Backing Up
Author
Discussion

mxdi

Original Poster:

13,993 posts

273 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
I'm not any computer expert......
I would like to know the best way to back up my computers. My old work computer used to have a tape back up- which was fine, but how to I back up my current ones?
I have a PC with cd writer on XP
and a laptop no writer also on XP

What are the best ways to back up?
TIA

chris watton

22,547 posts

284 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
I use another hard drive for back up, and for keeping my important files safe. This does work, as I discovered the other week when I had 2 weeks off, my work collegue rang me to say that they just had a direct lightning strike. As the ISDN line was plugged directly into my PC, it was nuked! The motherboard and PSU were blown and did not work at all!
I took out the back up hard drive, took it home, plugged it into my PC and all was there, phew! So an extra £30-£40 on another hard drive is well worth the piece of mind, especially when, like myself, you have many GBs of data to back up.

puggit

49,462 posts

272 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
Mxdi - I work in the backup/storage industry.

Using an extra harddrive (preferably identical to the original - but at the very least same size or bigger) is the easiest way

Windows 2000/XP has a built in backup tool which is originally Veritas Backup Exec (ie no need to buy anything if you are a normal home user). It's fairly easy to use, just make sure you select all harddrives and the system state and off you go - back up on to the harddisk - no need for tape, it's a lot quicker.

So - either stick in an extra harddrive, or use a an external drive (USB is a good idea) and off you go.

Any questions, just email me

GreenV8S

30,999 posts

308 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
I use a Maxtor 250GB USB drive for backups. I just press a button on the drive to take a backup. I normally leave the drive powered off and disconnected when I'm not using it, so it should be pretty safe from power spikes, viruses and so on.

darrent

630 posts

283 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
Good timing! I'm just looking at the moment for a USB external hard drive that I can use to back data up - does anybody have any good recommendations?

chrisjl

787 posts

306 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
External (and moved elsewhere) is better. No use having a backup if it gets killed at the same time as the original (fire/flood/lightning/theft/etc)

stin hambo

627 posts

261 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
Is there a tool that can take an image of the hard drive and compress it so it can fit on a DVD?

Or just something that can backup a specific location so I can record to a DVD?

I have a laptop but no external drive.

chrisjl

787 posts

306 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
stin hambo said:
Is there a tool that can take an image of the hard drive and compress it so it can fit on a DVD?


Degree of compression depends on the type of data. Text compresses quite well, whereas MP3s, avis and JPEGs hardly compress at all. You'll be lucky to average 50% reduction, so unless you're HDD is very small, it ain't gonna go on one DVD.

stin hambo said:
Or just something that can backup a specific location so I can record to a DVD?

I have a laptop but no external drive.

Maxtor do an external USB or FireWire device called 'OneTouch' that looks like a good solution. Install the backup software that comes with it, mark the stuff you want backed up, press the button on the drive to initiate the process. I think it also keeps multiple versions, so you can ask it for file 'X' as it was 'N' days ago.
DISCLAIMER: Other devices are available, I haven't actually tried this one, I don't work for Maxtor, etc...

mxdi

Original Poster:

13,993 posts

273 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
Cheers, I'll look into external hard drives in the future, they are a bit above what I can afford at the moment

puggit

49,462 posts

272 months

Saturday 4th September 2004
quotequote all
mxdi said:
Cheers, I'll look into external hard drives in the future, they are a bit above what I can afford at the moment
Can you afford to lose everything on your hard drive?