Poll on Backup software

dbartenstein · Feb 14, 2022

Hazel123 said:
Easy enough to try it out :) I got the hang of it but it freaked me out a couple of times, and prefer a simpler interface.

IMHO, none of them that I have tried have a simpler interface, except maybe Microsoft's deprecated product.......

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

BunnyJ said:
It depends. In my case I can reinstall Windows and all of my apps in about 3 hours, tops. The only thing that takes time is setting the options in Photoshop back to the way I want them

You don't back up?

glasskuter · Feb 14, 2022

Devlin1888 said:
How many times has that happened? Literally 0 for me across the board.

I say with all sincerity, I'm glad and hope it never happens to you. But the norm is that for most folks, sooner or later, catastrophe of some sort WILL happen. For them (and me) having a piece of insurance that was free is a godsend.

BunnyJ · Feb 14, 2022

CornishRattler said:
You don't back up?

Nope.. It would be just as easy to reinstall Windows for me. I do back up my data(photos) but other than that I don't back up the OS.

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

Yep I remember the time my drive just died. And the time my stepson accidentally deleted all the photos on his laptop - luckily I had them all backed up. And the time I got a trojan from a usb stick (that will NEVER happen again! I use panda usb vaccine now). A trojan that could spread through the network via the router and infect every device. All had to be wiped and reinstalled.

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

BunnyJ said:
Nope.. It would be just as easy to reinstall Windows for me. I do back up my data(photos) but other than that I don't back up the OS.

Fair enough

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

Hazel123 said:
Yep I remember the time my drive just died.

So do we

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

CornishRattler said:
So do we

Lol. Not that one - another one! I think the other one was back on seven forums - where I learned a lot of stuff!

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

Hazel123 said:
Lol. Not that one - another one!

Wait! There was another one? :ROFLMAO:

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

CornishRattler said:
Wait! There was another one?

My old sony vaio with an hdd on Windows 7. It just stopped working. Had masses of stuff on. Luckily I had an image

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

Hazel123 said:
My old sony vaio with an hdd on Windows 7. It just stopped working. Had masses of stuff on. Luckily I had an image :)

That it was

TheMystic · Feb 14, 2022

Devlin1888 said:
Careful where ya click and what ya do and you won't need a get outta jail free card.

What's your plan for hardware failure? That can happen even without clicking.

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

CornishRattler said:
That it was

Yes. Although after my recent experience I think having files backed up separately is a good idea as well. When my image wouldn't restore. I think that's why a lot of people like Macrium. Bree mentioned you could also do file restore from that as well. I just found it made my head hurt working it all out.

CornishRattler · Feb 14, 2022

I suppose it could be argued that anyone who has a clean Windows image to restore from has an absolute baseline back up

ShamrockRig · Feb 14, 2022

TheMystic said:
What's your plan for hardware failure? That can happen even without clicking.

In the case of an M2 or my SSD dying, and lets say i lost everything, It aint a big deal to me other than the cost of a new one/the pain of rma, I dont have any real personal files on my pc at all, I also dont have many programs or anything that would need any major setting up. In terms of virus's etc, Again no real personal files and im really not important or worth hacking so if someone went to the effort for my stuff, they can have it xD. Biggest pain would be re-installing games but nothing that'd hurt me.
I do get why people would do it, Partly was interested in how little bait i'd need on my rod for a few bites too xD
Calm it everyone i know xD!

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2022

Devlin1888 said:
In the case of an M2 or my SSD dying, and lets say i lost everything, It aint a big deal to me other than the cost of a new one/the pain of rma, I dont have any real personal files on my pc at all, I also dont have many programs or anything that would need any major setting up. In terms of virus's etc, Again no real personal files and im really not important or worth hacking so if someone went to the effort for my stuff, they can have it xD. Biggest pain would be re-installing games but nothing that'd hurt me.
I do get why people would do it, Partly was interested in how little bait i'd need on my rod for a few bites too xD
Calm it everyone i know xD!

Ah ok. Is it a gaming pc?

glockster · Feb 14, 2022

Fabler2 said:
I really can't remember when I last did a clean install. Must be years.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object InstallDate will get the date the OS was originally installed. Not sure how the "big" feature updates that tend to be full reinstalls effect that date.

BrianInEngland · Feb 14, 2022

Macrium Reflect full version. Weekly full backup of the system drive with a daily incremental. I always have one week's worth of system images. Anything goes wrong with Windows I just revert back to that day's backup. Personal files and folders are stored on a separate physical disk, with a daily incremental file backup. These folders are also synced to OneDrive.

Macrium Recovery partition is on an external drive that I boot from if needed

SmokeMe · Feb 14, 2022

After being hooked on WHS2011 Backups & after it reached its EOL & built a "Windows Server 2016 Essentials" (WSE2016) machine & purchased a license.
So now days I just run the WSE2016 & backup the rigs I use most &/or care about, 2 desktops & a laptop.
Naturally I BU the WSE2016 rig also to a external SSD & using the WSE2016 built-in software.

fixer · Feb 14, 2022

In the early days of home computing (Win 98) I was constantly tinkering and ending up in real trouble, computer unusable. Then I discovered Norton Ghost! Suddenly I was free to tinker to my heart's content knowing I could easily recover no matter what the problem, whether self inflicted, failed software installs, virus infection or disk failure. Suddenly I felt bombproof, free to try anything that took my fancy.

I doubt Ghost for Win 10 or 11 still exists but at the time it inspired developers and has resulted in the choice of cloning/imaging/backup software we now have. Personally, having tried so many of them, I have the greatest confidence in Macrium Reflect and still backup each computer at least once per month using it. OK, maybe these days far fewer people run the risks created by tinkering, but the other risks are still there and should you fall victim to any one of them you will be in real difficulty unless you have recently imaged your system.

So all I am really saying is, whichever system you choose, get into the habit of regular imaging and hopefully the poll might help you decide which to try first.