Best back up method, for pics and Tunes ?
Discussion
Ok, so th epc is getting loaded up with scanned 35mm pics and my iTunes is around 30gig now.
Whats the best way to back this lot up ?
Been looking at the external Western Digital 250gb "Book" drive for £65 from Amazon.This is usb, so I presume I can just drag n drop for pics and folders.
How do I go about backing up my iTunes tho ?
F
Whats the best way to back this lot up ?
Been looking at the external Western Digital 250gb "Book" drive for £65 from Amazon.This is usb, so I presume I can just drag n drop for pics and folders.
How do I go about backing up my iTunes tho ?
F
I'm not sure how to backup iTunes, as i dont use it, but surely the tracks should be stored on the HD as seperate files somewhere that you could copy. As i understand it, iTunes simply holds the library info of where this data is stored.
I have about 40gb MP3's, 20gb My Docs, 15Gb Photo's (digital and scanned) and at the moment, about 130gb of half edited holiday DV movies. Backing up is something i do actually worry about, as although i can replace most of the MP3's and I still have the source DV tapes, I cant reproduce the photo's, or most of the My Docs going back years.
I have 2 PC's, one that does the photoshop/video editing stuff, and one in the lounge thats used for web/general use/downloads.
I've gone for extra SATA drives internally in each PC, so each PC has a boot drive (C), and a data storage drive (S), and then another drive the same size as the data storage drive (Y). On top of this, I have another SATA drive (Z) in a removeable front loading caddy for each PC.
I've started using a tool called Synctoy, that was recommended on here recently by 'ThePassenger' i think. This lets me synch my Y: drives with my S: drives, and then when plugged in, also with my Z: (caddy drives).
This means I always have 2 backups of my live data that I can access when needed (1 backup on the same PC, and 1 backup on a disk in a media safe locked away). This cost me the cost of 6 identical SATA drives, and the caddy's for the external ones. I usually do backups once a week, and once you've done the first major data copy, then it's much much quicker everytime after that.
It may not be perfect, but it works, and it means I can recover data almost instantly as it's all stored as the normal file system and not in a compressed backup software format.
External USB caddy's are good, I also have one thats been excellent, although not the Wester Digital Book one. As a first backup solution, i dont think you can go wrong really, as long as you have 2 copies of your data then you can always recover if need be.
Personally, i think this is one of the biggest problems with the 'digital revolution', as i'd imagine 90% of people who use PC's, digital cameras, iPods, e.t.c. never back up their data. Therefore it's all at risk from HD crashes, fire, theft, simple mistaken deletion. Storage is SO cheap now, it seems silly not to spend the money on it and avoid the risk of losing all your data.
I'd love to get into decent Network Storage, but sadly my funds dont allow it.
I have about 40gb MP3's, 20gb My Docs, 15Gb Photo's (digital and scanned) and at the moment, about 130gb of half edited holiday DV movies. Backing up is something i do actually worry about, as although i can replace most of the MP3's and I still have the source DV tapes, I cant reproduce the photo's, or most of the My Docs going back years.
I have 2 PC's, one that does the photoshop/video editing stuff, and one in the lounge thats used for web/general use/downloads.
I've gone for extra SATA drives internally in each PC, so each PC has a boot drive (C), and a data storage drive (S), and then another drive the same size as the data storage drive (Y). On top of this, I have another SATA drive (Z) in a removeable front loading caddy for each PC.
I've started using a tool called Synctoy, that was recommended on here recently by 'ThePassenger' i think. This lets me synch my Y: drives with my S: drives, and then when plugged in, also with my Z: (caddy drives).
This means I always have 2 backups of my live data that I can access when needed (1 backup on the same PC, and 1 backup on a disk in a media safe locked away). This cost me the cost of 6 identical SATA drives, and the caddy's for the external ones. I usually do backups once a week, and once you've done the first major data copy, then it's much much quicker everytime after that.
It may not be perfect, but it works, and it means I can recover data almost instantly as it's all stored as the normal file system and not in a compressed backup software format.
