Advise on saving or backing up please

[chris]

I have recently bought a new PC running XP so that my ME computer will now
act as a standby for when I have a serious crash (from bitter experience I
know that this will occur). The family will be using both computers. My
questions are these:
How do I arrange things so that if I work on a file on one computer, it's
easy to update the other?
What's the EASIEST method of backing up My Docs (plus OE addresses &
messages etc)?

I've found the information that's out there very confusing. Should I buy an
external hard drive? Would networking be better? Would new software do the
trick?

Please can anyone suggest an answer to what surely must be simple to solve?

Cheers Chris

 

[mike]

-----Original Message-----
I have recently bought a new PC running XP so that my ME computer will now
act as a standby for when I have a serious crash (from bitter experience I
know that this will occur). The family will be using both computers. My
questions are these:
How do I arrange things so that if I work on a file on one computer, it's
easy to update the other?
What's the EASIEST method of backing up My Docs (plus OE addresses &
messages etc)?

I've found the information that's out there very confusing. Should I buy an
external hard drive? Would networking be better? Would new software do the
trick?

Please can anyone suggest an answer to what surely must be simple to solve?

Cheers Chris


.
Hi Chris,

You sound like you want to transfer data between two
computers. The best way would probably be a network
connection. Most computers come with a network card And
Windows XP is based on the Windows NT network version.

Another way would be to copy your files to a CD burner.

If your looking for a backup program, Windows has backup
and restore built into it. I've not used it in 10 years,
but it's free. You can get online help if you have
questions.

I have only one computer, so I installed a second hard
drive. I use a software program called NTI Backup Now!
It has saved my system twice already from Windows bugs.
This setup was a little pricey, but worth it the first
time I needed it. This backup program will image the
entire drive, including Windows system files as well as
writing to a CD burner. The drive image is too big for
CD's, so I use the extra hard drive for that.

Good Luck, hope this helps.

 

[chris]

Many thanks Mike. Looks like I'll have to give the problem a lot more
thought.
Appreciated. Chris

 

[Blair]

Many thanks Mike. Looks like I'll have to give the problem a lot more
thought.
Appreciated. Chris

If you are going for a backup programme I would strongly recomend Acronis
True Image- it is the best and importantly the easiest to use.
regards
Blair