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How to backup my computer properly

Anonymous
2021-01-17T15:20:56+00:00

I have a Seagate 1TB Backup Plus Portable Drive and I thought I had everything backed up properly.  After performing a reset on my computer for other reasons, I was unable to restore my computer with my external hard drive because it was originally formatted incorrectly for my computer.  Now that is fixed, how do I properly backup my computer to this hard drive.  The hard drive has it's own "toolkit" to backup, however the hard drive keeps filling up all the ay using the tool kit.  

Any suggestions?

Dell Inspiron 27 775

Windows 10 64-Bit

AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core Processor

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-17T16:12:08+00:00

    Backing up is a big topic, but I'll outline several suggestions here.

    (BTW: I don't participate in the silly ratings competition, so you can feel free to mark my answer as Garbage. 😁)

    The most important backup procedure: Do it. Some kind of backup, whatever it may be, is always better than no kind of backup.

    The extent to which you backup depends on the importance you attach to what's on your hard drive. For many people, a computer is basically a sophisticated toy. Nothing wrong with that, but such a person doesn't need to backup much. On the other hand, if you're more like me, and your life is wrapped up in what's on your computer, you'll take backing up very seriously. That's the kind of backup I'll outline below.

    You should separate your personal data from your software; by that I mean that you should store your personal files in a separate partition. Among its other benefits, this means that you can backup and restore your software and your personal data separately. That can be very important.

    In backing up your software, your goal is to be able to get back to work quickly, easily and seamlessly. Don't rely on the backup software included with a hard drive. Instead, get your own backup software. What you'll need is an image backup application. An image is an exact copy of your hard drive, including the parts that Windows can't see. The image is a copy of your computer. When you restore the image, your computer goes back in time to when the image was created.

    Fortunately today, there are many convenient, powerful and consumer-friendly image backup applications, like Acronis TrueImage, Macrium Reflect and Paragon Backup and Recovery. Some are free, some are paid. (I paid for my image software.) They all do a great job, so read what the professional reviewers say about them (not "Hey there, YouTube ...") and pick one that rolls the way you roll.

    An image backup application will also backup your data partition, but you may prefer a file-and-folder backup application instead - like ASComp Backup Maker or Backup4All - because it lets you restore your data anywhere, whether or not your backup program is available to be used.

    Establish a schedule by which you backup automatically - your backup software should take care of that. A daily backup is not too often. And store your backups in more than one place. In the backup world, we have an expression: 2 is 1, and 1 is none.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-17T15:44:19+00:00

    Use the free version of Macrium Reflect. I have used it for several years. It has never let me down.

    Please remember to mark my reply by clicking "Did this solve your problem?". It's your way of saying "Thank you".

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-17T15:47:38+00:00

    Sign in to OneDrive in Windows Defender. He (OneDrive) might handle the rest.

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