How To Back Up Hard Drive?

[Alexk492]

I want to order an external hard drive and use it as a backup drive incase if my internal hard drive fails. I'm not planning on always using it, just to plug it in, back up, and unplug.

I'm thinking of getting this external hard drive: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Passport-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01LQQH86A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Most of the reviews look good, is it a good buy?

Because I won't be using the external hard drive very often, would the chances of the external hard drive failing be significantly reduced?

How do I fully backup my internal drive? Everything from the system32 folder, registry, to documents in one click?

How would I use the backup drive to restore everything if the internal hard drive fails?

 

[The Paladin]

1, that's a mighty large backup drive but nice to see it has Auto backup with included WD Backup software
2, hard drive failure are usually related to bad sectors on the platen's and that is usually cause by constant usage. will your ext.HDD fail before another type of hard drive , it is hard to say. it varies a little but on average a HDD is good for 3-5 years with constant use.
3, your talking about creating an ISO image (full backup) WD Back software that comes with your HDD will cover those options, if not happy with it, you can always look into other like Acronis True Image, http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/computer-backup/
4, this will be explained depending on your back up system Acronis as I surmise WD backup will as well, make a restore "thumb drive" or cdrom to boot from to startup pc and access ext. hdd to restore image to hdd.

 

[Promomilia]

Step One: Assemble Your Tools and Examine The Drive's Condition

The first thing to do is make sure you have the tools required to connect this drive to another computer safely. Ideally, you'll have some kind of SATA/IDE to USB cable or USB drive enclosure or sled that you can mount the drive into and connect it to your computer easily. Sure, if you have a desktop and like getting your hands dirty you can try to install the drive as an internal one, but an external connection is faster and easier.
Next, take a look at the drive itself. Is it damaged in any way? Are the pins bent or broken? Make sure that the drive is in good enough condition to actually use before you try anything in the first place that may damage it even further. If the drive is too physically damaged to attempt recovery, you may need more drastic measures that we'll get to later. If everything looks good and you have the equipment required to connect the drive to your system, we can proceed.

Step Two: Grab Some Data Recovery Software and Connect the Drive

Before you do much else, make sure your antivirus and antimalware tools are up to date. You don't know what you'll find on this drive, and you don't want it to start misbehaving once the drive is connected to an active system. Once you've done that, it's time to download and install some data recovery tools.

Recuva (Windows, Free): Personally, Recuva has been indispensible. Made by the same folks behind CCleaner, Recuva makes data recovery simple and easy. if you're only interested in browsing and restoring selected files off of the drive, Recuva is a great option. Alternatively, check out Undelete Plus for Windows.

FileSalvage (OS X, $80): File Salvage for Mac will set you back some serious coin, but it's one of the best tools to pull data off of a connected hard drive in OS X. It can recover virtually any type of file on multiple partition types, and prides itself on its ability to recover from damaged drives and corrupt media. If you want an alternative, try Data Rescue for Mac ($100).
TestDisk (Win/OS X/Linux, Free): If you're not afraid of the command line, TestDisk is an open source utility that can run against almost any platform or partition type. It does a great job of recovering data quickly, and won't do unnecessary writes against the drive you're trying to recover from.

Bootable Linux distros for drive recovery: If you're not interested in messing around with apps (or paying for them), consider burning a bootable CD or USB key with BackTrack, Bart PE, or SpinRite on it, so you can boot to an OS that's not your primary drive, avoid writing or touching the drive you want to recover from, and run a host of recovery and forensics tools against that drive that are highly effective and completely free. Photo by Roman Soto.

A number of these tools can recover from formatted drives, especially if the data hasn't been overwritten. We've tackled this topic before, and used Knoppix as our bootable linux distro, but the steps apply to the ones we've mentioned as well. For more reading, check out this old but still largely accurate guide at Linux.com to recovering from formatted drives.


Step Three: Get Out the Big Guns (and Your Wallet)

 

[ArtPog]

Be reasonable. If you actually do insist on a "one-click" (as you put it) solution to back up the entire contents of the drive you have chosen (and presumably you would also insist on a "one-click" system to restore your system in the event it became dysfunctional for any reason), then neither I nor I believe anyone, can provide you with such a "system". "Magic dust" is a hard commodity to find these days.

On the other hand, if you're seeking a comprehensive backup system encompassing the entire contents of your drive(s) together with a reasonably simple & straightforward undertaking to return the system to a bootable, functional state in the event your system became dysfunctional because of a defective drive or because of malware, unwise system configuration, etc., etc., then you can be offered a reasonable plan-of-action for your consideration.

 

[RolandJS]

I concur, a one-click backup is going to take quite a bit of configuration, thought, etc. to set up. It's best to learn enough about Macrium Reflect, AOMEI BackUpper, or anything similar you decide to use. Now, this is only a suggestion, I use two usb ext 1TB HDs for each of my computers. That way, if a logical error temporarily knocks out 1 HD, the other one probably will be fine for doing a restore; I make my OS and Data partitions backups on both dedicated HDs and then store 'em in a safe place.