My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
nothing. (I just discovered this.)

So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.

So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?

For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
(Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)

Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
drive set up for backups — if possible.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

RonB <ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com> wrote:

>My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>
>So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>
>So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>
>For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>(Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>
>Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>drive set up for backups — if possible.

Heh, this is some funny shit, he asks a Winblows-problem question,
because it's harder for him to figure out than Linux, which he runs on
his own device. I don't really have a great answer for him, because I
wouldn't use some automated backup imaging BS, I have an external hard
drive, I copy files to it, and I can copy them back to my machine,
simple. If necessary, I reinstall the OS from the ground up. Just
not into this system image scheme.

--
Joel W. Crump

Amendment XIV
Section 1.

[...] No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.

Dobbs rewrites this, it is invalid precedent. States are
liable for denying needed abortions, e.g. TX.

On 2024-06-08, RonB <ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com> wrote:
> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>
> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>
> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>
> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>
> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
> drive set up for backups — if possible.

I guess it's Windows 11 now. When it updated it updated to 11. My wife
doesn't mind, she already let her laptop update to 11.

At any rate, I'm guessing Windows 11 has the same issue Windows 10 has with
backing up to internal hard drives.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 6/8/2024 5:06 AM, RonB wrote:
> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>
> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>
> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>
> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>
> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
> drive set up for backups — if possible.

FWIW I use 3 drives:
C internal NVMe OS, boot and installed apps
D internal SSD personal files, downloads, binaries
E external HDD copy of D

Every evening or more often I copy new/changed files from D to E.

I recommend getting her used to doing manual backups - every day - of
new files and changes she made that day. Losing even 1 day of work is a
lot.

How well does she understand and maintain a separation between program
code and personal data? If she stores personal files in the same
folders as the executables (usually C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files
(x86)), you'll have to separate them.

If all her personal data - all the info you want to backup - is already
in C:\Users\<name>\, then just drag and drop that entire folder to the
backup drive.

2nd easiest is copy one folder at a time to the backup drive:
C:\Users\<name>\Contacts
C:\Users\<name>\Desktop
C:\Users\<name>\Documents
C:\Users\<name>\Downloads
C:\Users\<name>\Music
C:\Users\<name>\Pictures
C:\Users\<name>\Videos

This assumes she used those folders as intended.

Also, from time to time take a screenshot of Control Panel | Programs
and Features, to see what apps she has installed, that she might want to
reinstall in the future.

On Sat, 8 Jun 2024 08:52:44 -0400, DFS <nospam@dfs.com> wrote in
<66645419$0$1412889$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com>:

> I recommend getting her used to doing manual backups - every day - of new
> files and changes she made that day. Losing even 1 day of work is a lot.

Why would you not script this to run rsync(*) and run it with
the scheduler every day, if not every hour?

(*) or a suitable Windows equivalent

--
-v

RonB: My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
SSD and a 1TB hard drive.

Buy a TeraByte USB Thumb drive (A:), format it so it boots,
& make it a Bootable Windows recovery drive.

The following assumes "C:\__" is her home folder, uses ShadowSpawn & RoboCopy.
"Save ( Mirror A to C ).BAT":

C:
CD C:\__
ShadowSpawn C:\__ R: RoboCopy R: A:\__ /B /XF Robo.TXT /XD Tmp Del *IE-Tmp *TileDataLayer *Packages *Recent /NDL /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\Robo.TXT

exit
REM help RoboCopy
REM /L = ListOnly /B = Backing up, override permissions. /NDL = No Directory Listing. /NJH /NJS = No Header/Footer. /J = No Buffering. /NP = Don't log %done.

"Restore ( Mirror C to A ).BAT":

ECHO OFF
A:
REM CD A:\__\Relf_Speak
REM RoboCopy . C:\__\Relf_Speak /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\Relf_Speak_Restored.TXT

REM CD "A:\__\Sys\AppData\CounterPath Corporation\Bria\5.0\default_user"
REM RoboCopy . "C:\__\Sys\AppData\CounterPath Corporation\Bria\5.0\default_user" /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\Bria_Restored.TXT

REM CD "A:\__\FF\chrome_debugger_profile"
REM RoboCopy . "C:\__\FF\chrome_debugger_profile" /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\FF_Debugger_Restored.TXT

CD A:\__\FF
RoboCopy . C:\__\FF /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\FF_Restored.TXT

REM CD A:\__\Sys\AppData\Microsoft
REM RoboCopy . C:\__\Sys\AppData\Microsoft /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\Microsoft_Restored.TXT

REM CD A:\__\Sys\AppData\LGHUB
REM RoboCopy . C:\__\Sys\AppData\LGHUB /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\LGHUB_Restored.TXT

