Solved! Partitioning for Backups?

[OhGod]

Hello.

I have a couple of old backups someone did for me, for one laptop, but they're pretty old now. I have no idea how to even begin performing one. Is there a good tutorial I can follow?

Also, should I partition a drive and use one of the partitions to house the backups?
Can I store different backups for different laptops on the same partition?
Does the drive need to be ex-FAT or NTFS?
Can I store backups on one partition on a drive and then use the rest of the drive for files, storage, etc., or should it be a dedicated backup drive?

Thank you in advance!

 

[OhGod]

Sorry; I meant external drive. Should/can it be partitioned and then used as a regular storage drive to house other files as well as backups? Do I even need to partition it? Can I just use it as extra storage for everything, including the backups from different laptops?

 

[hang-the-9]

Hello.

I have a couple of old backups someone did for me, for one laptop, but they're pretty old now. I have no idea how to even begin performing one. Is there a good tutorial I can follow?

Also, should I partition a drive and use one of the partitions to house the backups?
Can I store different backups for different laptops on the same partition?
Does the drive need to be ex-FAT or NTFS?
Can I store backups on one partition on a drive and then use the rest of the drive for files, storage, etc., or should it be a dedicated backup drive?

Thank you in advance!

How you do backups depends on exactly what you are looking to backup, usually it's a good idea to have a full image of the base setup of a system with programs, then keep things like your files that change backed up as often as you can (every time you make a change to files is fine). Remember to also backup your internet favorites as well.

There is no need to partition a drive for the backups, I keep all my system images as files on a single drive (well technically two drives for backup) and my personal files on another backup drive but there are no issues with keeping them all together. Remember you can use cloud storage services also, you get quite a bit of free space with things like Google Drive and OneDrive, etc.. but keep in mind those are good for when a disk drives not if you delete something since when they sync it will also sync the file you deleted and remove it from cloud storage.

Backups can be as simple as just selecting the files you want and copying them over to the backup drive to multi disk rotations with automated software. Easus has a free version of their software https://www.easeus.com/download.htm...9hBNtQVCaSSLjW4Gzmf9glAtEZ8kSJtxoCxrIQAvD_BwE and I use Macrium Reflect to make images of systems for a full restore.

 

[OhGod]

Perfect. Thank you. I downloaded a couple of backup programs, but will most likely use the easeus one you linked as I have their 'mobimover' software and really like them.

I'd like to keep full/entire backups of this system I am on right now which is the one I most use. 1). I have it customized exactly how I like it, but I can't help tweaking it a lot, so if I break something, I want a way to restore above and beyond what Windows can do; 2). I have tried to keep copies of my files and programs on external drives and on PCloud, but I have terrible luck with external drives, and my files and programs change so often, that it's almost as if I'm always losing pictures and documents. Hopefully, backing up often, will help.

Thanks again for your patience and willingness to share your know-how.