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backup

M

marinny

Member
Hello
I just switched from Windows to Google in preparation for my wife to use a Chromebook- I will continue with Windows.. I use Macrium Reflect to image my OS.

My android phone is synced with Drive on my PC and I have all my notes except Windows.
I have all my data on drive backed up to Google . My memo is backed up to Samsung.
It appears as though all Google is backed up. Is this enough or is more backing up over doing it?
------------
I tried something I need your advice about before I make a mistake. I selected the first file in drive, held the shift key then selected the last so all files were selected. I then right clicked on them as "saved as"... That is as far as I went.

My question is, where can I save all these files;
1-Macrium Reflect b/c if the system is recovered wouldn't the contents of Drive be in the recovery?
2-An eternal drive = save a s >D;?
3- a flash drive?
Thanks you for your help.
 
marinny said:
My question is, where can I save all these files;
1-Macrium Reflect b/c if the system is recovered wouldn't the contents of Drive be in the recovery?
Click to expand...

If I'm reading your query correctly, you're asking if the content of your Google Drive will be also be saved in your Macrium Reflect recovery image? No, Google Drive is an online document service. While you can always just save individual files to your PC and you can use Google's Takeout service to archive all your files into a big, fat zip file, your Drive account is an online service.
If you use a service like Dropbox however, that is a backup/syncing service. Specified files on your phone will be stored in Dropbox's online servers and then when you have the Dropbox app on your Samsung and the Dropbox application on your Windows PC, than the those same files will on both your Samsung and PC. (along with the ability to access your content anywhere using a browser and logging into your account at https://www.dropbox.com). In that case, than yes, your files will be inside a Macrium recovery image file.
 
Would Google backup be considered a backup of my data at the very least?
I am not skilled enough to understand the last part of the email.
"than yes, your files will be inside a Macrium recovery image file."
I understand that using drop box would be a back up - how would I out the files+ folders there sand are they synced with Drive?
I am unclear as to how I can involve
Macrium but am very interested.
TY for your help.
Peter
 
If you want your Macrium Reflect image files to be all inclusive, you need to take some extra steps to get everything in a central archive file. All the files and documents in your Google Drive physically reside online, on Google servers somewhere, not on your Windows PC. When you're working on a document in your Google Drive on your PC, you're accessing it using your web browser which is reading/writing/editing everything you do through your cable or DSL Internet connection. Same thing when you're working with some document using your phone's Drive app, it's accessing that document stored online and you're interacting with it over your WiFi connection (which again, is fed by your cable or DSL Internet). When you've done a backup using Macrium and made an image of your PC's hard drive, since those Google Drive files don't actually reside on your PC's drive, they're not included in the image file. The end result is you have the image file, an archive of your PC's drive, and you have your files in your Google Drive account. But if you want to back up everything in your Google Drive, go to the Google Takeout page.
https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout
As you can see, you can include just about all your stuff in your Google account, not just documents in Drive. Select what you want to backup and follow through the dialog steps. You'll end up with one big archive file that if you opt to download onto your PC, once that archive file is saved to your PC once you do another Macrium backup your Google Drive files will a part of that image file.
One other thing I'd suggest is install and configure the Dropbox app on your S5. Set it up to back/sync your photos and videos, that way you'll have a copies on your phone and online in your Dropbox account.
 
That is a clear explanation and thank you. I now know to put the data "in" the PC to be imaged.
About my other question, I checked off to back up my data etc with my phone. If something happened I could click to recover. Is that that a backup?
I also high lighted all the data and clicked 'save as' - could I 'save as' a flash drive or external drive?
Due to my low level skills, health and age I am trying to find the easiest way.
TY
Peter
 
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to accomplish. A 'save as' dialog would denote what kind of file format you want to save a file as and is dependent on what application you're doing -- i.e. saving a music file as xxxxx.ogg or xxxxx.mp3, or saving an archive file as xxxxx.zip or xxxxx.iso. A 'save to' dialog would be relative to saving a file to a specified location -- i.e. saving a music file to either your PC's hard drive or to an external drive.
 
If you are referring to the settings under backup & reset, then the answer is no. Here's the explanation of what it does right from the phone ...

Screenshot_20160615-205358.png

What it does not backup are the apps themselves, and user files or messages (including email and sms/mms).

For important files, I recommend cloud storage and redundancy. I use DropBox and OneDrive.
 
I made and error with "Save as " and apologize for that .

My goal is to keep all non Windows files in Drive as they are synced with the phone, Chromebook and Windows Drive icon too.
I was hoping the Google backup feature in the phone was adequate but I see that you also use Dropbox.
If you change a file in Drive, does that change occur in Drop Box also? Is there an option to sync the two?

With just Windows I used to keep all data on flash drives and image the OS. She would not use Windows.
I still do, but, MY WIFE cannot maintain Windows and my age and health lead me to want to leave her an ez set up.
So I thought if all but Windows went to drive she would be able to handle it especially with a Chromebook we may get..
As I said my Galaxy says to click to back up all data so I thought that would be sufficient. You seem to indicate,using Dropbox.
I nooticed,"Spoiler" which indicates it is a no thaat backup and reset woud back up my Google data. I thought if I had to recover nd ised that , it woud open to my Drive -but I guess I am wrong.
If the two are synced it is a good idea but if not, it would make it too hard for her.
I would like to put all data on something other than a cloud but that again would complicate it for her as they would not be synced.
So I will use drop box if I know how to get my drive files to it and that they are synced.
Thank you for your patience, as this is hard for me to figure out and your advice is very valuable.
Peter
 
Google "take out page" would be good but my wife could not navigate Macrium as I do. It is an excellent suggestion, however.
 
Peter,

Don't worry, your not the only one who is confused by all the so-called backup options out there. For those of us who have been around the block a few times, we're just suggesting what we know what works. Samsung promotes backups with it's own suite software which in the past has had issues restoring to other phones. Most people want to be able to either restore their existing phone OR a replacement device should their phone break or they upgrade.

If you never plan to root, then what you need to be concerned with in terms of backups are user files not stored in the cloud. I would expect Drive, DropBox, OneDrive etc. to be safe and accessible as long as you have the proper user account credentials. Having a local backup is always a good idea, but i'm a belt-and suspenders guy when it comes to my data.

User files NOT saved in the cloud should have some sort of regular backup strategy. For non-critical files i backup 3 times per week.

You'll also need some sort of backup for SMS/MMS messages if you consider them important as well as any POP3 email accounts. IMAP accounts (like gmail) will be stored in the cloud so that wouldn't be necessary.

It's also prudent to have a restore plan in place and test it occasionally to make sure it's working as expected. The last thing anyone wants is to need a backup that you thought was there but for whatever reason failed and your data is lost.
 
Thank you for your update regarding this issue.
I don't know If I did the right thing but I used Cloud HQ to sync drive with Dropbox. It seems to be working smoothly.
I did have a question about Cloud HQ. It appears in my drive and after clicking on it several times it shows some files I already have. It is labeled archive. I don't know if I should remove it before there is too much clutter.
Also it is in my Dropbox account as a program that shares my information. I guess I am asking how secure this CloudHQ is?
 
I thought you would like me to finish the thread I started. I now use GoogleTakeOut as I can backup all if I want or just parts like Drive and can also get a file that I may have dropped.
I can download to desktop which is a good thing.
 
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