I the hard drive completely fails in one of my computers all my important data will be saved to My Cloud. That is great, but when I install the new hard drive, I need more than just my data and the prospect of reloading the operating system and all the software sounds time consuming, is there a way to do a full system back up in my cloud?
See the My Cloud User Manual (http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=439&type=25), Chapter 4, Backing Up and Retrieving Files. It lists several methods for backing up a computer’s contents to a My Cloud.
While the Smartware program will backup a Windows computer one may have trouble restoring that content unless they reinstall the Windows OS first. The alternative is to use a more robust third party backup program that will allow one to use a boot disc to boot the computer and restore the backed up file to a hard drive. There are a variety of free and pay third party backup programs. Here are a few free programs:
EaseUS Todo Backup Free: http://www.easeus.com/
Macrium Reflect Free: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
Paragon Backup and Recovery 14 Free: http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/download.html
Free File Sync (in Mirroring mode): http://www.freefilesync.org/
I use Macrium Reflect without any issues at all. Both through Windows and after making a Bootable DVD through Macrium’s software, they both work as expected.
