Backing up hard drives

onebxr · November 3rd, 2006

I have never made a backup for my home pc or any pc. I have been lucky and not lost any pertinent information. Can you ppl on here give me some of the best ways (read..easiest) to backup my home computer? As I have said before, I am a computer idiot, I just learned how to turn the damn thing on last summer. What I would like to do is just mirror what I have on the hdd, so if something fatal happens to my computer all I have to do is reformat and reload. All help is appreciated.
Thanks,
-1

Quakindude · November 3rd, 2006

Check out my review of Acronis True Image bro. You can't go wrong with that program! And it's still a $29 download from NewEgg.

**gvblake22** · November 3rd, 2006

If you want to do a "mirror" of your HDD like you mentioned, check out that user review of the the drive imaging software Quakindude linked you to.

However, if there are just certain folders/files you want to keep around so you know nothing will happen to them, I still think burning CD's and DVD's is the best way to go. The media won't degrade over time and there are no moving parts so it won't fail. You just have to keep it in a case out of harms way and you have a permanent record of your precious music or photos or word documents or whatever.

Panda Man · November 3rd, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvblake22

If you want to do a "mirror" of your HDD like you mentioned, check out that user review of the the drive imaging software Quakindude linked you to.

However, if there are just certain folders/files you want to keep around so you know nothing will happen to them, I still think burning CD's and DVD's is the best way to go. The media won't degrade over time and there are no moving parts so it won't fail. You just have to keep it in a case out of harms way and you have a permanent record of your precious music or photos or word documents or whatever.

You'll have disk rot to compete with in terms of long term storage. I've had DVD's fail to read just after a year after a burn >=|

I was not a happy panda.

If you have Gigabytes of data to backup, I would suggest getting an external hard disk and copying all the files over or cloning the images to it with the software quakindude linked to.

Lead Head · November 3rd, 2006

If your backing up from one hard drive to another, I found the SeaTools utility on seagate's website to be fairly sufficient.

**stinger608** · November 3rd, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quakindude

Check out my review of Acronis True Image bro. You can't go wrong with that program! And it's still a $29 download from NewEgg.

I got to tell ya, I bought and downloaded Acronis true image 9 early this morning and it works fantastic!!! You can back up your whole drive, or just files and folders. If you have a second hard drive you can back it up to it, or a second partition on your main drive, or DVD's or cd's.

Great program Quakindude!!!

**gvblake22** · November 4th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panda Man

You'll have disk rot to compete with in terms of long term storage. I've had DVD's fail to read just after a year after a burn >=|

I was not a happy panda.

If you have Gigabytes of data to backup, I would suggest getting an external hard disk and copying all the files over or cloning the images to it with the software quakindude linked to.

While your story is very unfortunate and may happen to some people, I don't think it is anywhere near common. I've pulled out games, audio CD's, burned data CD's, etc. from 5 - 7 years ago and they work just fine. You might have just had some bad media.

Blondie · November 14th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvblake22

While your story is very unfortunate and may happen to some people, I don't think it is anywhere near common. I've pulled out games, audio CD's, burned data CD's, etc. from 5 - 7 years ago and they work just fine. You might have just had some bad media.

I never back up to CD's or DVD's. My tool of choice is the hard drive manufacturers software to a larger hard drive.

Jokerswild · November 14th, 2006

Using a second HDD and burning to a DVD or CD is probably the safest way to go since you have 2 backups.

Blondie · November 14th, 2006

People laugh that I still use a zip drive. I laugh because I've never had a backup go bad.....

November 3rd, 2006	#1
onebxr BAM-BAM Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Frisco, TX Posts: 1,262 Blog Entries: 3	Backing up hard drives I have never made a backup for my home pc or any pc. I have been lucky and not lost any pertinent information. Can you ppl on here give me some of the best ways (read..easiest) to backup my home computer? As I have said before, I am a computer idiot, I just learned how to turn the damn thing on last summer. What I would like to do is just mirror what I have on the hdd, so if something fatal happens to my computer all I have to do is reformat and reload. All help is appreciated. Thanks, -1

November 3rd, 2006	#2
Quakindude I'm Diggin it! Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Fort Rucker, AL. Posts: 2,757 Blog Entries: 7	Check out my review of Acronis True Image bro. You can't go wrong with that program! And it's still a $29 download from NewEgg. Q6600@ 3.2GHz w/ CNPS9700 \| EVGA 780i \| 2Gb Corsair DDR2-800 \| EVGA GTX 280 1Gb Video \| 1x WD 640Gb HDD, 2x Seagate 400Gb HDD, 1x250Gb WD \| 2x Samsung SH-203B Opticals \| Antec 900 \| ABS/Tagan BZ700 700W PSU

November 3rd, 2006	#5
Lead Head Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rhode Island USA Posts: 1,716	If your backing up from one hard drive to another, I found the SeaTools utility on seagate's website to be fairly sufficient. Opteron 64 165--1.5GB DDR--ECS KA1 MVP(thanks HL!)--x1800GTO 256MB--Seagate 320GB SATA--Antec 550 Watt--Antec P180

November 14th, 2006	#10
Blondie Hmmm... Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 438	People laugh that I still use a zip drive. I laugh because I've never had a backup go bad..... Wave Master: Gigabyte GA-7NNXP, Barton 3200, 1 gig PC3200, BFG 6800, Ultra X-Finity 600W, DVDRW, 750 Zip 80, 160 & 200 gig hard drives Dual Xeon folder: SilverStone SST-TJ05S-X, Gigabyte GA-9ITDW, Intel Xeon 3.2 Irwindale 800MHz x2, Geil 1 GB DDR2 PC2 4300x2, BFG 6600 GT OC, Ultra X-Finity 600W, DVDRW, Akasa AllInOne, WD Caviar RAID Edition 120x2, Win XP MC 05

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November 3rd, 2006	#3
gvblake22 Modder-ator Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Tempe Desert Posts: 6,474 Blog Entries: 1	If you want to do a "mirror" of your HDD like you mentioned, check out that user review of the the drive imaging software Quakindude linked you to. However, if there are just certain folders/files you want to keep around so you know nothing will happen to them, I still think burning CD's and DVD's is the best way to go. The media won't degrade over time and there are no moving parts so it won't fail. You just have to keep it in a case out of harms way and you have a permanent record of your precious music or photos or word documents or whatever.

November 14th, 2006	#9
Jokerswild ButtHead Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,196	Using a second HDD and burning to a DVD or CD is probably the safest way to go since you have 2 backups.