Cleaned W10 Anniverswary!

[holdum333]

Hi There! I some times get a little bored and I get carried away here on the forum. Tonight I was bored and thought I would give my old PC a good summer cleaning.

Yes I created a back up image before making these changes. I'm always preaching "Back up Your OS before doing any major changes" So I practice what I preach.

 I started out with 47GB+ used space. After cleaning up, I now have 33GB of used space. I have a 500GB hard drive, so I wasn't hurting for free space, but I like to keep my rig clean. I like to store every thing of value on a external HD and just want the windows OS on my Operating (C drive).

Now after all that work, I will create a back up image with Macrium Reflect while my rig is all cleaned up.

I try very hard to create new topics on this forum; hoping they are helpful and interesting, and I'm always hoping for comments from members. I get one every once in awhile.

I could gain some more free space, but I'm happy with what I have now. I'm always eager to hear your comments on my threads.  I could get rid of Apps and games, but not this time.

I will post here again if I find out I cleaned up too much and have to use my Macrium back up image! Happy computing friends and guests!

[ACE]

How many backup's do you have of your OS?

Mick.

[holdum333]

Heya @Ace! I have just bought a new external drive and I now have 3 images that I know are good. I lost a external drive not long ago. That happens! You just got to know when and how to cover your bases, and where you want to get back to. I'm 99.99% sure I can do that my friend. I have been using Macrium for several years. I know there may be faster Image programs out there, but I trust Macrium to get me back where I want to be if I have a major problem. If you use a different image program and you have complete faith in it; then that's what you should use!

Thanks for your question!

20 minutes ago, ACE said:

How many backup's do you have of your OS?

Mick.

 

[holdum333]

Heya I just created a image with Macrium! Here's some screen shots I would like to share with guests and members.

I'm really hoping that I will some day make a good hand here on the forum.

PS 13:20 maybe a little slow, but I know that Macrium will restore my PC back exactly like the day I created it.( Which was tonight )

I've been there and done that several times.

[ACE]

Use what works for you. Macrium is good and reliable. I have had Macrium for some years.

I like testing new software. I am road testing "Casper" at the moment. Very impressed so far.

I do have a backup of my OS done with Macrium on an external Hard Drive.

As soon as I make a backup I disconnect the external from the PC because if you are attacked with Ransomeware then your external becomes infected also if connected. I hook the external up only when I wish to transfer Data or a backup.

Mick.

[holdum333]

38 minutes ago, ACE said:

Use what works for you. Macrium is good and reliable. I have had Macrium for some years.

I like testing new software. I am road testing "Casper" at the moment. Very impressed so far.

I do have a backup of my OS done with Macrium on an external Hard Drive.

As soon as I make a backup I disconnect the external from the PC because if you are attacked with Ransomeware then your external becomes infected also if connected. I hook the external up only when I wish to transfer Data or a backup.

Mick.

Heya Mate! Good advise about  disconnecting the external. Damn Ransomeware is getting to be a very serious problem these days. I'm not much for testing new software. I'll let you Professionals test the new software. I do like to pass forward things I have learned however! I'm pretty confident that I can recover from just about any disaster. I have managed to recover in the past, and I'm hoping I will be able to in the future.

PS I like the way you post mate. You are a asset to the forum! Here's a link from my friend MBAM about Ransomeware. It's a good read!IMHO!

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2016/03/how-to-beat-ransomware-prevent-dont-react/

[holdum333]

Heya Mate! Do you think that I'll ever get any respect from any help forum or staff owners. I've been trying for a very long time now, and it's not looking too good at the moment, but I'm going to keep giving it my best shot and hoping for the best! LMAO. I have been able to post my feelings here and that's been a big difference from most help forums.

PS keep up the good work @ACE You are appreciated!

[holdum333]

This is cracking this old country boy up! There are 5 guests checking out my profile. I suppose they are wondering who is this old country boy, and what the Hell is he trying to do. I'm trying to make this forum grow and I'm trying to be a good member here, and that ain't easy some times! I'm having a great time however.

Some times I feel like Rodney Dangerfield! LOL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield

[holdum333]

If we give our guests and our members a little respect and some thing interesting to read every day; we will grow, and one day we'll be up there with the big boys.

That's this old country boys IMHO !

[Rich-M]

On 9/1/2016 at 1:39 AM, ACE said:

Use what works for you. Macrium is good and reliable. I have had Macrium for some years.

I like testing new software. I am road testing "Casper" at the moment. Very impressed so far.

I do have a backup of my OS done with Macrium on an external Hard Drive.

As soon as I make a backup I disconnect the external from the PC because if you are attacked with Ransomeware then your external becomes infected also if connected. I hook the external up only when I wish to transfer Data or a backup.

Mick.

Only if it is turned on friend!

[Rich-M]

On 9/1/2016 at 3:13 AM, holdum333 said:

If we give our guests and our members a little respect and some thing interesting to read every day; we will grow, and one day we'll be up there with the big boys.

That's this old country boys IMHO !

Here here makes sense to me Gary!

[ACE]

2 hours ago, Rich-M said:

Only if it is turned on friend!

Correct.

 

I like to psychically disconnect the external from my PC  when not in use.

That's my choice.If hackers got into your PC they can turn your external on.

