2019-05-09

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Have you backed up your data – recently?

Alan German and Chris TaylorOttawa PC Users’ Group

It doesn’t have to be a disk crash

• Files deleted / changed inadvertently• External USB drives / CDs / DVDs

lost / corrupted• Theft• Fires• Electrical surges• Ransomware

Backup Components

Operating System–- plus patchesApplications–- plus updatesData files–- word processing files– digital images– music files– anything you create

Backup StorageAdditional internal hard drive

2-8 TB, 3-4 cents per TBExternal USB hard drive

1-8 TB, 2.5-7 cents per TBUSB memory stickMemory card (SD, Compact Flash, xD Picture Card, etc.)

Backup StorageFormat Typical sizes Cost per GB (cents)

Internal hard drive 2 – 8 TB 3 – 4

External hard drive 1 – 8 TB 2 – 7

Internal solid state drive 500 GB – 2 TB 15 – 20

External solid state drive 250 GB – 1 TB 25 – 52

Flash drive 64 – 256 GB 22 – 27

SD card 32 – 128 GB 27 – 47

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One More Backup Location... Cloud backup

Definition of Cloud

Another name for

Someone else’s computer

Cloud backup works, but…

It is someone else’s computer– If they go out of business, your files are gone

Mitigation: nothing unique stored there

What if they are compromised?– Sensitive data lost to attackers

Mitigation: nothing sensitive unless encrypted

Speed/bandwidth– 1 TB would take

20 days to backup (5 mbps upload) 3½ days to restore (30 mbps download) Blow my 300 GB/month cap

– Mitigation: don’t back up everything A problem for disaster recovery

Cloud backup providers

Carbonite– Unlimited storage – 1 device– Continuous backup option– File Explorer integration– US$72 per year

IDrive– Unlimited devices – one user– Sync across devices– Backup/restore from shipped drive– US$69.50 per year (2 TB)

“Basic” free (5 GB)

Many others

Cloud backup

I use Google Drive– Presentation material

Auto-synched between all my computers If my computer dies, I borrow another

– Documents for traveling Itinerary, hotel reservations, passport

– Files to share with others– 15 GB for free

I currently use about 3 GB 200 GB – CAN$48/yr

Another strategy is to…

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Why imaging

Your data is what really matters– You can reinstall your operating system– You can reinstall your programs– Your data is not easy / possible to replace

Why not back up just your important files?

Without imaging

In the event of a disaster– Replace failed hard drive– Find your installation media for operating system

Install operating system– Find installation media for all your programs

If you remember what they all were… Install each program … one after the other

– Recover data Did you

backup allyour data?

– Get back to working on things you have been unable to do for the last week while recovering

With imaging

Imaging program backs up everything– Operating system, programs, customizations,

data

In the event of a disaster– Replace failed hard drive– Imaging program restores everything

Operating system, programs, customizations, data

– A couple of hours later, you are back

Can also restore individual files or folders

Problems with imaging

Space required– Full image ~60% – 80% of on-disk total– My system – 781 GB being backed up

Full backup = 713 GB (583 GB of photos – compressed already) 30 days of incrementals = 123 GB Total for a month = 836 GB

– Mitigation External hard drives pretty inexpensive (4TB - $115) Incremental images a lot smaller (but still several GB)

Time required– Full image can take several hours for 1 – 2 TB– Mitigation

Incremental images take a lot less time– Can still be an hour

Automate as a scheduled event overnight

Free options for imaging

Finding a backup program– www.opcug.ca/Reviews/BackupPrograms.htm

EaseUS Todo Backup Free– www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html

Macrium Reflect Free– www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition– www.paragon-software.com/free/br-free/

AOMEI Backupper Standard– www.backup-utility.com/

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Typical operationsSystem backup

Windows partition +system partition

Backup options Automatic space management

Schedule (set & forget) Full backup

Hard disk(Drive C:)

Disk image file(Exact copy)

Create

Restore

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Incremental backup

Restored

Restore full backup plus ALL incremental backups

Full backup

Incrementalbackup

Day 1

Day 2Day 3

Day 4

Incrementalbackup

Incrementalbackup

Disk/partition backup

Tools Emergency disk

Emergency disk

Very important!!! Make sure you can;

– Boot computer from the emergency disk– Access your backup files when booted from

emergency disk Oops, I only have one type A USB port

– Emergency boot flash drive– Backup drive

I will use a hub!– Oops, backup drive is “portable”– Need a powered hub

– Try restoring a file or folder

Mount a backup as a drive

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Select drive to mount Unmount drive

Offsite backup

Protection from anything that could destroy backups (always attached to allow automated backups)– Fire, theft, malware …

Less likely than accidental deletion and hard drive failure– Maybe once a month?

Store at office, friend’s house, car trunk– Enable encryption for anything stored off

site

Frequency of backup

How much data are you willing to lose?

How much space do you have to dedicate to backups?

How much time do you have to run backups?

