Computer back up query

[STEVIEBOY1]

Good afternoon,

Can anyone advise a good / safe back up programme or drive to buy or better still download for free, it's just for my laptop which seems to be getting very slow, just day to day stuff really.

I am with BT who do offer Cloud for free, but I am not sure how secure that is.

A friend has recommended something called Ease US Todo Backup, has anyone ever used that or have any knowledge of it.

You have to be so careful these day not to use a duff program.

I wonder if buying something like an external hard drive from the likes of PC World may be better.?

I did try doing it on to DVDs or memory stick, but they did not seem to work for me.

Thanks, Steve.

 

[D6975]

Good afternoon,

Can anyone advise a good / safe back up programme or drive to buy or better still download for free, it's just for my laptop which seems to be getting very slow, just day to day stuff really.

I am with BT who do offer Cloud for free, but I am not sure how secure that is.

A friend has recommended something called Ease US Todo Backup, has anyone ever used that or have any knowledge of it.

You have to be so careful these day not to use a duff program.

I wonder if buying something like an external hard drive from the likes of PC World may be better.?

I did try doing it on to DVDs or memory stick, but they did not seem to work for me.

Thanks, Steve.

I use the built in Windows backup on a portable hard drive. Be warned, your backup can get bigger than your main hard drive, I recommend getting a drive twice the size of your C drive if you're going to back up everything. You can reduce the size of your backups by customising what is backed up. I use another separate hard drive for my photos for example. (I also burn them to optical disc too as a second backup. In addition, I have also created Windows recovery USB stick.

 

[Domh245]

There is also the rule of 3.

3 Copies (including the original) on 2 different medias (eg cloud based and external drive) with 1 copy off site (in the event of fire, theft, etc)

 

[Bevan Price]

I use "everyday auto backup." It is freeware and allows options to select what, where & when you require to back up. I put the backups (2 copies) onto separate external hard drives.

http://www.backupsoft.net/everydayautobackup.htm


Home written DVDs or CDs are not ideal for very long term data storage. As commented to another post, the dyes used in most "home - written" DVDs are prone to slow fading, especially if exposed to light.

USB memory sticks are suitable for short term storage, and for transferring large amounts data between computers . However, I have seen reports that some of them may start to develop faults after several thousand "read-write" events.

I used to have to photos on fotopic - part of what we now know as the cloud. Fotopic ceased - the same might just happen to almost any company offering cloud storage - and if that is your sole backup - you are in a mess. By all means use the cloud - but never as your only backup.

So - although not the cheapest option, I suggest using 2 (at least) external hard drives.


To add to my previous comment - you computer might be getting slow because of the large amounts of rubbish that some websites & software write onto the computer without your knowledge - there could be many thousand temporary files, for example. I suggest you download "ccleaner free", and run it at least once or twice per week - clearing all the dross often makes computers run faster:

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

(They also make pay-for versions with extra options, but the free version is probably adequate for most home users. )

 

[KentishMAV]

Steve, have a look at SyncBackSE. Its only a few pounds to buy and is very flexible, but above all simple to use. I researched backup products a couple of years ago for our household needs and found this to be the best mix of functionality, cost and ease of use. (unfortunately, I have 40 years IT experience.)

I use it with the household laptops and back up to a NAS accessed through the broadband router. If you only have one laptop, then an external hard drive may be easier. As recommended above, a third copy of important data on cloud storage would give you the offsite cover.

I use SyncBackSE to 'mirror' all data stored under my user account on the basis that if I have deleted data from my laptop then I don't want to keep old backups. Others may wish to keep old backup data, but either way SyncBackSE is very easy to set up to match your particular requirements.

 

[mbonwick]

AOMEI Backupper.
http://www.backup-utility.com/free-backup-software.html

Offers both full and incremental backup. I have my PCs at home running this for daily incremental, and weekly full backups to my server.
Said images are then mirrored onto online cloud storage.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Can I also say a big thank you to all the people on this thread who have replied to my query, I shall follow up your very helpful suggestions.

It's normally when I first turn on in the mornings, especially Mondays to Fridays, it takes a while to boot up and then get into my emails, BT did sent me a new router a couple of weeks ago, but that does not seem to have made alot of difference.

I do delete unwanted stuff every now and again.

 

[Clip]

I use a combination of dropbox and the Microsoft one drive plus 2or three 1TB external drives for me music.

I guess it all depends on what you want to store and for how long.

