Advice Request Reliable tool/ software for complete backup of laptop

[Ashish1+1]

Hi,

This thread is come out of need after ransomware attack on my laptop. I had to goto service centre to get my machine formatted and re-installed Windows 10 and office 2016 afresh. Since formatting took a lot of my early days work, I was left at heavy loss.

Now since the system is clean ( but warranty due to expire), I wish to secure copy of working files/ software in (alongwith) windows 10 and office 2016 activation (have license key intact and avoid activation trouble later) in my external HDD.

I did some research but found windows 10 and office 2016- both handled licenses/ token differently than earlier versions so backup them up as image for recovering later (as per need) might not be relevant. Just wanted to come forward with this thread to seek help and opinion on the same.

Although I have installed and made backup through macrium reflect, but dont know for sure if it will get the job done.

I was suggested in other forum to explore tool named MSACTBACKUP by Ratiborus.

Which other tool/ software can I use?

Thanks

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Hello and welcome to MT forum. First I would like to suggest that you upload and sync important documents to a reputable cloud service (e.g. OneDrive). Second, please use a backup solution either free such as Macrium or AOMEI (both get the job done) or paid such as AOMEI Pro (many giveaways) or O&O DiskIamge. When you create a system image, please do not forget to enable backup verification option. If you are not sure whether the backup is working or not, please try restoring the system image before storing more data. Generally, I have not encountered any issue with any of the products I mentioned. Regarding your ransomware infection, I suggest you post you PC security configuration in the forum so that other members can suggest improvements to your general PC security. Thank you and enjoy your time here.

 

[ForgottenSeer 78429]

Although I have installed and made backup through macrium reflect, but dont know for sure if it will get the job done.

For me Macrium Reflect free works perfect. You can also try AOMEI. But for me Aomei and Acronis didn't work. Aomei made my PC non-bootable after system restore. How ever EaseUS has worked for me pretty good. If documents are important follow @The Cog in the Machine's advice. But also prefer to encrypt them before uploading in the cloud.

 

[Cortex]

Can't say it better than 'The Cog In The Machine's post above.

 

[Ashish1+1]

Hello and welcome to MT forum. First I would like to suggest that you upload and sync important documents to a reputable cloud service (e.g. OneDrive). Second, please use a backup solution either free such as Macrium or AOMEI (both get the job done) or paid such as AOMEI Pro (many giveaways) or O&O DiskIamge. When you create a system image, please do not forget to enable backup verification option. If you are not sure whether the backup is working or not, please try restoring the system image before storing more data. Generally, I have not encountered any issue with any of the products I mentioned. Regarding your ransomware infection, I suggest you post you PC security configuration in the forum so that other members can suggest improvements to your general PC security. Thank you and enjoy your time here.

Thank you for your replies

Post infection my present security configuration is

WiseVector Stop X
Adguard for Desktop
Kaspersky Free
Malwarebytes antimalware
Superantispyware
Spywareblaster
Sandboxed (Web browser)
Glasswire
Heimdol Thor agent and Kerish Doctor (Courtesy MalwareTips Giveaway)

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Thank you for your replies

Post infection my present security configuration is

WiseVector Stop X
Adguard for Desktop
Kaspersky Free
Malwarebytes antimalware
Superantispyware
Spywareblaster
Sandboxed (Web browser)
Glasswire
Heimdol Thor agent and Kerish Doctor (Courtesy MalwareTips Giveaway)

Thank you @Ashish1+1 for sharing your configuration. Please share your configuration here so that other members can give you feedback.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Way too much security , I would lose Superantispyware, Thor and Spyware Blaster and use only one of Kaspersky or WiseVector.

 

[shmu26]

Macrium Reflect free edition, or any other system imaging program, such as Aomei or others, provides good protection against ransomware attacks, provided you fulfill these two conditions:
1 Regular, up-to-date backups
2 Backups are offline and disconnected from your computer. If you leave your external hard drive connected by USB or by network, then ransomware will zap your backups, too.

About running multiple security programs: the most important thing is to educate yourself in safe user habits. MalwareTips is the best forum in the world for that.
Running lots and lots of programs to "protect" us will not protect us against ourselves, unless we learn good user habits.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Macrium Reflect free edition, or any other system imaging program, such as Aomei or others, provides good protection against ransomware attacks, provided you fulfill these two conditions:
1 Regular, up-to-date backups
2 Backups are offline and disconnected from your computer. If you leave your external hard drive connected by USB or by network, then ransomware will zap your backups, too.

About running multiple security programs: the most important thing is to educate yourself in safe user habits. MalwareTips is the best forum in the world for that.
Running lots and lots of programs to "protect" us will not protect us against ourselves, unless we learn good user habits.

Thank you @shmu26 for pointing out two very important point here. I just want to add that at some point creating backup would be not as important as previous backups. One would reach a point where they do not install any new programmes nor make any significant changes to their system, so here comes the importance of cloud storage. Now as you created a full system backup and followed it with another 3 backups, you should sync the folders you use the most (like documents, photos and videos) to a reputable cloud service. If anything happens to your system (like a ransomware attack), you can restore and earlier backup (system backup) and you will find the newly created files stored safely at your cloud storage. You cannot run backups daily (it is inconvenient). Most people run backups on a weekly basis and just imagine how many files you create and download in a week, so it is very important to keep important files on sync. One more thing, I would also store the backups on at least to external HDDs just in case one of them dies.

 

[shmu26]

Thank you @shmu26 for pointing out two very important point here. I just want to add that at some point creating backup would be not as important as previous backups. One would reach a point where they do not install any new programmes nor make any significant changes to their system, so here comes the importance of cloud storage. Now as you created a full system backup and followed it with another 3 backups, you should sync the folders you use the most (like documents, photos and videos) to a reputable cloud service. If anything happens to your system (like a ransomware attack), you can restore and earlier backup (system backup) and you will find the newly created files stored safely at your cloud storage. You cannot run backups daily (it is inconvenient). Most people run backups on a weekly basis and just imagine how many files you create and download in a week, so it is very important to keep important files on sync. One more thing, I would also store the backups on at least to external HDDs just in case one of them dies.

+1
As long as your system is not undergoing a lot of changes, and it's just a matter of backing up some personal files, cloud storage is great.
But if you set up your personal files to sync automatically to the cloud, some services are better than others to protect from ransomware. For instance, the free Google sync puts your cloud storage in danger of encryption by ransomware. Same with free OneDrive. Dropbox gives you a recovery option even at the free tier.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

+1
As long as your system is not undergoing a lot of changes, and it's just a matter of backing up some personal files, cloud storage is great.
But if you set up your personal files to sync automatically to the cloud, some services are better than others to protect from ransomware. For instance, the free Google sync puts your cloud storage in danger of encryption by ransomware. Same with free OneDrive. Dropbox gives you a recovery option even at the free tier.

I did not know that the free version of Google Drive and One Drive do not store versions of files! Thank you for pointing this out.

 

[shmu26]

I did not know that the free version of Google Drive and One Drive do not store versions of files! Thank you for pointing this out.

OneDrive free does store versions, at least for certain file types. Not sure about google drive.
The problem is when you have lots and lots of files, or when they aren't a file type that supports versioning. That's when you need a recovery option.

 

[Dave Russo]

Way too much security , I would lose Superantispyware, Thor and Spyware Blaster and use only one of Kaspersky or WiseVector.

Maybe you like Superantispyware as a cookie killer,you can do this manually in browser settings,I agree with Digmor Crusher ,you lose nothing getting rid of his recommendations