Ext hard drive help!

[SPman]

I don't trust just 1 external HD (I've had one die on me - I use 2x320G Seagates, plus numerous 4,8 & 16g sticks. I figure I should be covered if the laptop shits itself!

[scracha]

I don't trust just 1 external HD (I've had one die on me - I use 2x320G Seagates, plus numerous 4,8 & 16g sticks. I figure I should be covered if the laptop shits itself!

Mirrored? You're still having to reinstall and recover from your pen drives if you
a) One of Micro$hafts updates gives the dreaded BSOD
b) get hit by a virus
c) get burgled or house goes on fire.

If your computer is 5 years, double check that it has a USB port.

Helpful as ever. Worry about it if your computer is over 10 years old.

EDIT, if anyone knows a good freeware app for online backups/sync-up let me know

Cobian can do incremental backups via FTP. I'm pretty sure syncback can too.

The PITA with online backup is the sheer speed and time and possibly extra charges or bandwidth throttling from your ISP when you go over your allowance. There's 2 or 3 ISP's in NZ that offer offsite backup as part of their package though.

[Quasievil]

I brought a 1TB external hard drive and nearly everything is on it already, will schedule back ups regularly, cant cover of every eventuality but feel better now I have this at least.

Thanks for the help guys !

[Hoon]

Keep it simple. Just get a 2.5" laptop USB drive. Costs more with less capacity but way more convenient.

Backup software is a bit overkill for you (and prob too over your head). If its just files and Outlook you want to back up then just drag and drop them onto your new HD. Outlook comes with its own backup tool too (see Outlook help)

You'll have piece of mind 15 mins after unwrapping your new drive. Then you can decide whether thats enough or if you want to pursue the more thorough options.

[edit] do'h too slow!

[Quasievil]

Seems good, now trying to find out a auto back up method for files docs etc

[SMOKEU]

Buy a Seagate. I bought my 1st Seagate about 7 years ago and I've had about 5 other ones and I've never had any problems with that brand. Maxtor seems to have rather poor quality control though.

[mynameis]

bits really

She said bits

Try getting another one or maybe two hard drives, backing up and storing them in a different physical location.

Cost to recover data from a hard drive which has suffered "fatal" physical damage is astronomical.

[Spuds1234]

Buy a Seagate. I bought my 1st Seagate about 7 years ago and I've had about 5 other ones and I've never had any problems with that brand. Maxtor seems to have rather poor quality control though.

Heh every seagate I touched didnt work to well, every Maxtor I had (ok so it was 1) worked perfectly. Now I just buy WD drives as they are some of the quietest, cheapest, biggest drives around.

[scracha]

Seems good, now trying to find out a auto back up method for files docs etc

http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Seems good, now trying to find out a auto back up method for files docs etc

Cobian Backup

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/cobbackup.html
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

[Pixie]

Quasi, you need imaging software to take a "snapshot" of your PC. Suggest you do this every 2 or 3 months.
If it's Vista Home then I wouldn't fuck around with free stuff, go to Dork smiths and get Norton Internet security 2009 (3 user) with Save and restore for $80.
If it's Vista Business (or Ultimate) then there's built in imaging softare.
As it's 5 I'd assume it's XP. In which case, there's free imaging software at :-
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
If it's a Mac or linux box then you probably wouldn't be asking :-)

For regular backups, Synctoy, syncback (2 brightsparks) or cobian backup are all good depending on your requirements.
http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/d...displaylang=en

I'd recommend a 320GB 2.5" usb portable hard drive which from memory are about about $140. The 3.5" are are normally much larger but most need an extra power lead and due to their size they normally end up being sat on top of your base unit which kinda defeats the purpose of a backup. Besides, no point in buying a 1TB drive to backup a 80GB of data.

Macrium Reflect is a good freeware imaging app.I found it easier to use than Drive Image

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

[Pixie]

Seems good, now trying to find out a auto back up method for files docs etc

Comodo Backup:

http://www.comodo.com/home/data-stor...odo-backup.php

[scracha]

Macrium Reflect is a good freeware imaging app.I found it easier to use than Drive Image

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Nice find. I'll have a play when I get a chance. Does it do imaging in Vista without turning off UAC?

Main thing I've found with Drive Image is it's pretty bulletproof. I actually prefer it to the Acronis $hite I paid good money for (only + point for Acronis is that VMWare supports its images).


The reason Drive Image is so popular is that if you find an early version then it can be used in commercial environments free of charge.