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data backup the best data recovery solution

I want to talk in this post about dedicated backup solutions which is always the best method to avoid the hassle and cost of data recovery. Many people tend to think that have this covered by using such programs as OneDrive , google docs or ICloud  however there are important differences between these products and a proper backup solution.

OneDrive and the like are in fact a synchronization solution whereby a nominated folder on your hard drive maintains a  replica of your data in the cloud. You can synchronise a number of devices to your cloud so that any change implemented on your laptop will be replicated on your other devices be that a  smartphone or desktop. This is really a solution for people wanting to ensure changes made remotely are available wherever you are. This is a good solution for say students and teachers who would might otherwise rely on a USB stick.

This can become cumbersome as the amount of data your are synchronizing becomes large

  1. Large data sets don’t fit on all computers: Since services like Dropbox and Google Drive offer practically unlimited space, it’s tempting to put a terabyte or more of data in the service. However, when using sync, each computer must be able to hold a copy of all the data.
  2. Sync tools are subject to dropouts so that your changes are not realised.
  3. Some files dont work in sync environments.
  4. Sync solutions dont enforce a folder structure and are too easily changed.
  5. Sync solutions can take a toll on your bandwidth which can have an advers effect on your other network apps.

 

 

Benefits of a Complete Backup Solution

LOCATION – you get to choose where your data is located.

SCHEDULING –  your data is backed up at a nominated time freeing up bandwidth and processing.

RECOVERY –     A complete backup solution should enable the restoration of your complete system to new hardware.,

 

 

 

StorageCraft Desktop

I want to talk today about my prefered backup program Storage craft . You can create full backups, which create an image of an entire disk partition, or full backups followed by incremental backups, which back up only files changed since the last full backup.

With the second option, when you need to restore from a backup, you can zero in on the date and time of the incremental backup you want to use. The program also manages  the backup location so that you can delete  older backups before creating new ones, ensuring you don’t run out of space. It can also notify when something has gone wrong.

data recovery software
data recovery storagecraft

How to Recover Anything

ShadowProtect offers three ways to recover data from a backup image.

First, you can open a backup image so it appears as a drive letter on your Windows system, and then use it as you would any other folder or drive to recover files or folders from the mounted image to any folder in your system. 

Second, you can use the app’s interface to restore any partition on your system other than the current boot partition. You won’t need to restart your machine before or after the restore. This method is useful for restoring non-booting drives you use for storing data, or, if you have a multi-boot system, you can use this method to restore one of your boot drives after you’ve booted into the other boot drive.

Third,  ShadowProtect Recovery Environment allows you to create  a bootable drive so that should your  system fail   eg hard drive failureor  destruction you can replicate your system onto new hardware. See the picture below.

Storagecraft Recovery Environment for data recovery

Boot Up a Backup Image

ShadowProtect’s VirtualBoot feature—the feature that lets you boot up a backed-up system drive in a virtual machine—is a triumph of power and convenience. This can be used with

1) the freeware VirtualBox,

2) Windows’ built-in but optional Hyper-V feature, or

3) VMware’s Vsphere hypervisor, typically used only in corporate settings.

 

Drive Rotation

You can also rotate your backup drives so as to mitigate ransomware attacks