First time EaseUS user

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Hi,

I have a Windows 10 Professional fully patched system, and previously used Windows to do a full image, but thinking about using EaseUS.

(1) Firstly is EaseUS a good choice.
(2) Emergency Disk – I assume you need to prepare one for each individual PC even if same brand (other than if the models and hardware are exactly the same?).
(3) Incremental or Differential? I see on the forum that some have had issues with these and recommend doing a full backup each time.
(4) How often a Full Backup (which presumably removes all other instances?)
(5) Test Image Backup:
– I assume ok to test – is there a test option in menus – at what point do you stop to avoid overwriting?
– How you do it and in what order? Assume change the BIOS order, then connect the emergency USB drive – when do you connect hard drive with image on? Does it prompt you?
(6) I have read that when you restore an image to a new hard drive, that the image will restore and you need to partition rest of the hard drive space on new drive to be able to use it. Is this correct? And how do you do that?
(7) Bit Rot – I have read on this forum that you should backup your files regularly to new hard drive to avoid bit rot:
– for drives you use for image backups, does replacing the image regularly alleviate this as the file/(s) are regularly changing? Does bit rot apply just to drives that just sit there unused?
– How about external drives you use for normal backups, if you regularly run syncing software like SyncFolders to backup, does the sync program running over the files and backing up new ones help?

Many thanks

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Yes, EaseUS is a good choice.

One emergency should be enough. Test it by booting each machine.

I use incremental backups for speed and size. If you are concerned about one incremental being corrupt, verify the backup in EaseUS.

Full backup as often as you feel the need. Creating a full does not remove previous backups unless you choose to do so.

Test by booting from the recovery USB and opening the backup file(s). No need to actually restore, but you can test restoring individual files to a new location for that extra warm fuzzy feeling.

EaseUS may allow you to restore to a new bigger disk and expand the partitions at the same time. If not you can do it in Windows or with MiniTool Partition Wizard.

You cannot avoid bit rot, you can only protect against it.
All you need to do is read the data on disk to allow the disk to fix any issues. You don’t need to write anything.

cheers, Paul

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Cybertooth

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Thanks very much Paul for your very helpful response.

I ran the software, and got an image, and if I may, can I follow up with some additional questions:

(1) I created the USB boot disk on a flash drive, and wonder if there is any advice as to how often you should create a new one? Or should I just regularly check it works?

(2) While EaseUS was creating the system image, the PCs fan was working at full blast all the way through for 2+ hours. Is this normal? Would it cause any damage to the fan or system for it to be so hot for so long?

(3) After it was created, I rebooted and went to change the BIOS order, and noticed that HDD USB was assigned to my Printer – indeed in Windows itself the printer in File Explorer is assigned to the D:\ drive. Is this normal, or have I have been impacted by the recent PrintNightmare issue or something similar? I have never seen the printer in File Explorer before as an actual Drive on any of my PCs, although it does have USB and MicroSD slots.

(4) Anyhow, I finally managed to get the BIOS to boot from the USB flash drive, and the EaseUS menu came up – so far so good – but I was not able to see the system image which was on a separate Western Digital external hard disk. Two points with this – firstly at what point do you attach the USB image drive? I assume after the EaseUS has booted otherwise the PC might try to boot from that rather than the emergency disk? Or maybe you do attach them both to two separate USB slots and make sure that the BIOS is correctly set up? Secondly, the WD drive has a password on it (a WD password) and wonder if this was why I could not see the drive? I hope you do not say that I need to remove this, as I always like to have a password on all drives. Although I can of course put a password on the EaseUS image itself, there are a few other folders on the drive, which I would wish to protect.

(5) Bit Rot – thanks for your response on this, but I am not totally sure how I would read the data – there are 000s of files, and what would be the quickest and most efficient way to achieve this across all the files?

Thanks once again

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Storing a bootable USB for a year or more should present no problems, but if you never test you’ll never know. Up to you when you test.

The fan running is because the CPU is working hard and needs to be cooled. This is normal and is why you have a variable speed fan.

Why did you need to change the boot order? Backup and restore can be done without changing the boot order.
To boot from USB hold Shift down when you click Restart. How to Boot from USB Drive in Windows 10 (winaero.com)

What printer do you have that thinks it’s a disk drive?

Plug in all USB drives when you boot. Just in case.

A disk that requires a password may not work in a recovery environment. I would never use one for backup.
If you can make protected and non-protected partitions on the disk you can use the non-protected for backups.

A full backup reads all your files.
To read the files on your backup disk, try my PowerShell read program. https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/from-the-lounge-simple-and-cheap-data-backup-and-storage/#post-2318643

cheers, Paul

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Thanks once again Paul,

I do wish I knew more about all this stuff, and sorry to trouble you with what for you are no doubt simple issues.

