- 2 days ago
- #tech
- #backup
- #datarecovery
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Ever had your SSD die or ransomware lock you out? Don't let your precious data vanish! In this video, Pawel from TechManiacHD shows you how to back up your files the right way—quick, easy, and foolproof. Learn to recover like a pro and protect yourself from tech disasters. Subscribe for more tech tips and tell us in the comments what backup advice helped you most! #Tech #Backup #DataRecovery #Windows #PCHelp
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@techmaniachd
0:00 - Computer Won't Boot—First Signs of SSD Failure
0:34 - Understanding SSD Failures and Data Loss
2:04 - Ransomware Threats and Backup Importance
4:16 - Essential Theory: Backup Placement
4:25 - Home Backup Methods and Hardware Choices
6:30 - Setting Up Hazelio Backup Suite
8:37 - Creating, Automating, and Storing Backups
14:15 - Restoring Backups and Managing Encryption
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@techmaniachd
0:00 - Computer Won't Boot—First Signs of SSD Failure
0:34 - Understanding SSD Failures and Data Loss
2:04 - Ransomware Threats and Backup Importance
4:16 - Essential Theory: Backup Placement
4:25 - Home Backup Methods and Hardware Choices
6:30 - Setting Up Hazelio Backup Suite
8:37 - Creating, Automating, and Storing Backups
14:15 - Restoring Backups and Managing Encryption
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🤖
TechTranscript
00:00You wake up, slowly open your eyes, glance at the clock, get yourself together and rush
00:04to turn on your computer.
00:05You sit down and the day already seems perfect, but wait, what the heck?
00:10Something seems off, either you're greeted by a plain black screen with a message about
00:15a missing boot disk or, which is more common on newer motherboards, the computer shows
00:19a big blue window and rudely throws you into the BIOS.
00:22So what's going on?
00:24You have a brand new SSD and, well, everything was working just yesterday.
00:28You keep restarting your computer over and over, but it doesn't help, well, it's not
00:32going to fix itself.
00:34Clearly, something is wrong with the drive, no matter what brand it is.
00:38It also doesn't matter if it's a cheap 2.5 inch SSD or a super expensive NVMe.
00:44All modern solid state drives have this in common, they can just fail like that, out
00:49of the blue, without any warning at all.
00:51That's just the nature of NAND memory.
00:54You'll probably get a new drive under warranty, but what about your data?
01:12What?
01:21You think your drive will never let you down like that?
01:24Think again.
01:25Here are my two drives that failed in the last few months.
01:28The 1TB Kingston worked for many years and served its time, but this 2TB Samsung was barely
01:35used and still had 98% of its life left.
01:38And yet one day, while working, a blue screen popped up and the drive was gone.
01:432TB of data were lost as well.
01:45You might think your SSD is flawless, especially from such a top brand, so it shouldn't fail
01:51soon.
01:51Hopefully that's true, but don't be surprised.
01:54If one day and much sooner than you expected, you end up really disappointed.
01:58Failing drives are truly a real plague, but that's still nothing compared to the next
02:02equally serious threat.
02:04Malicious software is multiplying faster today than ever before.
02:08In the past, you had to be a talented coder.
02:11Today, with the help of open, unrestricted AI models, anyone with a bit of motivation
02:15can create a keylogger or ransomware.
02:18Faking a well-known website is just a matter of a few, well-crafted prompts.
02:23You try to log in, you download an update, and a moment later, the screen tells you that
02:28all your data has been encrypted.
02:30That's how ransomware works.
02:32You have 48 hours to transfer, I don't know, 200,000 Zlottis worth of Bitcoin.
02:36If you don't have that much, or you don't want to pay, well, it's simple.
02:41You lose everything on all connected drives.
02:44Period.
02:44And just like that, years of work are gone.
02:47But tell me, wouldn't it be easier to just open a drawer?
02:50Take out the external drives?
02:52Just restore the backup?
