thank you for your help.:thanks
Roscoe (6288)
1485503 2022-04-12 21:18:00 IMO it's to have at least 2 partitions.
C: with just the O/S. make an image of it, a clean, uncluttered image.
Saves time and pain if disaster strikes.

D: Your data (among other things). I just back it up with a file backup program (free) that is smart enough to copy over the new or changed files only when repeating the process.
piroska (17583)
1485504 2022-04-13 00:22:00 You said "entire PC" , so ...

Easiest way
use the built in Windows backup : tick the option to also create a system image & the option to manually pick what files to backup
Control panel, backup

** do this onto a NEW USB Hard Drive . Make sure the USB HD has about double the size of data you are backing up
Dont use your 5 year old USB hard drive :)

Or Install Macrium (a better option)

Creating separate data partitions is something NOT for the AV user . Ive seen issues from that (the user didnt know what was going on with data partition & never used it , so C: runs out of space).
Separate data partition is a good idea only if you are quite tech savvy .

In actual use ,of home PCs, often dont do a full restore , you just want the data . Clean re-install of everything , get docs etc from the backup .
A full restore will also restore any Windows issues you were having , so image restore not allways the best option (unless a complex server backup etc)
1101 (13337)
1485505 2022-04-13 01:38:00 Full computer backup -- As 1101 Posted Macrium reflect Free , you make a complete image of the whole PC. At any stage if you only want to recover a certain File ( lets say a word Doc) you mount the image and get it back.

Location, either on a External USB drive with the more capacity of the used portion of the drive OR a network storage. Depends on how often you want to do backups.

What ever you do DONT make a separate partition or drive on the same PC you are backing up. Seen people do that and think they are doing right, BUT if you get a power problem or a HDD fails ( if a separate Partition) guess what goes BANG. Your backups.

Ideally you want a external Drive you plug in do the backup, then remove it somewhere safe.

My Own systems -- Nightly auto backups to a server and every couple of weeks to a external HDD I plug in (Macrium), with daily backups of changed Documents to online Storage as well.
wainuitech (129)
1485506 2022-04-13 09:07:00 Have to agree with Wainui on this one...

If you want to backup the whole computer the best option is to have the backup going to an external drive or network location.

Full backups every 2 or 3 days with a differential or incremental backup on all the other days depending on the total available storage capacity available on your backup location as well as the "rate of change" in your day to day data.

For a breakdown of how different backup "modes" work take a look here (www.easeus.com)
chiefnz (545)
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