How to make a backup of an external hard drive. Backup what is it

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And even cunning.

But what to do if you don’t want to buy the same Acronis, you’re too lazy to tinker with all sorts of clonzillas, and make a complete clone of the system disk for the purpose of, say, transferring it to a new one (or HDD), or maybe, let's say, put it on a shelf as a static backup?

Let's get a look.

How to make a full copy of a disk - SSD or HDD

Well, let's figure it out. We will talk, as you understand from the subtitle, about the program HDClone, which has a free version, supports the Russian language, is incredibly easy to use, and also has pleasant functionality.

When you first start, they will unobtrusively tell you that you can get more goodies if you buy one of the extended versions of the program. You can safely ignore this information (or study it on the developer’s website) and click the button " Close".

The main window of the program is simple, concise and provides access to its functionality. Functionality in free version simple:

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Disk cloning (we will consider this);
Creating a disk image;
Creating backups (including backups not of the entire disk, but of partitions);
Testing tool;
Sector-by-sector disk browsing tool.

Everything is done extremely simply and literally in two clicks, but let’s still consider, for example, creating a complete copy of one disk to another (let’s say we need to transfer Windows from HDD on SSD), for which we click on the corresponding button.

At the first stage we will be asked to choose source disk or section, which we want to copy.

It is logical that at the second stage you will be asked to select a disk (or partition) on which we want to make a copy of.

Now you will be prompted to configure partitions. Most often, this is not necessary and a tick is enough" Resize partitions proportionally", but if suddenly you need some adjustments, you can do it here.

It goes without saying that a warning will appear indicating that the disk data Where cloning will be performed will be completely deleted. It is worth taking it seriously so as not to lose anything valuable.

Next, if you did everything correctly (however, even if you did it incorrectly), the disk cloning process will begin. During it you will be reminded once again that there is paid versions, which allow you to copy faster:

Time, of course, is money, but with such a process and difference, I still choose money, especially since while the process is going on, you can do other useful things.

At the end of the process, you will be asked to adjust the partition (this is indeed necessary). If you don’t understand, then you can use the automatic option, but for those with hands, there is a manual setting.

On this moment people are divided into two types: those who initially create backups, and those who began to do them. You should pay attention to the word steel. If a person has never experienced the loss of important documents due to any error, his own or a system one, then he will not understand humor. If you have encountered this, then such a user will be far from laughing.

Such an incident can be easily prevented by knowing what a backup is. This is a backup of certain files. More details below.

General information

Backup is a backup of system or any other files. This is done so that in case of any failure or infection by a virus operating system it was possible to restore the necessary documents.

Backup is performed in manual mode and automatically using special programs. In the second case, you should download a utility that will do everything for the user. In the first case, you can copy to any storage certain files that are of value. It should be noted that the utility can even save an entire operating system.

And what is this - backup, if translated from in English? This term translated as stock. The word is borrowed from this language. In addition, among other meanings of the word, you can notice that it can also be translated as reserve or repeating. That is, this term can be used to describe an action in which information is rewritten to another medium.

It should be noted that even our ancestors knew what it was - a backup. However, at that time it was not called that. All manuscripts that were of value were rewritten several times. In ancient times, libraries were often burned, so it was very important to store chronicles in several copies. In addition, moneylenders have mastered backups. They kept lists detailing who owed them money in multiple copies.

When to Backup

It is necessary to provide such an example for comparison. When any human organ is no longer working, it will be useless to take pills or any mineral supplements to improve its functioning. Accordingly, the same can be applied to the backup process. You need to save documents constantly. Even if a person does not store the most important information on his computer, the operating system works smoothly and without any glitches, it is still necessary to make copies of his documents.

If a person wants to download the program and try it out, but he has not used it before, then he needs to make a backup of the operating system. It happens that utilities damage system files or other important documents that affect the performance of the system.

At the same time, you need to understand that before reinstalling the operating system, you should definitely transfer your music and movies to a spare hard drive. As a rule, the installation program now works as perfectly as possible, not allowing a person to delete information that is important to him, but sometimes there are still incidents. Moreover, it never hurts to be on the safe side.

Where can I save a backup?

What is a backup, we already understand, then we should figure out where to make a backup save? As a rule, there are two most reliable methods that will allow you to save as much data as possible.

