Back-ups, just wondering...

Taffycat

Taffycat

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I just happened to be pondering about back-ups and such, and a thought popped into my head, but I don't know whether it would work, so maybe one of you could give me a little guidance please?

I have been thinking of buying an external HDD, for the purpose of backing up - instead of just backing-up to DVDs, etc.

Then it occurred to me... if a PC suddenly "died" of some kind of major failure (heaven forbid) would it be possible to get an external hard-drive caddy, and simply load the HD from the "dead" computer into it, and then access it from another computer...? Would that work? Or are there technical reasons why it wouldn't?

Thank you for looking :D
 
Yes you could use an caddy to retrieve data fronm your "dead" computer, then once a new hdd was installed transfer all data plus back up data to your new hdd. here is a good site I use quite often for anything USB related.
 
Thanks Madx :D I have just bookmarked that site, some interesting info about the products on there, which is always very helpful. :wave:
 
I use a freebie version of Acronis True Image 10 and it does recognise external drives connected via USB for backup purposes.

To back up your complete main drive and restore it you will need software such as Acronis True Image. You make a boot CD within the software and when restoring boot from it.

Nortons used to do a recovery program similar to Acronis named Ghost which actually worked very well but I don't know if they still sell it.
 
Hi Flopps, thank you for the advice :thumb:

I downloaded a freebie of "Paragon Drive Backup 9" recently, which I've not tried yet (mainly because I havent got my external drive yet :o) so I don't know what that is like.

Though if the Acronis True Image is better, I would be happy to purchase it. :nod:
 
Paragon make excellent software but I haven't used their Drive Backup so can't comment on which is better.

Acronis was available as a freebie late last year as V10.0 was superceeded by Acronis TI 2009 but V10.0 works for me.

Before you spend cash wait until you get your external drive then do a dry run with Paragon running through the program as far as doing a restore but don't actually restore.

If you get that far with it, I'd rely on the Paragon software.

So: Install Paragon and run it; Create boot CD within Paragon; Use Paragon to make backup to your external disk of Drive C (Probably Drive C, anyway); boot from the recovery CD and go as far as re-installing but don't actually reinstall.

That's how Acronis works anyway, I would imagine Paragon works in a similar manner.
 
I got myself external caddy just like you mentioned and I periodically backup my files to it.

Backing up important data is crucial in my opinion.
 
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=d9fd4a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

The Seagate Disk Wizard is a rebranded Acronis product and is freely available from the above link. You can get a very good maual for its use from the Acronis site, there may be a copy of the manual in the Disk Wizard download.

happywave.gif
 
Psd - yes, I had a bit of a scare when the PSU packed-up last week. There's nothing like a "near-squeak" to focus the mind, lol. :nod:

Abarbarian, thank you for the link :thumb: - it looks interesting and very good to be able to get a manual too. I've bookmarked it, in case I get stuck with the Paragon software. :D
 
Abarb's suggestion sounds like a good idea. If you buy an external drive caddy such as This then bung a Seagate drive in it you is made up :)

Here's a cheaper alternative caddy: Link

I've used the Icy Box and Akasa enclosures and they've proved good.

PC World also sell some good enclosures at a reasonable price.
 
Ooh those look good Flopps - I've just had a look, but will take a better gander at them in the morning when I'm bright-eyed and bushy tailed again and not half-asleep :p I know there was another question I wanted to ask... but it has got lost amongst my little grey cells for the moment ;)
 
I remembered my question! Yay, little grey cells are functioning again! :p

Some of you have more than one rig (as we do here) so, is it necessary to have a separate external-drive for backing-up each of them? Or would it be okay to get a drive with lots of space to accommodate them (don't know, but presuming it would have to be partitioned, or something like that?) We have two x 400 GB HDs on the desktops... and if I included the laptops, that would be another 60 and 80 GB respectively.

I would be interested to know what you consider to be the best option please. :)

Ooh - and do specifics matter? The drives on the desktops are S-ATA, so does the external back-up drive need to be S-ATA also? Or is that not important. (I am not trying to be lazy about Googling some answers, but it is so much less confusing to get a trusted opinion, if you see what I mean?)

Thank you again :thumb:
 
Taffycat said:
I remembered my question! Yay, little grey cells are functioning again! :p

Some of you have more than one rig (as we do here) so, is it necessary to have a separate external-drive for backing-up each of them? Or would it be okay to get a drive with lots of space to accommodate them (don't know, but presuming it would have to be partitioned, or something like that?) We have two x 400 GB HDs on the desktops... and if I included the laptops, that would be another 60 and 80 GB respectively.

I would be interested to know what you consider to be the best option please. :)

Ooh - and do specifics matter? The drives on the desktops are S-ATA, so does the external back-up drive need to be S-ATA also? Or is that not important. (I am not trying to be lazy about Googling some answers, but it is so much less confusing to get a trusted opinion, if you see what I mean?)

Thank you again :thumb:
Click to expand...

Data is data, doesn't matter how it's stored or where it's stored as long as it's not corrupted and is accessible.

Therefore not important if external drive is PATA or SATA. If buying new though I'd recommend SATA as PATA is definitely on the way out.

Each backup will be a seperate file which you can name whatever you like so all can go on one external drive.

Acronis compresses data so you don't take up as much space on your storage drive as your actual OS data. I think the default setting is 70% but you have the option to backup uncompressed and also use greater compression. I always use the default setting unless it's a small OS setup, when I will use 100% backup (no compression).

I don't know how much space you need but a 1Tb disk wouldn't go amiss, all those music movie and photo files soon mount up as well as the OS backups.
 
Thank you Mr. Barbarian and Mr. Flopps. :bow: :bow:

The info you have both provided is very helpful to me and I appreciate your replies. It really helps me to get my head around what's-what :D
 
I'm backing most work on to USB Flash drives or to DVD-R's.
Mesh pc is to unreliable these days & will all get put back on new pc when we get it!
 
Drives fail, any-make.

So, don't forget to get a backup for the backup. :thumb:



I just use DVDs. :D
 
muckshifter said:
backup for the backup. :thumb:
Click to expand...


I have no hesitation in backing you up on that!
nod.gif


I have backed up my data in two places. I use a caddy with a standard HDD and a mobile drive from Lacie. I have data going back almost ten years :D

I am using the enclosure from Vantec. The casing is all aluminium so it keeps things cool. The exact model that I have is Nexstar 3 Midnight Blue which is USB & eSata.

It works very well and I have had it for over a year now.
 
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