There is no shortage of backup programs _ SugarSync (my favorite), Dropbox and Carbonite come to mind. They're great for backing up individual files to the cloud, but what if your hard disk fails or you get a new computer? How do you back up your program files _ and restore everything _ documents, photos and programs _ to a new hard disk or a new computer?
A program called Acronis will take a snapshot of your entire hard drive, including its partitions and even multiple hard drives, save the backup to an external hard drive and help you restore the backup to a new hard drive or a new PC or Mac, exactly as it was on the old hard drive.
The latest version _ Acronis True Image 2019 _ has new features that make upgrading from the 2018 version worthwhile. Your Facebook pages can be backed up, along with your smartphone data. You can choose which files to back up and restore them. Files can be encrypted and notarized. The latter specifies that a file hasn't been altered.
New features in this latest version attack ransomware, provide faster backup to the cloud and has a feature that erases backups you don't need anymore.
To perform backups, you attach an external hard drive to the computer, launch Acronis, click on the source drive or drives, and select the destination drive. Two clicks and you're set to go. When it comes time to restore the entire drive, you'll need to create a boot disk, which the program guides you through. You also can get access to your cloud backup files from remote computers.
I've had my issues with Acronis _ primarily because I was trying to back up a PC that had radically different software drivers. The top-notch techies at Acronis held my hand through the process, and I was able to restore data from the old computer to the new one. It was a fussy experience, but in the end it worked.
Acronis True Image 2019 costs from $50 to $160, depending on the number of PCs you're installing it on and how much cloud storage you need. For more information about one-time vs. subscription plans, go to www.acronis.com. Backing up doesn't get much easier than this.
