{"id":188,"date":"2018-01-17T19:16:55","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T01:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/?p=188"},"modified":"2018-01-17T20:55:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T02:55:04","slug":"so-are-you-backing-up-your-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/2018\/01\/17\/so-are-you-backing-up-your-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"So…are you backing up your computer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late 2017 Microsoft released Windows 10 Update 1709.\u00a0 If you’re a Windows 10 Home user, you were not given a choice to install the update, and may have been subject to some of the issues that this latest update caused<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the that followed the update we had numerous calls of crashed PCs.\u00a0 All of them had two things in common.\u00a0 First, they were Windows 10.\u00a0 Second, they had just been updated.<\/p>\n

In all cases the user data was not accessible.\u00a0 Although we were able to fix all of them, it was only because we had installed imaging software on them.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the topic of this post:<\/p>\n

Are you backing up your computer?<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the first questions that we ask clients when it comes to their computers is “Is there anything on this computer that you absolutely, positively cannot live without?”.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 If the answer is “yes” (which is usually is), we ask how they are backing up.\u00a0 Most don’t have a plan.<\/p>\n

There are several ways to backup a computer, and we’ll discuss each one of them in detail here.<\/p>\n

Before we do that, though, let’s break down what your PC consists of.\u00a0 Whether you’re running a Windows or Linux based PC or a OSX based Mac, your computer has three basic software items:\u00a0 The Operating System, Programs, and Data.<\/p>\n

The Operating System (OS)<\/strong> is what makes it go.\u00a0 When you push the power button on your computer, the OS starts up.\u00a0 Programs can’t run without it.\u00a0 Peripherals couldn’t be installed without it.\u00a0 Everything depends on the OS.<\/p>\n

The Programs<\/strong> are what allow you to do things, like create documents, spreadsheets, edit photos and videos, listen to music, watch music, and thousands of other things.<\/p>\n

Data<\/strong> is what you create with programs.\u00a0 It’s your documents, your spreadsheets, your pictures, your videos, your music, your stuff.\u00a0 It’s the only item of the three that cannot be replaced, because YOU created it, not the OS creator or the program vendor.<\/p>\n

If a computer crashed, we could recreate everything using the OS DVD (or USB) and the program disks.\u00a0 If your computer didn’t come with a restore DVD, then you will have a problem if the hard drive crashes.\u00a0 Either way, bringing back the data will be impossible.<\/p>\n

So data is probably the single most important thing to back up.\u00a0 If you do need to reinstall the OS and the programs, be prepared to spend some time with it.<\/p>\n

When we setup a backup plan, we offer several different options.<\/p>\n

Option 1 – Image Backup<\/strong> – An image backup is just as the term implies.\u00a0 It’s an image, or picture, of the hard drive.\u00a0 Using a backup program (for Windows 10 Home we recommend EaseUS Home Backup<\/a>\u00a0, for Windows 10 Professional, we recommend EaseUS Workstation Backup<\/a> – either will work for their Windows 7 or 8.1 counterparts).\u00a0 EaseUS Backup will allow you to create several different types of backup, including an image backup.<\/p>\n

You will need a destination for the backup.\u00a0 If you have more than 1 computer, we recommend a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.\u00a0 This is basically an external hard drive that is accessed via your network.\u00a0 It allows multiple computers to backup to is, as well as store additional data, like music, pictures, videos, that can be accessed by anyone on the network who has the right credentials.\u00a0 You can also use a USB external hard drive, but that limits the number of computers that can use it as a destination to only one.<\/p>\n

EaseUS will prompt you to create a WinPE rescue USB when you first install it.\u00a0 Make sure you do this, and put the USB thumbdrive in a safe place.\u00a0 If your hard drive crashes, you’ll need this to restore your PC.<\/p>\n

Option 2 – Data Backup<\/strong> – A data backup is a backup of all of your “stuff”, but not your OS or your programs.\u00a0 EaseUS does offer an option to backup only data, which we recommend in addition to the image backup.\u00a0 This lets you restore just a single file or folder if you accidentally deleted it.\u00a0 An image backup restores the entire computer.\u00a0 Data backup just restores files and folders.<\/p>\n

Option 3 – Cloud Backup –\u00a0<\/strong>The cloud has become part of every computing environment, from enterprise, or business level, to home level.\u00a0 You’re already using the cloud, whether you realize it or not.\u00a0 Most smartphones use the cloud to store data, with iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive being some of the more popular cloud applications and storage sites.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the cloud is storage space on someone else’s network that is accessible only via the internet.\u00a0 You can’t get to your stuff unless you’re online.\u00a0 If something happens to your computer your data is not lost because it’s on the cloud.<\/p>\n

Our favorite cloud backup system is iDrive<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 It’s relatively inexpensive ($79 per year), fully automated, and gives you plenty of storage space (2 terrabytes, which equals 2000 gygabytes, which is more than enough for all of your photos, videos, music and documents).<\/p>\n

Once you install the program, it backs up on a schedule that you determine (ours runs at 10:30pm daily) and, once the initial backup has been done (which could take days, depending on how much data you have, and what your upload speed is), it only backs up what has changed since the last backup.<\/p>\n

Oh, and it’s not limited to just your computer’s data.\u00a0 You can backup as many computers as you have, your tablet or iPad, and your smartphone, as long as the total of all the data is under 2 terrabytes (you can always buy more space, but it’s unlikely you’ll need it).<\/p>\n

What method should you use?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We use all three.\u00a0 We have a NAS, and we backup an image and data, and we use iDrive.\u00a0 We can restore an entire computer, or just a file.<\/p>\n

You should use whatever will prevent you from ever having to say<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To sum it up…<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s really pretty simple to get your system backed up, especially if you use the methods we listed.\u00a0 However, if you need help, or if you didn’t backup and now you need to get your data off your hard drive, contact PCMDX<\/a> today.\u00a0 We’ll come to you and get your “stuff” back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In late 2017 Microsoft released Windows 10 Update 1709.\u00a0 If you’re a Windows 10 Home user, you were not given a choice to install the update, and may have been subject to some of the issues that this latest update caused. In the that followed the update we had numerous calls of crashed PCs.\u00a0 All […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,40,30,15,2,58,3],"tags":[37,59,60,61,63,62],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-windows-versions","category-backup","category-cloud","category-data-security","category-os","category-osx","category-win10","tag-backup","tag-easeus","tag-idrive","tag-nas","tag-update","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}