Ransomware is a common problem. If an attacker encrypts all your files and demands that you pay ransom to unlock your files, you will want to be able to recover quickly. Regular backups are not enough.

Regular backups, including file backups, can do a great job of protecting your documents, pictures, and other files. But a full restore of a computer after an attack can take a very long time, and often requires you to reset the computer to factory defaults and spend hours reloading your programs.

If you need to restore after an attack, restoring an entire image is much faster than starting a re-installation from scratch. Disk images are a one-to-one copy of everything on your computer’s internal hard drive. Most often, you will replicate your drives to an external USB hard drive.

Image backup tools include Shadow Protect Desktop from Storage Craft, and Acronis True Image. For Macs, use Carbon Copy Cloner.

Keep using whatever backup method you already use for backup too. Image backup is an addition, not a replacement.

Please forward this to everyone you know who would like to be able to recover their computer quickly in the event of a ransomware attack.