They must be transferred either to the cloud, or written to a flash drive, disk, or other physical media. Let's consider both methods, taking into account all their pros and cons. Every person should know where backups are stored.

Recording to an external drive

As a rule, the capacity of any external drive is several terabytes, so you can write to it a large number of important files, huge archives. The advantage of this method is not only the large capacity, but also ease of use and transportation.

It should be noted that the only drawback this method creating backups is unstable to mechanical damage. That is why you should buy more expensive devices that are not only able to withstand any shock, but are also impervious to moisture.

Flash drive

If you need to save system files, then an ordinary flash drive will be enough for this. It is quite cheap, every year more and more options with maximum capacity appear on the market, and you do not need to install drivers to use it. The reliability of such a device will be at its best. Besides this, now modern models able to withstand the effects of humidity.

Among the disadvantages, it should be noted that the flash drive may fail. At the same time, utilities that could recognize that a flash drive is no longer usable simply do not exist. The storage time on the device is not infinite, and the recording speed is low. If you put a flash drive and safely forget about it, then, unfortunately, after about six months the user, turning it on, will notice that the data on this device No. This problem is especially relevant for devices with large volumes, where manufacturers have not learned how to properly protect the device from information leakage.

CDs

Despite the fact that these devices have already gone out of fashion, they are still indispensable in some cases. There is no need to use the 700 MB options. A disk with almost 9 GB of memory may well be a good storage medium. However, it should be noted that these devices must be protected from temperature extremes, defects, as well as sunlight. If we talk about reliability and capacity, then you should choose DVDs. Such blanks are quite reliable.

CDs also work well, but their maximum capacity is 700 MB. At the moment this is a ridiculous indicator. They are very roomy blu-ray discs. They can hold more than 30 GB of information. However, drives to read and write to them are not installed in every device. Moreover, they are extremely sensitive to mechanical stress.

Cloud

The cloud has become very popular over the past few years. How to make a backup in this system? You just need to upload it to the cloud necessary files, and autosaving will allow you not to worry about the security of the downloaded information. It should be noted that the cloud is a server third party company, which provides a certain volume or free place for a nominal fee or free of charge.

The most popular clouds now are Dropbox, Google and Yandex services. It should be noted that the second option gives the user 15 GB of space for free, which will be enough for home use.

How to Backup Windows

If a person has worked with Windows 98 before, then he remembers the system failures very well. The operating system was, in principle, not bad, but if any utilities were incompatible, it was always 100% clear that system error will cause the operating system to be reinstalled. However, in new versions the manufacturer still provided Windows backup. In Vista and versions 7 and 8 this function was brought to almost excellent condition.

Using an example, let's look at creating an operating room backup Windows systems 7. It can be made very simply. You should go to the control panel, there you will find the “Backup and Restore” item. You should click on the menu with the left mouse button and go to the “Image creation” sub-item. A pop-up window will open again in which you need to select any of the three backup options. You can do this on a blank, upload it to the network, or use hard drive. You should check the box next to the item where the person intends to make a backup. After this, you should save the settings. It should be noted that if the Internet connection is poor and also unstable, then an attempt to save the operating system to the network will fail.

All this can also be done using special utilities. The most famous backup programs are those created by Norton and Acronis. Users often use utilities from Nero. It should be noted that although their functionality is excellent, not everyone is willing to pay for it. But if a person needs increased reliability and safety, then he will still have to pay attention to paid services. For ordinary users, the system’s internal tools will be quite sufficient to create backup copies.

Mobile devices

We have already described how to make a backup on a computer. However, what about mobile devices? These units currently store a large amount of important information, and we're talking about not only about phones, but also about tablets. Currently the most common is Android system, that’s exactly what we’ll talk about. How to make a backup of such a device?

It should be noted that we will not copy ordinary photos and videos, but programs and their settings. It should be noted that if you lose all this, then not only will it take a lot of time to restore, but there is also no likelihood that they will be completely restored. First you need to note the excellent utility Titanium Backup.

What you need for backup

To get started, you need to do two things to make a backup. Get root rights, that is, administrator rights. At the moment, you can hardly find phones that already have such rights when sold. Therefore, the user will have to suffer a little to get administrator options. The second thing you need is the Titanium Backup utility. It works great and is of high quality. To create a copy, be sure to use this one.

