Auto Backup to One Drive

[AsleepInYorkshire]

A bit late but I'm catching up with technology

How do I set my laptop to automatically backup to One Drive please?

Thank you

AiY(D)

[mc2fool]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057

Gives you 5GB for free. Google Drive gives you 15GB for free, and if you don't trust either with your most secret data https://sync.com gives you 5GB end-to-end zero knowledge encrypted (means even they can't read your files) for free.

[servodude]

How do I set my laptop to automatically backup to One Drive please?

If it's just files you need to back up look for the "cloud" icon in your windows notification area (normally down and to the right near the clock)
Right click it and go Help & Settings -> Settings -> Backup -> Manage Backup
- that should let you choose what folders get backed up

If you want the whole system backed up - it seems like it's possible from googling

I don't use it myself as it seemed by default to want to unify the settings of the various laptops I have on the go - and they're for different jobs
- but I was about to look in to it today as I need offsite storage and haven't really committed to any provider yet (leaning towards Google for convenience)

-sd

[Infrasonic]

A bit late but I'm catching up with technology

How do I set my laptop to automatically backup to One Drive please?

Thank you

AiY(D)

Is this related to your recent SSD failure?

Ideally you need a backup routine for your OS + files/folders. Onsite/offsite (cloud).

Onsite.
Macrium Reflect is popular here for backing up the OS - the free version is fine for most (I've got the paid for as some of the extra features are of use to me)... https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree#

Ideally back up to an external drive, either HDD or SSD. Macrium can be set up on an automated schedule so becomes set and forget...
http://updates.macrium.com/help/v5/over ... rategy.htm

Likewise there is an option in W10 to do 'file history' which will automatically do snapshot backups of local files as they change, you could do those to the same external drive - personally I set up seperate partitions on the external drive and label it appropriately (e.g D:Macrium backups E: File History)...https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/647 ... -10-a.html
There are a load of tutorials on that Ten Forums site related to various backup options / maintenance routines et al.

[mc2fool]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057

Gives you 5GB for free. Google Drive gives you 15GB for free, and if you don't trust either with your most secret data https://sync.com gives you 5GB end-to-end zero knowledge encrypted (means even they can't read your files) for free.

BTW, you can use two or even all three of those at the same time. Personally I use Google Drive for non-sensitive files and https://sync.com for the sensitive stuff. I'd like to echo Infrasonic's point about whole-drive backups; I do mine to a NAS drive.

Here's my backup setup and why. You have to find something that'll work for you but hopefully it'll give you things to consider: viewtopic.php?p=328471#p328471

[Infrasonic]

That link that mc2fool provided discusses pretty much all the current variables around backups.

One thing that has moved on a bit since that thread was started is ransomware - which has become even more sneaky, targeting domestic NAS' and other home networking environments whereas before it tended to focus on larger business set-ups (because they have deeper pockets).

A feature of cloud services like OD is that file versions are effectively read only (you 'restore' them to make them writeable), so the worst case is that only the most recent active copy could be overwritten by ransomware even if it took out your local onsite copies.

There are security options discussed in that linked thread to prevent ransomware attacks fully succeeding including W10 'protected folders', Macrium Reflect 'Image Guardian' et al.

General advice is to avoid leaving things open to the internet and be careful about turning on local network shares globally in OS' - especially with older kit which still has vulnerable old protocols like SMB v1 available (and if you turn that off it stops working...).

Most of the current issues are related to unpatched hardware that has stopped receiving support like firmware security updates.
Things like old routers can potentially be an issue if a remote code or elevated admin privilege WAN side exploit is discovered as routers often tend to have things hanging off them that can be written to (PC's/USB Drives/NAS' etc).

Don't panic but do make yourself aware of the potential issues and act accordingly (ie.defensively). There are a plethora of security tutorials out there on the web outlining basic procedures to minimise the risks of ransomware.

[mc2fool]

Ah, yes, ransomware. There's now actually a (d) to be added to my linked-to post ...

d) My NAS has a USB port that can be used to attach a USB drive to and do backups of the NAS to, either automated or manual. I indeed have a USB drive attached and automatically backup the backups on the NAS to the USB drive, and set it up so that there is just read-only access to the USB drive from other devices on the LAN, making the backups on the USB drive ransomware-safe. Well, safer. The ransomware would have to actually infect the NAS itself, rather than just encrypt the files remotely from my desktop/laptop.

[Infrasonic]

Ah, yes, ransomware. There's now actually a (d) to be added to my linked-to post ...

d) My NAS has a USB port that can be used to attach a USB drive to and do backups of the NAS to, either automated or manual. I indeed have a USB drive attached and automatically backup the backups on the NAS to the USB drive, and set it up so that there is just read-only access to the USB drive from other devices on the LAN, making the backups on the USB drive ransomware-safe. Well, safer. The ransomware would have to actually infect the NAS itself, rather than just encrypt the files remotely from my desktop/laptop.

Well I knew you'd have it covered...