REM CD A:\__\EXEs\HotVirtualKeyboard
REM RoboCopy . C:\__\EXEs\HotVirtualKeyboard /R:0 /NDL /S /B /mir /J /NJH /NJS /NP /UNILOG:C:\__\Keyboard_Restored.TXT

exit
REM help RoboCopy
REM /L = ListOnly /R:0 = No Retries. /B = Backing up, override permissions.
REM /S = Ignore Empty Folders. /NDL = No Directory Listing. /NJH /NJS = No Header/Footer. /J = No Buffering. /NP = Don't log %done.

vallor wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On Sat, 8 Jun 2024 08:52:44 -0400, DFS <nospam@dfs.com> wrote in
> <66645419$0$1412889$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com>:
>
>> I recommend getting her used to doing manual backups - every day - of new
>> files and changes she made that day. Losing even 1 day of work is a lot.
>
> Why would you not script this to run rsync(*) and run it with
> the scheduler every day, if not every hour?
>
> (*) or a suitable Windows equivalent

That would be Robocopy, IIRC.

--
For the fashion of Minas Tirith was such that it was built on seven levels,
each delved into a hill, and about each was set a wall, and in each wall
was a gate.
-- J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Return of the King"

On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>
> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>
> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>
> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>
> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
> drive set up for backups — if possible.

It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
never admitted to actually use it.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>
>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>
>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>
>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>
>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>
> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
> never admitted to actually use it.

No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
has this limitation.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>
>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>
>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>
>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>
>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>
>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>> never admitted to actually use it.
>
> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
> has this limitation.

I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
folders elsewhere.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>
>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>
>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>
>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>
>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>
>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>
>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>> has this limitation.
>
> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
> folders elsewhere.

I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
back up the SSD.

Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
this?

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10 11:34 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>>
>>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>>
>>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>>
>>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>>
>>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>>> has this limitation.
>>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
> I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
> have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
> back up the SSD.
>
> Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
> a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
> this?

Macrium Reflect is a popular option. Instead of doing a traditional
backup, it images the storage so that it can be restored within a few
minutes. I'm not sure if the product still works as well as it used to,
but I loved it.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

On 2024-06-10 11:34 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>>
>>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>>
>>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>>
>>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>>
>>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>>> has this limitation.
>>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
> I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
> have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
> back up the SSD.
>
> Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
> a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
> this?

Here is what Brave's search offered me when I searched for a free
alternative to Macrium Reflect:

Veeam Agent: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect with most of the same
features. Check the latest release as it might have fixed the issue
you’re experiencing.
Rescuezilla: An open-source, free alternative to Macrium Reflect. It’s
also a disk imaging tool that can be used for backups and cloning.
Clonezilla: A free and open-source disk cloning tool that can be used as
an alternative to Macrium Reflect.
Duplicati: A free, open-source backup tool that can be used for disk
imaging and cloning.
Déjà Dup: A free, open-source backup tool that can be used for disk
imaging and cloning.
Redo Rescue: A free, open-source disk imaging tool that can be used as
an alternative to Macrium Reflect.
AOMEI Backupper: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect with more
complete features. It’s a disk imaging and cloning tool that can be used
for backups and cloning.
EaseUS ToDo Backup: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that supports
disk image backups on a fixed backup schedule.
MiniTool ShadowMaker: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that
supports disk image backups and cloning.
Paragon Backup & Recovery: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that
supports disk image backups and cloning.
FBackup: A free backup software for both personal and commercial use
that can be used as an alternative to Macrium Reflect.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:37:20 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:

> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
> folders elsewhere.

I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
I'm working on.

rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:37:20 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
> I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
> has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
> I'm working on.

The cool thing about OneDrive is that you can edit, say, a Word doc that
sits on OneDrive, and someone else can edit it too, and you'll see the changes.
I tried editing the same document using to instances of Word to verify.

Generally, this system seemed sound.

--
There are more things in heaven and earth,
Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
-- Wm. Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

On 2024-06-10 2:06 p.m., rbowman wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:37:20 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
> I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
> has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
> I'm working on.

I get 1TB from work, but I only use it to store my ripped DVDs and
Blu-Rays online in case one of the students was absent and I want to
quickly send them a link to whatever content they missed. I have some
work documents there too, but I opted to just keep them on my local
storage instead. There's nothing sensitive there or anything, but I'd
rather a third-party not have it anyway.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

rbowman wrote:

> Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
>I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
>has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
>I'm working on.

I use OneDrive to back up my work machine, also. It took some
research to understand how it works... I have it configured so that I
have local copies of everything, which is not the default. I'm not
trusting the cloud completely...

