backing up an SSD

The_Evenger · March 13, 2014

I just got a 2TB HDD as my new massive storage unit, and now have my 500GB HDD is open for a new position in my computer.

My boot drive is a SSD (256GB), and because those only last so long, I want to setup an automatic backup program, that will once a week flash my SSD to my HDD, even if the computer is sleeping.

The HDD still has my backup OS partition on it which brings it down from 465 to 365.7, so software that doesn't completely wipe my HDD but still writes to it would be awesome, but if it cant, no big deal.

and also, when my SSD does fail, If it is possible, I want to just boot to the backup drive, and run my last saved configuration, or at least send the backup to another drive and boot it there, as you would thing.

from windows' tool, and other stuff like ghost, I don't have the time to go through all that stuff and choose which one is the best, considering I'm still in high school, and just started a new semester with some really hard classes that are eating away at my time very rapidly. so I'm just asking for someone who already uses some kind of backup software to tell me what they are using, and what all it does, right now I simply don't have time to even play a half hour game of BF, so I certainly don't have time to do research.

it doesn't madder if it wipes the entire drive each time, or even if it isn't automatic, I just need one that will let me boot to the backup file whenever needed/put the backup on a different drive and then boot to it.

Edit: on second thought it's not as important that I can boot to the backup, is it is important is I can put that image/restore/backup onto another drive, like a replacement SSD, or temporary HDD partition.

thanks for any and all replies/help!

hawaiims · March 13, 2014

If your computer is off as in shutdown, it's nigh possible.

If it is sleeping then it should be alright.

The_Evenger · March 14, 2014

I just sleep my computer, and if it is shutdown, it is usually for when I work on the hardware.

but do you have any software you can recommend for backing up my SSD?

zombie93 · March 15, 2014

There are a few software solutions out there, ranging from free to utterly expensive. Its also dependent on how much data you are actually backing up. Are you just trying to create a system image, recovery disk, or are you trying to transfer your whole drive (everything!!). I would start there. Acronis is a program that I have used with much success. http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup I used to back up a RAID 0 SSD config, restore to a single SSD, and back again to RAID 0 SSD setup fairly easily. With no loss of data. But its all personal preference.

stevv · March 17, 2014

@The_Evenger

Just use the windows image backup, it backs up full and future backups are only changes. Recovery is a full wipe.

Also you mention ghost, so you can boot into windows recovery with disc (shift +F10 shortcut to command prompt) and run ghost if you prefer. (make sure you have 32/64 windows boot depending on your ghost version).

I keep a ghost (once a few months) and win image (weekly)... data backup (crashplan). Important for me since I have a lot of setting and IT support stuff on it.