02:54They say hindsight is 20-20, but that's only true for those who don't watch valuable content.
02:59You're already here, so you can prevent it.
03:01I know that the topic of backups really isn't the most exciting, but let these two NVMe drives
03:07be the best warning for everyone watching this.
03:10Don't throw them away just because they're now part of my display case, where I keep older
03:14or dead components.
03:16Although I was obviously sorry to lose such a fast and reliable drive, I put a new one
03:20in quadrants to replace the old one.
03:21I restored the backup and the problem was solved.
03:24But do you also have such protection?
03:26If not, this video will teach you in a few minutes how to create, automate and safely
03:32store such backups.
03:34This is Pavel, and you're watching the Tech Maniac HD channel.
03:37Welcome!
03:38This video is available thanks to support from the GVG GVG mall platform.
03:41If you're still struggling with that annoying message reminding you to activate, go ahead
03:46and visit the link in the description.
03:48You'll receive the purchased key within a few minutes, and all you need to do is paste
03:51it into the activation settings.
03:53This will not only make your copy of Windows genuine, but also allow you to upgrade to
03:57Windows 11 without any problems.
03:59You can activate and link the office suite to your account just as easily, and with the
04:03code TMHD you'll get an extra 20% discount which can increase to 30% during various holidays
04:09and events.
04:10Stop overpaying and visit the website now.
04:16Before we click anything, 30 seconds of theory that will protect you from the most common mistake,
04:21a backup that disappears along with a failing drive.
04:24A backup compresses your system, files and settings into a single image file, and here,
04:29there is an absolutely ironclad rule.
04:32This file must be stored on a completely different physical drive.
04:36If you make a backup but save it on another partition of the same drive, you actually don't
04:41have any backup at all, because when the drive suffers a physical failure, the backup will
04:46also be unrecoverable.
04:47In the case of a ransomware attack, it's actually even worse, because even if the backup was
04:52on a second physical drive but mounted in the computer, it will also get encrypted.
04:57That's why the only reasonable and cheapest choice for home backup is an external drive,
05:02which you disconnect and put in a safe place after making the backup.
05:06A traditional hard drive, that is an HDD, will work best for this.
05:10Yes, they are slower than SSD variants, but not only do they have a much lower price per
05:15gigabyte, but most importantly, they can sit in a closet for years and your data won't
05:19disappear from them.
05:21Unfortunately SSDs have the drawback that if you don't connect them to power for a longer
05:26period of time, they can lose data.
05:28I won't go into technical details here, because this isn't the time or place for that, but
05:33I'll just say that SSDs store information as electrical charges.
05:37When such a drive sits unused for many months or even years, the voltage level in the memory
05:42cells drops to zero and the data gets corrupted.
05:45Yes, the drives simply become empty, that's why it's worth choosing a reliable hard drive
05:50for this purpose.
05:51Of course, remember that HDDs are mechanical.
05:54They are neither eternal nor indestructible, a fall from a height, strong vibrations or a
05:59powerful magnet can kill such drives in a second.
06:02If you have absolutely critical data, always follow the golden rule.
06:05Two copies on two different media, with one stored in a different location, for example
06:10at a family member's place, just in case of fire or burglary.
06:13For a standard home backup, one drive in a drawer is still the most effective and, after
06:19all, the cheapest available protection method.
06:21When it comes to hard drives, I personally most often use the WD or Seagate brands.
06:26In the video description, I've included a few proven models that you can consider later.
06:30Anyway, you start by downloading the program, and a direct link to it can be found in the
06:35video description.
06:36Our main character today is Hazelio Backup Suite.
06:39It's a completely free and extremely successful successor to the legendary Macrium Reflect,
06:44which unfortunately no longer has a free version.
06:47The manufacturer's website is in English, but don't worry, the program itself will be
06:51fully in Polish.
06:52Here's a small tip already at the download stage.
06:55For computers with Intel and AMD processors, you choose the first version, which is x86-x64.