Photos and music don't really take up that much room so depending if you want access to your stuff from anywhere then an external would be best.

 

[Harpers Tate]

May I suggest that (as well as backing up, which everyone should do) you download and install:

- Malwarebytes free , and then run a full system scan. This will take a long time - you can set it running and leave it overnight if you like.

- http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download?upgrade - again the free version - and use it to scan your registry for orphaned entries, take the suggested backup option and then "fix" them all.

both of which may help speed things up a little.

The other thing you could do is to upgrade to Windows 10 if you are eligible and compatible. That is way, way quicker than anything 7 and below. But do both of the above first.

 

[najaB]

I am with BT who do offer Cloud for free, but I am not sure how secure that is.

BT Cloud is a good option for the price (free) and reasonably secure as it's provided by F-Secure who have a decent reputation in the industry.

I wonder if buying something like an external hard drive from the likes of PC World may be better?

What version of Windows is it? If 8 or 10 then the built in File History feature is actually quite good.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Never being one (unlike my good lady wife) to use a laptop except only in emergency situations, when I celebrated my 70th birthday in April, my sons decided to change my HP desktop computer for a more modern model...HP Envy Recline 27-k405ao All-in-One. With this present also came a Western Digital 4TB My Book external desktop hard drive.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

May I suggest that (as well as backing up, which everyone should do) you download and install:
- Malwarebytes free , and then run a full system scan. This will take a long time - you can set it running and leave it overnight if you like.

Under the advice of Clip many months ago, I did install the "free" version, but for the special offer annual cost from that company, I upgraded to the full Premium product as it does offer additional facilities.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

BT Cloud is a good option for the price (free) and reasonably secure as it's provided by F-Secure who have a decent reputation in the industry.
What version of Windows is it? If 8 or 10 then the built in File History feature is actually quite good.

My Laptop is Windows 7.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

May I suggest that (as well as backing up, which everyone should do) you download and install:

- Malwarebytes free , and then run a full system scan. This will take a long time - you can set it running and leave it overnight if you like.

- http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download?upgrade - again the free version - and use it to scan your registry for orphaned entries, take the suggested backup option and then "fix" them all.

both of which may help speed things up a little.

The other thing you could do is to upgrade to Windows 10 if you are eligible and compatible. That is way, way quicker than anything 7 and below. But do both of the above first.

yes, I do have Malware and do run a scan every now and again.

 

[tony_mac]

How much free space do you have? Are you sure that is what is slowing your laptop down?
It might be an idea to replace your hard drive with an SSD; then you can get a relatively cheap case to use your old hard disk as a backup device.

 

[Crossover]

The other thing you could do is to upgrade to Windows 10 if you are eligible and compatible. That is way, way quicker than anything 7 and below. But do both of the above first.

If it is so slow, I doubt upgrading to Windows 10 will do anything useful for performance in itself

How much free space do you have? Are you sure that is what is slowing your laptop down?
It might be an idea to replace your hard drive with an SSD; then you can get a relatively cheap case to use your old hard disk as a backup device.

I was going to mention SSD - I dropped on SSD into my 8 year old laptop (not in constant use, but does get used from time to time) with a clean install of Windows 10 and it now goes from off to ready to use in about 15 seconds (which includes 5 seconds of hanging around waiting for the BIOS to do its thing)

Depending on the age of the current disk, I would probably be loathed to use it as a backup drive - laptop drives are usually only 5400rpm and notoriously slow, plus as they get older the chance of failure increases...if it has been bashed around in a laptop, this could only make the problem worse. In fact, a slowing of the PC could indicate an ailing disk - that is part of the reason why I got the SSD for my old laptop - the hard drive was 8 years old too and it was grinding, gradually, to a halt

 

[Haydn1971]

There is also the rule of 3.

3 Copies (including the original) on 2 different medias (eg cloud based and external drive) with 1 copy off site (in the event of fire, theft, etc)

I'd second this... I use SyncToy from Microsoft, set to copy folders from source to second drive on a Ethernet attached drive (Western Digital My Cloud), then copy from that to a large drive permanently attached via E-SATA and a potable USB3 drive that's kept off site. I also keep a copy of lots of stuff on a USB3 drive that I carry with me to work

 

[Clip]

As has been said if you're worried about the speed of it then get all your files in the cloud(or HD) factory restore it then whack on win 10.

Course, depending on how old it is it may just be getting old and going through the final throws of its life.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

That program can read the SMART data from the HDD to check the health of the HDD.