Solved A little help finding backup software

hdmi · Jan 22, 2023

Winuser said:
They are the ones that are telling people to stop using it and go with a third party program.

It's a wonderful piece of advice. And probably the best one ever. lol

Buddy · Jan 22, 2023

BrianS said:
Hi @Buddy you opened up a can of worms
pls remind me or point to link about your issues with Onedrive - this worries me as its lurking in my system without my consent, although AFAIK it hasnt sent anything to the cloud , although a free 5G came with my ug to W11. I want to keep control of my system, I knew where I was with W8.1 but I dont trust devious background services in W11

I lost track. It was everywhere. Every program I installed defaulted to opening and saving files in the One-Drive directory. Then, anything stored on OneDrive would delete off the PC if it got deleted off the cloud synced copy. The best my underinformed self can tell, Google Drive does all the same functions, but doesn't insert itself everywhere. I used the Group Policy editor (as detailed in Brink's tutorial) to shut it off. Anything Google Drive is doing on my system, it's doing it because I set it up to do it.

hdmi · Jan 22, 2023

Buddy said:
I lost track. It was everywhere. Every program I installed defaulted to opening and saving files in the One-Drive directory. Then, anything stored on OneDrive would delete off the PC if it got deleted off the cloud synced copy. The best my underinformed self can tell, Google Drive does all the same functions, but doesn't insert itself everywhere. I used the Group Policy editor (as detailed in Brink's tutorial) to shut it off. Anything Google Drive is doing on my system, it's doing it because I set it up to do it.

Redirecting

Winuser · Jan 22, 2023

Buddy said:
I lost track. It was everywhere. Every program I installed defaulted to opening and saving files in the One-Drive directory. Then, anything stored on OneDrive would delete off the PC if it got deleted off the cloud synced copy. The best my underinformed self can tell, Google Drive does all the same functions, but doesn't insert itself everywhere. I used the Group Policy editor (as detailed in Brink's tutorial) to shut it off. Anything Google Drive is doing on my system, it's doing it because I set it up to do it.

Windows probably setup the user folders on OneDrive and not the programs. There are post and I believe guides to move the user folders back to the computer.

Buddy · Jan 23, 2023

Winuser said:
Windows probably setup the user folders on OneDrive and not the programs. There are post and I believe guides to move the user folders back to the computer.

I eventually figured that out and did exactly that. Between the Group Editor selection to disable OneDrive and then editing properties for the libraries, it now appears to be good.

BrianS · Jan 23, 2023

@Buddy @Winuser

Group policy Gpedit.msc is not available on W11 home (only Pro) and reinstalling it is a nerdy job. Brinks tut doesnt apply

Tombar · Jan 23, 2023

tbmljk said:
First question that needs to be answered is whether you need to backup installed programs with their current settings and configurations. If you need more than backing up data (photos, videos, documents etc) you will need backup software that allows for imaging. I believe all image files are proprietary, however some imaging software allows you to browse and copy individual files from image backups using windows explorer

I normally use Acronis, but I'm just trying a (probably Chinese) programme called AMEI Backupper, which is free or paid, which makes an image of your disks, but you can mount it and select any files you want

BrianS · Jan 23, 2023

@Tombar you know IBTSOOM. Here we are on a topic concerning Security and we blithely go along with the "A" list (do you know who I mean and there are others of course of so called Backup Vendors from the FE). All very flashy websites promising the earth yada yada. Not a whiff of concern here?

Yet recently Uncle Sam (and latterly after some pressure, UK and EU) banned Huawei 5G kit from networks and called for a replacement of existing critical 4G kit. Caused a huge fuss.

I had 10 years in the FE and have a pathological distrust of their business ethics therein. Anyone who buys on EB or Ali knows all about this sentiment, and dont ever expect to get a refund for faulty goods and always expect specs to be over rated 200%. Check out Trustpilot for these backup merchants - lot of complaints about Support and Refunds. Mac comes out with 4.5* btw

I daresay the armchair naysayers will shweppes on me from a dizzy height

BTW if you want some highly educational and entertaining instruction on devious and dangerous FE electrical goods we happily bring into the EU/UK swing over to
https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom .
I have no affiliation btw just admiration for the unsponsored gutsy work the guy has put in over 8 years and 800+ investigations.

