I’m looking for suggestions for open source backup software that will allow me to create an image of my entire Windows system and will allow me to also do full or partial backups. Those two things could be solved by two programs, not one.
For now, I’m using Macrium Reflect. It works.
Most often, though, what I’m doing seems a bit old school. “Back in the day,” I would use Xcopy to make copies of all the data on a Windows machine. However, Xcopy does not play well with long file names so I’ve switched to Robocopy. I do like Robocopy, especially for my Downloads folder which seems to be the keeper of all arcane bits of “stuff” I thought I should save to my machine. Robocopy, though, seems significantly slower than Xcopy. It probably has a file compare routine built-in for efficiency. It also fails when the system doesn’t have full control of files.
The command string I’m using with Robocopy to make a copy of a “Downloads archive” folder is shown in the top bar of the screenshot below:
Right about now, I expect some of my more savvy Random Wire subscribers are rolling their eyes. I do also backup my machines with a product called iDrive. I also save copies of data to a Synology NAS (network attached storage) box. I don’t really understand or completely trust iDrive, and my Synology box is getting quite old. I feel like I need one more layer of backup. As an intermediate step, I bought a drive enclosure and put a 4 TB hard drive (yes, the kind that spins) for one more layer of protection. Think of the enclosure as a DAS (direct attached storage) device.
The Synology NAS is where I put copies of system images for my Raspberry Pi devices. More than once I’ve had to use one of those images to burn a fresh microSD card because the card in an RPi got corrupted.
Right now, though, I’m thinking mainly of my Windows platforms (plural). I care less about the handful of Apple devices because those systems are alternatives if Windows goes toes up in a big way.
The enclosure I used was $56.49:
Interestingly, the “Type-C” USB cable was USB-C on the enclosure end and USB-A on the computer end. I immediately swapped it for a good USB-C to USB-C data cable. Frankly, I’ve used it with both cables, and it seems to operate at the same speed with either cable.
The hard drive was $89.99:
And since “two is one and one is none,” I bought two of the hard drives.
The enclosure is a tool-free device. The top hinges upward and you simply slide your drive into place, making sure to seat it in the built-in interface. Then connect to your computer, plug in the enclosure’s power, and press the Power button.
The enclosure is a bit large, but that’s because it accepts 3.5-inch hard drives, plus has extra space for an M.2 NVMe drive. It was affordable and seems to be working well for me.
Tom Salzer is an amateur radio operator in the Pacific Northwest, USA. He publishes a newsletter at https://www.randomwire.us/ and a radio and technology blog at https://etherham.com.
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