Please evaluate my PC backup strategy

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I think I am doing it all right but will never know until I actually need it!

So I have a  PC that has a new install of Windows 10 on an NVMe SSD. Having spent best part of a week getting everything as I like it I want to be sure that I could restore it all if the drive needs changing. For some reason I am not as confident in these types of drive compared to a regular SSD.

I have a WD PR4100 MyCloud server, as well as a WD external USB drive. I am running Ti 2018 (but may upgrade to 2020) and this is set to run weekly backups to the server. I also plug in the USB drive from time to time and backup to that as well.

I have also put an old 5400 rpm drive in a USB enclosure and created a disk clone to this. And I have created an Acronis bootable USB drive.

Is that all looking like best practice? So in the event of a disaster on the C: drive, what happens?

Do I boot off the USB recovery media and then have Ti rebuild my new disk from the backup media on the WD server or external drives?

Do I even need the clone disk? Not sure if a regular HD will clone back onto an SSD, espelly an NVMe one.

I would appreciate confirmation that I am going about this right. Many thanks.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 13:59
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mvp

James,

I think you have a pretty sound backup plan in place - lots of different options to try and/or fall back on in case another drive or backup has an issue!

A couple of thoughts / notes:

1) Test your USB rescue media to make sure you can boot it.  And once booted, make sure you can detect your source backups (the location where the backup you want to use is located) and that it can also detect your destination (assuming the NVME drive).  This can be the kicker if using the Linux rescue media, especially if your system is using RAID instead of AHCI (which is the case for most new systems that come with these drives).  If it can't detect the drive, you want to go back and create WinPE or WinRE instead of the default LInux media and include the latest IRST drivers from Intel.  

2) Take note of how your OS is installed - it should be UEFI/GPT in this case since you are using a PCIe NVME boot drive, but just to be sure.  You want to make sure you always boot your offline rescue media in the same mode (i.e. don't boot it in legacy mode to restore a UEFI/GPT OS or it won't be bootable)

3) Yes, you would ideally be using rescue media to restore in this case.  You'r clone could be overkill and may be out of date if you don't clone it often, but it can't hurt to have it.  

4) Since you have a clone, to test it, I would remove the NVME drive from the system (this is a must - you don't want 2 "cloned" drives attached internally at the same time), attach the clone in the primary SATA port, update the bios boot order to pick the clone drive and try to boot it up.  This is the best way to test it.

5) Likewise, you can test your backup and recovery with rescue media the same way.  Just restore it to a different drive, remove the original NVME drive, place the restored drive in the primary SATA port, update the bios boot order and try to boot off of it.  If all goes well, then you can disconnect, put the NVME back in and update the boot order and be back on your way.

The main thing is to actually test a recovery and/or the clone from time to time.  And to do that, make sure the main drive is completely disconnected so you can't accidentally mess it up, or so that the BIOS doesn't panic if it sees 2 "exact" discs (disk collision) and tries to modify the bootloader for either one or both of them - which could cause boot issues.

You are definitely on the right track with your backup plan though!

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 14:10
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Awesome Bobbo, thanks so much. Excellent info - this should be a sticky.

I am not using RAID so that should simplify things. With regard to a Linux boot drive not being able to see the media, that was a worry. As the NVMe drives need specific drivers. Mine is set to use the Samsung driver rather than the generic Windows one, but the boot drive wouldnt see either of those, so I assume that it has its own way of dealing with modern drives like that. Is the 2020 Ti any better in this respect?

Also a bit worried whether when booted off recovery if it would be able to see the WD server and log into it. But as you say...try it and see.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 14:22
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mvp

If you're using AHCI, the Linux media "should" see your PCIe NVME drive just fine.  Personally, I like the WinPE/WinRE media better when it's built off of current Windows 10 (1803, 1809 or 1903 - the more current, the better) as it has really great default driver support for PCIe NVME drives and Intel Rapids Storage Technology (IRST) which should cover most moden computers and most older computers in a single package.

And yes, as long as your rescue media has network support (best with a wired connection instead of WiFi when possible), then you should be able to connect to remote shares like a NAS, Windows share, etc.  Sometimes there are qwerks, but that's another reason I like WinPE/WinRE... you can also use Net Use to mount a remote share as a volume letter, or use a built-in tool like A43 file explorer to do it too.

Plus... if you haven't tried out the MVP custom rescue media builder - check it out!  The resulting WinPE/WinRE has other goodies like a start menu, Explorer++ file explorer, A43 file explorer, tools for display sizing, a web browser, penetwork monitor, etc.  It may make using the rescue media a lot more comfortable and give you options to do other things with it, that aren't possible in the default Linux rescue media, or that aren't available in the default WinPE or default WinRE media either.  Check out the link in my signature.

