SEVENSTEPSTOBACKUPBLISS
PROTECTING YOUR DATA DOESN’T NEED TO BE COMPLICATED HERE ARE THE KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE INVESTING IN A SUITE
01 Do I need to pay for backup software?
You certainly don’t, but there are reasons you might choose to. If your backup requirements are simple – say, you have just a single folder of critical files that needs backing up once a week – then any number of free programs will do the job. Indeed, as we discuss on p92, there’s not one but two backup systems built right into Windows 10.
Even for more complicated scenarios, there might well be a free backup solution that meets your needs. In this Labs, we test eight free programs that offer capabilities that go far beyond simply duplicating files, including full-system imaging and advanced incremental and differential backup options.
As you’d expect, though, it’s the paid-for packages that tend to be more fully-featured, and where a backup program exists in both free and commercial editions, we’ll note the differences in our review. If you want cloud storage, that normally costs money too – which is fair enough, as someone has to pay for the remote server that’s hosting your data.
02 Is cloud protection better than local backup?
The advantage of cloud protection is simple: no matter what happens to your local computer, your files are stored safely off-site and can always be recovered, even if you’re hit by a house fire or ransomware attack.
As we’ve noted, however, cloud storage isn’t free, and the price may be proportionate to the amount of space you need. It can also be very slow to
“Some experts recommend a ‘hybrid backup’ strategy, which means sending files simultaneously to a local drive and a cloud service”
upload and recover large archives from a remote server, compared to using a local USB drive or a NAS appliance on your home network – although some cloud services are faster than others.
Ideally, then, you’d want to maintain both cloud and local backups. A rule of thumb is the “3-2-1” approach, which means keeping three copies of your data, using two different backup destinations, of which one is off-site.
Some experts recommend a “hybrid backup” strategy, which means sending files simultaneously to a local drive and a cloud service. If you have a lot of data to protect, though, it may be more efficient to configure two separate backup jobs, one that stores almost everything to fast local media, and another that uploads only the most important files to the cloud. In this way, you can make the most efficient use of your remote server space, with no danger of crucial files sitting in an upload queue for days on end behind less important items.
03 How do I make sure my backups are secure?
Most backup suites let you passwordprotect your local archives using strong AES encryption, so if someone steals your backup drive, or hacks into your NAS storage, they won’t be able to read your data. However, if you forget your password, you won’t be able to access your backups either.
Cloud backup systems use encryption too, so if someone manages to hack into their servers they will still be unable to read your files. However, here the software normally generates and stores an encryption key on your behalf to ensure you can’t accidentally lose access to your data. With the best will in the world, it can’t be absolutely guaranteed that a lucky hacker couldn’t somehow get hold of this key; a few packages let you use your own private key instead, for additional peace of mind.
You might also want to think about data sovereignty. Some cloud backup servers are physically located in the US, while other providers have European data centres. It’s unlikely that this will affect your experience, but if you’re worried about who has jurisdiction over your data it’s worth looking into.
04 How much storage space do I need?
This is a key question, whether you’re buying an external drive for backups or choosing a cloud storage plan – and the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might imagine. Intuitively, you would expect that if you want to back up a collection of folders totalling
“The ability to recover file versions is very valuable, so consider allocating at least twice as much space as the files you want to protect”
50GB folder, you’d need 50GB of space in the destination location.
In fact, the majority of backup systems use compression, so your archived files may take up a lot less space than the originals. However, it’s always a good idea to keep a historical archive of backups, so you can recover files that were deleted long ago or revisit a file as it was last month, rather than only being able to restore the latest version. Many backup systems automatically retain a certain number of old file versions for you to browse through and restore (the number is noted in our feature table overleaf).
Fortunately, you don’t need to have vast amounts of headroom to accommodate all these old versions. The trick is to start by making a full copy of the folders you want to protect, then follow up with incremental backups, which only store files that have been added or changed since the base image was created. Incremental backups typically slash storage requirements, but they can be slow and cumbersome to access. You can improve matters by adding occasional differential backups into the mix, which consolidate everything that’s changed since the last full backup.
Certain backup clients let you define your own sequence of full, incremental and differential backups, while others have predefined schemes. You’ll normally also be able to specify a maximum size for your backup archive, or just simply let it fill all of the space available, after which the oldest backups will automatically be deleted.
So, back to the question. If you only need to keep a single backup that’s always up to date, you may need very little storage space. The ability to recover older file versions is very valuable, however, so consider allocating at least twice as much space as the files you want to protect to allow room for plenty of incremental backups.
05 Do I need to back up my entire system?
Complete system backups are less critical than they used to be. These days, if your computer starts to act strangely, you can easily restore Windows 10 to a pristine state using the “Reset this PC” tool. Even if your hard disk dies entirely, you can download the Windows installer from Microsoft’s website and set up a fresh desktop in under an hour.
That’s not the whole story, though: reinstalling your daily applications and recreating your settings can be a tricky and time-consuming process – even assuming that you still have the installers and licence keys to hand. So, if you can easily make periodic backups of your entire OS, you might end up save yourself a lot of stress in the future.
06 Does backup speed matter?
As we discuss in the “How we test” box below, one of the things we measure when evaluating a backup suite is how quickly it copies your data to its backup destination. We saw a considerable variance between the 22 packages on test this month, with different suites taking between 18 and 163 seconds to back up a 2GB test folder to an external hard disk. NAS backups were even more variable, ranging from 66 to 1,247 seconds.
For a desktop that’s set to back up in the middle of the night, it doesn’t really matter if your backup software is on the slow side. However, if you regularly work on a laptop, speedy backups are highly desirable to ensure that everything gets safely duplicated before you close up the computer and put it to sleep. Don’t worry too much about this, though: most packages can detect if a regular backup run has been missed and will catch up at the next opportunity.
07 What other features should I look for?
Some backup suites include add-ons such as disk cloning, secure disk erasure and file syncing across multiple computers. These are nice things to have, but we suggest you don’t let them influence your choice of backup software: you can almost always get free, standalone tools to do the same job. The one thing that might be worth looking out for is a recovery media builder tool, so you can easily set up a USB flash drive to restore your backups in the event of a system crash.
Ultimately, though, what really matters is keeping your data safe in a way that works for you. Keep your focus on that when making your choice – should disaster strike, you’ll be glad you did.