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What's the best for autmated daily clone.

noobbuilder
By noobbuilder
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Go to solution Solved by Lady Fitzgerald,

First, you are to be commended for having the good sense to want to backup your data.

 

Second, I strongly do NOT recommend any kind of automatic backup like your proposing.

 

Automatic backups require that the backup drive be connected to your computer and powere up at all times which would mean it would no longer be a true backup. If a virus should get onto your computer, the "backup" drive would also get infected. Backup drives must be kept separated from the computer and be kept powered down and disconnected from the computer except while updating the backup.

 

Third, cloning is an inefficient way to backup your C:/ drive. Imaging takes up far less room and allows you to keep multiple images in case you need to go back farther than the latest image. Imaging is roughly the equivalent of a photo negative (cloning is more like a copy machine). You use an image to restore your C:/ drive to the state it was in when the image was taken, much like a photo negative is use to make a print.

 

Ideally, the only thing that should be on your C:/ drive (or partition) is the OS and programs. Also, there is no need to image the C:/ drive (or partition) daily. The only time you need to image it is just before installing or updating programs, uninstalling programs, or making changes to your settings. Also, images should be kept on an external drive that is kept disconnected from the computer and powered down except when making an image.

 

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging. Download this version from here since I saw a report that the latest version was causing BSODs.

 

While imaging is necessary for backup up the OS and programs, it is too time and space consuming and inefficient to use for backing up data. Any data you have should be kept on a separate drive or partition. Then you can use a folder/file syncing program to back it up. A folder/file syncing program, when set to Mirror Mode (not the same as RAID 1) will compare your data drive (or partition) to the backup drive and will copy any new or changed data on the data drive to the backup drive. It will also delete data from the backup drive that has been deleted from the data drive. This gives you what is essentially a clone of the data drive on the backup drive, except the process is much faster and involves fewer writes since only data that has been added, changed or deleted since the previous backup are involved.

 

The better folder/file syncing programs have a feature called Versioning. When enabled (which I strongly recommend), Versioning will send files deleted from the backup drive to a user designated folder. This will protect you from accidental deletions.

 

I recommend FreeFileSync for folder/file syncing. it's a bit confusing to set up but, once set up, it is simple to use and runs far faster than cloning everything would take.

 

To backup any work you do during the day, just connect your backup drive to the computer and power it up, then run FreeFileSync. When done, power down and disconnect the backup drive. You can do it anytime you want but, the more often you run it, the faster each run will be. it can literally take only a few minutes.

 

Having to manually run backups may seem inconvenient but it's really not bad at all once you set things up properly.

 

The one automatic backup I will endorse is using a paid cloud backup service (not cloud storage, especially the freebies!), such as Backblaze (which I recommend) and Carbonite.com. These services will put a program on your computer that will run silently in the background and will upload any new or changed files to their servers. The downsides to cloud backups may include cost, file size and type restrictions, and the amount of time required to upload files. A broadband internet connection with a high enough data cap is needed, which can also add to the cost. The computer also has to be kept running long enough to allow the uploads to take place.

 

A cloud backup shoulkd never be your only backup, however. Infact, you should never have only one backup. Data must exist in three places for it to be reasonably safe. For most people, this is on the computer, on an onsite backup, and on an offsite backup (a good, paid cloud backup service can be used for the offsite backup). The onsite backup and the offsite backup should be swapped out as frequently as possible to keep the offsite backup as up to date as possible (unless the offsite backup is a cloud backup service).

Posted

Hi i am looking for a program that automatically creates a clone of drive c:\  daily. I want it to be able to clone while i'm asleep and if my os ssd goes out i wont lose anything since the night before.

 

It does not have to be free. I am simply looking for the best solution for peace of mind.

 

Thanks

8700k , 32gb ram , 2080 ti ftw3 ultra , msi gaming m5 , 7.1 kilpsch rp series , denon srh750 , sony 65x900f, 27tb's hdd's+ssd's , cooler master h500p modded case

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First, you are to be commended for having the good sense to want to backup your data.

