How to back-up a notebook? (Windows 7)

Hi, I've had my ASUS U30JC since 2010 and its has started overheating when I've been playing World of Warcraft for a few hours, (Temperature got to around 91 C after about 30 minutes of play). I'm going to keep this laptop alive for another semester of school before I see if I can get a desktop.

I want to back-up all my stuff just for safe-keeping but the program that came with my laptop is useless; I tried it once wouldn't finish the back-up. What other ways could I back-up all my stuff? Thank you!

 

When you say it would not finish the backup, what do you mean? Did it shut down? If so, it may be because of heat. Have you cleaned out the fans and can you open it up to blow out the build up inside? Or is there another reason it won't complete the backup?

 

I am going to guess it it the AI recover program that has befuddled many... I would suggest Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Overview. It can run from within windows, or you can run it outside windows via a bootable USB stick (I use a 128 MB stick). Once you have a full image on an external hard drive you can do a total system restore or individual files.

 

Simple answer: put it in reverse, and watch your mirrors whilst your backing up. :rolleyes2:


Best method I found it to just get a cheap HDD (320GB or 500GB) and copy/paste your files and folders over to there. The problem I've encountered with many a backup software is if there's ANYTHING wrong with the backup volume it creates, then all your files are GONE! Backing up via copy/paste ensures you won't have any issues in accessing your files when you need to restore to a new drive.

 

So when was the late time since owning the Asus since 2010 did you open and cleaned out the dust from the cooling fan and fins? And did you redo your thermal paste to insure it was still working? That would be the first thing to look into and from the sounds of it you haven't done the take down procedure to maintain your laptop or check to see if those components are not dirty or doing their original design properties.

 

It was the Asus utility program my laptop came with, it just said there was an error when I got to the 4th disc. It did that message both times I tired using it. I decided I'm going to get a 1 TB My Passport External HDD to get all my files onto just in case anything happens. I read that I could just use the Windows Backup Option and move stuff to an external HDD. Is that a good option?

I haven't opened my laptop to clean it ever, I'm embarrassed to say that I just never wanted to void my warranty. I think I'll have my father's friend who specializes in computers open it up and clean it out for me and re-add the thermal grease.

 

Knipfy, that should work fine.. but as Radji points out it is a good idea to have a seconday backup of your data files on a USB drive or other media. I backup my entire system to an image file every 2 months, but I backup all important data files on a large (32 GB) USB thumb drive, as well as leaving a copy on the laptop hard drive.

 

I agree with radij. I find it hard to trust backup software, so copying and pasting is my recommendation. But if you want automated backups on a schedule, then the Windows Automatic Backup tool should suit you. I don't delve into third party backup software much, so I don't have an opinion on any particular program.

 

With my P78xx and the second internal drive I just had Windows 7 create a backup image of the SSD nightly. With an external drive you can do the same, albeit a slower backup over usb.