07:02If, on the other hand, you have newer hardware with a Qualcomm processor, Snapdragon or an
07:07Nvidia chip, you choose the version labelled as ARM64.
07:11If in the future this program also hides the backup function behind a paywall, meaning it
07:15suddenly starts requiring payment, don't worry.
07:18In the pinned comment under this video, you'll always find a link to my website with an update
07:22and a reference to another completely free program.
07:25If the program greets you in English and with a dark theme, just click the menu icon in the
07:30top right corner and there you can easily switch both the language to Polish and the appearance
07:35of the program.
07:36While you're here, it's also worth going into the main settings and changing the default
07:41backup compression level to high.
07:43It's true that this will make the process take a little longer, but with today's multi-core
07:47processors, the bottleneck will still be the external drive.
07:51This change will let you save anywhere from several dozen to even several hundred gigabytes
07:56of space.
07:57It's definitely worth doing.
07:59Now you need to prepare a rescue flash drive.
08:02On one hand, it's not absolutely necessary just to make a backup, but trust me on this,
08:07if your drive fails physically and your computer won't start, this device will save your skin.
08:12It will let you launch an independent recovery environment and restore your files without
08:17needing a working Windows system.
08:19To create such a rescue drive, any USB flash drive will do, even an older one.
08:24It doesn't even need to have a large capacity.
08:26Four or eight gigabytes will be more than enough here.
08:30If you don't have a spare USB flash drive on hand, as always, I'll leave links in the
08:33description to reliable models, including waterproof and reinforced ones.
08:37In the program menu, go to the tools tab and then click the rescue media icon.
08:42In the window that appears, make sure to check the option Enable Windows Web UEFI CA 2023 support.
08:49Thanks to this, the flash drive will boot without any problems on the latest motherboards and
08:54computers, without the need to hassle with changing security options in the BIOS.
08:58Next, click the Next button.
09:00Preparing the environment will only take a moment, and then you'll move on to the main window
09:05for creating the emergency media.
09:07And here's a small note.
09:08If you're already a bit of an advanced user and you know what Ventoy is, you can select
09:13the option to save the ISO file here.
09:15Otherwise, just choose the USB option.
09:18Select your connected flash drive from the list and click the Continue button.
09:22At this point, a warning window will appear informing you that the selected drive will
09:26be completely formatted.
09:28If you've made sure that you don't have any important files there and you agree to completely
09:32erase the drive, then of course you click the Yes button here.
09:36The entire writing process will take anywhere from a few to a dozen or so minutes.
09:40And here's one more note, because yes, flash drives still use flash memory, so they suffer
09:45from exactly the same issue as an SSD.
09:48But this isn't about storing valuable data, it's just a rescue tool.
09:53Even if after years it stops working, you really don't lose anything, because if needed,
09:57you can create a new flash drive on any other computer in 5 minutes.
10:01When the rescue flash drive is safely stored in the drawer, it's time to create the actual
10:06backup.
10:07You plug your external drive into the computer and select the backup tab from the menu on
10:12the left.
10:12The first option is absolutely essential.
10:15After clicking it, the program will automatically select all the partitions necessary for your
10:19computer to start properly.
10:21This includes the hidden boot partitions as well.
10:24On computers that have multiple drives, I have as many as 7 in my case, manually finding
10:30and selecting all of them would be a nightmare, and it's easy to make a mistake.
10:34This way, things get much easier.
10:36With just one click, it creates a complete image of your work environment, settings and
10:41all installed programs.
10:42The second option, on the other hand, is to make a copy of any entire disk or partition.
10:47This is the perfect choice if, in addition to the main disk, you want to back up additional
10:52partitions or even a completely separate, physically different disk in your computer.
10:57This feature packs everything you select here into a single image file.
11:01The third icon is for backing up files only.
11:04It allows you to precisely manage what you want to copy.
