Need advice- how to back up data that is on my PC

[Anna Baum]

Need advice- how to back up data that is on my PC in case it
crashes/dies.

I have a Windows ME PC

I am becoming an assitant to a recruiter. We have about 5000 MS word
docs and quite a bit of emails in OE etc. The emails are REAL
important.

This data is dynamic ie more is added everyday...so every day/ week it
changes.

I am NOT a TECHIE.

What is the easiest way to back up this data so if the PC dies
/breaks down we have a backup ?

I have been given 3 options:

1. a CD burner

2. A zip drive

3. An external hardrive.


I have a 20GB drive and it is 75% full. Mostly programs like IE,
Netscape etc.

I think at the very max I have about 5 GB to backup in terms of data.

What is the best solution ?

Can any one tell me about prices and brands too.

Considering that I am NOT technical, which is the EASIEST solution ?

Also in the future I am thinking of buying a new PC...with that in
mind
which solution would be the easiest to transfer data ?


Any help would be REALLY HELPFUL.
Thanks
anna

 

[CJT]

Need advice- how to back up data that is on my PC in case it
crashes/dies.

I have a Windows ME PC

I am becoming an assitant to a recruiter. We have about 5000 MS word
docs and quite a bit of emails in OE etc. The emails are REAL
important.

This data is dynamic ie more is added everyday...so every day/ week it
changes.

I am NOT a TECHIE.

What is the easiest way to back up this data so if the PC dies
/breaks down we have a backup ?

I have been given 3 options:

1. a CD burner

2. A zip drive

3. An external hardrive.


I have a 20GB drive and it is 75% full. Mostly programs like IE,
Netscape etc.

I think at the very max I have about 5 GB to backup in terms of data.

What is the best solution ?

Can any one tell me about prices and brands too.

Considering that I am NOT technical, which is the EASIEST solution ?

Also in the future I am thinking of buying a new PC...with that in
mind
which solution would be the easiest to transfer data ?


Any help would be REALLY HELPFUL.
Thanks
anna

my 2 cents -

not the zip drive

the other two each have advantages and disadvantages -- a combination of
the two might be the best (e.g. monthly or weekly backups to CD for long
term archiving with daily backups to several alternating external hard
drives).

incremental backups to CD might also work

a lot depends on how fast your information changes, what fraction is new
each day, and whether _any_ loss is tolerable (if not, then you need to
consider mirrored or RAID drives).

 

[Arno Wagner]

Anna Baum wrote:

my 2 cents -
not the zip drive

I second that. They are small and unreliable.

the other two each have advantages and disadvantages -- a combination of
the two might be the best (e.g. monthly or weekly backups to CD for long
term archiving with daily backups to several alternating external hard
drives).

I second that too. Do not make backups to only one medium. The
general standard among sysadmins is at least three independent
backup media set. Also do not store all backups in one place.

Equally important: Do all backups with verify and test the
recovery process. For this you need a dofferent computer.

incremental backups to CD might also work
a lot depends on how fast your information changes, what fraction is new
each day, and whether _any_ loss is tolerable (if not, then you need to
consider mirrored or RAID drives).

Or automatic incremental steaming backups, i.e. tape. Then it
gets difficult.

There is also a different solution that may be a better fit for
your data volume: 3.5" MOD drives are relatively affordable and
the media are extremely reliable. At this time you get media up to
2.3GB in size. MOD is a removable optical media that can be rewritten
millions of times, like a HDD. You could, e.g., do a base backup on
several media every week/month and then do an incremental backup
relative to the base every day.

One more word of advice: You sound like you need a reliable
solution more than an easy solution. If your data is that
important, get somebody with solid skills in system administration
to help you plan and implement the backup solution. It is pretty
easy to make mistakes, if you do not know what you are doing.
Part of that plan should be a reasonable estimation of how
much the data is worth and how much you can spend on backups,
both in initial cost and in running cost.

Arno

 

[CJT]

Need advice- how to back up data that is on my PC in case it
crashes/dies.

I have a Windows ME PC

I am becoming an assitant to a recruiter. We have about 5000 MS word
docs and quite a bit of emails in OE etc. The emails are REAL
important.

This data is dynamic ie more is added everyday...so every day/ week it
changes.

I am NOT a TECHIE.

What is the easiest way to back up this data so if the PC dies
/breaks down we have a backup ?

I have been given 3 options:

1. a CD burner

2. A zip drive

3. An external hardrive.


I have a 20GB drive and it is 75% full. Mostly programs like IE,
Netscape etc.

I think at the very max I have about 5 GB to backup in terms of data.

What is the best solution ?

Can any one tell me about prices and brands too.

Considering that I am NOT technical, which is the EASIEST solution ?

