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General discussion

How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure?

Sep 21, 2005 9:11AM PDT

How do you prepare for a major hard drive failure? I back up my data on:

External hard drive (what type?)
Jump drive (what type?)
Tape drive (what type?)
USB Flash drive (what type?)
CD-R or DVD-R
Additional hard drive on my system (is it safe?)
Online storage facility (which one?)
Other (tell us more)
I don't need no stinkin' backups (why?)

Discussion is locked

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I Backup in other hard-drive of my network
Sep 24, 2005 12:49AM PDT

I Backup in other hard-drive of my network; just this year my server hard-drive fail, and i have to backup in other hard-drive of my network, succefully, in 24 hours i have again the server working, whit a new hard-drive of 40 GB y all the net working!

Sorry my english, but i speak in spanish Happy

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(NT) (NT) Lacie FireWire/USB2.0 350Gb External Disk via FileSync
Sep 24, 2005 3:15AM PDT
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I use X-drive.....
Sep 24, 2005 5:31AM PDT

I use X-Drive to make my online secure back-ups. It gives me 5 Gigs for $9.95 a month and they use a secure program that you run from your desktop to ftp straight to your account. I do also once every two months or so, make a DVD back-up using a DRD-RW. I just don't completely trust continuously overwriting on the DVDRW and that is why i use the X-Drive.

I have been using X-Drive for three years now and have never had any problems with them and I have had to use my back-ups from them twice without a hitch.

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Two step backup
Sep 24, 2005 11:01PM PDT

I have a home network of about four computers. One of these towers doubles as entertainment center/backup storage. It has a large hard drive that holds TV shows i record off my tuner card, and a DVD burner. Periodicaly me or my wife will copy important files from our own computers to this large HD; then network setup makes this a simple drag and drop process. Eventualy, even that drive gets full, and about once every six months I archive it onto DVDs. By the time a file gets to the DVD, its a rarely accessed file, but i feel comfortable knowing it's there if I ever should need it.

For more immediate backup, in my main computer that I use most frequently, I have a second hard drive. This is a tiny 2gb drive that I salvaged out of an old computer that a neighbor had left in the dumpster. This is where I drag copies of projects that I'm immediately working on. This little drive is frequently erased and re-written; in fact I abuse it as much as I can, since it's basicaly garbage Wink If you're in need of a useable backup drive for easy access, and you know how to install a HDD, keep an eye on your neighbors' trash.

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Hard Drive Backup
Sep 25, 2005 12:08AM PDT

I use an external hard drive and "SecondCopy 2000" software to back up selected directories at logout. We take extended RV trips and I take the hard drive with me. This saves all the synch problems between the laptop and the desktop.

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i use a combo of CD-R, DVD-R, and ext hd
Sep 26, 2005 4:40AM PDT

CD-R for movies and TV shows, music

DVD for if i desire the convenience of necesity of extra capacity per disk

ext hd for stuff i backup now and may delete later. Also used for quick backups since unlike the discs above, no planning is required to get the maximum capacity of the disc. Also can just BU now, and worry about compressing images, music, and especially video to a smaller footprint later on.

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Backup
Sep 26, 2005 8:37AM PDT

We use Data Protection Services off-site backup services for our small accounting office and it has been a very good experience. Pricey, but I have peace of mind now that we are in the process of converting our files to a paperless system.

Johanna T.

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HDD backup
Sep 26, 2005 2:27PM PDT

CD-R using Ghost 2003

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Raid-5 And Monthy (or so) DVD-RW backups
Sep 27, 2005 4:18AM PDT

I have my file server Raid-5 and most every month I backup to DVD-RW's

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No Backups
Sep 27, 2005 2:11PM PDT

Why? It's simple...with a cable connection, all my stuff can be reinstalled and I can just start over again.

Hey, it works for me! Of course...I don't have a job where I work on stuff at home...besides, that's what cheap laptops that serve no other purpose are for (besides the occasional game of starcraft at the local LAN Party Wink )

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Why I prefer external HDD
Sep 29, 2005 5:41PM PDT

Greetings to all,

Few years back even i used to backup my stuffs to CD's. But, when i encounter with Blues Mobile HardDisk..I have forgot all the CD's and DVD's.

Let me tell you something abt my Blues Mobile HDD. Its a external harddisk with USB 2..has 20GB Harddisk and can be upgradable to 80GB. The main feature is it has a provision for TV Output. That means you can directly connect that HDD to an TV using a cable and also has remote control to operate it. I can view my movie files opn my TV's and can also play my MP3's too. Thats the main feature i liked the most.

What you say guyz abt my external hard disk???

Regds to all,

- Saurabh

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Backup
Oct 4, 2005 9:44AM PDT

External Hard Drive.
Bought a Dynamode USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Housing and stuck a 20 Gig drive from an old pc in it. Aside from backup and providing a home for old drives its portability means I can swap "stuff" with my pals.
This handy little number cost

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RAID 5
Oct 14, 2005 11:11PM PDT

I found that my music collection had grown considerably. Add that to a media center pc, (recording television, etc...)plus all the software that I have accumulated, and thinking of the future needs of my home, I created a 500Gb Raid 5 array.

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Iomega Rev, USB HDD, OFFSITE STORAGE
Oct 15, 2005 5:33AM PDT

At my home, I use a Iomega Rev unit and freeware Syncback. I take this Rev cartridge to my OFFICE and leave it there and switch every week between two Rev cartridges.

At my office, I use USB portable hard drives and the Rev cartridges. These go with me in my car every night.

As someone who went through a disastrous fire at our office in the middle of the night one year ago, I cannot stress too much that you MUST have the backup data which is physically separate from what you are backing up. What if I had kept my backups at my office? We would have been absolutely out of business as all our written customer records and data would have been destroyed. As it was, all the paper was up in smoke, but our accounting, financial and many documents were saved from the backup.

BTW, I had a "fireproof safe" with tapes in it - it took me 3 weeks to get the safe from the police department and when we opened the safe, it was full of water. Moral of the story - buy a MEDIA fireproof safe and even then, keep the tapes in a waterproof bag in the safe.

Lorane

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What to backup . . . . .
Oct 15, 2005 10:31AM PDT

I use an external USB hard drive and a simple but effective program called Back4WinXP. The program will backup to disk but I have too many files to burn them all. First but foremost you need to choose what you want to backup. I have the original disks for Windows XP and most of my programs so there is no real point in backing those up. However, downloaded programs, patches, upgrades, etc do need to be protected. (even with proof of purchase it is a nightmare getting them back from the software companies - trust me I've been there!!) My ''irreplaceable" videos, MP3s, photos and docs such as scanned copies of passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, important letters, etc, etc, are all backed up to my external drive. The Back4WinXP program also restores simply - very important!!
After the initial backup of all selected files from my PC (137 GB in my case, taking 4 hours), I now run in ''Stealth'' mode which sees any changes to files I'm working on and backs them up automatically. A neat and quick feature. There are many such programs around to achieve backups so trial them to see which one works best for you. It's worth the effort believe me. Hope this helps.