Solved USB Flash or External HD - Which is better?

bobbyk

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I need to make a backup image of my HD and my question is this. Which is easier, when it comes to restoring the image, USB flash or External HD? I ask because I wonder if I made an image on an external HD when it comes to the actual restoration, would the external HD boot, if say my OS is so corrupt it won't boot into the OS. I have an ASUS K55N DS81 laptop. Also, I feel I would need a 128GB flash drive because of the size of the saved space on my HD and I wonder if I should just go ahead and buy the external HD and save money. Thanks for your help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus K55n DS81
    CPU
    Amd A8 4500M
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD
    Hard Drives
    500GB
    Browser
    Inernet Explorer 11 Chrome
Either one should be able to be made bootable, assuming your backup software has that function. The external hard drive should be cheaper if you compare the cost per gigabyte. More room for more backups too. Thumb drives are easier to carry. I use thumb drives for my Windows install media. I have one just for installing Windows, another one with just drivers on it for my hardware, and one with Office etc on it. I also have an external hard drive for backing up my Data. I don't image my OS but I do backup my documents, pictures and other Data just in case I have a hard drive failure etc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Thanks for your reply alphanumeric.I have a 32 GB flash drive for saving documents, etc. I would just feel more comfortable if I had an image that I could use. Looking to make it as fail safe as possible.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus K55n DS81
    CPU
    Amd A8 4500M
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD
    Hard Drives
    500GB
    Browser
    Inernet Explorer 11 Chrome
There are pros and cons to both. The thumb drive will be more portable and less likely to get damaged by bumps and knocks etc. It should have faster read times too. Its going to be more expensive especially for a large capacity like 128 gig though. I have at last count about 18 thumb drives in sizes from 1 gig to 16 gig. I wouldn't mind having a few larger ones like 32 gig, or 64 gig. 4 or so external hard drives, some are just recycled laptop drives, 60, 80 120 and 750 gig. The 750 gig drive is a new laptop drive that I put in an enclosure when I put SSD's in my new laptop. That's the one I use for backup. The other ones are just for messing around with Windows to Go installs and such.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
The Western Digital Passport drives are small, and I bought a 2Tbit one for $129US they are very handy and will do the job you require.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8
    Computer type
    Laptop
Thanks for your reply alphanumeric.I have a 32 GB flash drive for saving documents, etc. I would just feel more comfortable if I had an image that I could use. Looking to make it as fail safe as possible.


I use Macrium Reflect.

All local drives are 43 GBs total.
The image I created is 27 GBs due to the compression used.

I saved the image to a 32 GB usb & it works good.

screenshot_117.png

screenshot_119.png

You may not need a 128 GB usb.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Another option is to get a docking station. Even the USB 3.0 ones are cheap these days. You can get internal drives such as WD and slide them in the dock. I got a plastic stack of drawers from Walmart for about $8 that held 6 HD. A benefit is you can use them for video storage as well as backup images. It's good to have backup images on more than one drive. Using internal drives and a dock makes that more economical.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
I need to make a backup image of my HD and my question is this. Which is easier, when it comes to restoring the image, USB flash or External HD? I ask because I wonder if I made an image on an external HD when it comes to the actual restoration, would the external HD boot, if say my OS is so corrupt it won't boot into the OS. I have an ASUS K55N DS81 laptop. Also, I feel I would need a 128GB flash drive because of the size of the saved space on my HD and I wonder if I should just go ahead and buy the external HD and save money. Thanks for your help.

I use both, I use a flash drive to boot into macrium reflect and have my Images on an external drive. I Rather not have my external drives bootable. That's for my notebook. my work stations being MBR rather than GPT I use Acronis and same protocol I use a flash drive to boot up in Acronis and have my images and back ups on an eSATA external dives. I again don't want these external hard drives bootable as I leave them connected all the time for scheduled daily data back ups. I'm invested in Acronis however they for some reason haven't sorted out how to rebuild a UEFI GPT boot OS disk. That's been solved with Macrium Reflect and works flawlessly. I will probably migrate to macrium reflect with my work stations as it seems to be as good in some ways way better than Acronis. Acronis tech support sucks Reflect tech support and forums much better.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
Again I want to thank everyone for their responses. This forum is great and has very knowledgeable people. So far, I'm thinking I do have the 32GB flash drive and Macrium Refelect Free. So, maybe I'll see if the image can be compressed onto it. I have a hard drive from an HP PC that has a bad motherboard and I checked on EBay and found an adaptor kit to make that drive connect to USB. It's 250MB and I could use it for backups of data and the adaptor is only 14.99. That would be my only cost. Great guys, I can be protected and not go broke, as I'm not in a position to spend much. I'm really glad I joined this forum.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus K55n DS81
    CPU
    Amd A8 4500M
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD
    Hard Drives
    500GB
    Browser
    Inernet Explorer 11 Chrome
Again I want to thank everyone for their responses. This forum is great and has very knowledgeable people. So far, I'm thinking I do have the 32GB flash drive and Macrium Refelect Free. So, maybe I'll see if the image can be compressed onto it. I have a hard drive from an HP PC that has a bad motherboard and I checked on EBay and found an adaptor kit to make that drive connect to USB. It's 250MB and I could use it for backups of data and the adaptor is only 14.99. That would be my only cost. Great guys, I can be protected and not go broke, as I'm not in a position to spend much. I'm really glad I joined this forum.

If you make an image with Macrium also do what is in this picture:

screenshot_118.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Thanks again David, I probably would have missed making the boot image.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus K55n DS81
    CPU
    Amd A8 4500M
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD
    Hard Drives
    500GB
    Browser
    Inernet Explorer 11 Chrome

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
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