Ask HN: Windows Backup Solution?

WSL?

I use macrium backup.

I’ve used Easeus for many many years, and actually restored backups from it. Weekly full system disk, daily user profile. Curious which issues have you met with it.

Edit: ngl, it looks like an asian spyware for quite a while, but it did its job eventually.

Windows Backup still works, at least for docs/profile settings, on 11.

I personally like Arq (has Windows, Mac ports). It lets you configure exactly what you want to backup, deltas, deletion of older snapshots, encryption, destinations, etc.

I have multiple backups that run daily against a NAS / B2 / etc. and it's always worked flawlessly.

It does cost money, but its a one-time fee.

https://www.arqbackup.com

Get a Raspberry 4 and attach your USB drive for a small network backup. This affords greater safety and continuous backups. Eventually get another drive for offline backup. For that, set up I recommend Urbackup https://www.urbackup.org/

Urbackup is cross platform, does imaging, include/exclude file backup and data retention policies that are easy to use. You can even restore over the network. Unlike many other backup solutions, files are stored in a format where you can get a hold of your files Manually, if need be.

https://dietpi.com/ dietpi can quickly set up your backup server within a few minutes on most SBC Single Board Computers like the Raspberry Pi.

>I'd like to backup my entire Win11 install to a big USB drive

I do it all the time. Same old way for years. No struggle.

Much quicker and easier than going through the following message ;)

First of all get your entire C: volume cleared of all massive amounts of valuable data that is best routinely stored or archived on a different volume than Windows is on. External drives can really be ideal for user data so that when you restore Windows in the future you have that same external filing cabinet to pull from.

This way most people should be able to get their C: volume down to about 20 to 30 GB these days.

This is really the most time-consuming part of the process usually.

Also you almost never want to install programs to volumes other than C:, this can screw up all kinds of backup approaches. You want your installed programs to be part of your Windows "system" on the C: volume and be backed up & recovered right along with Windows.

Then comprehensive backup can be made using Windows' built-in DISM tool at the command line, the entire contents of the C: volume is compressed by default to about half that size as it is backed up to a WIM file. Big resulting WIM files like this need a lot of space on some other storage volume like D:, E:, or F:, etc.

I boot to the Windows Install USB stick, not to reinstall, but click "repair my computer" then progress onward to end up at the command prompt. This is not the same as the command prompt you can get on your desktop when Windows is running. The install USB is like the "Recovery Console" and boots to a virtual X: volume as a ramdrive, leaving your regular C: volume dormant as a mere storage drive, and C: naturally just happens to hold your working Windows installation (plus whatever else you have there). So now you can back up the whole C: volume while none of its files are actively in use, saving the backup as the proper WIM file type that is intended for recovery from the same type command line or recovery console in the future.

The command is like this:

DISM.EXE /capture-image /ImageFile:D:\backups\w11_240929.wim /CaptureDir:C:\ /Name:w11_240929

-this takes a while but there is a progress indicator.

This is the way I capture an entire C: volume and save it into a pre-existing D:\backups folder of an external storage drive. You name your own WIM file and /Name text, I mostly use the same names for both.

These backups need to be checked for reliability, and recovery is not always a one-step process but it is the Windows way. DISM is very powerful and worthy of great study, not so complex if you limit it to backup & recovery though. You will use the DISM /apply-image routine, and you can place the captured system ("recover" it) onto any properly formatted volume whether it is in the MBR or GPT drive layout. But, unless you are recovering to the exact partition that you backed up from, you will usually still need to then add your own fresh boot files specifically crafted for either scenario, using the BCDBOOT command. If you've never done it before it only takes a little bit of rehearsal, and then it makes more sense than anything. Recovery is important so it can be ideal to rehearse using a spare SSD on a desktop to confirm your workflow before migrating to DISM for laptops where the SSD is less physically accessible.

example:

DISM.EXE /Apply-Image /ImageFile:D:\backups\w11_240929.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:G:\

-which applies your previously saved w11 backup from D:\backups\w11_240929.wim to a freshly formatted G: volume

--this also takes a while but there is a progress indicator.

Now that you have that desired Windows fileset recovered onto your G: volume, if you have never booted Windows on that partition before, you will need to create fresh boot files on that SSD that will point to the Windows you now have placed on G:.

For this, first you need to assign an alphabetical letter to the &qu...

From German heise ct-computer magazine there is a script called WiMage: https://www.heise.de/news/Windows-Sicherung-Neue-Version-von...

Thanks for all the replies! I'm going to give Arq a try. EASEUS was unable to open a Bitlocker-encrypted external drive from its restore media(USB). I guess I shouldn't have expected it to be able to. I have not lost any data, I was just testing my restore capability. I will see if Arq works for me. (and I am reformatting the external drive, will hopefully have encryption of the backup on the unencrypted drive).

Try Xopero Software to back up your Windows instance - https://xopero.com/

Duplicati

I take the approach that if I have a disaster, I'm getting new a new OS install, and maybe even new hardware. It's my data I care about, not the C: drive.

I store all data to a home NAS drive, and then on a regular basis run a ROBOCOPY batch file to a USB hard drive. I rotate several drives (all cold & offline) to have some versoning/protection against bit-rot and undetected corruption.

Once or twice a year I put a drive in a ziplock bag (water tight) to an off-site location that is fireproof and reasonably burglar proof.

I do not trust SaaS or online backups. Too easy to have my online copy get hacked or have my backup provider go out of business. My fate is in my hands.