Externals for back up

[Chuck Engels]

I also use EaseUSTodo backup for a few years now, both the free and paid versions. The company I work for has an account with Carbonite so all of my stuff is also backed up there as well.

EaseUS Todo has a great cloning feature that works extremely well and it comes with the free product. I clone my drives a few times a year and then do incremental backups in between.

[momoffduty]

Thanks Bob & Chuck. I checked the first external that used the Buffalo backup manager and only the D drive is on there. Same as using the Xcopy way on the 2nd external. The D drive holds all of my media, projects, docs, etc.

The C drive has all of my programs. Most I have the discs, but some were via download which includes Adobe PrPro & AE. Not all of the material was on the discs. A few other programs & plug ins too.

How do I back up the C drive? I am surprised the Buffalo back up manager didn't include the C drive.

I did read the Easus website and it appeared that you had to put file extensions that you wanted included. I was concerned the AE & PrPro projects would not be backed up.

I am really stumped on this.

[Peru]

I did read the Easus website and it appeared that you had to put file extensions that you wanted included. I was concerned the AE & PrPro projects would not be backed up.

Just make an image of the drive.

[Chuck Engels]

With EaseUS you have the option to clone the entire drive or so a system backup, both would include all files and folders.

[sidd finch]

I just used EaseUS to clone my hard drive so I could install a new SSD drive and it worked very well.

Sidd

[momoffduty]

I still have questions. And again this is a black hole for me. I am asking for patience.

1. What is the difference between a clone, a system back up, a full back up, and an image back up? ( I do understand the difference between a full & incremental.)

2. What is recommended for my situation? On the SSD C drive: approx 190G of data. On the D drive (Raid): approx. 1.2T of data. And to note I recently deleted about 350G+ of data on the D drive so it was larger than the 1.2T currently.

3. Should I get a 3rd external for the C drive backup, clone, system, image, etc.?

4. Would it be helpful if I downloaded the free version of the Easeus and look at the interface? The more I read on their site the more I am confused.

5. I had a fifth question and now drawing a blank.

Thanks

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Cheryl,

You know this is the most patient place in the universe

1. Clone and Image I think are the same thing. A clone makes an exact duplicate of a drive that you can swap/interchange them in the computer. A system backup would need to have the files restored to a new drive but includes a backup of everything on your computer. A full backup does not always, if ever, contain system files. Backup utilities have come a long way in that now they are able to backup files that are in use/open, most of the time.

2. I recommend a system backup using EaseUS. You can set that to backup all drives connected to the computer as long as the drive you are backing up the data to is large enough. You can compress the backup files if necessary to save room and require less space on the backup drive.

3. If you would like to just swap drives and continue like nothing ever happened then yes. The data on the clone is only as recent as the last time you cloned the drive however, so you still need to do backups and restore anything new/changed from that point forward.

4. Yes, definitely give it a try

Will be patient and wait for question #5

[Peru]

Cheryl,

To clone is to make an exact physical copy of a drive. The clone drive can be physically installed in place of the original drive in case the original drive fails. Think of a photo and a copy of a photo. Lose the photo and you can look at the copy of the photo.

An image is a snapshot of the original drive. You can take the image and restore it to a replacement drive. Think of a photo and a PSD file of the photo. Lose the photo and you can print another copy from the PSD file.

Both methods will only allow the backup drive to be used as a boot drive on the original system, or a physically identical system. You can, however, in both cases connect the new drive to another system as a data drive to accesss the files (internally or externally)

Backups that are not clones are essentially images and can be either a full backup or an incremental backup. The problem with incremental backups is that if one piece of the backup is corrupted, you lose the whole backup. My backups are always full backups, as they are more reliable.

I have 4 internal drives:

C: Windows 7 and program files
M: Media and projects (2X raid 0)
X: Exports, cache, and virtual memory (2X raid 0)
B: Backups

All of my media and completed projects are stored on external hard drives (one at home, a copy of it at work as an offsite backup, and a third "rotating" drive so that I am never without a backup drive either at home or work when updating backups).

I transfer the media as I need it to both M: and C:
I save versions of my project (ie: Projectname v1, Projectname v2) as I work to both the M: and B: drives.

I will occasionally save a work in progress to an external drive and store it offsite.

When a project is done, I archive it to hard drives as above.

I also keep a clone of the C: drive. I keep a running log book to note any program or hardware (un)installation or special changes so that if i need to use the clone, I can see what I've done since I created the clone and make any necessary changes.

I also make an image of C: occasionally which is usually more current than the clone.

Overkill? Belt and suspenders? Does it slow me down a bit?
Maybe, but I sleep better because of my backup procedure.

And yes, I've had to use a clone on one of my other machines when a hard drive failed.
I've also had to recover the C: drive from an image when a failed antivirus uninstallation corrupted something on the hard drive of another machine.

As the saying goes, "If you only have one backup, then you have no backup, as everything hinges on that sole backup to restore your data. If you have another copy, the “third”, then your level of security has gone up substantially."

from this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11020&p=95265&hilit=clone#p95265

[momoffduty]

You know this is the most patient place in the universe

Yes it is! I thought I may be approaching my 5,000 question limit.

Thank you Chuck & Bob (Peru). Things are starting to make sense now. By the old thread link you can see I have struggled with this for awhile now and gave up before.

Looks like I may get a third drive for the clone of C drive. I'll download the Easeus next week and sort out my plan on backing up data, etc.

You all rest up over the weekend. I'll have more questions next week.

All I want to do is shoot & edit and not think about this maintenance stuff. Going to SD cards is presenting another problem of swimming in media.

Thanks!

[Dave McElderry]

I thought I may be approaching my 5,000 question limit.

Yes, but it resets each day at midnight.

[Peru]

I thought I may be approaching my 5,000 question limit.

Yes, but it resets each day at midnight.

But it can be reset manually before that if necessary.

Hang in there, Cheryl. You will eventually set up a backup plan that works for you.

[Chuck Engels]

But it can be reset manually before that if necessary.

[momoffduty]

Resets at midnight???? Wow, I've been holding back a bunch of Q's. Good to know.

[momoffduty]

Resets at midnight???? Wow, I've been holding back a bunch of Q's. Good to know.

Edit: I have to add that Peru's analogy with the jpg & psd files really made things clear. Thanks.

[Peru]

Here is a good tutorial for Easus Todo:
http://forum.webuser.co.uk/showthread.php?t=133722