Basic Disk

[Gerry]

Ken

Where do you get a non-removable hard drive?

Aren't hard drives less likely to fail than removable CD / DVD / floppy
drives?

I agree with your comments about backing up to a second partition on the
same hard drive.

--



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

Patrick

That's good advice. Offsite is particularly relevant to commercial
situations, where the cost of rebuilding records could be considerable.

I suspect that failed removable media is a bigger risk than a second
hard drive, Any comments? Your offsite recommendation kicks in to insure
against fire or theft from a single location.


--



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken

Where do you get a non-removable hard drive?

Well, I assume you mean that as a joke, because we both know that
*all* drives can be removed.

But the term "removable drive" normally means an external drive that
can be plugged into a USB port. It's easy to connect or remove it, and
takes just a second or two. But an internal drive is non-removable
except by opening the case, and unplugging and unscrewing the
components. It's much more difficult and takes much longer. A couple
of weeks ago, I had to remove a drive from a case and in that
particular case it was very hard, and took me over half an hour.

Aren't hard drives less likely to fail than removable CD / DVD / floppy
drives?

I'm not sure, but for the point in question, it doesn't matter. If the
hard drive fails, you very likely lose all the data on it. But with
CD, DVD, or floppy drives, the data is on the media, not on the drive.

 

[Twayne]

Patrick

That's good advice. Offsite is particularly relevant to commercial
situations, where the cost of rebuilding records could be
considerable.
I suspect that failed removable media is a bigger risk than a second
hard drive, Any comments? Your offsite recommendation kicks in to
insure against fire or theft from a single location.

Any always connected, always running drive is susceptible to damage.
Personally I'd see removable media as more secure, unless it's always
attached and running. One of the plusses of removable media, assuming
you mean a drive of some sort, is you don't need it attached and running
unless you are backing up. If you mean CD/DVD by removable media, well,
those are pretty "safe" methods and much more permanent than a hard
drive. Maybe I missed your meaning there.

The best backup plan continues to make the backup files available
after any catastrophic event ranging from a lightning hit that can even
take out an external drive, to a fast travelling piece of malware whose
only purpose it so locate other disk drives and destroy their files.
That's why IMO many plans include periodically backing up to DVDs
and/or tapes and the off-site storage, etc..

I've known people though that simply keep the backup on their second
disk drives, though not many. The one I know best finds it simply a
convenience, not really a backup. Most other people use external drives
and some end up pretty sorry if/when the external drive goes belly up.
That's where a set of DVDs or tape backups can step in as mighty handy.
A backup is only as good as the thought and effort put into devising
it. Personally, I have some data I would absolutely HATE losing and
could never recreate again; it's no longer resident on any of my hard
drives so it only exists in whole in the backups and archives. Those
are on DVDs too and new DVDs are made whenever anything is added to that
family. Everything else is simply backed up on a schedule, full monthly
and incrementals in between, and a set of DVDs made every 6 months or
whenever I feel there are enough changes to merit it.

Hmm, sorry; didn't mean to write sucha long post. Meds must be
working<g>.

Regards,

Twayne

 

[Twayne]

My own choice, using Acronis True Image:
-make crucial backups to both the Secure Zone (on the same
drive as C:, so vulnerable to a crash), and to a removable
drive. I have two removable drives, and periodically swap
the one I've been using for the other one, in a secure
location. Short of an unlikely coincidence of disaster,
the worst that could happen is having to back out to the
last image saved on the secure-location drive before the
last removable drive swap.

That should work well; looking for another drive to do that myself.
That way one can always be completely disconnected at all times.

 

[Twayne]

Well, I assume you mean that as a joke, because we both know that
*all* drives can be removed.

But the term "removable drive" normally means an external drive that
can be plugged into a USB port. It's easy to connect or remove it, and
takes just a second or two. But an internal drive is non-removable
except by opening the case, and unplugging and unscrewing the
components. It's much more difficult and takes much longer. A couple
of weeks ago, I had to remove a drive from a case and in that
particular case it was very hard, and took me over half an hour.




I'm not sure, but for the point in question, it doesn't matter. If the
hard drive fails, you very likely lose all the data on it. But with
CD, DVD, or floppy drives, the data is on the media, not on the drive.

Whooosh, a blast from the past! If anyone should be backing up to
floppies, remember you have to "refresh" them every few months or risk
losing the data. Some will last for years but some only for a few
months depending on the phase of the moon. Refreshing is easy: Copy
data off to hard drive, copy it back. Quick Formats don't hurt either
now & then.
Nor very practical, but ... just in case anyone's doing it.

Regards,

Twayne

 

[Gerry]

Ken

You normally choose your words more carefully. Your words "I don't
recommend backup to a second non-removable
hard drive". I was merely querying what you meant?


--



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Gerry]

Twayne

As I said yesterday your comments are not required. Go away and annoy
someone else!

--



Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~