COMPLETE backup of harddrive contents

[Uncle Grumpy]

(e-mail address removed)

Anyone want to back me up here? I'm sorry UNCLE GRUMPY, if my priority isn't
backing up hundreds of gigs of porn that I download every day. The only files
that I PRODUCE on my computer are photoshop, illustrator, Word, publisher,
excel, and powerpoint documents. Those are all saved to my thumb drive, as is
my Itunes downloads to my Ipod. so, I'm sorry if I don't have the need to
back up my hard drive everyday, but that doesn't make me a moron.

What's saved to your thumb drive is data that you have "PRODUCED" not
the programs and all the other stuff that's necessary for your system
to operate smoothly.

You're a moron if you don't back it ALL up on a regular basis.

Hard drives are cheap.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

We're talking about an external drive. What you suggest makes no sense on an
external HD.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Ignore the troll. He never has anything nice to say about anyone (well,
almost never).

Only you can determine what's worth the time and money to keep backed up.
Personally, a thumb drive is near or maybe at the top of my list of flaky
places to store data. If the files on the external HD aren't critical and
you can make enough room, now that you have Acronis, why not set up a
regular backup strategy?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Guest]

Setting up a backup strategy, on a regular basis, would be a lot of work
because this external that I have, like I mentioned before, is an HP Media
Drive, and it plugs into the desktop. It's got this whole compartement made
JUST for it right in the tower. PLUS, I moved taht desktop's pagin file to it
so I'd had to shut down that computer, take it out, gather the cords, set it
all up, and for what? Absolutley none of my files are that critical. I always
have ONe copy on my hard drive, and one on my thumb drive and I think it is
VERY unlikely that both of them might corrupt on me in one day.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Now, I'm confused. My understanding is that SATA (150 MB/sec) and SATAII
(300MB/sec) is generally what's available. Rumor has it SATAIII (450MB/sec)
is out there, but has problems.

What is SATA6 interface?
What is SATA 100?

2.5" hard drives are standard in laptops. 3.5" just won't work for many
reasons.
Dave

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

OK, you've convinced me, <s>. For a one-time or occasional clone of the OS
partition or the entire drive, your scheme seems OK. Just remember to
refresh it (replace it) whenever you make changes to your system -- tweaks,
installations, uninstalls, etc. And, perhaps, make one *before* making such
changes, or before major maintenance.

I would not consider that drive to be "external" since it still depends on
the main box's power supply, and thence come power surges that are the death
of drives. IOW, that drive is too closely associated with the main drive to
be considered a decent backup. Be sure to pull it before making major
changes, only putting it back when the system is "right".

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Lil' Dave]

(e-mail address removed)


Like I said... you're a moron.

Ignorance is not a disease. It may be a matter of lack of knowledge, or,
not stumbling upon that knowledge, or, choosing not to seek that knowledge.

Stupidity is having knowledge of, but not taking advantage of that, or, not
reasoning out a solution based on that knowledge, or, implementing a
solution that goes against knowledge made available.

A moron may be walking the line between ignorance and stupidity. This is
directly a relation of the inborne brain density shield.

The village idiot may antagonize the moron at times.

Dave

 

[Guest]

Yep, makes sense to me... although, I don't think it IS as closely related to
the drive as you might think. It looks exactly like an external h/d with the
casing and all, but its shaped to go into this pocket that has a little hatch
on the tower, in where it plugs into some sort of socket. But the drive also
has a USB and AC power connection for use on other computers. But I will
definately take your advice,backing it up when I make system cahnges... I
don't hink I will be making anymore unless they find a whole list of NEW XP
tweaks and post htem on the net.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

To lil' dave, about the Hard drive types. I dont quite know what Sata 6 is...
Until now, I didn't know htat 150 meant 150MB/s... But I can guarantee my
laptop is moving faster htan 6MB/s, lol. I would just like to know if 150
would work on my laptop because I have an upgrade h/d in mind, but hte only
spec that doesnt match up with my current h/d is the number of SATA. Mine is
currently 6, but I'd like to purchase this one that is SATA150.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Theoretically, your drive would be safer if you left it out of its enclosure
and used the USB and AC connectors. That "plug of some kind" is directly
connected to the same power supply that supports the rest of your system,
and if a zap happens, it will get zapped along with the rest of your system.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

SATA-6 stands for 6GB/sec. SATA-1, SATA-3, and SATA-6 do not refer to the
same thing as SATA-150 and SATA-300. See
..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA for a decent discussion of the
topic, though it's a bit dated. As far as I can tell, there is no problem
with what you want to do. What I would make sure is that the new drive is
SATA-6. SATA-150 refers to the controller, and should be compatible with all
SATA drives, though the later models show some incompatibilities according
to the article. SATA-1, -3 and -6 all work on a SATA-150 controller.
SATA-300 is more recent and backwards compatible.

Make sure you get a SATA-6 drive.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Guest]

See, that's the thing,. When looking for a drive on Tigerdirect, I only found
the specs saying SATA-150 or SATA-300. Can you search for me on there... You
cort through all the drives pretty quickly if you click the links on the
side. Go Harddrives, External USB/Firewire, 2.5", SATA
and then you're left with 9, only about 2 of them are 160 GB and those are
the two I'm talking about.

Thanks!

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

You need to determine what speed the SATA controller is on your machine.
SATA-150 or SATA-300. You do that from the laptop manufacturer's spec sheet.
My *guess* is that you need a SATA-150 drive, and that it will most likely
be a SATA6 drive, since that is the stage SATA-150 drives are at these days.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"

 

[Guest]

when I used tech support a couple days back, from Gateway, the said my laptop
had a SATA6, and that SATA-150 was just another version of SATA, like 6 was
(which they obviously had wrong, and proved they know nothing really). All I
know for sure based on the specs of my system and what gateway could tell me,
is that it IS SATA6. As for 150 or 300, you're prob right about 150. The
laptop is a year and a a hlaf old. Someone on here said earlier that 300 is
fairly new.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

I've gone as far as I can with your case. The specs provided by Gateway do
not mention the motherboard or its components. I think you're down to the
point of trying the drive you've got in mind. SATA technology is *supposed*
to be backwards and forwards compatible, though as that article notes, it
isn't always the case.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"(e-mail address removed)"