I can’t lose 30 minutes

Look for a program that can do continuous backups

Perhaps combine with daily backups Benefit

– Maximize recovery of current files

Cost– Space on backup drive– Performance?

I can lose a day’s data

Monthly full backups every month Daily incrementals in between Benefit

– Incrementals save backup drive space– Incrementals faster

Cost– Somewhat slower recovery– If an incremental is unreadable, lose

ability to recover anything more recent

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I need fastest possible recovery Full backups only Restore doesn’t have to sort through

multiple incrementals Benefit

– Fastest recovery (only one image file required)

Cost– Disk space on backup drive– Slow backup

My situation /solution

Situation– 781 GB to back up– 5 TB backup drive

Solution– Full backup every 30 days

Backup image = 713 GB (583 GB compressed photos) Time to backup = ~2 hours

– Incrementals other days 30 days of incremental images = 123 GB Time to backup = ~70 minutes

– Each month = 836 GB of space on 5 TB backup drive Allows recovery of anything, to the day, for 5 months

– Offsite full backup ~ once a month

Backup: Do it!

Two More Backup Techniques

1. File and folder synchronization

2. Real-time backup

Where does Windows hide your personal files?

store Users Folder

• Many people use the Documents, Picturesand Music folders in Windows

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Users Folder

• Documents, Pictures and Music folders• These are actually pointers to actual folders

in C:\Users\toaster*

For example:Documents ==> C:\Users\toaster\Documents

* where toaster is my username

Folder Synchronization

• Synchronize the source folder to thetarget folder (on a different drive)

• Use filters to include only certainfolders in the synchronization process

• Compare the source and the target• Synchronize the folders

Source folder = C:\Users\toaster

Target folder = G:\Users\toaster

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Synchronization Settings

Two-way (Bi-directional)Mirror (Exact copy)Update (Contribute)

Synchronization Options

Mirror One-way synchronization,exact copy source to target

Contribute Add new/updated files totarget but don't delete anyfiles from the target

Two-way Retain only the most recentfile on either disk

Mirror – Backup HDD

Computer Hard Disk

External USB(Backup drive)

Entirecontents

Contribute - Pictures

Camera SDcard

External USB(Backup drive)

New filesand folders(retain oldfolders)

Two-Way – Backup Desktop and Laptop

Desktop HDD Laptop HDD

Backup USBEntire contents(of data partition)

Set filters to include or exclude Specific files and folders

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Create a dedicated data partition

Dedicated data partition

• Create a disk partition (Drive D:)• Store all the user files on D:

e.g. D:\Word, D:\Photos, etc.• Backup the entire Drive D: to an

external USB drive(FreeFileSync D: ==> G:)

• Right-click on the Start button

• Select:Disk Management

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Right-click on Drive C:Select Shrink Volume

Shrink Drive C: by 8 GBto create free space

Right-click on free spaceSelect New Simple Volume

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Default is the next available drive letter

Choose a volume label

Ignore specific folders Backing up “on the fly”

• You may have hundreds (thousands!) of photos on an SDcard

• Camera may store images in multiple folders (by day, week, etc.)

• How do you copy only the new photos to the backup drive each day?

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Current photos are in the 112_10 folder

There are 1,427 of them!

SDcard

Backup Drive

1,408 photos (plusCarol’s folder) arealready backed upon P:/Peru_2016

Backup the new photos

• 1427 photos on the camera

• 1408 photos on the backup drive

• We want to identify and backup just the 19 new photos

• We could do this manually in File Explorer (using the Details view), or…

Use FreeFileSync!

Another strategy for the really paranoid…

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.”

Joseph Heller, Catch-22

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“Real-Time” Backup

- Synchronize source and target folders(almost) in real time

- Any new or updated file is copied tothe backup folder (with only a brief delay)

- Similarly, any file deleted from the sourcefolder is deleted from the target folder

“Real-Time” Backup

- Useful for data files- If the hard disk crashes, (almost) all recent

changes to data files will be backed upBUT – a deleted file is not recoverable –the backup was also deleted!

- An SDcard in a memory card reader slotworks well for laptops (unobtrusive)

QuickShadow

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Three Important Strategies...

(1) Backup(2) Backup

(3) Backup!

Three Important Backups...

(1) Grandfather(2) Father

(3) Son

Earliest – Grandfather

Middle – Father

Most Recent – Son

First in – First Out Multiple Backups

System BackupFull disk image – monthly

capture updates to OS(Patch Tuesday)

Data BackupIncremental – daily, weekly, monthly

(retain - one each day,one each week,one each month)

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Data Backup

Immediate (sessional)Use file synchronization* tobackup all changes to data files(additions, edits, deletions) justbefore shutting the computer down

* Restrict size of backup (if necessary)by including only specific folders

Backup, backup, backup!

Don’t leave the backup drive plugged in – ransomware may encrypt all fileson all disks!

Keep an off-site copy (relative, friend) of at least some backup files

Final thoughts…

Have you backed up your files today,this week... ever?

Are you going to...?

Any Questions?