Best way to back up

[cthomas]

I'm using Acronis True Image 2020.  Now how should I  set up Acronis True Image 2020. I know I should not backup some things but I don't remind me what they are. Can you remind me as to what they are. Thank You.

[Mario]

The general idea of disk imaging programs like Acronis is that they backup your entire hard disk. Or disks, if you have more than one.
They are very good at that. They backup only what has changed since the last incremental or differential backup. So you don't need to decide. Just let it backup your entire disks every day.
If you accidentally delete folders or files or if one of your hard disks becomes damaged, you can easily restore the data.

[plastikman]

Too bad Microsoft/Windows has nothing remotely close to Time Machine in terms of usability and easy of use. Almost too simple to recover from a crash.

I use an older version of Acronis True Image. As Mario said, setup a full disk backup and make sure to check in settings how often this is done, and how incremental backups are saved and maintained. I prefer to do a full backup every n time.

Nowadays I prefer to use the app SyncFolders. I have certain folders sync at specific times to my NAS. Full disk backups are nice but it is very hard to properly recover a Windows installation and often when something goes wrong it is better to start with a fresh install + data/media backup (which I backup in Cloud + NAS + external disk).

[Jingo]

Too bad Microsoft/Windows has nothing remotely close to Time Machine in terms of usability and easy of use. Almost too simple to recover from a crash.

I use an older version of Acronis True Image. As Mario said, setup a full disk backup and make sure to check in settings how often this is done, and how incremental backups are saved and maintained. I prefer to do a full backup every n time.

Nowadays I prefer to use the app SyncFolders. I have certain folders sync at specific times to my NAS. Full disk backups are nice but it is very hard to properly recover a Windows installation and often when something goes wrong it is better to start with a fresh install + data/media backup (which I backup in Cloud + NAS + external disk).

I too use Acronis... and love the features.  It is totally hands off once setup but it is important to understand how your data is backed up and how often you might make changes that could require retrieval.

For me, I have multiple photo drives that I backup with Acronis... a MASTER PHOTO drive (RAW images, photo camera backups), a DEVELOPED PHOTO drive (JPG's developed in Capture One, phone camera images).  I have Acronis setup to create a FULL backup ever 14 days with differential backup each day.  As such, I have 14 days to easily access and retrieve individual photos that may have been deleted, corrupted or adversely modified.  Acronis lets you easily "mount" a backup and then use the software to locate an individual file for viewing or copy.

I also clone my master boot SSD drive monthly so I can quickly get back up and running should something happen... I have extra SSD drives on hand to ensure I'm ready to go should that happen.

I also use Acronis to backup my DATABASE drive.. this SSD contains the IMatch DB along with all settings, user apps, etc.. and my Capture One DB.  This backup is set for a 21 day cycle... giving me more latitude to retrieve older versions.

I have a final Acronis backup setup for my ARCHIVE CLIENT drive folder which contains years and years of client book design projects.. this too is on a 21 day cycle.

Finally, I use syncback Pro to setup some daily mirror jobs which copy/paste my working SSD CLIENT drive to the ARCHIVE CLIENT drive after its Acronis backup is complete...

Took a bit to get all this setup.. but once done - it's been hands off for a few years now.  Be sure to backup the Acronis backup info too for easy setup should you need to build a new PC and/or start over!