Also in the future I am thinking of buying a new PC...with that in
mind
which solution would be the easiest to transfer data ?


Any help would be REALLY HELPFUL.
Thanks
anna

BTW, I would expand the list to include DVD -- they hold about 6-7 times
what a CD would, so you won't need to change media as often
..

 

[Nick]

One more word of advice: You sound like you need a reliable

solution more than an easy solution. If your data is that
important, get somebody with solid skills in system administration
to help you plan and implement the backup solution. It is pretty
easy to make mistakes, if you do not know what you are doing.
Part of that plan should be a reasonable estimation of how
much the data is worth and how much you can spend on backups,
both in initial cost and in running cost.

And since you are not a techie, ask this guy to explain you exactly
how to backup and restore, and then ask him to come back one month
later to check if everything is working fine.
I know people who trusted an external guy to set up the system. The
backup worked once, the first day, and then never worked again (and
with no warning). When the drive failed, there were a BIG problem ...

Nick

 

[Lil' Dave]

BTW, I would expand the list to include DVD -- they hold about 6-7 times
what a CD would, so you won't need to change media as often
.

Depending on what's used to restore and if its operating system dependent,
some other precautions are to backup in ISO, 8.3 format. Another would be
to limit the filesize to the operating system limitation used during the
restoration. Just depends on the restoration environment.

 

[ahedge]

Need advice- how to back up data that is on my PC in case it
crashes/dies.

I have a Windows ME PC

I am becoming an assitant to a recruiter. We have about 5000 MS word
docs and quite a bit of emails in OE etc. The emails are REAL
important.

This data is dynamic ie more is added everyday...so every day/ week it
changes.

I am NOT a TECHIE.

What is the easiest way to back up this data so if the PC dies
/breaks down we have a backup ?

I have been given 3 options:

1. a CD burner

2. A zip drive

3. An external hardrive.


I have a 20GB drive and it is 75% full. Mostly programs like IE,
Netscape etc.

I think at the very max I have about 5 GB to backup in terms of data.

What is the best solution ?

Can any one tell me about prices and brands too.

Considering that I am NOT technical, which is the EASIEST solution ?

Also in the future I am thinking of buying a new PC...with that in
mind
which solution would be the easiest to transfer data ?


Any help would be REALLY HELPFUL.
Thanks
anna

From what you say I gather that you have an old PC with an unreliable,
discontinued OS. Not good for business.

An external drive is probably the easiest but can your PC handle USB or
Firewire easily? I would consider adding a second PC with XP PRO ASAP .
Having two PCs makes it easier to replicate e-mail with OE.

If you have a good Internet connection (DSL or cable) consider also
subscribing to an online backup service.

Good luck

 

[Arno Wagner]

And since you are not a techie, ask this guy to explain you exactly
how to backup and restore, and then ask him to come back one month
later to check if everything is working fine.
I know people who trusted an external guy to set up the system. The
backup worked once, the first day, and then never worked again (and
with no warning). When the drive failed, there were a BIG problem ...

Sound advice. Backups that are unusable seem to be quite common.

I would add that you should try to do a restoration by yourself
on a different computer and that you should only be satisfied
if you feel confident you can do this in the future if the need
arises. Might also be a good idea to repeat this test once a year.

Sorry about all these details and complications. Computing
is still an expert's game, although some vendors may want
you to believe differently.

Arno

 

[CJT]

From what you say I gather that you have an old PC with an unreliable,
discontinued OS. Not good for business.

An external drive is probably the easiest but can your PC handle USB or
Firewire easily? I would consider adding a second PC with XP PRO ASAP .
Having two PCs makes it easier to replicate e-mail with OE.

If you have a good Internet connection (DSL or cable) consider also
subscribing to an online backup service.

Good luck

Or, if you want a really up-to-date OS, try SUSE 9.1.

 

[Arno Wagner]

ahedge wrote:
Or, if you want a really up-to-date OS, try SUSE 9.1.

Personally I prefer Debian (after having used SuSE from
"April 94" to 6.x. With good Internet connectivity Debian
(testing) is far better than SuSE with regards to updates.
SuSE had (has?) frequent problems when going to one version
to the next.

The SuSE installer is pretty good though and far better than
that of Windows, given that for MS you need to do all the
hardware and software installation separately.

Arno

 

[Peter]

Find a person who IS A TECHIE and follow her/his recommendations. Then ask
her/him to perform initial setup and test recovery. Take notes. Perform
procedures yourself. Consult if something is not working the way it should,
before you attempt to fix it yourself.
I would buy a second PC now, create network, and use old PC to backup data
from the new one (after successfuly transfering it from the old machine).
You can use some intelligent backup programs that backup over network.
Archive past data using simple methods (ZIP, burn to DVD), it makes much
easier to read it when needed.