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Getting ready to move state to state. I have a pretty good idea about how to pack up my computer, although finding the right box is a challenge, but I've worked around that. But I am told I still could have a problem with my internal hard drive (it's a tower) during the move.
Friends are suggesting I totally back up my hard drive. EVERYTHING, including programs.
It seems like I should:
1. Buy a Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive (5TB).
2. Buy the StorageCraft ShadowProtect 5 Desktop software and backup my entire hard disk to the Seagate drive.
I've never had a problem moving a computer that caused the hard drive to fail. Treat it with reasonable care and you should be fine. You don't need a special box for a tower; just pad it with some towels or a blanket.
It's always a good idea to back up your files. Make a hard copy of anything you wouldn't want to lose using disks and/or memory cards and thumb drives. Mirroring an entire drive is a pretty extreme measure.
Getting ready to move state to state. I have a pretty good idea about how to pack up my computer, although finding the right box is a challenge, but I've worked around that. But I am told I still could have a problem with my internal hard drive (it's a tower) during the move.
Friends are suggesting I totally back up my hard drive. EVERYTHING, including programs.
It seems like I should:
1. Buy a Seagate Backup Plus Desktop Drive (5TB).
2. Buy the StorageCraft ShadowProtect 5 Desktop software and backup my entire hard disk to the Seagate drive.
What am I not understanding?
Thanks for any guidance.
Backing up is always a good idea because that drive will fail at some point. Drives can be damaged when they are dropped or moved while running and this is more likely to happen with laptops for obvious reasons. A HDD works very similar to record player and the arm that reads/writes data can come in contact with the spinning platter and scratch it making the data where the scratch is unreadable. When you turn the computer off that arm is parked and locked into safe position, laptop drives are built with this issue in mind and many have fall detection to help prevent this problem.
I'm not familiar with the software you mentioned and it may be the greatest thing since sliced bread but that seems awfully expensive. Windows has it's own backup software.
Control Panel\System and Security\Backup and Restore (Windows 7)
That is in Windows 7 to 10, on the left hand side is link for "create system image", that is bit for bit copy of your drive. Note this is really not what would be considered a backup solution for every day use because it's only good as recent time it was done.
If you are using a moving company I would suggest taking the computer in your personal vehicle and only because there can be a lot of personal data on it. If that is not an option you can take the drive out of it. It's very small.
Very good idea to back up if you're moving, because things get lost or stolen. However, you should handle the backup drive separately from the computer, so they don't vanish together.
I moved recently between two states. Movers took my computer and monitors. I took the backup HDD and I also did cloud backup for my data, especially pictures. You can always replace a computer and its software, but you can't replace your content.
Look into online storage/backup solutions. Just simply sign up for a google account and you automatically get 15gb of online storage which is available anywhere you have an internet connection including from a smartphone. You then login to google from your browser, upload your important files to google drive and that's it. You now have a backup. You can do this for your most important folders. You can do the same thing with an external drive and I doubt you need 5tb of space. Get at least a 1tb which are available for around $50 to $60. As for dedicated backup software that is good if you want to backup to an "image" that includes your operating system and all of your files. It depends on what type of system you have. I use Acronis.
ransomware will only infect (encrypt, really) your backup drive IF it is connected to the computer at the time of infection. That's why my backup drive is never connected unless it is doing a backup. Cloud backup is more complicated, but many providers offer versioning, which means you will still have access to unencrypted versions.
Maybe another reader knows more about cloud backup vs ransomware?
Let me ask a related question. Ransomware -- won't that "freeze" an external hard drive connected to the main computer, as well?
Yes if you leave it connected however encrypting large amounts of files takes a while and if you don't leave it connected you may be able to catch it in time. Generally speaking if you are using USB drive you are directly connecting to computer for backup it's good idea to disconnect it to avoid any potential issues such as electrical ones that can affect both the computer and the drive. Ideally backups should not be in the same house in case of fire or other events like that.
If you have two drives you can keep one at relatives, swap them out occasionally and at least the files will be as recent as the last time they were swapped.
Use of networked attached storage (e.g. drive or another computer connected to router). If your router has a USB port you may be able to attach the drive right to that. At this point I'm not aware of ransomware jumping to networked drives but that is always a possibility.
Use cloud storage, make sure the cloud storage is set to keep revisions. This way if new file that has been encrypted is uploaded you'll have a copy of the unecryptted one.
Lastly copy your files to optical media like DVD or Bluray, generally speaking this is not a reliable backup medium and it's a cumbersome way to backup. It's a good backup for the backup. It is write once which means once it's written to disc it can't be touched by the ransomeware. These are also good to keep somewhere else than you own house.
Check them out and see which provides you the easiest to follow guidance.
Making a backup of all the files on your HD is also known as a "disk image" or "ghost image", and while I don't care much about it - Windows can be installed fresh, so you should focus on all your files and settings backed up, plus your application CDs/DVDs (and serial numbers), here is a good step-for-step instruction: How to Reimage a PC - Step by Step Guide with Screenshots
There's no one-button solution for backing up all your stuff, and that no form of backup is guaranteed for life.
You'll need software to do this, and those are free: e.g. Macrium Reflect and EasUS Disk Copy (free for hard drives up to 1TB). Most people would say that the easiest, most reliable backup plan is to use CrashPlan to back up to an external hard drive, and to the cloud at the same time.
You should also know how to restore backed up files. Some software and services allow you to get inside a backup and retrieve specific files, while others force you to restore the entire backup.
If you want to store your files for a long time, you need to consider the fast changing technology and reliability of your chosen media, so it's important to periodically write your archives to the latest media to ensure the files can be accessed by current hardware.
If you have Windows 10, you can back up your computer automatically with the build in tools (File History and Windows Backup and Restore.) The system image created with Backup and Restore will include your installed programs, their settings and registry keys, and all your other Windows files. When you restore from the system image, you don't need to do the clean Windows install.
BTW: I agree with coalman - you should just follow up the Windows own backup software: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ack-up-restore
You could also backup it to the Cloud - Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, pCloud and many other cloud storage services.
2. After set up I will download the Acronis True Image 2017, specifically to back EVERYTHING up for the move...just in case worse comes to worse.
3. After the move, when everything is set back up, I will probably just use the Seagate Backup Plus's own software to maintain files.
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