Back up advise please

I don't think so - but if I'm wrong the gurus will quickly point it out.

What I wanted to remind you was to be sure to keep the back-up disc well away from the computer, preferably in a different building.

Amazing how many people keep back up disc/tapes in the same room as the computer and then wonder what to do after the fire destroys both. - seen it scores of times.
 
If it is just data files that you are backing up your cheap options are:
copy, zip or NTbackup.
In that case a dedicated removable HDU is a bit OTT, a 1 or 4 Gig memory stick would have done the job. OK, on a HDU you can also store 'install disks' but if you have the install CD's do you really need to also put them on a a HDU, wouldn't it be better to burn a backup CD?
If you wanted a restorable full system snapshot, then Ghost is a good option.
 
For what it's worth, here's how I backup every week.
I use a small (70GB) external HDD, with a USB connector. All my stuff is under the 'My Documents' folder structure. I copy My Documents in its entirety to the external drive once a week. I actually keep 2 weeks-worth on there.
I also copy the IE 'Favourites' file, email address book, and email folders, as the loss of all these when I had a HDD failure caused a lot of pain.
I have a lot of stuff on my PC, but this procedure only takes about 10 minutes.
This method has the advantage that I am not relying on any other software (e.g. Ghost) to recover the data. Also the external HDD is only connected to the PC when I do the backup. Downside is that it's not a continuous incremental backup.
BTW the info on where to find stuff like the email files was gotten from the archive at www.telegraph.co.uk and look for 'bootcamp archive'.
 
I have an external hard drive (Western Digital) which came with Retrospect Express which automatically backs up my day's work at 1700 each evening. It can also do all sorts of other things I haven't explored yet.
 
If it's a USB drive then you won't need any special software. Just plug it in and it should appear as a new drive in Windows. The problem is remembering which files and directories to back up. I use Laplink to back up a stored list of directories to another computer over the network. You only have to set up the list once and then it does the same directories every time.
With my external hard drive (300GB) I use Acronis True Image to make disk image files and bootable CDs which save me from having to re-install Windows and all the other software when it all goes pear shaped. It works -the kids' hard drive failed last month and everything replaced on the new drive in about 45 minutes.
 
The difference twixt Backup utilities and DIY file copying are principally as follows (probly not exhaustive):
<ul type="square">
[*]The utility is normally informed of what you want to backup, so decisions are not needed.
[*]Backups are two types, total and incremental. Total, obvious... Incremental, only backup the files which have changed since the last backup. Restoring requires the utility, no chance of restoring without
[*]Backups can be pre-scheduled, so you dont have to think about when and what to do.
[*]Backup can usually be booted up on its own, to allow repair of damaged systems, which do not want to boot on their own.
[/list]
One downside is that some of the utilities will not allow access to a specific file using Explorer, one has to use the backup interface which can be quirky.
There are many backup utilities around, everyone will sing the praises of the one they use, but they are all pretty much the same, and will possibly let you down when you need them most (wonderful messages like File is different version, contact xyz )
WIndows XP has a perfectly good backup utility built-in, perhaps you should try that first. Does all the above (except the last). /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
If its like some, it may well come with backup software. I know of some that have and it takes an image of your hard drive and copies it all to the backup hard drive. They will also allow you to create a CD for recovery using the backup should things go wrong.
 
thanks all /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

its for mainly back-up of photos & music

have got all photos + some music on dvd

i have had probs with photos on Cd's that wouldn't open last time i cocked up the previous PC ,so on forum advise put on DVD /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

really trying to safeguard all the important stuff ( keep the ext hd somewhere safe ) i did realise Norton ghost was available but didn't now of others.

i will use partition magic ( its already on the PC ) how to divide 400 gigs "God decisions Decisions"
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

400gigs from ebuyer @ £112 delivered, good price or wot /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I have a fab little programme called FolderClone which allows you to customize how the backups are done and only copies stuff that's new since the last backup. It was $30 and worth every penny.
http://www.folderclone.com/
I keep my external drive in a different building to the computer.
 
FWIW, Ghosting isn't always the best strategy.... you need identical hardware more often than not to be able to effectively recover a ghost copy... fine if your just restoring against a failed basic component like memory, but otherwise virtually impossible to get the same hardware down to every last detail.... (can even need the same BIOS revision)...

Much better to do, as suggested by most above, a file level backup, using a decent utility.... and remember to backup things like your cookies and favourites folders via exports... you can really regret losing them.....
 
For really critical stuff, back it up to a USB or Firewire local disk for convenience, AND to a remote site for ultimate security. For remote stuff I use these guys. He's a buddy. but it's still a damn fine solution, and it also provides remote access to your data from any intenet connected terminal. My back-up progs run 4 x per day for the local back-up and 1 x day for the remote.

Having just fried my internal HDD, I was able to recover from my local Firewire disk (LaCie 160gb) but if it had have been theft or fire, I could have carried on working from a internet caff.
 
Thread drift

Still pretty expensive for what's on offer. Considering you can use Amazon web services and pay $0.15 per GB-Month of storage used, $0.20 per GB of data transferred. OK their web services aren't designed for data backup, but you can see where things are heading as big companies use their huge infrastructures to pare costs.

you should see the prices they offer on web/application hosting!
$0.10 per instance-hour consumed (or part of an hour consumed).
$0.20 per GB of data transferred into/out of Amazon (i.e., Internet traffic).
$0.15 per GB-Month of Amazon S3 storage used for your images (charged by Amazon S3). and you can ramp up or down what you are using as demand increases or decreases. Compared to running a couple of servers for a medium company, this could save a shed load if used intelligently
 
I did that. Make sure you buy it before it expires as the directory data it has created will be wiped if you let it expire.
The other strange thing was that it required me to download the programme again. Before I installed the new download I checked the existing programme and it had recognised the purchase key, so I didn't install the new version.
(perhaps I read the upgrade page wrongly, whatever, it all works now)
 
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