11:07While before you could only select the system itself, and in the second option, the entire
11:12disks, here you can select only the most important folders or even individual files that matter
11:17to you the most.
11:19This option makes a lot of sense if you have a folder with documents or a family photo album
11:23on one partition, which you absolutely never want to lose.
11:27But right next to it, on the same drive, there's a folder with 1TB of games, which just doesn't
11:32make sense to copy.
11:34That's why you should carefully consider which option you want to choose.
11:38Anyway, regardless of which type of backup you choose, the next step is to select the destination
11:43location.
11:44You click here on the small folder icon and select your connected external USB drive.
11:49Now you go into backup settings to the encryption tab and here you must enter a password that
11:55you will actually be able to remember.
11:57This is absolutely crucial because without this password, anyone who gets hold of your
12:02drive will be able to read all the data from it and you definitely don't want that.
12:06Once you set the password, click OK, then continue and the process will start.
12:11Of course, creating the first full backup can take anywhere from several minutes to even
12:15a few hours.
12:16However, you don't have to just sit and wait.
12:18Pay attention to the bottom of the progress window.
12:21There you have three very useful options that you can manage on the fly while the program
12:26is running.
12:26First of all, from the check image menu, select complete mode.
12:30Thanks to this, right after the backup is finished, the program will automatically verify
12:34the integrity of the file.
12:35You'll be sure that the backup was made correctly and will work 100% in case of a failure.
12:41Next you can expand the power plan and select shutdown.
12:44This is the optimal solution if you're running this process overnight or when you're leaving
12:48for work.
12:49On the other hand, if you don't want to interrupt your computer use, just move the priority
12:54slider to the left to the lowest level.
12:56Hasio will just continue creating the backup in the background with minimal CPU load and
13:01you'll be able to keep working or even play games without noticeable drops in performance.
13:05I'd also like to draw your attention to the option called backup schedule.
13:10It allows you to schedule automatic full, incremental and differential backups.
13:14It's worth knowing that this process can indeed be automated.
13:18As I mentioned at the beginning, the best and most effective protection against viruses
13:23or disk encryption by ransomware is physically disconnecting it from the computer.
13:27But if your disk is already safely stored in a drawer, then an automatic schedule won't
13:32work remotely, because it obviously can't work over WiFi.
13:36That's why I recommend building a new habit.
13:39Once in a while, for example during your Sunday morning coffee, you take out the disk, plug
13:44it in, click the option for an incremental backup in the program, then unplug it and put it back
13:49in the drawer.
13:50This incremental backup takes much much less time.
13:53Of course there's also an alternative.
13:55After performing the first full backup to the external drive, you can set up a schedule,
13:59for example to another drive permanently installed in your computer.
14:03Such a setup will still save you in case of a physical failure of your main system drive
14:08or various problems with Windows.
14:10But remember that only the disconnected drive lying in your drawer will protect you from a
14:14ransomware attack.
14:16Great!
14:16The backup is done.
14:17But you also need to know what to do when a disk failure or malware appears on your computer
14:22screen.
14:23Exactly!
14:23Just having a spare tire in your car doesn't mean it will change itself.
14:27So what do you need to do?
14:29If the drive has physically failed, we throw the old one out and put in a new one.
14:33After all, we can only restore the backup to a working device.
14:36However, if ransomware demanded a ransom, or your computer won't start because of a virus,
14:42your drive is probably still fully functional, you just need to restore the backup onto it.
14:47To do this, insert the previously created Rescue USB drive into the port.
14:51If the computer doesn't automatically boot into the recovery environment, try bringing
14:55up the boot menu.
14:56Depending on your computer's brand, I've prepared a list of keys you need to press repeatedly
15:01right after turning it on.
15:03If the USB drive still doesn't show up on the list, unplug it and plug it into a different
15:07USB port.
15:09For desktop computers, it's best to use one at the back, directly connected to the motherboard.
15:13Often that's enough.
15:14That's why you should definitely test it today.
