Re: Apologies for redundant question here: How do I protect against total shutdown? -- I need the backup, restore process, etc.

[Otis Port otisport@xxxxxxxx]

re Apologies for redundant question here: How do I protect against total shutdown? -- I need the backup, restore process, etc. (dated Saturday, May 13, 2017)...

I used to be a journalist and took notes from phone interviews on my
computer, so I developed what may be an usual back-up procedure to
ensure that my notes would always be available.

First step was to partition the main HD into 4 sections, with D:
devoted exclusively to all programs (except only those that don't
provide any means of installing them on a drive other than C:); E: for
my flat-file database and working documents; F: for downloads, and G:
for archives and backups. Carl also advocates this type of approach.

Next, I installed a dock with external access for 2 laptop HDs. Both
of the two that are normally running each mirror the contents of D, E,
F, and G. So I have two duplicates of my main HD. (Actually, 4 copies,
since D,E,F have backups on G.) Other laptop drives have bootable
images of C for my 3 desktops and 3 laptops.

Every 2 or 3 months, I save an image of C to G, which gets copied to
both laptop HDs when new data on D, E or F gets backed up. For that
I use xxcopy.com, which has switches to process only files that need
to be updated, plus another switch to delete all files on the laptop
drives that have been removed from the main HD. Actually that switch
is used for one laptop drive at a time, just in case, then applied to
the other drive for the next day.

So, after most email sessions or an important download, I run a small
12-line xxcopy-based batch file that updates the laptop drives. This
happens a few times every day, and each takes about 1 minute--66
seconds in the one just performed. When the C-image is copied, backup
time probably is closer to 2 minutes. For gigabytes of new data, it
might be a coffee-break routine.

  -otis