--
"In COLA they don't see the need for a help group like this because
they actually believe Linux is perfect. Really." - Hadron Quark,
lying shamelessly

On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:54:39 -0500, chrisv wrote:

> I use OneDrive to back up my work machine, also. It took some research
> to understand how it works... I have it configured so that I have local
> copies of everything, which is not the default. I'm not trusting the
> cloud completely...

I haven't set it up to automatically copy anything. That would defeat my
purpose of saving source code prior to making local changes. Sometimes
I'll take several snapshots as the project progresses so I can backtrack
-- not that I've ever went off in the wrong direction of course.

On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
> On 2024-06-10 11:34 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>>>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>>>
>>>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>>>
>>>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>>>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>>>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>>>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>>>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>>>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>>>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>>>> has this limitation.
>>>
>>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>>> folders elsewhere.
>>
>> I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
>> have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
>> back up the SSD.
>>
>> Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
>> a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
>> this?
>
> Macrium Reflect is a popular option. Instead of doing a traditional
> backup, it images the storage so that it can be restored within a few
> minutes. I'm not sure if the product still works as well as it used to,
> but I loved it.

I had remembered that you used to mention Macrium Reflect, so I looked it
up. They now rent rent by the year for $65 (that's supposedly an
introductory price). But even with them, I don't know if they will back up
to an internal hard drive.

My wife already uses OneDrive, so she doesn't see the need for a local backup
— it's more me not wanting the hard drive to "go to waste."

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
> On 2024-06-10 11:34 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>>>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>>>
>>>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>>>
>>>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>>>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>>>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>>>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>>>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>>>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>>>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>>>> has this limitation.
>>>
>>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>>> folders elsewhere.
>>
>> I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
>> have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
>> back up the SSD.
>>
>> Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
>> a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
>> this?
>
> Here is what Brave's search offered me when I searched for a free
> alternative to Macrium Reflect:
>
> Veeam Agent: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect with most of the same
> features. Check the latest release as it might have fixed the issue
> you’re experiencing.
> Rescuezilla: An open-source, free alternative to Macrium Reflect. It’s
> also a disk imaging tool that can be used for backups and cloning.
> Clonezilla: A free and open-source disk cloning tool that can be used as
> an alternative to Macrium Reflect.
> Duplicati: A free, open-source backup tool that can be used for disk
> imaging and cloning.
> Déjà Dup: A free, open-source backup tool that can be used for disk
> imaging and cloning.
> Redo Rescue: A free, open-source disk imaging tool that can be used as
> an alternative to Macrium Reflect.
> AOMEI Backupper: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect with more
> complete features. It’s a disk imaging and cloning tool that can be used
> for backups and cloning.
> EaseUS ToDo Backup: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that supports
> disk image backups on a fixed backup schedule.
> MiniTool ShadowMaker: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that
> supports disk image backups and cloning.
> Paragon Backup & Recovery: A free alternative to Macrium Reflect that
> supports disk image backups and cloning.
> FBackup: A free backup software for both personal and commercial use
> that can be used as an alternative to Macrium Reflect.

Okay, thanks. I've saved your list to Simplenote and will work through them.
I think I have looked at a couple of them and they had the same limitation
on not using the internal hard drive.

At any rate, thanks for the list.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:37:20 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>
>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>> folders elsewhere.
>
> I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
> has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
> I'm working on.

My wife backs up to OneDrive also. I just like the idea of a local backup
(besides, as mentioned in another post, I hate seeing the the internal hard
drive "going to waste").

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10, Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> wrote:
> rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> On Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:37:20 -0400, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>
>>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>>> folders elsewhere.
>>
>> I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
>> has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
>> I'm working on.
>
> The cool thing about OneDrive is that you can edit, say, a Word doc that
> sits on OneDrive, and someone else can edit it too, and you'll see the changes.
> I tried editing the same document using to instances of Word to verify.
>
> Generally, this system seemed sound.

My wife uses OneDrive, it allows her to edit her documents on her desktop
or laptop, when she's away. But to me it's not the same as backing up your
SSD locally.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> rbowman wrote:
>
>> Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>
>>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>>> folders elsewhere.
>>
>>I don't use it for my personal stuff but the corporate OneDrive account
>>has 6 TB of cloud storage. I use it to backup documentation and projects
>>I'm working on.
>
> I use OneDrive to back up my work machine, also. It took some
> research to understand how it works... I have it configured so that I
> have local copies of everything, which is not the default. I'm not
> trusting the cloud completely...

