WHY DO YOU NEED A BACKUP PROGRAM AND STRATEGY?
Primary Source: @
garioch7, assisted by the
Hasleo Forum Team.
Primary Links: None. This information is a compilation of information from multiple websites and sources.
This Hasleo Backup Suite (HBS) FAQs post, and the next several subsequent posts, have been created to answer very basic questions about backup (
imaging) software programs for new users, including including this post that answers the question:
WHY is a robust backup strategy using a reliable and well-respected backup/imaging program is so very important?
Malware, meaning
malicious soft
ware, is the generic term of viruses, Trojans, rootkits, worms, ransomware, etc. Unfortunately malware is a reality for computer users. That is not surprising given the number of new malware programs being identified daily:
https://www.sentinelone.com/cybersecurit...tatistics/
The primary author is a former Bleeping Computer Malware Response Instructor. He has personally disinfected multiple computers on a volunteer basis for many years, and has instructed others to become qualified Malware Removal Experts.
Many malware victims have lost invaluable data, including family photos, documents, music collections, etc., because they lacked a current backup of those irreplaceable files. Some nefarious species of malware can even render a computer unbootable and completely corrupt all data on a computer.
Moreover, malware victims lose, to varying degrees, the complete use of their computers because the malware interferes with its normal operation. Some malware surreptitiously steals user credentials, allowing the malware authors to commit fraud and other offences against the victims.
Malware infections persist. That is how they are designed. With some species of malware, it can be impossible to remove them entirely with security software. Not infrequently, an infected computer has to be completely reformatted and the user programs and data reinstalled, unless the user has a recent Disk/Partition image and an Emergency Recovery USB drive ready.
Ransomware has become the number one malware issue for many users. It is normally targeted at corporate or government entities, but as too many users have discovered, it can also target a home user. Many species of ransomware have no publicly available decryption keys, so the user data is lost forever. See this link for more information:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/...try4598991
Even the best security software cannot be
100% effective,
100% of the time.
It is wisely written that the most vulnerable link in the computer chain is the “
interface between the chair and the keyboard”: the user.
AI has dramatically increased the opportunities for malware authors to send users authentic-looking emails, or hijack web browser pages, in the hope of getting the unsuspecting user to click a link that downloads and activates the malware payload.
Then there is another reality: computers rely on hardware, SSDs (
solid state drives) and HDDs (
hard disk drives) to store data. If those devices fail, as they inevitably do, from old age, the data is lost.
Computers, and their storage devices, are also subject to power surges, power loss when they are writing, and user abuse; for example, spilling liquids on laptop computers. Laptops are often stolen as well, and with them, the user data.
It is wisely written that:
1. If you have only one “
copy” of a file: you
don’t have a “
copy”, you have an “
original”; and,
2. You can NEVER have too many backups.
A
robust backup strategy is
essential to preserving your data, and even your programs.
There are those users who are comfortable with reinstalling their Windows program and then individually installing, registering their licences for those programs, and configuring their individual programs, a process that may take several days, even weeks.
Most people want to be able to simply restore their entire system from a single full Disk/Partition image to a new drive, or to the original drive that was infected, if it is still functional. Fully restoring the contents of a full Disk/Partition backup image usually takes less than an hour.
The computer experts
all agree on one thing, which is unusual: a
robust backup strategy is even
more important than the user choice of free or paid security software!
The Hasleo Backup Suite HBS) is able to provide the most important security for your computer. It offers the user the options of:
- Full disk/partition imaging, which offers a complete backup of your system, programs, settings, and files;
- Fast recovery, even to a new drive, without reinstalling Windows and reconfiguring all of your preferences in Windows and your other programs.
- Scheduled backups that will run automatically, so your latest image can be always kept up-to-date.
- An Emergency Recovery USB, which allows you to boot from USB when your computer won't start.
In summary, if you do not have a backup, then malware, hardware failure, theft, power surge, etc., will result in permanent data loss.
With an HBS backup, your computer would be up and running as it was at the time the last backup was done, and HBS will do the complete restore within an hour.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RANSOMWARE AND COMPUTER SECURITY:
Most reputable website that deal with ransomware infections advise against paying the ransom. There is no guarantee that if a user pays the ransom that the ransomware authors will decrypt the user data. Moreover, the user is “rewarding” and financing future malware attacks. See this link for more information:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/...try5581340
This link details the scourge of ransomware:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/...e-spreads/
This link, and its many posts, provides an expert’s perspective on the importance of computer security and the many malware risks that exist:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/...practices/
The primary author does wish to
gratefully acknowledge the following people:
Russ Stamm, (@
quietman7) a Global Moderator at Bleeping Computer, and a computer security expert, specializing in ransomware, some of whose Topics/posts are linked to in this FAQ.
Lawrence Abrams (@
Grinler), is the founder (2004), owner, and Editor-in-Chief of BleepingComputer.com, for permission to link to the topics and posts on the Bleeping Computer website. His areas of expertise includes Windows, security, malware research, ransomware, and computer forensics. Lawrence Abrams is also a co-author of the Winternals Defragmentation, Recovery, and Administration Field Guide and technical editor for Rootkits for Dummies. He has also programmed several anti-malware utilities to identify and remove malware.
Subsequent FAQs will explain how backup/imaging programs function, and what the various backup/imaging options do. As stated, this "basic" series of
HBS FAQs Topic posts is written to assist new users understand the necessity and complexity of the Hasleo Backup Suite, and imaging programs in general.
Suggestions to improve this post are always welcome. A Private Message should be sent to @
garioch7 to inform him of your suggested improvements.
Original Posting Date: 2026-05-29
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