Zorin OS 12.4 core 64 SSD Laptop & Backup

Dear All,

I installed Zorin OS 12.4 core 64 on my new SSD HD on my Laptop using Yumi to ge t the iso file on my bootable USB stick.
Everything worked fine for a long time and I could use the laptop, making presentations in LibreOffice Impress for example.
Now, all of a sudden I cannot log in anymore. When Zorin is about to start after I entered my password it simply just "flashes" up shortly and then dissapears. I can try to log in again
but the same thing happens again (shortly flash up & dissapears). What can I do about this? MAybe it is a beginners problem but I need it to work.

Another thing - how do you guys do backups? Is there any way to use an external harddrive todo automatic "preprogrammed" (i.e. once a day/week etc.) backups?
And - is there some thing similar to the programm "ccleaner" for Zorin - soince I might have to remove some programms in the future.

If I would also like to move on to Zorin 15 - what is the best way to install it since I have (the not yet working, see above) Zorin OS 12.4 core 64 on my laptop.

Thank you for your help, and sorry for the begginers-question I posed

Sam

Let's be clear, is the issue with the installed OS or the USB version? You mentioned persistence which relates to USB sticks. When you use persistence you will be shortening the life of your memory stick - that's why I tend not to use it unless you create a FAT32 data partition on there.
SSD hard drives need to be manually 'trimmed' and cron to be scheduled on a daily basis, unlike Windows which does this automatically.

See here:

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/enable-t ... rives.html

Thank you Swarfendor for your quick reply. The issues is with the OS and not wioth the USB. What do you mean by persistence? I will check the trimm software and hope it is for free. Thank you. Best, Sam

Hi, when you use a thumb drive with a live GNU/Linux distribution, all your work will be lost on shutting down. It is possible to create a 'persistent' partition on creation of live thumb drive (dependent on method used - I always use MultiSystem: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13887&hilit=+Multisystem) so that you can save work to your thumb drive permanently - not advisable for sensitive/personal information but for storing notes or web pages etc. and depending on size of thumb drive for system updates. Trimming is 'free' it just looks a bit technical to me, but at some time in the future I will have to bite the bullet as I read somewhere that HDD's are coming to 'end-of-life'.