Keeping Old Hard Drive Backup Files

Keeping Old Hard Drive Backup Files

By Terry Stockdale for TerrysComputerTips.com

Subscriber JNC wrote to me to say that he’d been using Acronis True Image for a while and wanted to know about keeping old backups:

I have just completed a total backup via Acronis on my external hard drive. Is there any reason to save previous total backups? My external (500) hard drive is over 2/3 full.—jnc

I wrote back to JNC to say that I wouldn’t get rid of all of them. I suggested that he keep some recent ones and one or two full backups from the past — including the oldest one he had.

I find that, most of the time, I’m reaching for a backup file or backup image file because my brain messed up, not because of a hardware failure.

It’s too easy to change a file and not realize that we haven’t done the change correctly. We find it out later when we try to use the file, or that part of the file. It might be days, weeks or even months later.

When I find the problem and find my backup image, my first step is to rename the current (bad) version. Then, I restore the old one (the backup copy), and then copy & paste to add whatever data I can from the most recent copy into the “good” older version.

Rest of the story…

This post is excerpted with the permission of Terry’s Computer Tips.

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