Special project with Acronis

We all sooner or later face the need for backup. And believe me: better early than late. Once upon a time, in 2009, I lost all my data. Back then I made backups on DVD-R/RW, which was not very convenient, so they were rarely made. Some of the data was sent by colleagues (it’s good that they kept it), but a lot of it was lost. It was from that time that I regularly make backups, and today we will talk about finding the ideal product for the family budget.

Where will we store backups?

Before choosing software, we need to decide where we will store the backup. You understand that DVD-R is of little use for Reserve copy. Firstly, it is small, secondly, it is slow, and thirdly, it is noisy. And since I switched to laptops a long time ago and I don’t recognize stationary devices at all (although I have them on the farm), I had to buy several external drives. First 250 GB, then larger.

I did not consider the cloud for one simple reason - there is not enough space:

You understand, even 15 GB is not enough, especially if minimum size external screw available on the farm - 250 GB. Extra space? You could, of course, pay $2 a month for 100 GB of storage. Google Drive or 10 dollars for an additional 1 TB, but 100 GB will not save me, and 1 TB is a little expensive. Ideally, 500 GB would be suitable for 2-3 dollars per month :)

Later, the family acquired two Android smartphones and one tablet, from which they also made backups to an external screw from time to time, the old fashioned way (after all, I was used to just such a process). Here one could safely use the cloud, but habit is a strong thing.

Search for backup software

Now we come to the most interesting part. How to make a backup?

In principle, you can use the free Clonezilla. The capabilities of this program, if not impressive, are at least pretty good. Here are some of them that I consider the most important:

support file systems Linux/macOS/Windows: ext2 to ext4, xfs, jfs, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HFS (macOS);
MBR and GPT support;
support for data encryption (AES 256);
the ability to deploy one image to several local devices;
support for SSH, Samba, WebDAV and NFS.

If you need to make a backup of a server in a corporate environment, and even on a shared server - best option can not found. For cloning systems in the case of deploying one operating system on many machines with the same configuration, that’s it: they brought in a fleet of computers, installed an axis on one of them, configured everything, made an image of it and deployed it to other computers. An admin's dream!

I have also been familiar with Acronis products for a long time, but mainly with server versions. I won’t compare them with Clonezilla now, since we are talking about home backup: after all, you have one or two computers and several Android devices at home, and you don’t need to constantly create images of all these devices. In general, CloneZilla is not suitable for home use. Once, I remember, I used it to make a backup at home when I was changing system disk onto a larger disk and was too lazy to reinstall all systems. Then this program, of course, saved me.

CloneZilla good program, but it’s 2016 and I want something more modern, but she’s stuck in the past. I want some kind of automation, management of backups from all devices, including mobile ones, I want to copy photos from my profile on social networks, I want to search inside the backup copy in order to find required file. I want a lot of things. Sometimes I even think about buying a NAS specifically for storing backups.

Actually, I started searching for the ideal software for myself. I came across the “File History” function in Windows 8/10. I somehow missed “Eight”, and “Ten” is installed on only one computer. Although File History was created in the image and likeness of Apple Time Machine and should be convenient, in practice it turned out to be not very convenient to use, moreover, with computers running the “seven” and Android smartphones it is not compatible.

If anyone is interested, while I was looking for the necessary software, all this time I was making backups from using Total Commander by simply copying files. But this is very inconvenient. Firstly, no automation: you need to go to each computer with an external screw and make a backup. Secondly, irrational use of space. I didn't use compression. Why? Yes, because I periodically need to search for information on a backup. Have you tried searching for something in an archive of several GB in size?

Quite by accident I remembered Acronis True Image and discovered that version 2017 has been released. Let's see what it can do now:

It looks like the perfect backup software exists! However, it’s not very ideal, but I’ll tell you about the shortcomings later, but for now I’ll boast about the capabilities: Acronis True Image 2017 is quite modern program for backup, and unlike ancient software like CloneZilla, it has everything you might need to modern man. This is what I personally really liked...

Firstly, saving space on the screws that are used for backup. The backup is made in compressed form, but Acronis allows you to search inside the backup.

