[SOLVED] What is the best way to do backup on external drives ?

Tommy Sawyer

Commendable
Aug 20, 2021
80
2
1,545
I have 3 different ways to backup my data on my computer:
- OneDrive 1TB,

- an internal 1TB SSHD now in an enclosure used externally

- San Disk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD.


I can use OneDrive easily, but not sure how to use the SSHD in enclosure and SanDisk Portable for backup let's say weekly or monthly. Without some kind of automation or program how do you easily backup files like photos, documents, videos, etc. into certain folders without recopying all those folders over again or picking certain individual file folders to put just a few photos, documents, etc. Is there an easy way to do this?

thanks,
 
Solution
Why NOT automation?
I use Macrium Reflect, which can do the full drive, or specific folders.
Set it on a weekly schedule (Sunday 2PM), plug in your external at 1:30...let it run. Disconnect until next week.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Why NOT automation?
I use Macrium Reflect, which can do the full drive, or specific folders.
Set it on a weekly schedule (Sunday 2PM), plug in your external at 1:30...let it run. Disconnect until next week.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Tommy Sawyer
Solution

Tommy Sawyer

Commendable
Aug 20, 2021
80
2
1,545
Why NOT automation?
I use Macrium Reflect, which can do the full drive, or specific folders.
Set it on a weekly schedule (Sunday 2PM), plug in your external at 1:30...let it run. Disconnect until next week.


So using two externals via USB at different times is not a problem? Do you need to tell the program what to do with each one, can you program that, or do you manually do it?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
So using two externals via USB at different times is not a problem? Do you need to tell the program what to do with each one, can you program that, or do you manually do it?
One way to do it might be to alternate them weekly.

Week 1, Drive A
Week 2, Drive B
Week 3, Drive A and overwrite what is already on it
Week 4, Drive B and overwrite
Repeat..

You'd have only one connected at a time,

That way, you'll always have 2x copies in the backup (mostly).
But, in an emergency, what you will miss is what has happened since the last 'backup day'.
If you do this on Sunday, and there is a need for recovery on Thursday...you've lost all that happened between Sunday evening and Thursday.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tommy Sawyer

Tommy Sawyer

Commendable
Aug 20, 2021
80
2
1,545
One way to do it might be to alternate them weekly.

Week 1, Drive A
Week 2, Drive B
Week 3, Drive A and overwrite what is already on it
Week 4, Drive B and overwrite
Repeat..

You'd have only one connected at a time,

That way, you'll always have 2x copies in the backup (mostly).
But, in an emergency, what you will miss is what has happened since the last 'backup day'.
If you do this on Sunday, and there is a need for recovery on Thursday...you've lost all that happened between Sunday evening and Thursday.

What's better, a backup image of the whole PC computer drive or a selection of certain file folders that I want like pics, docs, etc.?
The PC image takes like 2 hours every time.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
What's better a backup image of the whole PC computer drive or a selection of certain file folders that I want like pics, docs, etc.?
The PC image takes like 2 hours every time.
With 'certain folders', you WILL forget something. I see that here all the time.

You can set it to shut down the system when complete. So if it takes 2 hours, s o what.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tommy Sawyer

Tommy Sawyer

Commendable
Aug 20, 2021
80
2
1,545
With 'certain folders', you WILL forget something. I see that here all the time.

You can set it to shut down the system when complete. So if it takes 2 hours, s o what.

Just a few more question ...
1. Is there such a thing as too much copying or writing (from one disk to another) for drives ... I mean does it diminish the health of the drive if you're doing it too much?

2. Do you do full image backups every time or incremental image backups?

3. Is image backups better than cloning the drive?

thanks,
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Just a few more question ...
1. Is there such a thing as too much copying or writing (from one disk to another) for drives ... I mean does it diminish the health of the drive if you're doing it too much?

2. Do you do full image backups every time or incremental image backups?

3. Is image backups better than cloning the drive?

thanks,
  1. Yes but....you'd have to do several hundred GB per day, every day, for years to see any real lifespan impact.
  2. Depends on the system and needs. My main system, an Incremental every night. My HTPC, a Full once a week. My wifes system, a Full every other day.
  3. Images are for backups and potentially using later. A full Clone is for use right now, if you wish to change drives. Images Full/Incremental/Differential...allow you to store multiple on a single drive. ALL of my images from all systems and individual drives are in a single folder tree on my NAS. A Clone does not let you do that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tommy Sawyer

PeterMuellerr

Commendable
Mar 29, 2021
105
19
1,585
- OneDrive 1TB,
I used cp -auv /home/myusername /media/myusername/backup/ to a USB thumb drive called backup until it died yesterday. Yes, flash media sometimes dies. It happens rarely, but it happens. If I had resources, I'd backup weekly into a cloud (ideally, on the other side of the world) after local encryption. Clouds also die and they have some downtime, but when it happens, it is unlikely to be due to the same event (e.g., electrical current surge or fire in the building) that would kill your local hardware. Downside: higher connectivity poses you to more risk due to malware. Having said this, I concur that OneDrive is pretty reasonable; you might additionally wish to arrange encryption/decryption locally for that.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Tommy Sawyer