It is very important to have clones, copies or backups of your data and it should be easy accessible for recovery. Without a clone or backup, usually you need to install the operating system (Windows, Linux, MacOS) from scratch and then all your programs and also to make the correct settings (usernames, passwords etc…) for the programs to work correct. This process will take a lot of time. But if you have a clone, it will be an easy process to recover everything.
Disk cloning is the process of creating a 1-to-1 copy of a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD), not just its files. Disk cloning may be used for upgrading a disk or replacing an aging disk with a fresh one. In this case, the clone can replace the original disk in its host computer. Disk cloning may also be used for disaster recovery or forensics.
Cobian Backup
Cobian Backup is a free file-backup program that can be used to make automatic backups for your directories and files. Cobian Backup can be run as a service or as a regular application. It can backup to some other location in the same computer, to the network and even to an FTP server. The program supports compression and encryption. We recommend this software and if you want to make donations, go here -> https://www.cobiansoft.com/donations.html
https://www.cobiansoft.com/index.html
SyncFolders is a free and a really good software for backing up your data and it is available for Windows (Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 and also on the corresponding Windows Server versions).
Here is a link to SyncFolders: http://www.syncfolders.elementfx.com/
We are testing other applications for backing up data in MacOS and Linux and we will publish here the apps that we believe are useful for you. For advanced users, we recommend to use CloneZilla, this free application runs from a usb stick and can be used for Windows, MacOS and Linux. https://clonezilla.org/