When the calf is drowned, the well is damped. If one proverb applies to many computer users, then it is this one. After all, you only feel the importance of a backup if the hard disk has crashed or if ransomware has encrypted all data, and there is no secure copy. That is also the moment that everyone knows what he should have done, namely making backups. Fortunately, making professional backups is easier than ever.
Everyone knows that you need to protect a Windows computer, so everyone installs antivirus software. But with only an antivirus program you are not there, the data on a PC runs more risks than just malware. Users make mistakes, a hard drive can crash, a notebook can be lost or stolen. If you do not have a backup, then your data will actually be lost. Regular backups are therefore necessary. However, not everyone has their backups in good order, which means they run the risk of losing years of work on Word and Excel documents and also the total digital photo and video collection.
01 Three-two-one
How many backups do you actually need? A good rule of thumb is the 3-2-1 rule: 3 backups, on 2 media, 1 of which is outside.
By three backups we mean three complete copies made at three different moments. With each, it must be possible to restore all data independently of the other two. Two media means two different types of storage, for example a hard disk and cloud storage, or a hard disk and a nas. It is difficult to keep one of those three backups outside the home, but think practically: at work, with family or with friends, these are all good locations to back up. And out of reciprocity you put one of them at your home. Certainly when you are away from home for a longer period of time, for example when you go on holiday, it is unwise to have all data plus all backups at home alone.
With this rule for really good (professional) backup in mind, we will get started in this article with the paid software Acronis True Image 2017 – Standard 1-Year Subscription. This software costs 40 euros per year (discounted to 30 euros per year at the time of writing) and offers 50 GB of cloud backup. This is ideal for storing one of your backups in the cloud and therefore immediately outside.
Alternative software
In this article we mainly use Acronis True Image 2017, the highly appreciated backup and imaging program. Although it certainly has a number of advantages, it is not necessary. You can also connect a free backup solution to free cloud storage, but because we put convenience first, we do not opt ​​for this in this article.
There are of course free programs with which you can make backups in an excellent way. A well-known is Duplicati. The 2.0 version that is already on the site is not yet finished, we recommend that you use the 1.3.4 version until then. Duplicati is free and open source and offers advanced functions such as encryption and is compatible with cloud storage from, for example, Google, Microsoft and Dropbox. Another friendly alternative is Backup & Recovery 14 Free Edition from Paragon.
02 Copy or backup?
A backup is really nothing more than “a copy”. If the original piece breaks down, you use the copy. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as it sounds. For example, not every copy is always a backup. If the copy is on the same hard disk as the original and the disk crashes, then there was a copy but there is no backup. If the copy is on another disk in the same computer, it will be backed up again, unless the hard disk did not crash but ransomware encrypted all the disks. Then it is no use to you. And what if the copy was made six months ago, is it a backup? And what if you have a backup, but not the program to restore the data? In short, a backup is only useful if you can restore as much of the original data as possible within an acceptable time and with a feasible effort.
03 What to backup?
The question of what to backup is not that hard to answer: everything that is needed to get back to work as quickly as possible after a computer problem. The backup therefore includes at least your own files such as documents, photos and videos, but also everything that is needed to restore the data. So also Windows is part of the backup and also the backup program and maybe a password or license key. And although this is all necessary, this does not mean that it must all be backed up in the same way, or that it must all be done together. Because you may want to back up the data more often than Windows (and also to save storage space), it is recommended that you separate the system recovery from the data recovery.
RPO and RTO
When it comes to backup, professionals use the terms RPO and RTO. RPO stands for Recovery Point Objective and that is the maximum data loss expressed in hours, days or longer. Can you lose the work of an hour, two hours or a day? In addition, there is the RTO, and that is the Recovery Time Objective. The RTO is the recovery time, that is the time you need to restore the data and if necessary also the systems. You can backup very often and therefore have a very small RPO, but if it then takes three days to refurbish the PC and actually restore the backup, you will have to keep your fingers crossed.
