0

I have a computer with both a SSD and a HDD. The SSD is only used for the OS and everything else that can be stored somewhere other than the C Drive is stored on my second hard drive. Now i know that SSD's have a finite amount of writes before they go kaput. Thing is i haven't imaged my machine at all (to say i haven't made a backup)

This doesn't concern me to much as i have another machine i can use to download a W10 ISO on. But I thought i might actually make a backup, thing is i'm not sure if i'd need to image both drives or just my OS Drive, considering i game i have games stored on my other Hard Drive which is what is causing me a bit of concern

My SSD is only 128GB so it's not massive and i do have 1 1TB External Hard Drive from years ago that has about 700GB free

1
  • A drive image is the quickest way to recover from a failure. This applies particularly to the system drive, but is also true of auxiliary drives, especially if they have programs installed on them. If you use a utility which allows compression you can usually get an image with about 50% of the drive size.
    – AFH
    Sep 14, 2017 at 11:14

1 Answer 1

0

Firstly it's worth noting that if an SSD is going to fail as a result of you writing too much data to it, then this will happen (as a rough rule) around the one petabyte mark.

To achieve writing out one petabyte of data, the average user would need to run their computer 24x7 for somewhere between 10 and 20 years. In other words, you'll probably have replaced your entire computer before your SSD will fail due to too much usage.

That doesn't mean your SSD won't ever die (that would be a silly thing to say), but when it does, it'll probably be due to something else.

How Long Do Solid State Drives Really Last? | How To Geek

Regarding what to backup, you don't need to backup both drives. In fact, I'd argue that a backup of the operating system isn't particularly useful. Put it this way, if your SSD blows up which will you complain the most about - losing Windows or losing 10 years worth of documents? Worse case is you have to buy another version of Windows, but you won't get your documents back.

On that basis, I'd backup the following on your C drive:

  • Licence keys for software (look for ProduKey, KeyFinder)
  • Drivers (look for Double Driver)
  • Any important documents you've stored there

and I'd backup the entirety of your D drive. If this isn't possible, then I would select the key folders that contain files that would upset you if you lost them.

Finally, remember that the best backup solution follows the 3-2-1 rule. That is 3 total copies of your data, 2 of which are local but on different mediums (read: devices) and at least 1 copy offsite.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy | backblaze.com

4
  • This i my personal computer so i don't need to be THAT facetious with backups, i already have the product key of windows thanks to belarc
    – T Crumpen
    Sep 14, 2017 at 11:43
  • The lifetime of an SSD is a matter of luck.
    – harrymc
    Sep 14, 2017 at 11:57
  • @harrymc True, but the idea that your SSD is going to die on you because you've written too much data to it really needs to be put into proper context. Under normal usage, it won't be that which causes the SSD to fail.
    – Richard
    Sep 14, 2017 at 12:02
  • @TCrumpen Completely up to you - but if your D drive fails (and you have no backup) or your house goes up in flames or gets flooded (and you have no offsite backup) then you'll have nothing.
    – Richard
    Sep 14, 2017 at 12:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .