Question Backing up all my data ( PCMech Forums Drives and Storage )
Updated: 2009-06-04 05:20:23 (3) |
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Backing up all my data
Hello all, I want to back up all the data on my HDD so I can wipe it to remove the OS. I want to write everything to CD/DVD's for storage, and then I can re-install what I want back on the Drive.
Anyways, I guess my real question here is what is the best way to go about doing this? Should I write multiple items together as an iso or write each individual file to disc. Or is this a bad and I should I go with another method?
Sorry, if my questions seem a little simple, but I'm still a noob at this kinda stuff, but I am a fast learner and would really appreciate any advice that I can get.
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| Answers: Backing up all my data ( PCMech Forums Drives and Storage ) |
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Backing up all my data
If you intend to use disks then you have to do some organizing first.
Remember, anything like your email will be switched to read only and you'll have to remember to change that when you reinstall the files, make a note of it on the disk you burn the emails to.
Separate out your media files and make a note of what you've burned on the disks, this depends entirely on how you organize your music, what media player you use and so on.
If you have videos then burn those separately as well, same with photos
Any programs you bought on line that can't be downloaded again should be moved into a folder, with their registration keys, and burned separately.
If you can re-download some programs make sure you save the labeled registration keys in files that you put in a folder of their own before you burn that.
If you have any reason to think that you might have driver problems then collect all the drivers you think you'll need in a folder and burn those to disk as well.
All Office docs, Word, Excel you treat the same as others.
This is the pain it sounds like but if you're going to burn to disks it will get you back up and running with the minimal amount of grief.
I rarely have to do this anymore since I use a usb hard drive for back ups.
I don't know what your friends and family are using but if someone will loan you a large usb drive for a few days it will make the entire job much easier.
Last but not least, I can't prove that the dog will eat the hard disks or that your kid brother will use them for Frisbee practice but it just seems that way. And for some reason otherwise sane people will pick up a working usb hard drive and turn it upside down before they drop it.
Put the disks out of reach, and preferably out of sight, of casual passersby, two legged or four.
Guard the usb hard drive with your life.
pam123
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Backing up all my data
I would recommend you use an external hard drive and an imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198940
If you build your own external with an Apricorn housing, it comes with an OEM version of Acronis called EZ-Gig II. The image will be compressed, and you can restore any files you want from the image from within the program. This is a lot quicker and neater than trying to use optical media and you don't have to worry about whether you found everything you needed after the fact. The EZ-Gig II can be run in Windows, or it can be run from the bootable CD.
If you have an external drive and your main drive is a Seagate, Seagate Disk Wizard is a free download and it's also a version of Acronis.
glc
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Backing up all my data
Thanks a ton, I see what you're saying about organizing everything. What a pain. lol
This is a second (slave)drive that I have and I will hopefully be able to put some of my data on the master drive. The master drive is about maxxed, it was partitioned when I got from compusa and I cant seem to access anything outside of the partitiion on that drive, it's a 50gig drive and XP can only see like <30 gigs. I plan to use a coouple of 4gig usb drives I have, but unfortunately, I'll have to burn some of my things to disc if I want to keep it.
AND I do have to young kids that will some how manage to get into them and try to put them into the DVD player or something. lol
I'm planning a new build here very soon, so I may wait until I get everything for that and just tranfer everything that way. That's also why I don't want to spend the extra cash right now for a new external HDD. I will have one after get my new PC up and running thouhg.
xExDiesel
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