I need a new back plan, how do you all back up your hard drives??

[Runfox]

I recently got a virus I could not clean, had to reformat and reinstall from sratch. I thought I had everything I needed when I decided to format, but of course in hind sight I realize I was not really as set as I thought. I had a portable back up drive, but somehow it looks corupt, I'm hoping I can get my data off it.
My main items I copied to my back up drive I didnt want to loose were my pictures and music. I thought I had all my software coverded , but had misplaced a few CD's with copies after all. Had to do some work to get them back.

So how do you all back up you data, I am looking for a better plan. I usually have copies of all software on CD's, and make copies of my pictures onto CD's when I start to get a lot on my hard drive.
I am thinking I will put a second HD in my computer for back up. But then if I get a virus or bug in my main drive, it can still corupt my back up drive right?

I had Acronis true image on my PC once but was not crazy about how it worked. I guess thats an option as I still have the program, but you have to install after format, I dont really want to go through all that again.

 

[TheMajor]

I use Second Copy 8 and Norton Ghost 14 (similiar to Acronis TI).

 

[Runfox]

OK so how do you use them? I am thinking the best set up will be to use backup software as you mention and back up my hard drives to a portable usb drive. Say one a week or so, that way the back up drive is remote from the source drive. My thoughts before was to back up my main C:\ drive to a second backup drive in my computer. But if I get a bug or problem on the main drive it could still mess up the back up drive in the computer right?
Just like I have read that many suggest to partition your Hd with operating system and programs in one partion/ drive, with data on the other partion/ drive. But I don't see how having your data on a seperate partion will help if you get some bug or problem.

 

[KSoD]

They work by making a Image of your drive as it is. OS and all. That means everything on the drive gets backed up. So you will need to make sure that if you have, say 40GB of data, on that drive that if you really want to back it up every week you have at least a 2TB drive that your using so you can store these for a period of time. Cause these images will eat up space quickly.

The backup of the C:\ drive your talking about is RAID. That cant be done when the OS is in use and must be done during the setup.

Yes if you get an infection you could mess up the backups. You could even end up backing up the infection.

The chances of a real BUG affecting your personal data on another drive is so rare. It is so uncommon in release versions of Windows. This is why they do Beta testing. The Beta versions of Windows have done this in the past, but that was well over 4 years ago the last time it happened. So the chances of a bug causing personal data loss is about as unlikely as me getting married to a celebrity.

You do run the chance of an infection possibly corrupting your data, but the chances of that happening again are so rare. First off what is the chance that your personal data is going to be downloaded from the internet? Next what is the chance that your personal data is going to be in the hands of someone else?

You are thinking way to much about this. An Infection targets specific things. A specific file within Windows. So that they can gain access. They dont actually infect your data, they just wait for you to open a document or go to a website that you have to input personal data and do what is called "mining" of the data. They are not searching your machine for this stuff.

It is for this reason that you can seperate your data from the OS and run little risk of it being infected. If your so worried about your personal data, do what i do. Store it on an external drive that you only access when you physically plug it into the machine. Do what you have to and then remove the device from the machine. The chances of someone knowing exactly when i have my external hooked up in order to try and mine data from me is slim to none.

 

[office politics]

The backup of the C:\ drive your talking about is RAID. That cant be done when the OS is in use and must be done during the setup.

oh, but you can. see the following links for steps to complete. video is proof.

Setup Raid1 On Windows XP Professional - Video

Beginners Guides: Installing RAID on a Desktop PC - PCSTATS.com



also, i would "just" backup my data to a usb drive. I'd look to setup 7-zip command line to update a file archive and copy the file archive to online storage; such as WIndows Sky Drive. 20gb free of charge.

 

[TheMajor]

RAID is not a backup. It is really only meant to prevent some downtime.

I use Second Copy to copy important files (like important documents and images made by Ghost/Acronis) to another internal and/or external disk regularly.
Ghost and Acronis both offer a scheduler, so they can automatically create images, eg once a month. If you schedule it to make an image once a week, the virus may already be included in your latest image, and it becomes useless.

Multiple partitions (to seperate Windows from other data) are very useful if Windows get corrupted or infected. You can easily format, or restore Windows from an image, without affecting your important data.

 

[KSoD]

Office, to bad that was only back with XP. It cant be done so easily now with Vista/Win7. As the files are not the same and it wont work the same. You will corrupt your system. So while it may have been possible, it really isnt that way anymore.

Major, i wasnt trying to imply that RAID is a backup method. I was just trying to say RAID would be better served in that situation.

 

[Runfox]

OK I'm starting to get the idea here, thanks for all your input everyone, still learning here.

So if I had two drive in my computer, my main and my back up, and store all data on my back up drive, and just store system and programs one the main, that should be as good as separate partions and all. I don't think I need to copy an image of my whole drive really as I keep copies of my operation system and all programs so all that is easy to reinstall. Its only the data I don't want to loose.

 

[TheMajor]

Yes, that's even better than using partitions.

 

[Jdimstr333]

Me, I have 2 1tb drives and call them backup, backup 2. Then within that organize what I have on my main. I am very organized, tv shows, movies, downloads, etc all have folders. As well as my documents and each document are then in the folder pertaining to that app.

Then I have my system tools, drivers and restorers, etc..then I just clone all those and have a backup in each of my drives of everything important. Just the important things though