Opinion question about external back up drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter chicagofan
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chicagofan

I think I am familiar enough with my new system now, to take some advice
given me here several months ago about back up devices. Now I just need
some more specific advice about what to purchase.

I have a 80GB system, and in 10 yrs. my home use has never exceeded
10GB. [It's 7GB now + 5GB for system.] I may use slightly more storage
for mp3's and WebShots, but I'm not a photo buff, or total music junkie.

So these are my questions:

1 - Is an 80 GB drive excessive or adequate for my purely personal use?
For example, would 40GB do? Any reason to have excess capacity?

2 - Will these drives copy *absolutely everything* on my system, and
restore it SIMPLY for a semi-literate computer user? In others words,
if my system crashes, am I going to be able to restore my system?

3 - The drives I am looking at are Maxtor, Iomega and LaCie w/80 GB, and
I get confused when reading some ngs where some people say these drives
don't do what a Ghost image will? Am I misunderstanding something. [I
don't want to use Norton products.]

4 - What brand is your personal preference and why, if you use an
external back up advice?

Thanks to any and all, who have the time to help this *less than
technical*, but ardent pc user, decide on the _simplest_ and most
dependable back up drive.
bj

P.S. - This is what I keep coming back to [at New Egg]:
http://www.maxstore.com/product.asp?sku=2455296
 
chicagofan said:
I think I am familiar enough with my new system now, to take some advice
given me here several months ago about back up devices. Now I just need
some more specific advice about what to purchase.

I have a 80GB system, and in 10 yrs. my home use has never exceeded 10GB.
[It's 7GB now + 5GB for system.] I may use slightly more storage for
mp3's and WebShots, but I'm not a photo buff, or total music junkie.

So these are my questions:

1 - Is an 80 GB drive excessive or adequate for my purely personal use?
For example, would 40GB do? Any reason to have excess capacity?
Click to expand...
80 GB is probably the smallest that you can buy.
2 - Will these drives copy *absolutely everything* on my system, and
restore it SIMPLY for a semi-literate computer user? In others words, if
my system crashes, am I going to be able to restore my system?
Click to expand...

No. Windows XP Pro will backup most. Windows XP Home does not have the
backup installed (will not back up system settings) on arrival see this for
instructions to install.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/tips/kellyxp02.mspx
However, your programs (indluding XP) are on CDs. Use them as "Back Up".
3 - The drives I am looking at are Maxtor, Iomega and LaCie w/80 GB, and I
get confused when reading some ngs where some people say these drives
don't do what a Ghost image will? Am I misunderstanding something. [I
don't want to use Norton products.]
Click to expand...
I would install a second internal drive, the cost is less and backup speeds
are much faster. The use the Windows XP back up to back up the My Documents
folder. Make sure all of your downloaded programs are in a folder within My
Documents. IMO.
4 - What brand is your personal preference and why, if you use an external
back up advice?
Click to expand...

Most internal hard drives are now commodities. I have no personal
prefereces. When I have needed one, I simply went to the store and bought
the cheapest.
Thanks to any and all, who have the time to help this *less than
technical*, but ardent pc user, decide on the _simplest_ and most
dependable back up drive.
bj

P.S. - This is what I keep coming back to [at New Egg]:
http://www.maxstore.com/product.asp?sku=2455296
Click to expand...
 
1. Don't worry about having too much space. I recommend that the backup
drive should be at least three times as large as your largest backup job. I
do automated weekly incremental backups. Over time the space used to back
up 10GB can grow to 30GB because what is being saved are the changes from
session to session. These accumulate and at some point I do a "recycle
media" backup and thus start over with a new backup file.

2. You can select a backup option that includes the system files.

3. The backup program, not the drive, determines what kind of restores you
can do. If you are buying an external hd to use for backups, then you can
select one that has a backup program bundled with it.
If you buy a backup program, BackupMyPC (Stomp) and Retrospect (Dantz) are
good ones. Hint: Always have the cd version of your backup program on hand
and don't depend on a downloaded version. If you have to restore you may
also have to reinstall the backup program first.

4. I prefer an external usb2 drive. I have tried a firewire drive and it
was not as reliable about being online when the automated backup wanted to
start.
 
Colin said:
1. Don't worry about having too much space. I recommend that the backup
drive should be at least three times as large as your largest backup job. I
do automated weekly incremental backups. Over time the space used to back
up 10GB can grow to 30GB because what is being saved are the changes from
session to session. These accumulate and at some point I do a "recycle
media" backup and thus start over with a new backup file.

2. You can select a backup option that includes the system files.

3. The backup program, not the drive, determines what kind of restores you
can do. If you are buying an external hd to use for backups, then you can
select one that has a backup program bundled with it.
If you buy a backup program, BackupMyPC (Stomp) and Retrospect (Dantz) are
good ones. Hint: Always have the cd version of your backup program on hand
and don't depend on a downloaded version. If you have to restore you may
also have to reinstall the backup program first.

4. I prefer an external usb2 drive. I have tried a firewire drive and it
was not as reliable about being online when the automated backup wanted to
start.
Click to expand...

No. 4, is what I am looking at, and the Maxtor One Touch, has the Dantz
Retrospect backup program. That's probably what I will go with.

Thanks Colin, and Chuck for your responses and information. For reasons
not previously specified, I couldn't use an internal drive.
bj
 
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