Solved! If I own a laptop

[nbartolo7]

and someone steals it, what kind of backup do you guys recommend (preferably just one method so that I can remember it easily and how to do it), for me to be able to retrieve absolutely everything that I had on there, the same way as before, desktop items and all? Is there a more appropriate backup if one is only concerned with losing the whole laptop rather than concerned with viruses, and/or malfunctions?

 

[USAFRet]

and someone steals it, what kind of backup do you guys recommend (preferably just one method so that I can remember it easily and how to do it), for me to be able to retrieve absolutely everything that I had on there, the same way as before, desktop items and all? Is there a more appropriate backup if one is only concerned with losing the whole laptop rather than concerned with viruses, and/or malfunctions?

Full drive backup to some other device.
A NAS in your house, for instance. Or just an external USB drive or two.

This also applies to virus reconstruction, dead drive, whatever.

Macrium Reflect, you can automate it so you won't have to remember to do it.

 

[nbartolo7]

Full drive backup to some other device.
A NAS in your house, for instance. Or just an external USB drive or two.

This also applies to virus reconstruction, dead drive, whatever.

Macrium Reflect, you can automate it so you won't have to remember to do it.

So, not cloud backup?

 

[nbartolo7]

Full drive backup to some other device.
A NAS in your house, for instance. Or just an external USB drive or two.

This also applies to virus reconstruction, dead drive, whatever.

Macrium Reflect, you can automate it so you won't have to remember to do it.

NAS I understand but what do you mean by "or just a USB drive or two"? How can you get back a whole laptop's worth of data with a usb drive?

 

[USAFRet]

NAS I understand but what do you mean by "or just a USB drive or two"? How can you get back a whole laptop's worth of data with a usb drive?

A 2TB USB HDD, for instance.

Cloud is good for personal files.
Not good for trying to backup and retrieve the whole drive and OS.

 

[USAFRet]

However, don't buy a fake USB drive.

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Question - how can there be external 16tb ssd's under $50?

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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/30tb-portable-ssd-hits-walmart-for-dollar39-but-stay-away-from-it

 

[nbartolo7]

A 2TB USB HDD, for instance.

Cloud is good for personal files.
Not good for trying to backup and retrieve the whole drive and OS.

So, just to be clear.

1. My laptop gets stolen
2. I purchase a new laptop
3. I install Macrium Reflect
4. I connect to my NAS
5. And that's it?

 

[USAFRet]

So, just to be clear.

1. My laptop gets stolen
2. I purchase a new laptop
3. I install Macrium Reflect
4. I connect to my NAS
5. And that's it?

Well, with laptops, you may run into licensing issues for the OS.
The OS license from the old laptop belongs to that laptop. NOT the new one.

But if this is a OS license YOU purchased, no problem.

Also, you need a Macrium Rescue USB.
Any small blank USB to boot from.
On the menu in Macrium, Other Tasks - Create Rescue media.

In the replacement system, you boot from the Macrium Rescue USB.
Tell it where the Image is (on the NAS) and what drive to apply that Image to.

Click the GO button.

Of course, this also only applies if the laptops are identical.

But really, for a new laptop that comes with its own OS...it is almost certainly far easier to just install your specific applications, and leave its OS as is.
No worries about the license, etc.

After you get it all running, you can mount the Image as a drive letter, and retrieve whatever personal files you had in the old system.

 

[nbartolo7]

Well, with laptops, you may run into licensing issues for the OS.
The OS license from the old laptop belongs to that laptop. NOT the new one.

But if this is a OS license YOU purchased, no problem.

Also, you need a Macrium Rescue USB.
Any small blank USB to boot from.
On the menu in Macrium, Other Tasks - Create Rescue media.

In the replacement system, you boot from the Macrium Rescue USB.
Tell it where the Image is (on the NAS) and what drive to apply that Image to.

Click the GO button.

Of course, this also only applies if the laptops are identical.

But really, for a new laptop that comes with its own OS...it is almost certainly far easier to just install your specific applications, and leave its OS as is.
No worries about the license, etc.

After you get it all running, you can mount the Image as a drive letter, and retrieve whatever personal files you had in the old system.

Thanks. So just to be clear, unless the laptops are identical (hardware specs I imagine you mean), and that the OS is one that I got myself and not one that came with the new laptop, I will run into issues trying to recover the drive, correct? And therefore, if the goal is to purchase a new laptop with probably an OS already installed in it, it's better to just mount the image as a drive letter.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks. So just to be clear, unless the laptops are identical (hardware specs I imagine you mean), and that the OS is one that I got myself and not one that came with the new laptop, I will run into issues trying to recover the drive, correct? And therefore, if the goal is to purchase a new laptop with probably an OS already installed in it, it's better to just mount the image as a drive letter.

Yes.
The new laptop will almost certainly come with its own OS.

All you need do is to then install your personal applications.

Later, you can recover any of your personal docs from that Image of the old laptop drive.

 

[nbartolo7]

Yes.
The new laptop will almost certainly come with its own OS.

All you need do is to then install your personal applications.

Later, you can recover any of your personal docs from that Image of the old laptop drive.

Perfect. Couple more stupid questions if I may. Do I mount the system image on the OS drive (C or another drive (like D? Does it matter? Will it only restore personal files or will it also recover my windows settings and registry changes as well?

 

[USAFRet]

It gets "mounted" as another drive letter.
Shows in Windows Explorer as just another drive.

It will NOT do anything for your Windows settings or registry.

 

[nbartolo7]

The only problem I see with this system image backup thing (even with the added benefit of macrium reflect doing it automatically and periodically for you), is that if you travel, you need to always be carrying with you, your USB 2TB drive and have it constantly connected to your laptop for macrium to do its job. So, another thing to carry around.

 

[USAFRet]

The only problem I see with this system image backup thing (even with the added benefit of macrium reflect doing it automatically and periodically for you), is that if you travel, you need to always be carrying with you, your USB 2TB drive and have it constantly connected to your laptop for macrium to do its job. So, another thing to carry around.

Well, no solution is perfect and complete for all situations.

The main thing you need to protect is your personal data.
Anything else...OS, applications...can all be reinstalled.

So if you are traveling, upload your personal files to the cloud somewhere.
DropBox, OneDrive, whatever.

 

[nbartolo7]

Ok. Perfect. Thanks