Which Files should I back up?

Discussion in 'Software' started by apollo1214, Jul 29, 2009.

  1. apollo1214

    apollo1214 Private E-2

    Another dumb question. Which files do I really need to back up? Should I back up only my C: Drive and it says it is 67.9GB is this right? Where the hell would i find room to back something that big? Cant I only back up my D: drive? I am totally cluless. :confused:-o
     
    apollo1214, Jul 29, 2009
    #1
  2. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    I don't backup, I create an image.
    A backup usually just backs up things like email and documents.
    An image is a picture of your operating system, all installed programs and all files.

    You can back up or clone to a) another partition on your hard drive b) an external hard drive c) CDs or DVDs.

    The disadvantage to backing up on your current internal hard drive is that if the drive dies, you lose your backup and might have a hard time recovering your files.

    Is your D drive another hard drive or is it a partition on the hard drive installed in your computer?
    Did you create D or was it on when you bought the computer? How large is it?
    I ask those questions because on some computers, D is set up as a partition from the manufacturer. It is small and contains the restore/recovery files if anything happens to C so you do not want to touch D in this case.
     
    plodr, Jul 29, 2009
    #2
  3. apollo1214

    apollo1214 Private E-2

    The D drive was on my computer already, I thought that is where my pictures and music were stored. Is that not correct? Currently it has 6.62GB on it and I only have 5% left free. This is where my computer currently defaults to although it is so small it has never completed a back up.

    If I wanted to back up to a CD or DVD (because to me this seems the easiest way to go) where would I get one big enough to hold everything?

    Of if I did put in on an external hard drive where do I get one of those? Also is it really even important to back up if all I really have on my computer is pictures and music files?

    Thank you so much for taking the time to help. I am so lost on all of this stuff, but am trying my best to take it all in.
     
    apollo1214, Jul 29, 2009
    #3

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