Can you set OneDrive up so those local copies are saved to an internal hard
drive? The irony is, I could do backups to that same hard drive with Acronis
*if* I removed it from the computer and put it in a USB enclosure. This
seems silly to me.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-06-10 10:28 p.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On 2024-06-10 11:34 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>> On 2024-06-10, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-06-09 7:44 p.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-06-09, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>>>> On 2024-06-08 5:06 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>>>>>> My wife's Windows 10 computer (Inspiron, not my choice) came with a 256GB
>>>>>>> SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Stupid me, I assumed that Dell would set up it up
>>>>>>> so the program data would save on the TB hard drive and the applications
>>>>>>> would run from the SSD. Nope. Everything ran on the SSD and all data was
>>>>>>> saved there. The hard drive is just a drone, sitting there and doing
>>>>>>> nothing. (I just discovered this.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So after about three years, her computer slowed way down. I assumed she
>>>>>>> needed more memory and bought a 32GB SIM (so she now has 40GBs of RAM).
>>>>>>> Still slow. Then I realized that she had filled up her SSD. It actually had
>>>>>>> only 25MBs free tonight. It's a wonder it ran at all.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So I ordered a 1TB SSD, and tonight cloned it in an external enclosure and
>>>>>>> installed it. Worked well (the SSD came with Acronis True Disk). I saw that
>>>>>>> Acronis had a backup utility as well, so figured I would back up the new SSD
>>>>>>> to the practically unused hard drive... and I found out Microsoft doesn't
>>>>>>> like backing up to an internal hard drive. Why does it have this limitation?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For those of you who use Windows, is there any way to make Windows 10 back
>>>>>>> up to an internal hard drive? I've seen something about making the internal
>>>>>>> drive a "network drive," which seems kind of convoluted. Is there any
>>>>>>> application that overrides this (to me) senseless limitation? And why does
>>>>>>> Windows 10 have this limitation — is there a logical reason for it?
>>>>>>> (Apparently Windows 7 didn't have this limitation.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Kind of ranting. Sorry. But I would like to see my wife's internal hard
>>>>>>> drive set up for backups — if possible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It might be a situation similar to my mother's Intel NUC. There were two
>>>>>> HDs in there, one of which was used exclusively to re-image the SSD in
>>>>>> case of failure. As far as I know, it was write-protected though I have
>>>>>> never admitted to actually use it.
>>>>>
>>>>> No, the hard drive is just a standard hard drive (it's seen as the D:
>>>>> drive). You can access it and copy files to it manually, but you can't set
>>>>> up backup on it (directly from Windows, anyhow). Apparently this changed
>>>>> with the release of Windows 10, Windows 7 (and, I think, 8) would backup to
>>>>> internal hard drives. I've got to believe there is an application to do
>>>>> this, but none that I've found so far specifically say they will work with
>>>>> an internal hard drive. I really don't quite understand why Windows 10/11
>>>>> has this limitation.
>>>>
>>>> I'm surprised that anyone even uses the Windows Backup system, to be
>>>> honest. Every time I've taken a look at it, it appeared to be little
>>>> more than an automated process to copy your Documents and Pictures
>>>> folders elsewhere.
>>>
>>> I'm totally ignorant about the best way to back up Windows. I just know I
>>> have a 1 TB drive that's not being used and figured it would work well to
>>> back up the SSD.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions on backup software. The SSD came with Acronis (and includes
>>> a backup feature, but it doesn't allow me to use the internal hard drive for
>>> this?
>>
>> Macrium Reflect is a popular option. Instead of doing a traditional
>> backup, it images the storage so that it can be restored within a few
>> minutes. I'm not sure if the product still works as well as it used to,
>> but I loved it.
>
> I had remembered that you used to mention Macrium Reflect, so I looked it
> up. They now rent rent by the year for $65 (that's supposedly an
> introductory price). But even with them, I don't know if they will back up
> to an internal hard drive.
>
> My wife already uses OneDrive, so she doesn't see the need for a local backup
> — it's more me not wanting the hard drive to "go to waste."

Admittedly, OneDrive has made backups fairly obsolete. If you also
downloaded all of your desktop software from the Windows Store, there
would not be a use for backups at all. The former has a copy of all of
the files you deem essential and they sync to your local storage, and
the latter has a list of the programs you use and automatically
downloads them at the next installation. In that respect, Microsoft has
done a wonderful job. It's just too bad that nobody actually uses the
Windows Store.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
TG: @AndrzejMatuch
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king.

RonB wrote:

> chrisv wrote:
>>
>> I use OneDrive to back up my work machine, also. It took some
>> research to understand how it works... I have it configured so that I
>> have local copies of everything, which is not the default. I'm not
>> trusting the cloud completely...
>
>Can you set OneDrive up so those local copies are saved to an internal hard
>drive?

Backup to a second internal drive? No. OneDrive is all about cloud
backup.

>The irony is, I could do backups to that same hard drive with Acronis
>*if* I removed it from the computer and put it in a USB enclosure. This
>seems silly to me.

That is odd.

--
"To this day he forces you to pay for Ardour" - DumFSck, lying
shamelessly