backups Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

How to create a System Image Backup with Windows 11

Posted on December 9, 2021

If you’ve been using computers for a while you probably know that a hard drive or SSD failure, a horrible virus infection or some other catastrophic event can result in data loss.

If that ever happens you, you’ll need to be able to restore the drive’s contents from a backup.

The question is, which backup software should you use to create your backups?

While there are many good commercial backup software programs available (some of which are free), Windows 11 has an excellent backup tool already built-in to the operating system. [Read more…]

Tips for creating and storing your computer’s backups

Posted on July 19, 2021

Click here to sign up for my free Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter!

Modern computer hardware is generally more reliable than what we had back in the early days of personal computing, but users still frequently lose irreplaceable data due to hardware failures.

There are many reasons for data loss that range all the way from the simple failure of a hard drive to catastrophic events such as lightning strikes and fire damage.

This all boils down to one conclusion: If you have photos, videos, Office documents and/or other irreplaceable files stored on your computer’s hard drive, you need to back it up ASAP and make additional backups as you add more files. [Read more…]

Q&A: Should I replace a 3 year old SSD just to be safe?

Posted on April 23, 2021

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Kendra: Hi Rick. I really love your blog, especially the section where you answer questions from your readers.

If you don’t mind I’d like to ask a question of my own.

Back in early 2018 the guys at Best Buy installed a Samsung 250GB SSD in my Dell laptop and it really made it run a lot faster.

I recently read on another site that all SSDs wear out over time because they can only be written to a certain number of times.

That has me sort of worried because this drive is now 3 years old and I have a lot of personal files on it that I don’t want to lose.

My question is do you think this drive is likely to fail at some time in the near future? If you think it might I’ll go ahead and replace it now rather than taking a chance on losing my files.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: What’s the difference between a ‘System Image’ and a regular backup?

Posted on February 16, 2021

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Phillip D.: I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and you often mention creating “System Image” backups.

Are these just regular backups or is there something different about them?

[Read more…]

How to safeguard all of your irreplaceable photos and documents

Posted on January 25, 2021

I’m sure you’re aware that fires and other disasters destroy numerous homes and businesses across the country every year.

The total amount of property damage caused by these catastrophes boggles the mind, but in most cases insurance coverage helps the people affected at least rebuild their homes and businesses so they can move on with their lives.

Unfortunately, many families lose things that are even more precious to them than the structures they live and work in: All of their precious family photos and other irreplaceable documents. [Read more…]