04 System backup
Windows 10 offers the possibility to backup the Windows installation in order to restore the PC after an incident. This is a Windows 7 feature that is no longer being developed, it seems, and with limited options. This way you can only make one system backup and only restore it on the same PC. All limitations that the Acronis True Image software does not have. As mentioned, we will get started with the standard 1-Year Subscription. After the 30-day trial, you pay 40 euros per year for a license for one system (currently 30 euros).
Download the trial version and install the program. Choose Utilities / Rescue Media Builder. Make a recovery disc on DVD or USB stick. When that is done, click Make a backup / Add a backup. Give the backup a name and click Full PC / disks and partitions and select the Windows disk here. click on OK. Then click Acronis Cloud and change the destination to a disk with a lot of storage space. Two examples of products specially developed for this purpose are the storage devices WD My Book and Seagate Backup Plus. Then click Make a backup now. When the backup is complete, you can always restore the PC by starting the computer from the recovery disk, selecting the backup, then selecting the disk with the faulty Windows installation and having it repaired. Less than fifteen minutes later you can continue or you can – with a larger disaster – start restoring your own files.
05 How many own files
Your own documents, photos and videos can theoretically be located anywhere on the PC, but with a standard Windows device they are always in the C: Users folder. In that folder you will find subfolders: one for each account that has been logged into the computer at least once. Each of these subfolders contains the well-known default folders of each user for storing files, such as Images, Documents, Music, Videos, but also the Desktop. If you now back up these folders, you will have your own files for all users of the PC. Before you back up it is important to know how much data you are going to back up. That fact is quite decisive for the place where you will store your own data. Therefore start Windows Explorer and click in the left line This PC. On the right you now see the disk C. Double click on it to open it. Now you see the folder Users. Right click on it and choose Properties. Now let Windows count for a while until it has added up the total size of the files in the users’ folders.
06 Backup media
You should therefore not keep a backup on the same disk as the original data, and better not on the same PC. There are also plenty of other options to choose from, such as an external USB drive, a nas or the cloud. The only means that is now no longer common, is the recordable CD and DVD. Too small, too expensive and not sufficiently reusable. But the other media also have disadvantages that you have to take into account when making your choice.
A USB drive is cheap and fast and you always have complete control over the backup. With two or three fast external drives you can also rotate and always keep one or two at work or with family. Then make sure you encrypt the disk or the backup. Acronis True Image can do that, but you can also do it yourself with a program like VeraCrypt. The functionality of an nas is comparable to the external disk for backup, only the nas is more expensive. However, a nas with multiple disks can protect against failing disks via RAID, and this solution is therefore less vulnerable than the usb write. A nas is often close to the PC, which is more vulnerable to theft, for example. The cloud is a great backup solution with the advantage that the backup is not in your own home. But cloud is quickly expensive, especially with large backups, and because all data goes over the internet, it is also slow. Moreover, a cloud supplier can also make mistakes or go bankrupt, as a result of which you lose your data. With the software we chose here, you get 50 GB of cloud space, you can purchase extra space (for example, the subscription with 500 GB of cloud space costs you 20 euros extra per year).
07 Mobile devices
More and more data is no longer on a computer, but on a mobile device. That can still be a notebook or MacBook, but increasingly it is a tablet or smartphone. Data is also created and collected on those devices, and you will certainly want to save part of it and have to back it up. The challenge of not losing data has not diminished with the arrival of mobile devices. With True Image, Acronis also offers apps for Android and iOS with which you can back up the data on these devices to the cloud or your own PC. The latter is very simple. Start True Image and choose Dashboard / Backup mobile device. A QR code appears on the screen. Then grab the smartphone or tablet and launch the Acronis app. click on Change destination / Backup to computer / I alread have it / Scan QR code and scan the QR code in the Acronis True Image screen with your smartphone or tablet. Select what you want to back up, enter a password if necessary Backup encryption / Set password and then click Backup now.
