Backing up...

[nibbler]

I've never backed up before but recently suffered my first hard drive failure and think I ought to start backing up. I have a 32gb drive (so roughly 30gb free space) lying around and all I am interested in backing up is windows itself so that I can restore to something reasonably similar to what I have now if I crash. Don't care about anything in the Users folder tbh. What's the best way to go about this?

[Pilgrim_uk]

Just use the windows 7 backup feature you can create an image of your System as well back up files. Plug in your drive and follow the onscreen prompts, Have used it myself and it did the business. No problems.

[Funkstar]

I've never needed to restore a Windows 7 system from it's own backup, but it seems a very painless process and seems to work well from what I've read.

[Spank]

Yo can get 512GB of free space from Beecloud

[Pancake]

Yo can get 512GB of free space from Beecloud

That looks like THE WORST website in the world, would not trust them with anything

[jim]

That looks like THE WORST website in the world, would not trust them with anything

It says they have unlimited storage for 25 euros a year, can't see what could possibly go wrong there.

[Terbinator]

Dropbox for documents and such?

[DannyM]

That looks like THE WORST website in the world, would not trust them with anything

It's a livedrive reseller so as far as the product goes it should be more than reliable. No reason not to trust reliability, just whether or not you trust the company re-selling the service.

I've got storage through a livedrive reseller and it's been spot on.

[Pilgrim_uk]

Have you looked at the website FAQ its show the location of the company (Bee) and plot in a housing estate? Is it just me.

[nibbler]

I have a 32gb drive, what's the best combination of stuff to put on it? I'm not interested in keeping stuff online at the moment

[DannyM]

Vista/7

Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore

Go from there, the backups usually are not that big so your 30GB drive should be enough. For important files such as documents and the like I would recommend Dropbox, but there is also Google Docs and Microsoft Skydrive, all reputable solutions, Dropbox is the most convenient but more space is provided by Google and Microsofts solution.

[iamlorro]

Vista/7

Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore

Go from there, the backups usually are not that big so your 30GB drive should be enough. For important files such as documents and the like I would recommend Dropbox, but there is also Google Docs and Microsoft Skydrive, all reputable solutions, Dropbox is the most convenient but more space is provided by Google and Microsofts solution.

Dropbox does allow you to sync stuff across multiple PC's though, and you can pay for more storage....

The cheapest way to backup at the moment, if you wanted more space than your 32gb drive (and to keep stuff in two locations - if you want to get serious about this) is to get a usb stick or two, and backup/copy stuff on there.

What is it that you want to backup anyway? Documents? Photos? Videos?

[jim]

Spideroak is a better solution than dropbox.

[Saracen]

For just backing up Windows, what a imaging software and a USB disk drive? Or even a 32gb USB pendrive? OR better yet, two drives, and alternate between them.

Two things cross my mind. First, it needs to be fast, easy and convenient to use, or it won't get used very often, which kinda defeats the point.

Second, how often will you do it? And what exactly is being backed up, and therefore, how big is it?

Different flavours of Windows are very different sizes, such as between XP and Win 7. For the former, backing up to a DVDr would be fine, but for the latter, it'd be a bit big. Second, getting Windows back up and running is fine, but getting all your applications re-installed and then all settings, configurations, tweaks, plug-ins and utilities running is what really takes the time.

So what's the exact point of the exercise? To re-install a clean Win build? Or to put your system back how it was right before the crash? In the latter case, you'll be re-installing all the applications, so if you (like me) have Office, Photoshop, accounting software, and a host of other things, they take both a lot of space (which changes the optimal device you back up onto) and the time and process of doing it.

As for software, my preference is TrueImage. True, you can use the Windows backup, but my impression for fairly limited testing was that it wasn't as fast, and certainly not as versatile. The differences may not be relevant to you, though. Or, Cobian or Easus Free v4.

[mycarsavw]

I have a 32gb drive, what's the best combination of stuff to put on it? I'm not interested in keeping stuff online at the moment

If you're using the default file locations, the contents of your Users folder should be enough. That'll cover appdata (settings etc), pics, music, docs, etc and any folders created on the desktops (downloads etc).

Then add in any game saves (Steam etc).

If you're not using something like Xmarks to sync your browser bookmarks then you'll want to backup those too.

Assuming the 32Gb drive is attached to the PC all the time, you can use the simple Karen's Replicator to run a daily/weekly/monthly incremental backup.

[wasabi]

As for software, my preference is TrueImage. True, you can use the Windows backup, but my impression for fairly limited testing was that it wasn't as fast, and certainly not as versatile. The differences may not be relevant to you, though. Or, Cobian or Easus Free v4.

Agreed. Trueimage will make an exact clone of your system. No manual reinstall of Windows, reconfiguring etc required. Norton Ghost does the same but costs a bit more if I remember correctly.

Most other consumer backup products are good for individual files but you'll have to reinstall everything manually.