Ask Leo! #560 – Backing up before going forward, four ways to go back, Corgi pictures, and more…

Okay Leo, you finally convinced me!

How many times have I heard you say "backup" - scores, hundreds? and did I? of course not! But this time what you said about trying things and even if it turned into a disaster it could still be resolved with a full image backup - just made so much sense!

So there you go, I've been a subscriber for years and yet because you hit just exactly the right note this time you have a convert! Look forward to many more of your talks :)

I am definitely a do-it-yourself kind of guy, with pretty much everything I do. I have made a few mistakes that cost me more to get fixed than it would have to let someone just do it right the first time, but overall I come out way ahead. It's especially true of my computers. Ever since my first computer (which had two 5 1/4" floppy drives and no hard drive) I've been poking at them and trying things out, and generally keeping them in good shape, to the extent that friends will come to me for help with theirs.

If there's one thing that scares me into not doing more than I do, it's that I'm self taught, doing my research as I go, and there is often incomplete, inaccurate and/or conflicting information available to choose from. (I've come to depend on a couple of trusted websites, Ask Leo! being top of the list.)

One other thing I'll mention: While backing up is unquestionably the #1 rule, the #2 rule should be: learn how to use your backup now, before you need it. Nothing is more frustrating than a non-responsive computer that you don't know how to resuscitate, even though you know you have the tools. Believe me.

Knowing how to restore from a backup is a very good idea. But just having the tools puts you miles ahead. A worst case scenario would be that you'd have to take it into a shop and have them restore it for you. but I believe with the instructions Leo gives, it would be pretty easy to follow his instructions. You can get his book for the backup program you are using. You can print out these articles he has on restoring your computer. That way you can have it for when you can't get into your computer to read it and don't have another device to read it on.

http://ask-leo.com/macrium_reflect_6_restoring_an_image.html

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_restore_from_a_backup.html

Can't understand why people do not back up, so easy to do now. I can still remember my first computer Commodore 64, far cry from todays machines, programs if you could buy any came on tape and downloaded via tape deck. wrote small programs in dos. I download a lot of data and store it on hard drives, I have salvaged from old computers, I have bought a case with its own power cable to fit them in. Am going to download windows 10 on one of them, will keep 7 for the time being till I see how 10 pans out. Enjoy all your posts I file them all.

I'd add two steps to the restore process.

Before restoring to the previous system image, make a system image back up your Windows 10 installation.

Then, after restoring the system image of the previous OS, copy all of the data files you've created using Windows 10 to your newly installed system. If you made a fresh install of Windows 10, that would include all of your data files.