Secondly, now I don't have to worry about data on mobile devices. Over the past two years, two microSD cards have failed: one on my wife’s phone, the other on her tablet. One photograph was at least partially saved, but the second was not, it “died” completely. Acronis True Image 2017 allows you to backup an unlimited number of Android/iOS mobile devices to your local computer.

Thirdly, you can (as I already noted) remotely control the backup on all home devices. Using the web panel, you can check the status of backups and configure data protection in real time.

Fourth, there is support for copying content Facebook profile. A lot of information is now published on social networks: photos, videos, comments. A backup of this data will protect against page hacking or accidental deletion.

Finally, cloud orientation. I couldn’t even imagine that Acronis now has such powerful cloud support: by purchasing a subscription, you get 500 GB of cloud space! This volume is quite enough for me for home purposes (unless, of course, I upload images to the cloud hard drives entirely, although Acronis allows this too).

About the disadvantages

Everything has its drawbacks. I hope the Acronis developers will listen to the criticism. Personally, I didn’t like two things about the program.

The first is the lack of Linux support. Data stored in Linux will have to be done the old fashioned way: either by copying, or using Clonezilla by creating an image of the partition with the data (fortunately, I have /home on a separate partition, out of habit).

Second - lack of support from others social networks, except Facebook. I think, however, that over time it will appear. But whether Linux support will appear is a question. Of course, Acronis has a Linux Server product, but I don’t want to use it for several reasons: firstly, using the server version for home use is tantamount to shooting sparrows with a cannon, and secondly, I don’t want to pay for another product (and this is the minimum 792 rubles per month), and thirdly, I want everything to be managed from one product.

About the price

We all know that Acronis has never been free. However, the prices also pleasantly surprised me: on the official website there is a calculator that allows you to find out how much Acronis will cost you.

A one-time license for 1 computer (the number of mobile devices is unlimited) will cost 1,700 rubles (approximately $27 at the current exchange rate). But it’s more profitable to buy a subscription: in this case, you will get both the program itself and 500 GB cloud storage. The cost of a subscription for a year will cost 1400 rubles. (~22$), for two years - only 2000 rubles (~32$), which is approximately 1.83$ or 1.33$ per month. For that kind of money you can only buy 100 GB of Google Drive! And here I got an excellent backup tool + 500 GB in the cloud.

If we calculate a more realistic configuration: 3 computers and 1 TB in the cloud, then a subscription for a year will cost 2400 rubles, and for 2 years - 3600 rubles. Only 150 rubles per month compared to 600 rubles for 1 TB on Google Drive! To me, the conclusion was obvious. 150 rubles - an amount quite affordable for home user, this will not hit the family budget.

When working for computer devices We constantly have important data that we would not want to lose. To prevent this from happening, you need to back up the most necessary information. On computer language this is called "backup". What is a backup and how it is done you will learn from this article. I’ll say right away that this thing is extremely necessary and when the right approach It will take very little time, but it will save much more time + save your nerves. Tested for myself.

Backup (from the English backup - “spare”) is the creation of a copy of the contents hard drive. Why do you need to back up your files? As a rule, for long-term storage of information, ordinary users use a hard drive that is in everyday use. Although magnetic media is a fairly reliable device, over time it loses its resource, and files can be irretrievably lost. A backup is made to prevent this from happening: lost information can always be copied from backup storage to new permanent media. Unlike working ones, which are always available and temporary, backup copies are made on a disk or flash drive that is disconnected from the computer. How to create a HDD backup?

When creating a copy of a disk, you need to be guided by several principles to ensure maximum data safety and “painless” information recovery:

Regularity. The frequency of creating a copy depends on how regularly the data on the hard drive is updated. The average user does not need to backup daily: in most cases, copying once a week is optimal.

Separateness. It makes no sense to keep a copy on the same hard drive that is the main storage location. The type of media used for backup depends on the importance of the information: in everyday life, any hard drive or CD is sufficient; for more serious backups - archiving - special expensive drives are used.

Double check. After making a copy, you need to make sure that it is not damaged - open several random files and ensure their safety. This needs to be done regularly, preferably with every backup.