Easier mobile backup
A convenient way to backup the data on a mobile device is to include it in the PC backup. To do this, install a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, iCloud or OneDrive on the mobile phone. Configure these so that personal files (probably like mostly photos and videos) are automatically uploaded to the relevant cloud service. Then install the synchronization software from the same cloud service on the PC and let the files in the cloud synchronize with the PC. If you now take a photo with the smartphone, it will first be uploaded to the cloud and then synchronized with the PC or Mac. The synchronization puts a copy of the files in a folder in its own User folder, which you then automatically include in the general backup.
08 Make a backup
In fact, everything has now been arranged for proper backup. We have created an image of the system that we can restore via a recovery disk, so that you always have a working Windows with the backup software. You have also found out how much data you want to back up and you have made a choice for where you will store the back-ups. Switching with external disks in particular is very useful, certainly due to the possibility of saving one or a few backups in a different location. Make sure to encrypt those disks, but you can also just encrypt the backup.
Now connect the first external drive to the computer, preferably to a usb3 port because this greatly improves the speed. Then start the backup program and choose Add backup. Select the data that you want to back up, in this case Files and folders and browse to the user folders. Select it and click OK. Then select the destination of the backup, in this case the external USB drive. Then click Make a backup now. If you want to protect the backup, first click on Encrypt backup and enter the password twice. Confirm with Save and keep the password well, without that you will never get to the data again.
Encrypt a disk
If you want to keep a backup outside the door on a mobile disk, it is absolutely recommended to encrypt that disk. Some external disks come with their own encryption software, but in the past it has often been found that it is easy to bypass. That is why we remain fans of TrueCrypt and now the successor VeraCrypt. This allows you to encrypt the entire disk and no one ever gets access to the data on the disk. Download and install VeraCrypt. At www.computertotaal.nl you will find several step-by-step plans on how to encrypt an external drive with VeraCrypt.
09 Backup to the cloud
A backup in the cloud is especially suitable for a smaller selection of very important data that you want to keep in an extra secure professional computer center. Many backup programs and hard disks now also offer online storage, often against extra payment, and this is great for this. click on Add backup and give the backup a name. Then click Full PC and choose Files and folders. Because you have less storage space in the cloud, you have to select the most important files in a very focused way. Browse to and select the folders and files. Then click OK. As a destination you leave the Acronis Cloud, but important now: the encryption. click on Encrypt backup and enter a password twice. Save this password in a password manager such as KeePass, Enpass or LastPass. Then click Options and select on the tab Advanced / Data Center in which country your backup is stored. Handy if, for example, you do not want your data to be stored in the United States.
10 Options
The first backups have been made, now it is time to fine tune. It is important that the backups are made regularly. Use the planner in True Image for this. Select the backup that you have made and click Options. On the tab Plan you can indicate when you want this backup task to be executed automatically. When you work with changing disks, is Advanced settings / Run when the current destination device is connected a good option. On the tab Scheme you can choose whether you want to make a full backup every time or just save the changes. You choose the latter Incremental schedule. If you want an e-mail if the backup is successful or failed, you can set it up via notifications. If you use the cloud for the backup, be sure to check the tab Advanced. Here you can indicate after how many versions or months the backups can be deleted in order to save storage space.
11 Test the recovery
It is very important to test whether you can recover data from the backups. Select the backup and choose Restore files. Now choose one or a few files in the backup and click Next one. Because it’s a test. do not want to overwrite the original files. Therefore, click Browse at the top of the screen and select another location, for example the Desktop. Then click Recover now and wait for the test to pass.
12 Overview
A great feature of True Image is the overview of all backups on all devices managed with True Image. Click on this Dashboard / Online Dashboard and wait a while until the online dashboard is opened. Here you can see all devices backed up with True Image and the status of the backups. You can also arrange additional options there.
