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Question

Backing up data

Sep 26, 2015 5:49PM PDT

I recently recovered some data from a 1tb hard drive (thanks to Cnet Grin for this!) and would now like to find a way to compress this data down to maybe 250g or less so that I can store it away in multiple places as an emergency safety net so that I will never lose this data again. Is there software out there that will allow me to do this? I am thinking about something simple such as Winzip or Winrar but for larger files so that if I really need it, I can just unzip the file. Can anyone help me with this please?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Here's the thing.
Sep 27, 2015 6:41AM PDT

Videos and MP3s are already compressed so it's unlikely to get any more compression. When you find the files are already compressed then to get this much compression you have to eject some of the files.

I caught a sale on 2TB USB HDDs so my backup copy space went up to that. I was hovering around 500GB so for me this will do for some time.

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Thank you :0)
Sep 28, 2015 8:27AM PDT

Thanks for the reply. Sadly, that does not work for me. I have around 4tb total to backup LOL Shocked). The data is a mixture of various kinds of information. I will leave this post up and continue to check for any solutions that may crop up. Thank you very much for the prompt feedback Laugh !

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Then test to see how much compression will get you.
Sep 28, 2015 8:53AM PDT

There are 4TB externals now but the only time I find folk with that much are the collectors. Folk that collect videos and more. Usually they blow up every few years since their backups are less then stellar to none. That is, they tend to fill whatever storage they have and then turn backups into more space to collect to.

These are modern day horders. Plenty written about it so even if they found a way to compress their collection they are soon running low on space again.

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Not a collector
Sep 28, 2015 11:59AM PDT

I'm not a modern day hoarder, I'm problem solving. I just don't wish to go through what I have just been through trying to find software to recover info on a portable hard drive. The answer to avoiding this is multiple copies. As I have a job, I don't have the time to sit and nit-pick through the data, just want to get 'er done, thus looking for software that can do large batches of files, which I can then put away thus avoiding keeping too much in the way of hardware cluttering up my life like a hoarder lol. Laugh

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I have a video processing app. What am I using?
Sep 28, 2015 12:09PM PDT

WinDataReflector is a recent new title and seems great at large batches of files.

Prior to that I used Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier to sync with.
Hope this helps.
Note:Edited for spelling error.

Post was last edited on September 28, 2015 12:09 PM PDT

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Thank you :0)
Sep 28, 2015 1:07PM PDT

Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely try them!