lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thanks again TriX. I did some UglyHeadhog google searching and found some very good discussions about backing up files. Not sure what software I will get yet or what process I will follow, but I have a number of alternatives.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Glad to assist.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

As it appears that the search functions on UHH sucks could I then suggest that you bother to read at least every subject that comes up. Only takes a few seconds to scan the titles and then quit if you want. However I get the digest and do this every day - when I stop doing it every day I will stop using UHH.
I have only been active a few months and I have seen 100's of posts about backups. Since I am interested in backups I read them so that is how I know they have been posted.
There is no point in totally ignoring everything until you need it otherwise how are you going to know what has been posted. That is not being prepared ! Did you buy plenty of toilet paper in advance of the virus first being mentioned in January ? Or did you ignore everything round about you until it has come and smacked you in the face ?
One of the big issues with UHH is the repeated questions being asked over and over again about the same subjects. We end up with so few gems in amongst the dross because the rest is so repetitious. Take an interest, be prepared, don't wait until it is too late.
Don't bother flaming me as I am in a bad mood after watching what is happening in the rest of the world.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I use GoodSync - backs up 2 external HD's to portable, swithchable HD's and selected files and directories of the C drive to one of the external HD's. I've set it to do timed backups every 2 hours; it also deletes files that I have deleted

pianoman8

I'm very happy with SyncToy comes w/Windows. Only downside is that I haven't set it to automatically back up. Each night before turning off the computer I invoke SyncToy and it then backs up everything that is new since the last time it backed up. I am a belt and suspenders type of guy, so I back up on an external hard drive and a 256Gb thumb drive. Also, it's free - my favorite price.

Festus Loc: North Dakota

SyncBack Pro. Very versatile.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Acronis.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

You might want to checkout FBackup. They have a free and paid version. Their backup software gives you the option of performing a zipped backup or a native backup. The native backup is like you just copied and pasted the files to the backup drive. You can schedule backups, do incremental backups and perform a verify to have the software read and verify that what is on the backup is a complete copy of the file it backed up. Software has been around for over 10 years so they must be doing something right.

rvharvey Loc: Southern New Jersey

[quote=TriX]If you Google “ugly hedgehog backup” or “ugly hedgehog backup software” or “ugly hedgehog backup SW”, you’ll find plenty of reading.

I tried to find information about fungus or mold on film but UHH apparently only searches one word like "film." If you want information using more than one word use Google. I also like GoodSync for backups.

Xpatch Loc: New York, Antigua, GT.

Amazon Prime unlimited photo updates, coupled with gnarbox, Dropbox, and native apple cloud time machine, plus unsite ssd storage back up.

TGanner Loc: Haines, Alaska

I use FBackup ... very easy to use, seems to meet all your criteria, and it is FREE. I have been using it for years very happily. I used GoodSync for a number of years and walked away from them very unhappy.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

As you choose and setup your backup mechanism and schedule, there are several factors to consider (and I’m sure some of the IT admins on-site will have more).

A) one large choice is whether your backup SW makes a mirror or image of your files or uses some compression algorithm. Compression may save some space (how much depends on the SW and the nature of your files), but there are downsides. First, you will need the same SW to do a restore, (the backup will be an unreadable compressed file(s) until it’s restored). If you have to restore to a different machine, that one will need to have the same SW installed. Secondly, since the operation is more complex than a simple copy, there are more things to go wrong. Finally, you may have to restore the entire compressed volume to get to a single file if that’s all you need. Restores, even with enterprise BU SW such as NetBackup or Commvault, do fail, so you should actually test a restore BEFORE you need it. Personally, I much prefer a simple mirror or image that can be simply read by any machine using the same file system and where individual files and folders are easily accessed.

B) Next, while automatic backup makes sure that you don’t forget or postpone this laborious task, the issue with automatic backups is that if files or the entire file system becomes corrupt or infected with viruses/malware, the backup will also. One answer is to use some versioning or snapshot mechanism where you have multiple iterations at various times of the changes to your file system and backup. That way you can revert to a previous version before the issue occurred.

C) And finally, a related issue is how deletes are handled. If you accidentally delete a file or folder on the primary, you don’t want that to propagate to the backup in an unrecoverable way. Again, some sort of snapshots or multiple incrementals or a specific delete policy that prevents immediate deletion in the copy is the answer.

Remember that while a local backup is key, you ALSO need a 3rd off-site disaster recovery (DR) copy of your data when everything local is lost. And periodically test your restore mechanism before you (really) need it!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Of course there are varying degrees of off-sitedness. Your garage. Your neighbor's garage. Your mom's garage across town. Your grandmom's garage 1 state away.

All of these examples have varying degrees of convenience when it comes to synchronizing your storage media. 5 minutes to go out to your garage and get the storage medium and start synchronization. 7 minutes for your neighbor's garage. 2 hours for your mom's garage (you're going to have to spend some time talking to your mom while you're there). Probably a couple days to a week for your grandmom's garage (same thing -- a couple days visit to your grandparents).

If you use a cloud provider for your off-site storage, you can start the synchronizing in a couple minutes. That will save you a lot of time, which you can use to talk to your mom or your grandparents. The synchronizing can be done in the background automatically. Talking to your mom or grandparents will be something you have to schedule to do it on your own.

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thank you, TriX again for your comments, all important considerations. A) I agree that I want software that gives me a mirror copy. B) I had not thought about the iterations issue. Will consider it in my evaluations. C) While testing various softwares, I came across the delete issue when I tried AOMEI backup. They do not handle it the way I preferred.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I'm probably one of the few people who routinely used Windows to create a backup image. And... I also have stuck with SyncToy to backup file folders and other areas even tho Msoft hasn't changed it in years.