I changed the boot order in BIOS as I was testing that the image would work if I booted from the USB Emergency disk as if I had inserted a new hard drive in the case of a total failure of the current drive. I appreciate if Windows is working you can boot in the way you suggest, but with a new hard drive with no data on it, clearly I would need to rely on booting to the Emergency Disk and reinstalling from the image file. So in this worst case scenario, from what you are saying, I would plug in both USB drives (both the emergency USB flash drive, and the external USB drive with the image on), and just make sure that the password is not live on the hard drive. I assume I could leave the password on the external drive, and just remove it before undertaking such a procedure (using another laptop or PC in my office). In BIOS, I would need to make sure that the emergency USB drive is first ahead of the external USB drive with the image. I assume this all makes sense and is possible?

EaseUS – can you backup multiple EaseUS images from different computers to the same external hard drive – I see online that this is possible with most image software, but I cannot be sure and cannot find any information for EaseUS. When reinstalling, you would just need to choose the folder with the correct image file for the computer you are restoring.

The printer is an HP Officejet Pro 8500A – I have connected the printer to the laptop by USB. The printer has the slots to allow you to insert MicroSD cards and USB flash drives, which I have never use, but maybe that is why it shows as a drive in windows (in File Explorer it shows as D:\ USB Drive. In Disk Management it shows as “Removable (D:\) No Media). I have installed the printer on two separate PCs both running Windows 10 v21H1 fully patched, and it shows up exactly the same on both, so hopefully it is as intended. With all the PrintNightmare issues recently, it did cause a little concern, but on the second PC I installed the HP without being connected to the internet, so hopefully all is ok.

Bit Rot – thanks for your advice and link to your app. I read in your April 2020 AskWoody article (which was linked in the forum post you highlighted) that it is important to choose a backup program with verification:
– Does verification of backups also guard against bit rot? EaseUS Free version does not seem to have verification as part of the backup, but it does have a separate “Check Image” tool – is this the same thing?
– Alternatively, if you regularly run syncing software like SyncFolders to backup, does the sync program running over the files and backing up new ones guard against Bit rot?

Many thanks

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In a “new disk” scenario, the machine will boot from the first available device. In your case the recovery USB. No need to change anything in the BIOS.

You can backup as many machines to a single disk as will fit the available space. Make a new directory for each machine. This is the same for all 3rd party backup software we recommend.

I don’t think you will be able to leave the password on the disk as there may be no way to remove it when you need to recover. What is the disk model, we can look it up and check.

SD slots in the printer makes sense. Easy to disconnect the printer to recover if you feel the need.

Don’t worry about bit rot, your hard disk will take care of it for you. That’s why modern hard disks are great.
If you want to check the data on your backup disk for complete peace of mind, you can do so once every 6 months using the PowerShell read utility.

cheers, Paul

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Thanks again Paul,

Western Digital My Passport Ultra – there is an app called WD Security which I have on all my PCs, and I can remove the password using a working PC before using it on a failed PC if needs be. I think that would work? What do you think? That way I can be sure that if my drive is stolen, at least it has a password on it. Much of my data is in a VeraCrypt file, so secure, but I would not like the image of any of my computers available for thieves – albeit they would have to understand how to look at an image file! But still.

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I agree with Paul T on almost all points, except I prefer a differential backup to an incremental one. Larger, slower to create, but no risk of interrupting chain integrity with one bad increment (assuming Full backup is OK).

Zig (former volunteer co-moderator of defunct Easeus Forum)

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SkipH

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Zig wrote:

except I prefer a differential backup

Unless you delete previous differential backups the size of daily backups will amount each month to tens of TBs .

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anonymous wrote:

Western Digital My Passport Ultra – there is an app called WD Security which I have on all my PCs, and I can remove the password using a working PC before using it on a failed PC if needs be. I think that would work? What do you think? That way I can be sure that if my drive is stolen, at least it has a password on it. Much of my data is in a VeraCrypt file, so secure, but I would not like the image of any of my computers available for thieves – albeit they would have to understand how to look at an image file! But still.

I have tested this by removing the password, and I can see the image file – can I assume that although an extra step is required to remove the password first (and you need to remember to put the password back on afterwards!), that it is acceptable way to go around things if you want to maintain a password on the hard drive when not using it?

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anonymous wrote:

I have tested this by removing the password

Did you boot from the EaseUS boot USB and then attempt to remove the password?
If not, how would you restore after hard drive failure?

cheers, Paul

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Hi Paul,

No – I removed the password first (which in an emergency I am able to do on another PC), and then booted with the USB emergency disk, with the WD Drive unprotected with no password – I could see the hard drive, and could also see the Image file, so I assume all would be ok in such a scenario.

If the PC is still working, I could of course remove the password from the WD drive, and then restore the image from within windows, and would be less of a problem.

All seems ok, but I just wanted to make sure I am not making assumptions now, which would come to haunt me on the very day I might need an image restore.

Ian

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Paul T

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