15:17Only then will you be absolutely sure that everything works as it should.
15:20Only after the program starts from the Rescue USB drive do you connect the external drive.
15:26In the third tab, select the option to search for the image to restore.
15:30You'll see that even though Windows isn't running, the software is designed to resemble
15:35the environment you're used to as much as possible.
15:38The interface here looks just like the System File Explorer.
15:42From the tree, you select your external drive and point to the backup file.
15:45Then you enter the password.
15:47Of course, only if you actually set one when creating the backup.
15:51Although only a system backup was created, the program also allows you to recover a specific
15:56partition or even any drive.
15:58However, here I choose the system mode and move on to the next step.
16:02Be careful here, because it's easy to make a mistake at this stage.
16:05Here you indicate the target drive, which is the location where the backup will actually
16:10be restored.
16:11In my example, I select disk 0 here, which is completely empty and doesn't even have any
16:16allocated space yet.
16:18After clicking the Continue button, the option to change the disk layout will appear.
16:22If you replace the drive with a new and larger one, the program allows you to reduce the size
16:27of individual partitions here, automatically creating unallocated space on their right side.
16:33However, at this level you can't assign a drive letter to the new space.
16:36However, if you want to use it later, you'll find a link to a short video in the pinned comment
16:42where I show how to create a new partition from this free space in just a minute, but
16:46that's later in a running Windows system.
16:49Anyway, after you confirm, the program will start the process of restoring the backup.
16:54This will take a while.
16:55In my case, it took a little over 21 minutes.
16:58Next, you restart, and there you go, your Windows is exactly as you left it.
17:03Wallpaper, programs, family albums, everything in its place.
17:07So, how is it?
17:08Is everything working?
17:09If so, I have a small request.
17:11Please check if that thumbs up under the video is already lit up.
17:14Also, leave a comment with your own story of losing important data.
17:17Let others see that these things really happen and that a backup is really the only thing that
17:22can save you, but our work isn't over yet, so let's get back to the topic.
17:26There's still one absolutely crucial thing left here.
17:29If your drives were encrypted before, after restoring the backup, they are no longer encrypted.
17:35That's normal and doesn't mean something went wrong.
17:38The backup was made from within a running system, so the data was already decrypted when
17:43it went into the archive.
17:44Now you have a choice.
17:46Either turn encryption back on, or stay without it.
17:49If you want to restore it, the method depends on your system version.
17:52In Windows 10 and 11 Home you'll find the device encryption feature in the main system
17:57settings.
17:58Just one switch and it's enabled.
18:00On the other hand, in Windows 10 and 11 Pro, which is the professional version, you have
18:05full BitLocker.
18:06You go into the control panel, look for BitLocker drive encryption and click turn on.
18:11In both cases, the physical TPM module on the motherboard will get a new correct key.
18:17The old one will be overwritten here.
18:19No conflicts, no threats of being locked out.
18:22When you turn encryption back on, the system will simply generate a new recovery key.
18:27In the home version, it will automatically save it to your Microsoft account.
18:30In the Pro version, a wizard with options will appear.
18:33If you are using a local account, for example, with the LTS or LTSC version, you really need
18:38to save the key somewhere manually, print it out or copy it to a USB drive.
18:42You can find details about BitLocker, how it works, how to use it and how to properly secure
18:47your computer with it in my other video.
18:50The link is of course in the description.
18:52There you'll also find a short straightforward guide on what to do if your computer unexpectedly
18:57asks you to unlock the drive with a 48 digit password.
19:00If you don't want BitLocker, that's perfectly fine, and you absolutely have the right to
19:04make that choice.
19:04After all, when paired with fast NVMe drives, it can put a heavy load on the processor and
19:10slow down the whole computer, but now, even if you don't enable it, the system will work
19:14normally, just without that extra layer of security, and you really don't have to do
19:19anything else.
19:20Remember to share this video with your friends, and see you next time.
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