I have never managed to establish a complete backup plan but I am ever hopeful I will find one. So far, (since the mid 90s) I have only had two disasters. They were solved by a fresh install on a new PC. I have been using W7 since the beginning and have begun to worry about the hassle (and data loss) of the next hardware failure or malware attack. I would like to find some software product (preferably free, and uncomplicated) that I can use to keep a copy of my complete system and all my personal data. It needs to be pretty much at beginner level or below because every time I have tried a backup product I am baffled by the jargon used and have needed far more knowledge to know which boxes to tick. Time and time again someone has tried to explain the difference between a Clone and an Image but it just doesn't sink in. Is there anything new out there that will work straight out of the box without me having to get a degree in computer science to use? I am running W7 Pro 64bit on a desktop PC (my own build) with 500gb SSD drive and 8gb of memory available. I can add more or bigger drives but my single 500gb is only about a third full so there seems no need for anything larger. I have two new matching SSDs ready for use as backup destination. Any ideas out there?
I will start by saying I was a late starter as far as computer tech goes and I regret very much that I didn't jump on board right at the beginning. So I have had to learn alone (and suffer) by my mistakes. In the beginning I had to do a total re-install of my Windows and stayed up all night installing and tweaking it back to "normal" after a virus intrusion or other disaster. I lived those first years dreading the next disaster that would appear. I had no-one to ask for help...but "necessity is the mother of invention", as the saying goes. So I got my head down and started "learning" how to use Macrium Reflect. Easy for 99.9% of the guys on MDL, but a challenge for me. Anyway, I "got it" at last and it has saved me so much heartache, so much work and so many times. It's not Free...but you can find it and it's worth the effort. If I can use it comfortably, then anyone can learn how to use it. Try it, you won't be disappointed. P.S. I'm on Win 7 Pro (x64)
I thank you both for your input. I am currently in the middle of trying (again) to get to grips with the Hasleo product but will try Macrium if that doesn't bear fruit. There seems to be nothing else out there that is simple enough for a beginner. I was hopeful.
I am still using Norton Ghost 11.5 onto, from XP to W11 24H2. OS or data partitions. IDE SATA or SSD. But it wouldn’t work on the 100MB boot sector. Macrium Reflect V8 (free ver) can fix it.