Backing up Data

[Greenman]

What's the best and fastest way of backing up your data? Right now I just copy what I want onto an external HDD. Is there a fast way of backing up everything onto a disk? I'll still want to retrieve individual files and folders at a later date though, rather than restoring the full disk.

Thanks.

 

[steaky360]

You can use programs which do the same thing but run in the background - this might not be quicker but could still save you time as its done whilst you're doing other stuff on the PC rather than waiting for you to manually copy/paste/drag/etc. the items over.

Although I must admit, I'm very VERY bad at backing up (I don't really do it for anything but the essential stuff, of which there is very little that actually changes). So there's probably a better way that I'm not privy to .

 

[ubuysa]

It depends......

The best way to backup your system drive or partition (the one with Windows and programs) is to take regular disk images. Macrium Reflect (http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx) can do that in several ways. Either full images (that's what I do) or incremental or differential images. Macrium Reflect lets you make a Windows PE based recovery disk should you ever need to do a full restore.

The best way to backup your data drive or partition is to use an intelligent file copy program. SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/) has both a basic freeware and a paid for (and more comprehensive) options. SyncBack only copies those files that are new or have changed, greatly speeding up the backup process. It's extremely customisable so you have complete backup control.

If you have only one disk with both Windows, programs, and user data on then I'd recommend the disk image technique. Macrium Reflect allows you to mount backup images as virtual disks so you can access files in a disk images individually too.