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Thread: Trying to be proactive

  1. #1
    Forum Master TexasAda's Avatar
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    Default Trying to be proactive

    Through years of owning computers, I've somewhat diligently made backup copies of my data on floppy disks, zip disks, CDs or DVDs, and thumb drives.

    I'm not an early adapter. Now I'm thinking of getting an external hard drive in hopes of saving some agony when my current computer dies (in the distant future of course). It's a 700GB laptop running on Windows 7. As I understand it, I should get an external drive of at least 700 or 750GB size.

    My question is: do these external drives usually come with applications that make it easy to do complete, freshened backups in not too much time? Can the software be set to do this automatically at intervals of my choice like daily, weekly or biweekly?

    What is the difference between backup and disk imaging software? Will both enable me to save software installations like Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player playlists, and various messengers, so that I don't have to sit through the lengthy loading required at first?

    If the abilities I want do not come with the hardware, do you recommend any products?

    Thank you in advance.

  2. #2
    Forum Saint HerMajesty's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    I have a couple external hard drives............they don't have to be a laptop. I have one that is about the size of 1 1/2 decks of cards..........only plugs into the computer with one cord.....like a card reader cord.....No programs on it, just what is needed to save pictures to it (or documents). It's like a HUGEMONGOUS CD as far as capacity.....probably 800GB. I don't bother backing up programs, as we have lots of disks around.

    There are lots of good brands...Seagate, HP etc. These you have to save the info to yourself, but it's so easy. Just click and drop, or copy. Handy size. Not expensive. Maybe $80
    Ta-Ta for now!

    HerMajesty



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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    I just use thumb drives to back up important stuff, not sure whether that's the best method, but being tech. challenged it's easy and works for me. Got mine at Wally, very cheap, too.

    Best wishes for many sales to all,

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    Forum Master TexasAda's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Thank you, Sue and Your Majesty. Have done a little investigating and HP Simple Save drives appear to come with "simple" software that backs up whatever data you tell it to whenever your computer is idle 5 minutes or longer. This is after you initially tell it what types to save such as photos, documents, music or whatever. Since my laptop is an HP, maybe I will get a Simple Save. Or maybe a Western Digital as they seem to be top sellers.

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    Forum Saint suesjools's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Smart thing you're doing. I didn't know enough to back up files on my old pc and when it died, it took a lot of stuff with it. Have been "thumbing" ever since.

    Best wishes for many sales to all,

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    Forum Saint HerMajesty's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Just remember that external drives can fail, too.................................so a double back up system is wise.
    Ta-Ta for now!

    HerMajesty



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    Forum Saint suesjools's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Quote Originally Posted by HerMajesty View Post
    Just remember that external drives can fail, too.................................so a double back up system is wise.
    Excellent point, Your Majesty.

    Bows and misses the kitties, but trips on the couch anyhow...

    Best wishes for many sales to all,

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    Forum Saint Juliebabe25's Avatar
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Quote Originally Posted by HerMajesty View Post
    Just remember that external drives can fail, too.................................so a double back up system is wise.
    Yes and keep one of them off your premises.

    Hard drives are cheap - your data (photos etc) may be irreplaceable.

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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    Quote Originally Posted by TexasAda View Post
    What is the difference between backup and disk imaging software? Will both enable me to save software installations like Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player playlists, and various messengers, so that I don't have to sit through the lengthy loading required at first?
    A backup is where you take a copy of your files. You then run backup again and ONLY the files which have changed are copied across. So the time it takes to backup a drive is dependent upon how many changes you make, and should be shorter.
    If you store lots of photos, this will not take long, if you photoshop them all day every day then it will take ages.

    A disk image is like taking a polaroid photo of your drive, a snap shot of your drive at a specific time. This copies everything, and happens once. If you change stuff and take another image, it will take as long as the first image.

    When you come to restore the files a BACKUP/RESTORE allows you to pick what gets brought back, usually everything but you can choose.
    An image restore is a total replacement, back to how it was at the exact time you took the photo, no keeping stuff, no choosing what you want back it is all or nothing.

    Both have reasons for doing them, each is better than the other, because they do different things.

    Check how big your 'My documents' folder is, get a hard drive which is a couple of times larger than this and copy your important stuff across every so often (daily/weekly/monthly)

    My son uses a terabyte (1000Gb) and fills it in two weeks, I have a 4Gb stick which isn't full yet after three years.
    The amount of data you generate, the number of times you change it and its importance to you will be the limiting factors.

    HTH

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Trying to be proactive

    I use a Seagate external drive, only a 500GB one though as the only thing I back up on regular basis is everything in my documents, music, pictures. I see it as being a waste of time backing up programs that are easily installed straight from the disks I have for them anyway, like with the games I have on my pc! I tend to only back things up once every three months though. I know I should probably do it once a month realistically but it's remembering to do it lol!

    It's simple to do though. Just click, drag and drop and it copies everything across from my documents, music and pictures. On my Seagate external drive, I have three folders: My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and just copy and paste from pc into the required folder onto the external drive. My music folder takes the longest though lol! But with the pc I'm using now, it's still only a few minutes. At the end of the day, I am just updating the back up on my external drive so I just let it replace everything on there.

    If you want automatic back ups, you can try things like Norton 360 and you can pay for additional online storage of files etc. with them. But I do not like Norton 360, it uses up a lot of processing power and memory etc. slowing down the pc maiing it lag a bit on things that I need to use daily.

    An external drive is your best bet when you only need to regularly back up docutments, pictures and music, and you can get a Seagate 500GB very cheap, just plug in with the usb and/or mains and you're ready to go. Quick and simple and no need for paying for storage or anything else with a third party.
    “Doing business without proper advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does and the girl doesn't even know you're winking at her either."

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