Backup to External Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Buffalo
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Buffalo

I have Acronis and I would like to back up my total system to an external
150GB HDD via USB2.
I have a dual boot (win98se-win2000ProSP4) system. Do I need to format the
backup drive? Should I use FAT32 or NTFS (my 2000 is NTFS and my Win98SE is
FAT 32).

I want to image the whole IDE HDD that is in my PC (120GB Maxtor) so that I
can reinstall all if my HDD fails or I have a major system infection or
corruption.
Thanks,
Buffalo
 
I have Acronis and I would like to back up my total system to an external
150GB HDD via USB2.
I have a dual boot (win98se-win2000ProSP4) system. Do I need to format the
backup drive? Should I use FAT32 or NTFS (my 2000 is NTFS and my Win98SE is
FAT 32).

I want to image the whole IDE HDD that is in my PC (120GB Maxtor) so that I
can reinstall all if my HDD fails or I have a major system infection or
corruption.
Thanks,
Buffalo
Click to expand...

I do this all the time using a 350GB USB drive. I formatted the drive
to FAT32 because I use Win98 and Win2000 (dual boot). Win98 can not
read a NTFS format. You can copy files from NTFS to a FAT32 drive.

I dont know what you plan to use for backing up. Do you have software
for that? Myself, I just copy the files. But there is a trick. You
CANT copy the SWAP FILE from windows98. It will not copy. But there
is the trick. Boot to Win2000 and copy everything on your computer to
the backup drive, EXCEPT the Documents and Settings and WINNT folders
from Win2000. Before you backup, DELETE the SWAP file from the Win98
folder. There is no sense backing that file up, and it will be
recreated as soon as you reboot to 98.

Then boot to Win98 and delete PAGEFILE.SYS (from Win2000). Then backup
the winnt and documents and settings folders from Win2000.

But if you have some backup software, they normally bypass these files
that will not copy. Personally, I dislike backup software because it
creates a huge file (which could cause an error and you'd lose your
whole backup..... I had that happen). Besides, using a direct COPY,
you can copy just one file easily, or even play music or view the
pictures on your backup.
 
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