Backup HDD Help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gabriel Knight
  • Start date Start date
G

Gabriel Knight

Hi I have just put in a new 160 gig HDD from an 80 gig HDD , I have my OS XP
Home on a 40 gig HDD and I want to use my 80 giger as a backup for
everything on my 40 gig Drive, I started to copy everything with the "show
hidden files and folders" option plus unticked "hide protected operating
system files" but a few minuits into it it said that it cant copy something
arather because it was being used by another program. Is there a program for
just backing up a HDD?? also it has to be free on the net.

Thanks in advance
Shaun
 
If one of them is a Maxtor drive go their pnline site and download a
free utility to do what you want.

I dare say if you go to other manufacturer's site they also may have a
similar downloadable prog.

Cheers
 
Pardon me for asking but why would you want to back up that way?

What you are after is data, favorites, documents, e-mail, etc. What is the
point in backing up every single thing?

-g
 
Yeah, like Geoff says. Simply drag and drop data files onto the new drive
if you want particular files to be backed up. The OS won't allow you to
copy all files on the running OS. If you want to have an exact image of all
files on the operating system drive, you need to use some sort of imaging
program like Acronis, Ghost, etc. They perform the image creation outside
of the operating system.
 
RussellS said:
Yeah, like Geoff says. Simply drag and drop data files onto the new drive if you want particular
files to be backed up.
Click to expand...

The main downside with that approach is that its easy to overlook
some files like digital certificates etc that you may not even be
aware that are on your system until you need the backup.
The OS won't allow you to copy all files on the running OS.
Click to expand...

Yes, but an intelligent system would allow you to just skip those
because they dont normally need to be backed up anyway.
If you want to have an exact image of all files on the operating system drive, you need to use
some sort of imaging program like Acronis, Ghost, etc. They perform the image creation outside of
the operating system.
Click to expand...

Yes, but he wants a free one.

What is included with the OS may be good enough, but he didnt say which OS.
 
Because every time something goes wrong (very wrong) I have to do a clean
install and I have a slow dialup and downloading my antivirus is a pain in
the but so I thought what the heck I'll make an exact copy on the drive I
dont use anymore.....

Plus I learned something if anyone I know needs the same thing

Gabriel Knight
 
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