Backing Up Personal Files

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daleje
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Daleje

We have several files which are updated almost daily. In the past we sent them
to floppies about once a week. Our new computer doesn't have a floppy drive, so
I've put all of our files onto a CD. I'm wondering how "practical" this is for
frequent saving. Would a Zip drive be easier to use, and worth the cost? Any
opinions regarding using CDs for frequent, repeated saves?
 
"Burned" CD's are much more reliable, have more space for storage, and will
last longer that either zip disks or floppy disks. You hint at using
CD-RWs - re-writing the same files over the old ones - bear in mind, there
is a practical limit to how many times a re-writeable disk can be re-written
to, which is about 1000 times. At once a week, one disk should (might) last
you many years. Be sure to buy good media. And two backup copies are always
better than one.

Of course, CD media is so cheap today, you can burn a new CD-R every week,
and not break the bank. Then you can either destroy or archive all the older
week's backups. Or can you do incremental backups. You have many options on
setting it up.

Zips drives aren't really meant for "serious" backup purposes (and certainly
not floppy's). CD-R(W)'s have proven themselves to be a reliable backup
media.

You're definitely on the right track.

Patrick Pitre
 
Thanks for the advice. I am a bit confused about CD-R and CD-RW, however.
I used a CD-R to copy our files onto. It was my understanding that I could copy
files with the same name onto those CDs and the new files would "replace" the
ones already there--as on a Zip drive, they would be overwritten.
Is it the case that once you use a CD-R, even if you use only a minute portion
of its capacity, you can no longer add to it?
What, exactly, is the difference between CD-R and CD-RW?
 
Thanks for the advice. I am a bit confused about CD-R and CD-RW, however.

OK, that's fair enough... (I'm gonna answer these out of sequence, ok?)
What, exactly, is the difference between CD-R and CD-RW?
Click to expand...

With "rewritable" CDs, you can "erase" the entire contents of the disk - you
end up with a CD that's blank, like you just bought it from the shop. (As
Patrick said, in practice the disk starts to "wear out" after you do this a
few times.) With normal "writable" CDs, once something is burned onto the
disk, you can't "unburn" it - it's there forever. (NB. Generally rewritable
CDs like this are more expensive than the normal writable CDs.)
I used a CD-R to copy our files onto. It was my understanding that I could copy
files with the same name onto those CDs and the new files would "replace" the
ones already there--as on a Zip drive, they would be overwritten.
Click to expand...

However... a normal writable CD can have multiple "sessions" on it. If so,
on most CD drives, it only reads the *last* session on the disk. In other
words, if you burn another copy of a file onto the disk, that new copy is
put into a new session, and since this is the last session on the disk, only
this session will be seen (by most PCs anyway). Bear in mind that although
the old files no longer show up, they still use up space on the CD. (And, in
fact, with the right software / hardware you can still read them. Just most
PCs can't - as far as I've seen.)
Is it the case that once you use a CD-R, even if you use only a minute portion
of its capacity, you can no longer add to it?
Click to expand...

Every time you burn something onto CD, that creates one of these "session"
thingies. If you tell the computer to "leave the disk open" when you do the
burn, you can still add data afterwards (by creating additional sessions).
However, if you tell the computer to "close the disk" after burning the
current session, then no - no matter how much space is left, you can never
ever add any data to that CD.

Hope that makes things a little clearer for you. If not, feel free to ask
more questions! ;-)

PS. If anyone knows any differently to me, speak up!
 
Thank you very much for this information. I can see that what I should have
bought were CD-RWs. I've used the Windows native CD burner, and after the
"session" ends, the drawer pops open. Does that mean that the "session" has
been terminated and that no more can be added to that disc? I'm asked if I want
to burn another CD, but not if I want to add more to the one I just did. I
suppose other burning programs offer the opportunity to create another session.
I had no idea that once a CD has had files burned to it, it cannot be added to.
This I really needed to know. I told the person who sold me the CDs that I
wanted to use them to back up personal data files, but that I also needed to
"update" those files frequently. Probably she didn't understand or she would
have advised me to buy CD-RWs.
I've used several to copy our wedding album photos for family. It is actually,
now that I think of it, assuring to know that they can't be erased or generally
messed with.
I now understand, I think, why commercial music CDs and, for that matter,
software on CDs can't be (and mustn't be) susceptible to overwrite or erase.
Thanks again.
 
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