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What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:36 am
by Kaos Kid
Just wondering what software y'all use for backups. I just did one with the free built-in Win7 utility, but I can't help but think that there are better options (it pre-allocated 137GB on a 465GB usable HDD but my system drive is only using about 60GB).

Acronis comes to mind, as well as EASEUS Partition Manager (needs extra TODO Workstation version to do backups). I have used both to migrate OS's from one drive to another, but have never set up ongoing backups before. I am only interested in backing up my system drive (120GB SSD with 111GB usable, Win7 and all my programs currently taking up approximately 60GB). Thanks!

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:20 am
by KnightRid
I have been looking and trying myself. I want one that will do full backup on specified drives to my NAS and then just update those images with new/changed items. Still havent found anything really good.

Oh and I also wanted to have the ability to choose how many backups to save before deleting old ones...say 2 for each drive.

I want a lot lol

I liked Paragon Backup and Recovery the best so far but it will not delete old backups nor does it do incremental backups (I think that is the right term). Very easy to use and works great, just has limitations I do not want. Maybe the pay version would do what I want it to but I am a cheap bastard and am only looking at the free versions.

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:29 am
by Kaos Kid
I am a cheap bastard and am only looking at the free versions.
A man after my own heart. I prefer to think of it as "wisely frugal", since most of the time a product's free version means that we are beta testers. ;)

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:59 am
by FZ1
Acronis True Image HD. I image a lot of disks (for SSD reviews) and this is what I use. I also use it on my personal system.

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:20 am
by Kaos Kid
Would you suggest running it as a backup, or just create a new disk image every time (maybe once per week?). I've heard that some people do it that way to cover the widest range of scenarios.

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:07 pm
by FZ1
I just run incremental backups to my NAS once every week. However, all of what I consider to be critical data that's on my RAID 1 configured NAS (pictures, music, documents) I back up to an external drive which I keep at my desk at work. I usually re-sync it quarterly. That way, if something happens to the house (i.e. fire) I haven't lost anything critical.

I'm not a fan of backing things up to the cloud - especially very sensitive or personal data (for obvious reasons), because you never know when a) that service will suddenly disappear or be suspended through some sort of legal action b) be inaccessible for long periods due to connectivity/technical issues. This is especially true for free services like Dropbox. If you are paying for the service, at least you have some legal and legitimate recourse for eventually getting access to your data and you can expect the hosting company to be more diligent about availability, etc.

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:55 am
by KnightRid
I am gonna check that one out too. I actually have a key for that from my Crucial SSD. Figured it was just for disk images so I never bothered with it.

Re: What Are You Using For Backups?

Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:11 am
by KnightRid
Ok with the OEM key I got with my Crucial SSD Acronis True Image HD only allows full backups, nothing else. It says it will make a full backup and erase the previous one. It could work but incremental backups daily/weekly and then a full drive backup once a month would be preferred. It seems the pay version will let you do a lot more.