One of the things that will come out of this is that the local manufacturers go to some great lengths to try an stop their designs being pirated locally - reminds me of overcrowded starving rats cannibalising each other. See for yourself

Winuser · Jan 23, 2023

BrianS said:
@Buddy @Winuser

Group policy Gpedit.msc is not available on W11 home (only Pro) and reinstalling it is a nerdy job. Brinks tut doesnt apply

You still should be able to move the folders to your computer or create your own folders and name them so you know what is local and what is on OneDrive. If you create new folders all you have to do is point your programs to the new save locations.

Buddy · Jan 24, 2023

A big thank you to @kado897 for posting about Free File Sync.

I installed it and have been experimenting with it quite a bit. I'm happy to say it appears to have every one of the features that I listed in my original post, except for image backup, which I'll do with another tool.

After configuring and testing the setup for a run, you save it as a dataset for a batch run. You then schedule the batch run in Windows Task Scheduler. You can save multiple batch run definitions and create a schedule for each. To that end, my initial scheme is this:

-Back up Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. No need for Desktop - I keep it empty.
Set the backup to keep version history for changes. Backup copying from C: to target. One way, not a sync.

-Scheduled backups
C: to main desktop USB drive every 15 minutes
C: to a second desktop USB drive maybe once or twice a day, to protect against failure of the main backup drive
C: to Google Drive\My Drive (one way, not sync) also maybe once or twice a day

-For travel, maybe update the backup on a portable drive manually

At the moment, I'm not seeing a role in all this for using Sync on Google Drive, since it doesn't keep version history and deletes the local copy if the cloud copy is deleted. Am I missing something?

Does anyone see any problems with that plan? Tips?

The nice thing is that, once you've done the initial backup copy to any destination (using File Explorer), the batch runs only copy changed files. So, it's really quick - do the job and close. It's not an incremental backup because the target always gets updated to exactly the same contents as the source. Full disclosure - I still have to run some experiments with renaming or deleting files and folders, as well as reorganizing folder structure. After that, I've got to set up the actual backup batch runs and schedule them. But, so far, so good.

Moving forward...

I'm interested in a mainstream solution for imaging and restoration. There seem to be a lot of folks on here who use Macrium. If it's really no longer free, I'm OK with that as long as they don't move to subscription.

Anyone got tips and pointers for someone who's got virtually zero experience with imaging?

kado897 · Jan 25, 2023

Buddy said:
A big thank you to @kado897 for posting about Free File Sync.

I installed it and have been experimenting with it quite a bit. I'm happy to say it appears to have every one of the features that I listed in my original post, except for image backup, which I'll do with another tool.

After configuring and testing the setup for a run, you save it as a dataset for a batch run. You then schedule the batch run in Windows Task Scheduler. You can save multiple batch run definitions and create a schedule for each. To that end, my initial scheme is this:

-Back up Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. No need for Desktop - I keep it empty.
Set the backup to keep version history for changes. Backup copying from C: to target. One way, not a sync.

-Scheduled backups
C: to main desktop USB drive every 15 minutes
C: to a second desktop USB drive maybe once or twice a day, to protect against failure of the main backup drive
C: to Google Drive\My Drive (one way, not sync) also maybe once or twice a day

-For travel, maybe update the backup on a portable drive manually

At the moment, I'm not seeing a role in all this for using Sync on Google Drive, since it doesn't keep version history and deletes the local copy if the cloud copy is deleted. Am I missing something?

Does anyone see any problems with that plan? Tips?

The nice thing is that, once you've done the initial backup copy to any destination (using File Explorer), the batch runs only copy changed files. So, it's really quick - do the job and close. It's not an incremental backup because the target always gets updated to exactly the same contents as the source. Full disclosure - I still have to run some experiments with renaming or deleting files and folders, as well as reorganizing folder structure. After that, I've got to set up the actual backup batch runs and schedule them. But, so far, so good.

Moving forward...

I'm interested in a mainstream solution for imaging and restoration. There seem to be a lot of folks on here who use Macrium. If it's really no longer free, I'm OK with that as long as they don't move to subscription.

Anyone got tips and pointers for someone who's got virtually zero experience with imaging?

Thanks for that. I thought it would meet all your requirements.

Google drive has a recycle bin so there is some history. I'm not sure how long things stay in the bin though.

