[SOLVED] Easiest Way to Auto Clone M2 to External SSD Daily

[casbboy]

I have two M2 drives in my computer. One for data and one for OS and programs. The samsung 960.

Was hoping I could just buy two large SSD drives and clone to each of them through external docking station.

Is this possible? And does Samsung have a software or is there something better. Want the best backup/clone possible.

All feedback appreciated.

Cheers!
Ryan

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Macrium reflect can do scheduled automatic backups. I have macrium automatically back up my PC to my NAS daily.

 

[USAFRet]

A daily full clone is counterproducive.

That gets you a fallback of one day.
Macrium will do Full/Incremental/Differential images, on whatever schedule you set.
You get multi depth of backups, and much less data written to that backup drive.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[casbboy]

Thanks for the reply. So would you suggest doing multiple copies, like three days worth of backups, for each drive on a single backup drive?

I was thinking just cloning the drive would be easier for hot swapping it back in if the case was needed.

I want the easiest recovery possible.

Cheers!
Ryan

 

[Countess_C]

Macrium will do Full/Incremental/Differential images, on whatever schedule you set.
You get multi depth of backups, and much less data written to that backup drive.

That sounds great, Does "differential" mean that it only writes that what has changed on the original drive to the backup one?

 

[USAFRet]

Full is (obviously) everything.
Incremental is every change since the last Full or Incremental
Differential is every change since the last Full.

Which type you use depends on the particular needs of that drive or system. In my realm, I use some version of all 3 methods, depending on the particular system.

 

[USAFRet]

One of my SSD's died last December.
All of a sudden, no warning. Just dead.
960GB SanDisk, 605GB data on it.

Slot in a new drive, click click in Macrium....the entire 605GB recovered, exactly as it was at 4AM that morning when that drive ran its nightly Incremental.

 

[casbboy]

Ok, so just to break this down. I need to do the following steps:

1. Purchase USB 3 docking station.
2. Install two drives in docking station to receive image backups.
3. Install Macrium on Windows (Should I do Free or Home?)
4. Create a recovery USB for Macrium.
5. Start running backups.
6. If drive ever fails, insert recovery USB, have it run, and select whatever disk image I like.

I want to have a backup that just puts everything back as it was. No need to re-install windows or re-insert keys or anything like that.

That about it? And, what do you think of EaseUS? Same idea? I have the installed right now.

Cheers!
Ryan

 

[USAFRet]

A full disk image is exactly that.
If your current drive dies, or suffers some major corruption/malware/whatever....
Boot from your RescueUSB, select the Image desired, and all is exactly as it was when that Image was created.
Windows, licensing, everything...

 

[USAFRet]

EaseUS is probably the same idea.
But I've not used it, so can't comment directly.

I know Macrium does this.