The domestic NAS ransomware that has been appearing lately is brand/model specific no click zero day exploits targeted at OEM's like QNAP, Synology, Western Digital et al.
QNAP have been very slow to respond and have been rightly castigated for it. WD is out of support related (inc SMB v1...) and Synology have made an effort to patch firmware vulnerabilities with currently supported boxes.

An ex Google AI guy got caught out with his QNAP NAS and lost the lot (nothing essential just video/photo backups), so even security aware people are falling victim.

[servodude]

An ex Google AI guy got caught out with his QNAP NAS and lost the lot (nothing essential just video/photo backups), so even security aware people are falling victim.

Nothing ESSENTIAL?
Cripes!

I find myself more exposed than I would like to be at the moment.
Off the self NAS is stuck with SMB 1.1 but isn't really accessible easily (it's not used for anything interesting on the LAN.. no media serving, just backups)

But there's two teens on the network and "anything can happen in the next half hour"!!
So I might build a new homebrew NAS so I can close the SMB hole and own the risks
- and I've been picking through the options for cloud storage today (still looks like Google winning just because of the phone ecosystem) but I've not yet pulled the trigger

Basically have about 60GB of stuff on a PC I need archived in a secure-ish way: immutable would be fine (or probably preferred)
Bloody options!

-sd

[ReformedCharacter]

- and I've been picking through the options for cloud storage today (still looks like Google winning just because of the phone ecosystem) but I've not yet pulled the trigger

Basically have about 60GB of stuff on a PC I need archived in a secure-ish way: immutable would be fine (or probably preferred)
Bloody options!

-sd

You're probably more knowledgeable on this stuff than me but I found Google backup and sync, now Google Drive to be really slow to upload. However, I then found that I could drag and drop from MS Edge to Google Drive and that works much faster, probably whatever speed your connection will provide.

RC

[mc2fool]

Basically have about 60GB of stuff on a PC I need archived in a secure-ish way: immutable would be fine (or probably preferred)

Archiving is different to backups, in the former being "forever" and the latter being "just until the next one" (or next few). For archiving you can simply bung it all onto a USB drive, or better, do it onto two and put one off-site. You can get USB drives with a write-protect switch to help prevent accidental overwriting.

You're probably more knowledgeable on this stuff than me but I found Google backup and sync, now Google Drive to be really slow to upload.

I'd never noticed that and I just tested with a 197MB file, which I dropped into my Google Drive on my PC, using (File) Explorer, and then timed the up-sync and it took 192 seconds, so a tad over 1MB/second. My BB has an upload connection of 9999kbps and a Speedtest gives me 9.37mbps, which is a tad over 1MB/second, so Google Drive up-syncs at pretty much my full broadband upload speed.

And in any case, the syncs happen automatically in the background and don't require you to do anything, which is a big plus.

[ReformedCharacter]

You're probably more knowledgeable on this stuff than me but I found Google backup and sync, now Google Drive to be really slow to upload.

I'd never noticed that and I just tested with a 197MB file, which I dropped into my Google Drive on my PC, using (File) Explorer, and then timed the up-sync and it took 192 seconds, so a tad over 1MB/second. My BB has an upload connection of 9999kbps and a Speedtest gives me 9.37mbps, which is a tad over 1MB/second, so Google Drive up-syncs at pretty much my full broadband upload speed.

And in any case, the syncs happen automatically in the background and don't require you to do anything, which is a big plus.

Yes, I didn't express myself very well It was the backup and sync that was really slow. I bought some G drive space and thought I'd just dump a couple of hundred GB into the synced folder. That would have taken about a week to upload that way. Perhaps other browsers now support drag and drop from Explorer but I think Edge v2 was the first to support that, and as you say, that gives a full speed upload.

RC

[mc2fool]

You're probably more knowledgeable on this stuff than me but I found Google backup and sync, now Google Drive to be really slow to upload.

I'd never noticed that and I just tested with a 197MB file, which I dropped into my Google Drive on my PC, using (File) Explorer, and then timed the up-sync and it took 192 seconds, so a tad over 1MB/second. My BB has an upload connection of 9999kbps and a Speedtest gives me 9.37mbps, which is a tad over 1MB/second, so Google Drive up-syncs at pretty much my full broadband upload speed.

And in any case, the syncs happen automatically in the background and don't require you to do anything, which is a big plus.

Yes, I didn't express myself very well It was the backup and sync that was really slow. I bought some G drive space and thought I'd just dump a couple of hundred GB into the synced folder. That would have taken about a week to upload that way. Perhaps other browsers now support drag and drop from Explorer but I think Edge v2 was the first to support that, and as you say, that gives a full speed upload.

RC

No, I understood and I'm also talking about dropping files into the synced folder ("into my Google Drive on my PC"), not using any browser.

Yes, the "app" that does the syncing is now called Google Drive but I never noticed it being slow when it was called backup and sync either. I never use the browser interface ... well, almost never, just when I want to restore a previous version of a file, and that's only once in less than a blue moon ... I just work directly in the Google Drive folder tree on my PC and let the app do the syncing.