I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do I
do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard drive or
what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help would
be appreciated it.
thanks in advance
--
Stacey

Stacey wrote:
> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do I
> do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard drive or
> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help would
> be appreciated it.
> thanks in advance

If you have usb 2.0, an external hd is a relatively inexpensive solution
these days. I image the system using booitng from
www.terabyteunlimited.com. A lot of people like Acronis.
Dave Cohen

"Stacey" wrote:

> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do I
> do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard drive or
> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help would
> be appreciated it.
> thanks in advance
> --
> Stacey


I am looking into this question myself. It seems that you need to make an
“image” of your drive. I suggest you go to www.acronis.com. Of course they
sell Acronis True Image V9+ for $50 for home use, but they have links to
several interesting articles about backing up your system and your hard
drive. It's a start.

Felix wrote:

>
>
> "Stacey" wrote:
>
>> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do
>> I do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard
>> drive or
>> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help
>> would be appreciated it.
>> thanks in advance
>> --
>> Stacey
>
>
> I am looking into this question myself. It seems that you need to make an
> “image” of your drive.

that's only one method of backing up. Depends whether you need to do a full
sytem backup, or whether you just need to backup data....

--
Registered Linux User no 240308
to email me invalidate the invalid!

Great ideas. I was looking at the external hard drives. Basically I want to
back up, photos, music and personal files. But I should probably do the
whole computer. I don't understand what this Acronis is. Don't you have to
physically have something in order to back up system? What happens if the
system crashes?
thanks again for all the great advice.
--
Stacey


"Gordon" wrote:

> Felix wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > "Stacey" wrote:
> >
> >> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do
> >> I do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard
> >> drive or
> >> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help
> >> would be appreciated it.
> >> thanks in advance
> >> --
> >> Stacey
> >
> >
> > I am looking into this question myself. It seems that you need to make an
> > “image” of your drive.
>
> that's only one method of backing up. Depends whether you need to do a full
> sytem backup, or whether you just need to backup data....
>
> --
> Registered Linux User no 240308
> to email me invalidate the invalid!
>

Hi Stacey..

I've been using Acronis Home for months now and I have to say it comes very
highly recommended.

It is best used in connection with an external drive, although Acronis will
allow you to create a partition (an area on your hard drive which XP will
treat as a separate drive) called the 'Acronis Secure Zone' which is hidden
and holds the images that you create when you back up.

It's the worse feeling in the world when something goes wrong and you are
left blinking in disbelief that your O.S. has been lost and you have to go
again from scratch. I can never stress enough the importance of backing up
your data.

Give Acronis a try, it was recommended to me by many users on this very
newsgroup and I wouldn't be without it now.

I hope this helps you..

Big Liam


"Stacey" wrote:

> Great ideas. I was looking at the external hard drives. Basically I want to
> back up, photos, music and personal files. But I should probably do the
> whole computer. I don't understand what this Acronis is. Don't you have to
> physically have something in order to back up system? What happens if the
> system crashes?
> thanks again for all the great advice.
> --
> Stacey
>
>
> "Gordon" wrote:
>
> > Felix wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > "Stacey" wrote:
> > >
> > >> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do
> > >> I do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard
> > >> drive or
> > >> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help
> > >> would be appreciated it.
> > >> thanks in advance
> > >> --
> > >> Stacey
> > >
> > >
> > > I am looking into this question myself. It seems that you need to make an
> > > “image” of your drive.
> >
> > that's only one method of backing up. Depends whether you need to do a full
> > sytem backup, or whether you just need to backup data....
> >
> > --
> > Registered Linux User no 240308
> > to email me invalidate the invalid!
> >

OK, but if the system crashes how do you access the partion that has all
your stuff?
--
Stacey


"Big Liam" wrote:

