Trying to backup Win 10 computer to iCloud

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Hello!

I have a Windows 10 computer. I use Macrium Reflect X for backups. Data that I save and choose where — documents, music, some photos — is on D: and programs, the OS, and some data from programs are on C:

I’ve wanted to have a cloud location for backups. In reading about options, I learned that iCloud is the only encrypted storage that doesn’t require my using a separate encryption key other than logging in to my Apple account. Is this correct? At baseline, I don’t trust Microsoft nor Google with my data. Is trust in Apple misplaced?

I set up iCloud on my Win 10 computer, and set up new Macrium backup definitions with the iCloud file path as the destination. My first problem was that the iCloud local storage is on the C: drive so I can’t image the drive to a location on the drive.

Just to get it to work, I moved to the D: drive. I set up definitions and ran to the iCloud mapped to the C: drive, and got this error while trying to image D:

<code class=”text plain”>Error reading MFT – Error code = 2. Please run ‘chkdsk C: /r’

I ran chkdsk with no major repairs.

So, following the threads online, I am now in the VSS Shadow Copy rabbit hole. Before I go further, I thought I would ask for some guidance here. That must be why I needed to run chkdsk C: — where the shadow copy would go during the backup.

1. Is iCloud a good Cloud solution? I just want secure, encrypted storage. Don’t need software.
2. Can I map iCloud to a different local drive? I have a number of external USB hard drives that I could use. That would eliminate the problem of needing to create an image of the drive that contains the destination
3. What do I need to know about VSS Shadow Copy?
   1. is the location automatically assigned? Can it be easily changed? How do I do that?
   2. how much space is required in relation to the volume being imaged?

Then I will do father, son to the cloud location.

If you have any suggestions about how this could be accomplished more easily it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

SM

Pat in CT
@sheltiemom

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Encrypt the backup with your own password, then store it anywhere you like.

The downside with cloud storage is that it can take forever to upload several GB backup files – it’s quicker to download.
And you need a working computer to perform the download, instead of one that boots from a rescue USB and restores from external disk.

cheers, Paul

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SheltieMom wrote:

I learned that iCloud is the only encrypted storage that doesn’t require my using a separate encryption key other than logging in to my Apple account. Is this correct?

Normal iCloud backup is encrypted but Apple has the key and can submit your data after a court order.

On Apple devices you can encrypt the backup with your own key where Apple can’t access your data (Advanced Data Protection)

You should encrypt any data before uploading to any cloud backup service.

Backup to a local external drive.

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Thank you. I have been backing up to an external drive. I have two concerns –

1. Fire

2. If I get a virus or other malware, could it extend to the attached external hard drives?

Pat in CT
@sheltiemom

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SheltieMom wrote:

1. Fire 2. If I get a virus or other malware, could it extend to the attached external hard drives?

1. The risk of ‘Fire’ is a very valid point. Many here (and other places) use two (or more) external drives, one of which is stored at a remote location (neighbour, friend, relative, etc.) to mitigate that risk.

2. The risk of ‘Malware’ is another valid point… if the external drive is ‘always attached’. Hint: Don’t keep it always attached… set up a schedule and keep it disconnected outside of that schedule.

An ex-work colleague (I’ve now retired) ‘syncs’ his data and disk images over the internet to an external hard disk attached to his in-laws’ router as an automated ‘belt-and-braces’ backup regime.

The data is a scheduled trickle as files are added/deleted/amended, etc. and, in the middle of the night/very early hours of the morning when broadband contention ratios aren’t a problem, he syncs his gigabyte-sized disk backup images.

The large hard disk was spare after an upgrade so he used freeware to set up remote ‘syncing’… therefore no additional monthly bills that weren’t already covered by normal usage at either end.

If I had the same concerns then I’d ask my brother (who lives some distance away) if I could set up the same ‘freeware’ remote backup system away from the overview of big companies.

My brother has an ISP-provided locked-down router… and I have a very old Acer Aspire One (2008) notebook here doing nothing (apart from being used as a silent, no maintenance Plex media server), configured to keep working even with the lid closed. I also have several large-capacity HDD’s doing nothing after similar upgrades.

Attaching a large external USB disk to the Aspire One and connecting it to my brother’s router for secure remote access for automated backups would just be a question of choosing the best current freeware software available – Windows or, more likely, Linux.

It’s not that I don’t trust big companies; it’s just that I don’t trust big companies.

(Apple recently removed advanced end-to-end encryption – Advanced Data Protection –  in the UK after it would not concede to a demand by UK central government to implement a backdoor to users’ data. Kudos to you, Apple… IMO)

Hope this helps giving you something to think about…

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SheltieMom wrote:

1. Fire

I have a fireproof safe in a different room to the computer. Cheap, easy, simple.

SheltieMom wrote:

2. If I get a virus

Ransomware can encrypt the data, but there are simple ways around this. Macrium Reflect has ransomware protection in the paid product – they use a different user to write the files and set the permissions so that no other user can modify the data. All you have to do is protect against file deletion and the easiest is a second hard disk, or upload to the cloud.

cheers, Paul

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