External USB caddy's are good, I also have one thats been excellent, although not the Wester Digital Book one. As a first backup solution, i dont think you can go wrong really, as long as you have 2 copies of your data then you can always recover if need be.
Personally, i think this is one of the biggest problems with the 'digital revolution', as i'd imagine 90% of people who use PC's, digital cameras, iPods, e.t.c. never back up their data. Therefore it's all at risk from HD crashes, fire, theft, simple mistaken deletion. Storage is SO cheap now, it seems silly not to spend the money on it and avoid the risk of losing all your data.
I'd love to get into decent Network Storage, but sadly my funds dont allow it.
Edited by colinjm on Monday 4th December 13:52
Surely there should be backup software provided with the drive? If so, use it to select the folders you want, inc the music folder where all your songs are. Also, there should be an iTune Library.xml file that's useful to have.
In the event of no autosync SW, then it's drag and drop I'm afraid.
In the event of no autosync SW, then it's drag and drop I'm afraid.
As far as general back-up is concerned there are several options. The key to this is to have it done automatically on a regular basis (I have it scheduled for 9pm each evening) as otherwise you'll forget to do it for days at just the time you need it most. Another important factor is to have two copies on different hard drives, not just saved onto a partition of your main drive - this doesn't protect against a failure of that drive.
There is a back-up system within Windows XP though I've never used it. A free download called 'Back2Zip' is very useful and straightforward to setup and use. I've set this up for several friends whose systems I maintain as it's easy to use. It can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://free-backup.info/back2zip.html
I have now paid the small amount for GenieSoft Back-Up which is excellent and far more powerful. Sync Toy is good for keeping pictures, favourites, music files synched between my desktop and laptop but, to my knowledge, it doesn'have a scheduling feature.
Regards.
Skier
There is a back-up system within Windows XP though I've never used it. A free download called 'Back2Zip' is very useful and straightforward to setup and use. I've set this up for several friends whose systems I maintain as it's easy to use. It can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://free-backup.info/back2zip.html
I have now paid the small amount for GenieSoft Back-Up which is excellent and far more powerful. Sync Toy is good for keeping pictures, favourites, music files synched between my desktop and laptop but, to my knowledge, it doesn'have a scheduling feature.
Regards.
Skier
Edited by Skier on Thursday 7th December 17:15
I have Pics backed up on :
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
nick heppinstall said:
I have Pics backed up on :
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
What if there was a (very deep) flood, or a typhoon
If the stuff is that precious then you really ought to keep a copy completely off site - there's loads of on-line places now.
For my Backups i use www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm to an external Hard Drive via USB
Your Itunes stuff are probably in your My Music folder somewhere. C:>Documents and Settings >"profile name" > My Documents > My Music > My Itunes or similiar
Let me know how you get on with that new hardrive, looks mighty tempting, I paid £150 for a 120gb drive a few years back and is now getting full.
Your Itunes stuff are probably in your My Music folder somewhere. C:>Documents and Settings >"profile name" > My Documents > My Music > My Itunes or similiar
Let me know how you get on with that new hardrive, looks mighty tempting, I paid £150 for a 120gb drive a few years back and is now getting full.
Edited by trevorw on Monday 4th December 19:50
deva link said:
nick heppinstall said:
I have Pics backed up on :
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
3 seperate HD's on the main PC
3 Seperate USB HD's. One kept totally seperate to the PC.
The laptop.
8.5GB DVD's kept in the house and in the garage which is seperate to the house.
You just cant be 2 careful. Especially if they are pics you cant replace like family. Digital media is just to easy to delete with the puch od a button.
What if there was a (very deep) flood, or a typhoon
If the stuff is that precious then you really ought to keep a copy completely off site - there's loads of on-line places now.
The dvd's are off site. The gararge is about 50 feet from the house. Looked at online backup but it's pretty expensive. I would want to store about 30GB of pics. Precious because they are pics of my little girl growing up and family that are sadly no longer here.
If you want an Itunes server and backup unit then get a www.thecus.com N2100. Can even get it to run a squeezebox server if you go down that route at some point
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