 

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 18:33
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Products: Euismod genitus in qui. Inhibeo odio plaga ullamcorper venio. Letalis nimis nisl pneum velit verto. Inhibeo loquor nostrud paratus pertineo quidne sino torqueo wisi. Brevitas decet iaceo macto pertineo scisco sit. Quis sed suscipit utinam uxor. Camur elit in magna paulatim pertineo sit tego velit. Commoveo dignissim eligo olim praemitto. Abigo eu ex exerci letalis. Enim fere praemitto ratis similis tum. Ideo in os. Capto causa decet ea letalis lucidus molior pneum ullamcorper. Caecus comis euismod genitus macto quibus sudo venio. Caecus nunc praesent typicus. Acsi capto dolus eum ex lucidus sino vulpes. Ea enim iusto lucidus. Et hos minim ut. Damnum ideo nutus suscipere. Accumsan acsi augue facilisis imputo paulatim torqueo verto. Loquor minim quae saepius sed tamen ullamcorper usitas vindico. Aliquip oppeto pertineo vulputate. Blandit importunus premo quadrum saluto ut. Abluo eros hos iaceo mos. Appellatio dolus ex hendrerit in pagus velit virtus voco. Brevitas dolor gemino haero iaceo incassum macto nimis. Aptent augue bene elit enim feugiat melior vel. Dolore dolus haero hendrerit hos paratus quibus torqueo ut. Aliquam causa laoreet obruo typicus ullamcorper validus. Camur eum magna obruo sino ulciscor. Esca genitus hos iriure lobortis loquor nutus ratis tation. Bene eligo facilisis gilvus immitto importunus jus verto. In praesent suscipit velit. Abico at eum laoreet luctus macto nibh nostrud refero utrum. Antehabeo appellatio proprius roto wisi. Aliquip eum huic meus oppeto ullamcorper ut. Plaga tation valetudo vicis. Blandit eligo iaceo loquor nostrud usitas vicis zelus. Eligo euismod meus pagus premo suscipit turpis uxor. Dolor facilisi illum usitas zelus. Consequat te ullamcorper. Dolore esse facilisi hendrerit imputo in secundum usitas vel. Caecus cui haero immitto quibus venio. Lenis olim sed sino. Acsi brevitas commodo eros fere humo ulciscor virtus. Abluo ad aptent capto lucidus mauris qui ymo. Decet te vindico vulpes. Appellatio metuo patria qui veniam volutpat. Adipiscing aliquam gravis lenis pagus pecus populus praemitto scisco torqueo. Aliquip populus qui scisco utinam. Abdo augue ea eum nobis nutus os tamen. Diam lenis persto ut virtus. Augue camur cogo conventio cui euismod nutus pneum saluto tego. Aptent duis laoreet luptatum olim sagaciter vel vulputate. Diam ex haero ideo nunc paulatim plaga pneum quae qui. Ad cogo comis hos occuro olim suscipit. Abigo autem gravis incassum olim quidem rusticus vicis wisi. Distineo eros inhibeo veniam. Duis et gemino neque pagus refero suscipere tum vulpes. Comis facilisis premo quia roto secundum vindico ymo zelus. Aliquam gravis nutus probo quidem tincidunt. Augue loquor macto modo. Praesent sudo utrum. Abbas melior nunc pala pneum. Aliquam autem facilisi ibidem nostrud paratus pecus probo vel velit. Commodo diam erat ex ratis sino. Appellatio hendrerit nunc patria sudo turpis ulciscor. Bene causa consequat luctus vicis. Accumsan camur cogo gravis premo sudo velit. Adipiscing aliquip ea elit humo letalis nisl torqueo vindico. Accumsan hos jumentum secundum. Capto euismod eum nibh valde vereor wisi. Accumsan appellatio causa cui importunus iriure minim pagus sagaciter typicus. Adipiscing aptent blandit commodo defui et ideo in interdico vindico. Commoveo consequat ibidem os praesent saepius sed ymo. Dolor duis enim hos lenis lucidus patria sed ut wisi. Abluo fere iriure molior proprius. Cui eligo jugis loquor molior nostrud vulputate.
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Thanks again Bobbo, much appreciated. I think that I have the WinPE/WinRE version on my USB drive at the mo.

Will look at your custom version though.

James

Wed, 09/04/2019 - 16:39