Just being extra cautious.

https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/can-my-backup-hard-drives-be-affected-by-ransomware/

 

[gus]

I have to agree about disconnecting the drives any backups are on. Since losing some business records years ago I have become paranoid about backing up, or more correctly imaging. I backup to external USB drives and also to a 4 bay NAS that is permanently switched on as it is a media server as well. I do not believe in raid so I have another 4 bay NAS that is only ever connected and switched on to backup the first NAS. That way I am in control.

I see a bit of chat about backup software, and must confess to playing with different brands. I used Acronis for years in my business and found the basic backup side of the software pretty bullet proof, but there was always bugs that affected settings, or the interface, and they never ever fixed them, they just bought out new versions with different bugs. I also got sick of all the extra baggage that was bundled with it, total overkill. Towards the end of my dealings with Acronis I never would install the program and just ran it off the boot disc.

After giving Acronis the spear, I tried a few freebies and moved to Macrium, again it is solid, but so bleeding slow. Good allround free product. I also dabble with Aomei and have done since its introduction, great interface, and fast but the early versions gave me, and according to Mr google, problems with network connections. The later versions do not suffer this and make lightning fast backups, great windows PE discs without downloading the Microsloth megadownload, and read/write to my network NAS boxes and devices without issue. I do not want to be using 2 different products, and I think I will slowly phase out Macrium for Aomei.

FWIW   

[Rich-M]

Like you I got tired of the constantly bigger and bigger interface loaded with things I don't personally care about. The end for me came when it failed to recover an image file on a new laptop and actually killed the hard drive in doing so where I had to replace it all the while where it was statng it had restored the image successfully.

That was in 2013 and I have been using Macrium ever since. Not sure why you think Macrium is slow as I find it as fast as Acronis was for me.

[Steve K.]

On 9/3/2016 at 7:32 PM, ACE said:

I like to psychically disconnect the external from my PC  when not in use.

 

 

Not a bad idea at all.

What I used to do.... is keep my main drive Mirrored with an External. Each month (or when I remembered...), I would swap the external drive with a spare I kept in my Fireproof safe. The Mirror would take a bit to SYNC up again but it was an easy way for me to keep a nice backup of my system.

This system fell apart a bit when I ran out of drive space (thanks to 3 kids and a few Terabytes of photos...). Anyway, now I'm using Crashplan and SmugMug to backup things. It's not perfect but, it works for me. 

[Steve K.]

5 hours ago, Rich-M said:

That was in 2013 and I have been using Macrium ever since

What is your favorite features of Macrium? 

I keep hearing about it. Curious what you feel is the best points of it? Perhaps it's worth a closer look on our main blog.

[gus]

3 hours ago, Steve K. said:

What is your favorite features of Macrium? 

I hope you dont mind me responding to this when you quoted Rich-M??

I will list what I like about Macrium but the same things would apply to Aomei I guess.

1. Nice clean interface.
2. Regular updates with automatic checking.
3. The ability to make backup templates.
4. Having only ever done full system images, was never phased by this restriction in earlier versions. Macrium free now does differential as well.
5. Ease of mapping a backup and ability to restore individual files to wherever you want.
6. It has never failed to restore, or clone, whereas Acronis had failed to clone.

I guess the above sounds like a pre requisite for any backup software, and even though I'm reasonably familiar with backup software the idea of all partitions being selected by default for an image would be reassuring for novices, especially in this era where Windows 10 for example may have multiple partitions which obviously have to be included should a restore be required.

[Rich-M]

Macrium is simple. It makes image files which is what I want backup program to do, nothing fancy and no other areas necessary as I use other programs for files and data.

Macrium has a Windows PE rescue disk while the others are Linux and Windows 8 initially had issues using Linux rescue disks. Because it is Windows based the drives ahve the correct drive letters, something that always causes issues when Linux changes the drive letters.

Macrium free is full featured to do image files and clones. If you want incremental and differential backups then you need paid version as I do. I use Standard version.

Macrium has never failed me and especially getting the mbr properly placed and loaded in a restore. It can also work on corrupted Windows files as long as they aren't too bad where Acronis will not record an image or restore one if the drive is not perfect.

Macrium will record an image file and restore it in the same time as Acronis which I always felt was the quickest software whereas most of the free ones take substantailly longer.

[ACE]

Hope you don't mind me posting my opinion.

I also had Acronis at one time and it let me down at two crucial times

I had Macrium for some years and liked the program, although can be a bit daunting for a beginner.

I have tried many backup programs including AOMEI Backupper which I liked very much. Nice interface and very simple to use.

I am trialling Casper at the moment and one word, WOW! This backup software is nothing short of brilliant. So intelligent .

Makes backing up a breeze, best interface and so user friendly. Best I have used so far. Casper in my opinion is a cut above the rest. Does everything I need and more. This one will be a keeper for me.

We all have different needs and tastes. This one is worth trying.I can't believe backing up could be so simple.

https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

[Rich-M]

I will have to check that one out as I never heard of it, thanks for that.

[ACE]

Give it a good road test,Rich. A Tech Guru I know in South Africa put me onto this program.

[allheart55 (Cindy E)]

This looks interesting. I'll have to give it a whirl too.

[Rich-M]

Will do later in the week! Somehow my laptop got infected while at the hospital and I have a big job there to fix. Thank god for a Macrium file done in November of 2015 as I don't use the laptop much so am not in the habit of making regular backups on it.