To backup my PC to the cloud or not?

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I am just a casual computer user of my Windows 10 21H2 version. I have read of varying ways of backing up my computer. One one hand there is to use External Hard Drives. On the other hand, I have read in the latest newsletter about backing up my computer to the Cloud. I have tried backing up my PC to External Hard Drives, but it takes too long for what I want to save. Then there is the need to have a Recovery Flash Drive in case the computer fails. I feel that if the computer fails, no recovery would be a possibility. I don’t have that many files that I wish to save at any one given time. I now just backup my files that I want to save on a couple of Flash Drives and onto my computer itself. I feel also that it’s pointless to backup Windows 10 software when it updates so often. And I have only one program that I would like to backup.

My questions are: 1) Is it safe to backup my computer to the cloud? 2) Do I need to backup my whole computer or can I select programs and files only? 3) Is there any type of fee associated with backing up my computer to the cloud?

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Data loss from cloud services is rare.  The most common problem is not the cloud failing, but a user clicking yes to syncing the newly empty folder after accidentally moving the folder on one device.

You can choose a folder to sync, or copy files in, and for a small file size many services have a free plan.  Microsoft onedrive , dropbox , and google drive are popular.  Some other cloud services promote backing up the whole computer.

If you have a second or third Windows computer that is working, and some flash drives, and know how to clean install Windows, and do not have much software installed – then doing a clean install if you have major problems is a reasonable option.  But trouble could happen any day, even a work day, and a clean install can take hours to be functional at all, and days before things are “tweaked” to your liking.  Restoring from an image backup can take as little as half an hour if both the backup and original drive are SSD and everything can be ready to go.

Yes, backup software recovery boot drives do not always work, but you can test their bootability before you have a problem.

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A full backup of my PC to external disk takes less than 20 minutes. The same backup to the cloud is likely to take several hours if you have fast internet.

Restoring from the cloud will be hours – depending on internet speed. External disk will be 10 to 15 minutes.

If you have the time, have your passwords handy, can boot with a network connection and don’t need to be back up soon, cloud backup is fine.

cheers, Paul

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I avoid cloud operations and don’t consider cloud backups. If one person has a virus, everyone has a virus.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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I have decided against using the cloud all together. I thank you all for your input.

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Cloud Backups – Would you store your data on your most annoying neighbours’ computer?

Avoid the inevitable cloudbusting and get a faster external drive. job done

2 users thanked author for this post.

wavy, DriftyDonN

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I look at the cloud backups as an addition to – remember it takes time to restore from the cloud.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rush2112

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