Systematization. It is necessary not only to place all files in one place, but to divide them into categories according to a user-friendly principle. Often, data backup programs create images - archives, which are a single file in which all copied information is stored. Each category must have a separate image. This will allow backup files of varying importance with different frequencies. Thus, working data, which is more important and updated more often, will be copied weekly, and an image of the operating system can be created occasionally, only with the most significant changes.

There is no need to do manual copying - there is software that runs in the background and independently performs computer backup using specified settings when connecting the backup media to the computer. However, before choosing a program, you should decide on where the copy of the disk will be stored.

Where to save the copied data?

There are 2 main backup methods: on physical drives or using cloud services on the Internet. They have their advantages and disadvantages, different types carriers also have some features.

External HDD

This option is more popular than the others, as it is quickest and easiest to back up to an external hard drive. External hard drives exist in two versions:

ordinary HDD, inserted into a special box for connecting to USB;
Large flash disk.

This device is quite reliable for storing copies at home and costs relatively little. An external drive with flash memory is not inferior in reliability to an HDD, but regular flash drives You should not use them: they can break at any moment.

Laserdiscs

For computer backup, any type of disc can be used - CD, DVD or Blu-ray. They are easy to use and can be stored for a very long time, but have a number of disadvantages:

the need for careful handling, protection from sudden temperature fluctuations and mechanical stress;
the need to equip the computer with a recording drive;
possibility of disk damage due to frequent overwriting;
small volume - from 700 MB for CD to 25 GB for Blu-ray (the largest HDD today has a capacity of 10 TB).

Because of these disadvantages, laser drives are more often used for archiving - long-term storage of files of particular importance that are rarely accessed. For this purpose, special rooms are even built in which ideal storage conditions are maintained.

Cloud services

Clouds are remote servers for computer backup. The most controversial option. Its advantages are the following:

copies can be accessed from anywhere in the world, from any device connected to the Internet;
maximum separation of data - a copy is stored not only on the user’s computer, but even in another country;
backups are created automatically.

The advantages are significant, but the disadvantages are also significant:

There is no confidence in the security of the data: it is unknown whether the information is encrypted and who will be able to use it, whether the backup of the servers themselves is reliable, etc. In this regard, you can rely on the reputation of companies providing cloud services.
Without access to the Internet, the data cannot be recovered.
You need an unlimited channel with good speed if information is copied in large volumes.
Not much space is provided for free to receive extra space you need to pay a subscription.

Today there are many cloud services for disk backup - Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. There is no significant difference between them for the end user (except for the cost of subscription and ease of access to storage).

Backup programs

If you are using Windows OS, you can use standard tool for computer backup - when you connect a flash drive or external hard drive, the system itself will offer to use it as backup storage, and will also provide the ability to select folders that should be saved. Very convenient and easy to use for an inexperienced user. The only drawback is the lack of encryption.

Windows 10 can also save and backup data using cloud service Microsoft. For a fairly modest fee, 1 TB of server space is provided, copying is performed automatically when changes are made to folders specified by the user, access to the storage is possible either through the Microsoft website or directly from Explorer on the computer. The downside is the lack of control over copying. Once the process has started, you can stop it only by turning off the Internet or turning off the computer; it is impossible to cancel the copying.

Among third party programs for file backup there are paid and free products. Among the paid ones are:

Acronis True Image. Standard version costs 50 euros, upgraded with a subscription to 50 GB of cloud space - 40 euros per year, and premium, which includes additional products and 1-5 TB of cloud space - from 80 to 240 euros per year.

Paragon Backup & Recovery. It costs only 890 rubles, quickly copies the entire contents of the computer and allows you to restore data even if the OS is completely inoperable.

ABC Backup Pro. Very simple program, which is controlled by literally three buttons. There is a scheduler that performs automatic backups at specified intervals.

Free programs for computer backup:

Genie Backup Manager. Easy to use, but demanding on system resources.
Handy Backup. Features a simple interface and high speed work.
Back2zip - backs up data in zip archives. The simplest possible program.

These products have many analogues, and they are all similar to each other. There is no particular difference what to use. The main thing is to ensure the safety of the drives and regularly update the backup copies.

Once again, I repeat that backup should not be neglected, since you can create a copy of data very quickly and effortlessly. It may seem that the probability of losing information is too small, and backup is a waste of time, but the time, nerves and often money saved in the event of a computer breakdown cannot be overestimated.