johnwhelan
Well-known member
Recently I've come across three cases when having an external backup would have been helpful.
One was a hard drive crash. One of the others was a Malware problem. One major problem when recovering is configuration. All the short cuts and preference settings you've made over time and here a system image really pays off.
There are other solutions but the Win 7 backup found in Win 10 is simple and robust. Also you don't need any special software when you can't access your computer. The win 10 recovery USB stick doesn't always allow you to recover if the hard drive dies. I learnt that the hard way and a fresh copy of Win 10 isn't cheap.
You need a Win 7 system image, and backup and a recovery disk. Win 7 backup requires an external drive of greater than 1 TB. I'd go for a 4TB WD but that is a personal preference. You can back up more than one machine on an external hard drive.
If you machine doesn't have a DVD burner to create the recovery drive then something like a Lite-on external DVD writer works well, its just plugs into your USB port. Go mad and burn two copies of the recovery disk in case one doesn't read.
Once you've made your backups unplug the external drive so if you happen to get your machine encrypted with ransomware your backups will be safe.
An external hard drive can also be used to transfer large files and folders from one machine to another. ie TANE etc.
The hope is you'll never need a backup but if you do then they are invaluable.
Cheerio John
One was a hard drive crash. One of the others was a Malware problem. One major problem when recovering is configuration. All the short cuts and preference settings you've made over time and here a system image really pays off.
There are other solutions but the Win 7 backup found in Win 10 is simple and robust. Also you don't need any special software when you can't access your computer. The win 10 recovery USB stick doesn't always allow you to recover if the hard drive dies. I learnt that the hard way and a fresh copy of Win 10 isn't cheap.
You need a Win 7 system image, and backup and a recovery disk. Win 7 backup requires an external drive of greater than 1 TB. I'd go for a 4TB WD but that is a personal preference. You can back up more than one machine on an external hard drive.
If you machine doesn't have a DVD burner to create the recovery drive then something like a Lite-on external DVD writer works well, its just plugs into your USB port. Go mad and burn two copies of the recovery disk in case one doesn't read.
Once you've made your backups unplug the external drive so if you happen to get your machine encrypted with ransomware your backups will be safe.
An external hard drive can also be used to transfer large files and folders from one machine to another. ie TANE etc.
The hope is you'll never need a backup but if you do then they are invaluable.
Cheerio John