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Easiest way to backup files?

manimal

manimal

Ociffer Tackleberry
Feb 27, 2002
7,212
17
Blindly running into cactus
ok...so don't flame me too bad but, after a near HD loss the other day i realized that i haven't backed up my files in over a year.....that's a lot of data and pics.

so..what have you found to be the easiest way to backup files? if i backed up all of the files in my doc's and system state it'll be about 40gb which is roughly 10 dvd's. once i do this big backup, can i just continue adding to it, say..monthly? what's the best windows based utility? i also have roxio backup that came with a vid suite i bought and it seems pretty thorough but, i just don't have the time to sit here tonight and feed dvd's to my pc.

i guess i'm just making sure that i'm not overdoing it and asking if there's an easier way?
 
SPINTECK

SPINTECK

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2005
1,370
0
abc
Get a portable hardrive, they've really come down in price. I just bought a 500gig hardrive for under $250, but you can get a 100gig for $80 even at radio shack. Think of it as an insurance policy and I personally don't keep it at my house just in case the place burns down. I have pics, documents and vids of riding and family- at the age of 35 I realize it is by far more valuable than any other physical item I own- and I have some decent crap.

( I actually have 2 back-ups because I was too cheap to back-up a few years ago and almost lost everything- thank God some sectors were still readable after I did some work)
 
SPINTECK

SPINTECK

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2005
1,370
0
abc
DVD's are better than nothing, but you know the obvious problems:
They Scratch and the foil layer can break down over time, plus if you have a portable drive you can work from it.
 
PatBranch

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
Is there a way or program that would allow me to just keep putting in new DVD's while it automatically keeps writing them, instead of adding up the size of folders to see how much would fit on a single dvd each time?
 
H8R

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
mtnbrider said:
Is there a way or program that would allow me to just keep putting in new DVD's while it automatically keeps writing them, instead of adding up the size of folders to see how much would fit on a single dvd each time?
Click to expand...
Nero Back Up allows you to pick all the directories and files you want backed up, then it tells you how many discs you will need.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,101
1,153
NC
Do NOT use an external hard drive as a primary backup. External hard drives are great as incremental backups but they are prone to the same failures as the drive in your machine. Fire, flood, electrical surge while it's plugged in, plus far more prone to mechanical failure than solid state media like a DVD.

Make 2 sets of DVDs and keep at least one set out of your house. I mail a set to my dad in New England. Safety deposit box is another good option. You can make your backups incremental after that (that is, you don't have to re-backup everything, just the new stuff) but make sure you refresh your discs on a yearly basis - toss the whole set and make a new fresh set.

It's a surprisingly small time investment. Maybe an hour every few months, and a few hours every year to do a new set.

I would avoid backup utilities for several reasons. First, because you need the program to then restore the backup (which is a pain, and could be a problem if the program lapses into obsolescence), and second because even if the backup program is fault tolerant there's the possibility that enough damage to one of the DVDs could ruin a large part or all of the backup. Just copy the files over. I wouldn't bother at all with your system state - just reinstall if you have a problem. Back up the irreplaceables, Windows is easily reinstalled.

edit: if your drive supports it, you can use dual layer DVDs @ 8gb+ apiece. You won't save any money (since they're 2x the price of regular DVDs for 2x the storage) or time but it cuts down on the number of discs.
 
Kornphlake

Kornphlake

Turbo Monkey
Oct 8, 2002
2,632
1
Portland, OR
If you use a second hard drive you can create a briefcase then use the update all option to automatically find and save files created since the last update.

To create a briefcase in windows explorer right click, select new then briefcase. The instructions should be pretty clear from there. You're still suceptible to loosing the data but it's a lot easier to manage than burning dvds and doesn't require any additional software.

Are firesafes now rated for media? A few years ago they were only guaranteed to protect paper documents.
 
Fredzilla

Fredzilla

Monkey
Aug 5, 2003
285
0
Seattle
I usually do a periodic DVD backup, but I also keep my files on 2 different drives at home - the internal HDD and an external NAS drive.

I've checked out a few different software utilities and the best one I've found so far is a free utility from M$ called Sync Toy. MUCH easier to use than 99% of "simple" backup utilities IMHO.
 
B

bean

Turbo Monkey
Feb 16, 2004
1,335
0
Boulder
Interesting, I've heard mostly bad things about backing up to DVDs since they're more likely to become corrupted than CDs or HDDs. And it seems like a waste to burn all those disks. I have two drives in the computer, and another portable that lives at work. I'll have an extra external enclosure right now, so I'm planning on picking up another drive for it. Then I'll have the two drives in the computer, one external backup at home, and another external backup at work (these last two can be switched out).
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,101
1,153
NC
The problem with DVDs (and, really, the only problem with DVDs) is that people think they last forever. They don't. I would never count on a DVD lasting more than 3 years... even though I have some CDs in my desk right now that I burned in 1998. I've long since re-copied them, they're just a curiosity now.

If you'll indulge me in using anecdotal evidence, I've owned CD burners since 1x and 2x writers came out. Between home and jobs and friends, I have burned uncountable CDs and DVDs and I can count on one hand the number of them that had a good burn but have gone bad within a year if they were stored properly.

The fact is, if you verify that you have a good burn, store them out of direct sunlight and don't scratch them, they keep for a long time. If you buy very high quality DVDs, several brands have been put through accelerated aging tests and are rated for 100 years or more.

You can buy a bunch of external hard drives and if you have enough redundancy, they're fine. Sometimes it's your only option if you have too much data to make DVDs feasible. However, you've got 4 hard drives at a minimum of $60 apiece, likely more. Plus cost for external enclosures. That's a minimum of an extra $200 investment, vs. $0.15 per DVD.
 
Silver

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
For backup programs, I like Cobian Backup. It's free, and kicks ass. You can set it to back up with no compression, so you don't have any odd format backup files to go through to do a restore. Sync works ok, until you realize you deleted something and go looking for the backup :)
 
PatBranch

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
I'm now using Acronis True image to clone my primary hdd to a second hdd. It's nice because if my current one got messed up, I could put the backup in and have everything including all the OS stuff.
 
Silver

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
mtnbrider said:
I'm now using Acronis True image to clone my primary hdd to a second hdd. It's nice because if my current one got messed up, I could put the backup in and have everything including all the OS stuff.
Click to expand...
I never back up my OS or programs. Takes way too much time, and if I ever have a hard drive take a dump, it never hurts to do a reinstall. Just make sure you put all your data in easy to get to places. Stupid email clients in Windows hide the damn data files...
 
manimal

manimal

Ociffer Tackleberry
Feb 27, 2002
7,212
17
Blindly running into cactus
will cobian backup support a span of disks? i tried using the basic windows backup tool last night to get my 40gb of data onto dvd's and it wouldn't accept it unless i had a form of media with that much free space. it burned one dvd and stopped, saying that it ran out of space but didn't ask for me to put in another disk.
 
Silver

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
manimal said:
will cobian backup support a span of disks? i tried using the basic windows backup tool last night to get my 40gb of data onto dvd's and it wouldn't accept it unless i had a form of media with that much free space. it burned one dvd and stopped, saying that it ran out of space but didn't ask for me to put in another disk.
Click to expand...
I don't think so. I'd make the backup using Cobian, and then use Nero to burn the DVDs.
 
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