Back up memory, How do you do it?

[Kagetsu]

I have back ups on two computers now, but still don't feel secure. Some I have backed up on CD/DVD's but still it's not enough. If one or the other crashes and needs a format, I'm going to loose something.

[Temple Fugate]

I have back ups on two computers now, but still don't feel secure. Some I have backed up on CD/DVD's but still it's not enough. If one or the other crashes and needs a format, I'm going to loose something.If you don't have one, you should invest in a portable hard drive. They're becoming quite cheap with a lot of storage space.

[Dudley]

I bought this external hard drive called a MyBook. It holds up to 250 GB.
It's great!

[Bubblegum Girl]

I usually used DVD+R disks and I usually just back-up all of my artwork. Everything else I can just download all over again.

[Silverstar]

Memory sticks are also good for storing things and keeping back-ups of documents and artwork. Because of them, I keep almost nothing on my hard drive.

[Storm Eagle]

If you don't have one, you should invest in a portable hard drive. They're becoming quite cheap with a lot of storage space.


Too bad they're not as compact as most flash drives though. Me, I've got an 8 GB one. I've got music, pictures, and documents stored on it.

[Temple Fugate]

Too bad they're not as compact as most flash drives though. Me, I've got an 8 GB one. I've got music, pictures, and documents stored on it.They're getting really small, though. I've seen some the size of only six flash drives, and it holds upwards of 250 gigs. Besides, for backing up every file one owns, portability is not a primary issue.

I've also heard a lot about the old-fashioned magnetic tape drives. They're still touted among the most reliable long-term storage media, lasting longer than DVD-Rs and floppies.

[Storm Eagle]

They're getting really small, though. I've seen some the size of only six flash drives, and it holds upwards of 250 gigs. Besides, for backing up every file one owns, portability is not a primary issue.

I've also heard a lot about the old-fashioned magnetic tape drives. They're still touted among the most reliable long-term storage media, lasting longer than DVD-Rs and floppies.

Well hopefully my 8 GB flash drive will be able to tide me over for a while. I first started out with a 2 GB flash drive, but then tried to win the 8 GB on eBay since I'd probably get it for the same price as one with 4 GBs.

[LazyReaper]

Invest in a External Hard drive. I have one that is 500GB, though you can easily get one for 1TB now for the same price I paid for it. This way you'll easily be able to backup all of your files on both computers and have a third back up untouched in case anything goes wrong with them.

If you have a DVD burner, then it's probably a good idea to back up your things on those too every few months, just as a safety measure in case your external hard drive fails too. This may seem like a bit too much, but it's worth it if you're backing up things that are important to you. By this I obviously mean things that can't be easily replaced (pictures, artwork, documents, etc)


-Aximlli-

[FireStarterLE]

Too bad they're not as compact as most flash drives though. Me, I've got an 8 GB one. I've got music, pictures, and documents stored on it.

320GB (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8744709&productCategoryId=abcat0504003&type=product&tab=2&id=1202648989560#productdetail) Portable, and it's pocket sized (http://www.techshout.com/images/western-digital-my-passport-usb-drives.jpg)

I have 2 external HDDs, the first one I bought was 250GB then sometime later the 500GB drive started falling in price so I had to get one of those as well.

Though I'd still like to have most of my important stuff on CD/DVD because even though they're external it's still a hard drive and they can crash just as easily as an internal one

[Storm Eagle]

320GB (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8744709&productCategoryId=abcat0504003&type=product&tab=2&id=1202648989560#productdetail) Portable, and it's pocket sized (http://www.techshout.com/images/western-digital-my-passport-usb-drives.jpg)

I have 2 external HDDs, the first one I bought was 250GB then sometime later the 500GB drive started falling in price so I had to get one of those as well.

Though I'd still like to have most of my important stuff on CD/DVD because even though they're external it's still a hard drive and they can crash just as easily as an internal one

Yeah it's pocket-sized, but it would look silly hanging on your key rings though. :)

Kidding aside, I can see it coming in handy. At the moment though, there aren't that many important things on my computer to back up that way to be honest. Though what if I have things like Napster and AIM? Could those be backed up on a hard drive too, or is there really not much of a point? Things like those are just basically accounts, and I can always use them again with no problem even if my computer does crash and I have to get a new one. However, I even have bookmarked web site links backed up on my flash drive, and I can bring them up on other computers from the flash drive.

Another question for those of you wish external hard drives. Since we've gone over all the great things, what drawbacks would you say they have?

[En Sabah Nur]

I got this and could not be happier: WD 1TB external HDD for only $230 with free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136186

[Temple Fugate]

Another question for those of you wish external hard drives. Since we've gone over all the great things, what drawbacks would you say they have?Some hard drives need to be formatted for a specific operating system. I have an old 60GB firewire external that has gone between being formatted for my Mac laptop, to being formatted for my PC, back to being formatted for Mac. If it's formatted, no other OS will recognize it as a drive.

Also, I'd like to eventually purchase a new, larger hard drive so I can back up my PC's files. However, my PC only has USB 1.0. External hard drives work best with USB 2.0 or firewire, as 1.0 has a much slower rate of data transfer. If you access a large file on an external drive via a computer's USB 1.0 socket, the reading and writing speed will be slower than if you were accessing the file from an internal drive.

Finally, for the purposes of backing up data ONLY, external hard drives are a relatively cheap, easy, and reliable method. You can use external drives for porting huge chunks of files between computers, but if we're only talking about backing up files for long-term storage, there is no point in discussing portability. You want to put it in the safest, driest, room-temperaturest spot, leave it there until you need it, and hope you never do.

[En Sabah Nur]

Some hard drives need to be formatted for a specific operating system. I have an old 60GB firewire external that has gone between being formatted for my Mac laptop, to being formatted for my PC, back to being formatted for Mac. If it's formatted, no other OS will recognize it as a drive. Nothing can be done about this one. Most external drives are NTFS now.


Also, I'd like to eventually purchase a new, larger hard drive so I can back up my PC's files. However, my PC only has USB 1.0. External hard drives work best with USB 2.0 or firewire, as 1.0 has a much slower rate of data transfer. If you access a large file on an external drive via a computer's USB 1.0 socket, the reading and writing speed will be slower than if you were accessing the file from an internal drive.
you can get a relatively cheap USB 2.0 PCI expansion card that will solve your problem.

Other problem with USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 is that they have slow transfer rates. If you are lucky enough to have eSATA on your motherboard,( Only one of my PCs has it, the one I built myself) only then the speeds are fast 3Gb/s fast. Firewire 800 (firewire2) didn't made it to external drives yet, and its still slower then eSATA.

[Beefy]

Nothing can be done about this one. Most external drives are NTFS now.
You can always reformat it to FAT32. You won't be able to have a single file that's larger than 4GB, but the drive will be readable by Windows, Mac, and Linux.

[En Sabah Nur]

You can always reformat it to FAT32. You won't be able to have a single file that's larger than 4GB, but the drive will be readable by Windows, Mac, and Linux.I meant drives will always have to formatted in order to accommodate a different os, they all come NTFS by default. Formatting a drive will always be necessary if using a non NTFS OS.