 

Second, I strongly do NOT recommend any kind of automatic backup like your proposing.

 

Automatic backups require that the backup drive be connected to your computer and powere up at all times which would mean it would no longer be a true backup. If a virus should get onto your computer, the "backup" drive would also get infected. Backup drives must be kept separated from the computer and be kept powered down and disconnected from the computer except while updating the backup.

 

Third, cloning is an inefficient way to backup your C:/ drive. Imaging takes up far less room and allows you to keep multiple images in case you need to go back farther than the latest image. Imaging is roughly the equivalent of a photo negative (cloning is more like a copy machine). You use an image to restore your C:/ drive to the state it was in when the image was taken, much like a photo negative is use to make a print.

 

Ideally, the only thing that should be on your C:/ drive (or partition) is the OS and programs. Also, there is no need to image the C:/ drive (or partition) daily. The only time you need to image it is just before installing or updating programs, uninstalling programs, or making changes to your settings. Also, images should be kept on an external drive that is kept disconnected from the computer and powered down except when making an image.

 

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging. Download this version from here since I saw a report that the latest version was causing BSODs.

 

While imaging is necessary for backup up the OS and programs, it is too time and space consuming and inefficient to use for backing up data. Any data you have should be kept on a separate drive or partition. Then you can use a folder/file syncing program to back it up. A folder/file syncing program, when set to Mirror Mode (not the same as RAID 1) will compare your data drive (or partition) to the backup drive and will copy any new or changed data on the data drive to the backup drive. It will also delete data from the backup drive that has been deleted from the data drive. This gives you what is essentially a clone of the data drive on the backup drive, except the process is much faster and involves fewer writes since only data that has been added, changed or deleted since the previous backup are involved.

 

The better folder/file syncing programs have a feature called Versioning. When enabled (which I strongly recommend), Versioning will send files deleted from the backup drive to a user designated folder. This will protect you from accidental deletions.

 

I recommend FreeFileSync for folder/file syncing. it's a bit confusing to set up but, once set up, it is simple to use and runs far faster than cloning everything would take.

 

To backup any work you do during the day, just connect your backup drive to the computer and power it up, then run FreeFileSync. When done, power down and disconnect the backup drive. You can do it anytime you want but, the more often you run it, the faster each run will be. it can literally take only a few minutes.

 

Having to manually run backups may seem inconvenient but it's really not bad at all once you set things up properly.

 

The one automatic backup I will endorse is using a paid cloud backup service (not cloud storage, especially the freebies!), such as Backblaze (which I recommend) and Carbonite.com. These services will put a program on your computer that will run silently in the background and will upload any new or changed files to their servers. The downsides to cloud backups may include cost, file size and type restrictions, and the amount of time required to upload files. A broadband internet connection with a high enough data cap is needed, which can also add to the cost. The computer also has to be kept running long enough to allow the uploads to take place.

 

A cloud backup shoulkd never be your only backup, however. Infact, you should never have only one backup. Data must exist in three places for it to be reasonably safe. For most people, this is on the computer, on an onsite backup, and on an offsite backup (a good, paid cloud backup service can be used for the offsite backup). The onsite backup and the offsite backup should be swapped out as frequently as possible to keep the offsite backup as up to date as possible (unless the offsite backup is a cloud backup service).

Jeannie

 

As long as anyone is oppressed, no one will be safe and free.

One has to be proactive, not reactive, to ensure the safety of one's data so backup your data! And RAID is NOT a backup!

 

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Thanks for a very detailed reply. Drive space and externals are not an issue (all hooked up drives are about 27 TB) neither is bandwidth as i pay for unlimited bandwidth cap and 350Mbps cable connection. So i'll probably use the macrium to image as suggested and pay for the blackblaze as a second copy and in my free time ill try to figure out the filesync..Thanks again

8700k , 32gb ram , 2080 ti ftw3 ultra , msi gaming m5 , 7.1 kilpsch rp series , denon srh750 , sony 65x900f, 27tb's hdd's+ssd's , cooler master h500p modded case

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