Windows 10: Aomei backup

Hi, I'll discuss principles, but I'm not going to tell you what to tick click or whatever.. you can pick that up, read the online manual. It's quit intuitive once you've started.

1. You don't have to have a schedule. I think I said that it's important to image BEFORE a major change (=risk) and AFTER a significant change or number of changes.
2. Whether you have a schedule or not depends on
a. How much backup space you have. (1Tb can quickly feel small).
b. How frequently you make changes you need to save
c. Whether the changes are easily repeatable or difficult and time consuming
I.e. is their loss going to cost more than the time to image and restore

Your opinion here may differ between data and OS and programs.

3. What you are imaging and hence such decisions depends on how you have organised your disk.
For example, my C: is mostly OS, and hardly any personal data
Other people may (unwisely) have everything on C:

I have almost all my installed progs on D:, and data, including data programs store by default on C: as permanent output on other partitions.

4. You can make incremental backups and differential backups manually - or schedule them.

I actually opt for differential backups. At any one time I'm then dependent on the integrity of just two files. I can delete any older differential images whenever I like.

5. How many incremental images? Well, it depends how often you create them, bearing in mind it does take time and uses resources each time you create an image. You could have lots.. but then the integrity of your backup is dependent on the integrity of many files.

So start with how you organise your data, and how you separate this from your OS.
Ideally separate it into data that changes infrequently (on one partition, say) and data that changes more often.
Your backup plan for each will be different.

Defragging your disk reorganises the physical arrangement of data and impacts disk imaging. Read up on that.

Finally make sure you have and can use the disk image program's bootable medium. Don't just create it, test it (= also your PC is set up to boot from it). You don't want to leave that until you need it, then find there's a problem.

 

Thank you for all your help. The tutorial is just some literature on their homepage.
I have been investigating as much as I can and feel I can handle the features on Aomei fairly well. - at least the ones I need. I will keep a backup and if needed will use the disc to recover it. I have all my sensitive data on two separate flash drives. and are updated weekly.
I have abandoned the idea of incrementals as I can quickly update when I need to recover an image.
TY
Peter

 

Hi
I labeled a folder in This PC like Aomei 1-2-16. I performed a disc image backup and it recovered as it should. However, when I selected incremental it said the path was wrong.
I performed a system image without labeling any folder in This PC and the recovery was fine. I selected incremental and it could find the path.
Was my error in naming a folder in This PC? Should I not name it anything when I create a system image?

Secondly, when I selected incremental it found it and created it.

Now the trouble is that I see both the full and the incremental but the directions say there should be a"merge" in utilities but there is not. So which do I click upon to recover the updated image?
Thank you

 

Actually, that is a very good point which I had not considered before. As you say, if an incremental got deleted or corrupted in some way eg a disk read error, you would lose the whole chain from that point onwards.

As you also say, with differential files, risk is lower.

I suppose you could be unlucky and have new files in one differential (which got corrupted), which were deleted in next differential though, but even then the overall loss is likely to be lower.

On balance, I definitely agree with your viewpoint, and that the (usually modest) extra disk space used for differentials seems to be well worth it for the higher integrity factor.

Nice one!