Data Backup

Discussion in 'Software' started by Jud149, Dec 23, 2007.

  1. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    I would like to back up my entire hard drive with an external one. By this I mean that if my main hard drive were to fail, I could simply load my back up (assuming it was current at the time) into a new hard drive, and I would be precisely were I was before the problem occurred. I saw one recommended in today's paper by Bill Husted who writes a weekly tech column. The one he mentioned was the 250 gigabyte Maxtor One Touch 4. Will this do the job for me assuming the size is ample? My system is XP Pro, SP2.
     
    Jud149, Dec 23, 2007
    #1
  2. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    To the top!
     
    Jud149, Dec 23, 2007
    #2
  3. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    If your motherboard supports RAID, you can install a second a hard drive the same size as your current hard drive, and set the BIOS up as a mirrored array. Meaning that the main drive is always backed up in real time to the other drive. Windows only sees one drive and all data is simultaneously written to both drives. If one crashes, you have the other. However, you MUST copy your current C: drive to the 2nd hard drive before setting up the RAID array so both drives are at an identical state. Some RAID BIOS setups allow you to make the copy while you configure it (it's usually much slower than using Ghost or another drive imaging app); others require the drives to be the same first and don't perform the image/copy. Research your MB if this sounds good to you. If the mother board can't handle RAID, you can get a 2 port SATA RAID controller PCI card for under $40. If you decide to go the external drive route, do not get a Maxtor drive. IMO, they are low quality and have short life spans. I know Seagate bought Maxtor, but Maxtor's quality hasn't gone up, and Seagate drives (IMHO) are still the best. Hitachi's are good too. Most pre-built external drives will come with software that will perform back ups however you want....
     
    dlb, Dec 23, 2007
    #3
  4. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    Many thanks; I appreciate your input.
     
    Jud149, Dec 24, 2007
    #4
  5. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    Just so I'm clear on this, will this mirror image (hard drive) of my hard drive contain all of the operating programs along with all other files. In other words, I wouldn't have to do a thing except copy my external hard drive into my new replacement hard drive and my system would operate exactly as before, again assuming the back up was current. Thanks again. :)
     
    Jud149, Dec 24, 2007
    #5
  6. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi


    I would go the way of an imaging/ghosting software and one of the easiest to use and one I have used for years is Acronis True Image http://www.majorgeeks.com/Acronis_True_Image_d2236.html Get yourself a large-ish external HD ( or even a secondary internal HD, if your case and connections allow more )

    This application allows you to fully clone any harddrive, so that the OS, all your installed software, settings etc etc are backed up in the event of a crash or changing HD, you can just recover the image file of your HD install and its as if you have never had a problem as your back up and running like nothing had ever happened.

    You would create the Acronis boot disk and if your HD fails then you boot to the Boot Cd, browse your external HD for the backup image and restore. The usages of imaging HDs also comes into play not only in hardware failure but in recovering from software failures.

    I tend to create a Image file before installing a large or un-tested by me application incase it doesnt play happy with other softwares.

    The software can be setup to schedule a automatic backup and one great thing is you can still use your PC while the image backup is being created.

    Acronis does compress the image files and only copies data not any blank space, so that if your current HD is 100GB and only 8GB is data, all it will copy is the 8GB and compress it, ie. my HD is 120GB in total size but the resulting image file is only 14GB. Another neat option from Acronis in True Image is the ability to open and search these Image files, say you accidently delete a file and to be honest you really wouldnt want to recover a whole cloned HD if you didnt have to, you can open the image browse and recover single files.


    More info and the manuals are here... will give you a taster of how powerful this app really is.
    http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
     
    DavidGP, Dec 24, 2007
    #6
  7. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    Thanks for the info, Halo. So you're saying use the Acronis for software and then purchase an external HD and don't use the software coming with the HD? Sorry, I'm a little confused here. Also, do you have a recommendation for the external HD.
     
    Jud149, Dec 24, 2007
    #7
  8. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    HI

    Personally I prefer Acronis True Image to the bundled software that comes with many externals, as they don't offer Imaging or Cloning tools ( this is more what your after in reading your posts above ), they just generally backup data as in files and settings, there are some free backup apps listed here http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html


    I like the Western Digital Passport drives ( have 2 of these used for backups of my laptops ) as they are very small and portable http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=387 but if you dont need too much portability then the My Book drives are nice http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=350&language=en as their storage goes from capacities of 160GB to 1TB


    For my desktops backup I have a hard drive installed dedicated to his.
     
    DavidGP, Dec 24, 2007
    #8
  9. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    Thanks a lot for your help, Halo.
     
    Jud149, Dec 24, 2007
    #9
  10. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    If you don't go with an internal RAID configuration, then Halo's suggestion is right on. The Western Digital Passport drives are awesome; they're small and don't require a seperate power plug, they draw their power from the USB port and the software that's included is pretty good. I haven't used Acronis personally, but I've heard lots of good things about it, and if Halo recommends it, then it's got to be pretty good ;) Anyway, back to the internal RAID: you asked a question about the mirrored drive. The answer is yes. The mirrored drive (the 2nd drive) will be identical in every way to the first drive. It will contain the OS, all programs, documents, short cuts, everything. It is a perfect copy of the main drive and is written to simultaneously with the main drive so both drive are ALWAYS exactly the same. If one drive fails, you can plug in the other and be up and running. Of course, you'd have to make a small change to the BIOS to set it for one drive instead of two if one happens to fail, but that's not a big deal.
     
    dlb, Dec 24, 2007
    #10
  11. Jud149

    Jud149 First Sergeant

    Nice clear write-up; many thanks!
     
    Jud149, Dec 25, 2007
    #11

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