I don't back up as often as you are proposing. I just do two a day. At midday to a portable drive with versioning. and in the evening to a NAS drive without versioning. I've not used the RealTimeSync feature of FFS but if you are backing up every 15 mins then that might be worth a look.

As to imaging I use Macrium Reflect. I have had paid versions since V4. The licence you vet is perpetual on the major version, so V7 to V8 needed a new purchase but from V8 to V8.1 does not. There is usually a 50% discount on an upgrade so that's a help. The free version is being dropped next year but will continue to work until MS manages to break it with changes to the OS. I think the reason a lot of people use MR on here is because it is reliable and if there is a problem they have a good track record of getting fixes out quickly.

BrianS · Jan 26, 2023

kado897 said:
You could do that if you use MR to clone your drive but in normal use an image file is created on the backup drive and this is not bootable. You need to use the recovery environment to restore the image to the original or a replacement drive.

Well as one door closes another one slams in your face.
In attempting to follow good advice I found that I cant create a Recovery Environment (RE) cos the partition file is not on my drive. I suspect that when I ug from W10 to 11 that this got lost - this happens it seems. So far no attempts with CMD tools have restored this file. Well done Microsoft , dumped customer leaving him stranded again.
Aomei free seems to promise the solution?
It comes back to my full disc clone option which is the least flexible but seems the simplest. But what do I know

SIW2 · Jan 26, 2023

at cmd prompt type

reagentc /info

If you havent got winre.wim, you can copy it out of the installation media.

BrianS · Jan 26, 2023

SIW2 said:
at cmd prompt type

reagentc /info

as i said been there done that got the T shirt .................

SIW2 · Jan 26, 2023

copy the windows\system32\recovery folder out of the installation media into your windows\system32 folder using 7-zip

kado897 · Jan 26, 2023

BrianS said:
Well as one door closes another one slams in your face.
In attempting to follow good advice I found that I cant create a Recovery Environment (RE) cos the partition file is not on my drive. I suspect that when I ug from W10 to 11 that this got lost - this happens it seems. So far no attempts with CMD tools have restored this file. Well done Microsoft , dumped customer leaving him stranded again.
Aomei free seems to promise the solution?
It comes back to my full disc clone option which is the least flexible but seems the simplest. But what do I know

You could create te recovery media using WinPE instead of WinRE. The option is in the recovery media creator advanced options on the Base Wim tab. It involves a download from MS of the WADK. Until quite recently the WinRE option was not available.

SIW2 · Jan 26, 2023

copy the windows\system32\recovery folder out of the installation media into your windows\system32 folder using 7-zip

after that you can reagentc /enable

jimbo45 · Jan 26, 2023

BrianS said:
Well as one door closes another one slams in your face.
In attempting to follow good advice I found that I cant create a Recovery Environment (RE) cos the partition file is not on my drive. I suspect that when I ug from W10 to 11 that this got lost - this happens it seems. So far no attempts with CMD tools have restored this file. Well done Microsoft , dumped customer leaving him stranded again.
Aomei free seems to promise the solution?
It comes back to my full disc clone option which is the least flexible but seems the simplest. But what do I know

@BrianS

Cloning a disk is simple if you just boot up any live Linux distro and simply type dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=2048M status=progress.

Simple -- you don't need to be a linux expert. Just boot up the live distro use terminal command lsblk to get the disk devices (/dev/sdx). Linux Mint is probably the "Most Windows Like" as live distro. Note all these are FREE too.

and then run the dd command. In this case the devices are /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. My Windows disk is /dev/sda so Id attach an external disk to copy it to which would be /dev/sdc or whatever.

Doesn't matter on GPT, UEFI, what file systems etc -- will just duplicate the entire disk sector by sector. Note it will probably take longer than Macrium since there's "No intelligent copying" -- it simply copies physical data byte for byte including free space.

But it works and is part of the OS.

(you can also copy partitions too but that's a bit more complex for those with zero knowledge of linux).

The more tools you have in your armoury for these sorts of things --the better. You can boot a live linux distro as a VM (simply boot from the iso or usb device in the VM), attach the disks you want to clone and do the same thing.

Cheers
jimbo

SIW2 · Jan 26, 2023

for people keen on dd there is a windows version.

jimbo45 · Jan 26, 2023

SIW2 said:
for people keen on dd there is a windows version.

Even better then !!

Cheers
jimbo

Solved A little help finding backup software

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