Best and easiest computer back up system

[Dave Richards]

I agree with Chuck. I prefer a local backup which is why I find Cobian Backup perfect for my needs.

[dennis thompson]

Well,I fumbled my way through a backup to a USB flash drive. I hope:
-I never need to use it (but realize some day I probably will)
-If I need it I hope I can figure out how to use it (I'll probably be back here asking how to get the backup off the USB drive)
Thanks for all the advice

[Brian Hale]

Years ago I did the tape backup thing and then dvds and finally a nas/raid in a separate computer but when I looked at the cost of equipment and electric to maintain that system, the $60 per year i pay Carbonite looks cheap. A few weeks ago my computer bricked, power supply took out the motherboard. I built a new system with the same number of drives and had Carbonite restore my files. It took 12 days for a total 862gb of data to be restored but everything is there just like before and the whole process involved reinstalling their ssoftware and clicking restore. For me, that's money well spent.

YMMV

Brian

[Curt Harms]

Well,I fumbled my way through a backup to a USB flash drive. I hope:
-I never need to use it (but realize some day I probably will)
-If I need it I hope I can figure out how to use it (I'll probably be back here asking how to get the backup off the USB drive)
Thanks for all the advice

For the stuff that really matters, i.e. financial, health and legal stuff, I don't use any sort of compression or other special backup software. Just copy the native files to backup media. I was using syncback (http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html) to automate the process. That leaves one less point of failure (data compression/decompression) If my machine dies, I can simply copy the files back to a rebuilt machine. I have O.S. and program reinstall media so don't really worry about backing up 90% of the machine. My O.S. and applications can be pretty easily replaced. Data files cannot.