How to choose the best external HD

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

I need help finding the best backup solution for all our home computers (5). I previously owned MyCloud, but it crashed and there was no backup. It’s quite expensive to retrieve the data from a crashed drive. I want to avoid this mistake so I’m looking for any best practices from the community. I thought about doing the My Cloud again until it was discovered backblaze would not backup a network storage unit. Any assistance is appreciated…

Sincerely,
A Novice

2

Have you read the My Cloud User Manual (http://support.wdc.com/product.aspx?ID=904)? In particular the Chapter 10 that explains how to use the Safepoint/Backup feature within the My Cloud Dashboard to backup to an external USB hard drive. Or when you had the My Cloud, did you read the My Cloud Dashboard Help which also explains how to backup the My Cloud using Safepoint/Backup?

One can backup their Windows computer using Smartware or on Mac Apple Time Machine. There are a number of free and paid third party backup programs that can also be used to backup to the My Cloud.

One can download and read the Smartware User Manual at the following link:

http://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=15136

One can download Smartware at the following link:

http://setup.wd2go.com/index.php?mod=download&device=mc

One can see the WD Support center for more information and downloads for the My Cloud.

http://support.wdc.com/product.aspx?ID=904

Various free backup software:

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/

3

I have 3 backups , I use the firmwares built in backup for my ‘main’ WD MyCloud drive to a duplicate second one daily over the network and also to an attached USB enclosure.

I also weekly attach another networked enclosure and do a backup there too , detatch it and store it elsewhere for safety.

As for Full System backups (OS) , I recommend Macrium Reflect , it DOES do network recovery as it can create a system recovery boot disk/usb device that includes network drivers , it’s used by the majority of the ‘professionals’ on the Windows 10 support forums.

It’s free for personal use as well.

4

I agree … Macrium Reflect is the best I have ever used, especially if you have made a Macrium Reflect Boot CD. It just plain works!

5

Thanks…I need to learn how to duplicate the back up through my network to a USB connected device so it can be stored on backblaze.

6

Thank you, I will look into your suggestions.