> Hi Stacey..
>
> I've been using Acronis Home for months now and I have to say it comes very
> highly recommended.
>
> It is best used in connection with an external drive, although Acronis will
> allow you to create a partition (an area on your hard drive which XP will
> treat as a separate drive) called the 'Acronis Secure Zone' which is hidden
> and holds the images that you create when you back up.
>
> It's the worse feeling in the world when something goes wrong and you are
> left blinking in disbelief that your O.S. has been lost and you have to go
> again from scratch. I can never stress enough the importance of backing up
> your data.
>
> Give Acronis a try, it was recommended to me by many users on this very
> newsgroup and I wouldn't be without it now.
>
> I hope this helps you..
>
> Big Liam
>
>
> "Stacey" wrote:
>
> > Great ideas. I was looking at the external hard drives. Basically I want to
> > back up, photos, music and personal files. But I should probably do the
> > whole computer. I don't understand what this Acronis is. Don't you have to
> > physically have something in order to back up system? What happens if the
> > system crashes?
> > thanks again for all the great advice.
> > --
> > Stacey
> >
> >
> > "Gordon" wrote:
> >
> > > Felix wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > "Stacey" wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But how do
> > > >> I do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive, external hard
> > > >> drive or
> > > >> what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do it that way. Any help
> > > >> would be appreciated it.
> > > >> thanks in advance
> > > >> --
> > > >> Stacey
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I am looking into this question myself. It seems that you need to make an
> > > > “image” of your drive.
> > >
> > > that's only one method of backing up. Depends whether you need to do a full
> > > sytem backup, or whether you just need to backup data....
> > >
> > > --
> > > Registered Linux User no 240308
> > > to email me invalidate the invalid!
> > >

Stacey wrote:

> OK, but if the system crashes how do you access the partion that has
> all your stuff?

You want to do this in two parts:

1. General image of the entire system
2. Regular backups of just the data.

Acronis True Image will do both. Get a second hard drive, either
external or internal to store the system image and the backups. It is
wise to also burn the data backups to cd/dvd and put in a safe place.

When you install TI, you will make a bootable cd. When you boot with
this cd, it will start TI - you don't need to even have an OS
installed. From that program you will be able to restore an image (the
one you presumably have stored on the 2nd hard drive).

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Stacey wrote:

> I hear alot about backing up your system and what to back up. But
> how do I do that?? Do I do it by puchasing a USB flash drive,
> external hard drive or what? I don't have a dvd burner so I can't do
> it that way. Any help would be appreciated it.


Here's my general blurb on backup:



First of all, almost everyone should be backing up regularly. It is always
possible that a hard drive crash, user error, nearby lightning strike, virus
attack, even theft of the computer, can cause the loss of everything on your
drive. As has often been said, it's not a matter of whether you will have
such a problem, but when.

Essentially you should back up what you can't afford to lose--what you can't
readily recreate. What that is depends on how you use your computer and what
you use it for.

It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort to
recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to recreate
more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's potentially a lot
more to recreate. You should assess how much pain and trouble you would have
if you lost x days of data, and then choose a backup frequency that doesn't
involve more pain and trouble than that you would have if you had to
recreate what was lost.

Some things (photographs, for instance) can never be recreated, and more
frequent backup may be wanted for them.

At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of business
if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least daily. At the
other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his computer except to play games.
He probably needs no backup at all, since worst case he can easily reinstall
his games.

Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but nobody can tell you
where you fall; you need to determine that for yourself.

Should you back up Windows? Should you back up your applications? Most
people will tell you no, since you can always reinstall these easily from
the original media. But I don't think the answer is so clear-cut. Many
people have substantial time and effort invested in customizing Windows and
configuring their apps to work the way they want to. Putting all of that
back the way it was can be a difficult, time-consuming effort. Whether you
should backup up Windows and apps depends, once again, on you.

How to backup? What software to use? There are many choices, including the
Windows-supplied backup program. Which choice is best for you depends at
least in part on the answers to some of the questions above.

Finally what backup media should you choose, and how should it be stored?
There are many choices, including CDs, tape, zip drives, and second hard
drives.

I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because it
leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and backup to
many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches, nearby lightning
strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept in
the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the life of
your business depends on your data) you should have multiple generations of
backup, and at least one of those generations should be stored off-site.

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme uses two
identical removable hard drives. I alternate between the two, and use
Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary drive.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

In my perception, backup usually refers to keeping certain folders/files
copied to another source such as an external hard drive, thumb drive, CD,
DVD. etc. You should backup My Documents, the Windows Address Book,
Favorites, plus any other information, music, etc. plus anything else you do
want to lose. A good free program to do this with is an XP PowerToy from
Microsoft named SyncToy. Get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...o/synctoy.mspx
..The download link is at the top right side. I would suggest you either buy
an external hard drive of about 160GB or install a second internal hard
drive if you have a vacant slot.
The second method others refer to is drive/partition imaging with such
programs as Nortons Ghost 10 or Save and Restore or Acronis True Image. A
free one is XXClone from here: http://www.xxclone.com/ (they offer both a
free and shareware version). The free one is limited to full imaging while
the shareware version offers incremental changes to already established full
images. For imaging, you will need the second ATA/SATA internal drive.
GeneK