If your going to use optical media, make sure to choose quality discs.... Cheap media does not stand the test of time. I have bought spindles of cheap media that could only be used for coasters....

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Point well taken. I too have a spindle or two of CD/DVD's beer coasters..

You can dangle them in the south window on a thread and have rainbows on the walls too !

BTW...When you select a backup media device in Backup (Ntbackup.exe), you cannot select a CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-RW (compact disc rewritable), or DVD-R (digital video disc recordable) device.


I'm looking at this....http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&rls=ig&q=backup+drives&revid=1453569006&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3330597217048668322&sa=X&ei=5basTZCSFOTW0QG90rymCw&ved=0CFwQ8gIwBA#

First what OS are you running, at least Windows or Mac.

Second I agree with having SEVERAL, I use 3 USB externals, plus a bonus (eSATA) one running right now.
Keep one hooked up, one locked away somewhere, rotate through them regularly. I swap them every 2 weeks, keeping the extras in a small safe.

As far as software, lots of alternatives.
Windows backup, the Win7 one has a lot of pluses compared to the XP version. A few negatives, but they are more annoyances to a techie like me.
You could write a simple xcopy/robocopy script to run manually or schedule it.
In the Powerpack, Toys (what's it called ??, I can find it if you are interested)?? from Msft there is a Sync program that will do similiar.
Purchased programs, I like(D) Acronis, not thrilled with the new version.
Freeware search as needed, I like the EASEUS products, but I have not tried their Backup program. Their Partition manager, diskcopy and data recovery tools are great, I strongly recommend them when needed.

One final note, whatever method you choose, you don't have a backup unless you test it.
This proves you are backing up what you think and gives you a bit of practice recoverying files. When you need it you'll be panicing, better to have some idea what to do.

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

I keep thinking about buying a Drobo, I currently have a couple of 1TB and a couple of 2TB drives sitting on my desk for media, archived data, and backups of all the other computers on my home network. I keep adding drives as I run out of space, I should probably put all my backups on a Drodo and free up all the other drives for just data.

If you are a little more technically inclined I use a SANS Digital enclosure.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6637381&CatId=2780

eSATA, although I paid like 160 just a couple of months ago.
I run it as 4 independent drives.

Not a huge believer in consumer level RAID, I have heard good things about DROBO though.

I did pay less, this one is eSATA only

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?MfrId=2672&Nav=|c:2780|&Sort=0&Recs=10

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

BTW.....

My system ....

IBM Think Cener 2gb RAM 111gb ( Usable.) HDD.
XP Professional trimmed to less than 1/3rd of it's bulk by judicial elimination of games and other ( to me.) non essentials.

__________________________________________________________


I don't think I need SATA or a large RAID of 2 plus TB as this would be serious overkill.

I have 17 gb to store in total on a 111gb hdd. So I think my 'Clickfree' or this 'Sans Digital TR4M-BP Hard Drive' would suffice.

Seems we are getting into the more advanced system storage devices but that's okay, as some others reading this may find it helpful.

If I get the Clickfree I can always store it safely so fingerprint, password and other security protection shouldn't be a problem being as I am the only user of this pc.

My attraction to the Clickfree is it's simplicity and self extraction ability with no programming to make it perform and I can afford two so I can swap them out for dual backup.

PS.......... My primary reason for the backup is because i got the Defender.exe rogue-ware virus last week that stopped my system dead in it's tracks. I have since found how to destroy this virus but it still was a eye opener to be attacked.

I use AVIRA Premium and they told me this defender was invisible to all firewall and virus protection software.

I downloaded Microsoft's virus killer especially for this rogue-ware but it found none.....this was after I cleared the Defender.exe.
Anybody experienced the same ?

You know...I never had this problem with my Commodor 64 !

Whilst perusing the www I came across this.......light hearted jibe at me ?

I don't think so.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215882/Curse_you_users?taxonomyId=16

But it seems a lot of people who fit this description drive on the highway like this too...or am I being too harsh?

BTW IWROCK...Is that the Travelocity Gnome embedded in the radiator ?

Thn I'd recommend a couple of small external USB drives, rotate them.
With this you'd have enough room to image your PC from time to time too.
It can be a very quick recovery in the event of a disaster, virus, HD failure ....

XPs full backup can do this, but I'd investigate something else.
For the data, a xcopy, robocopy or synctoy script is another alternative.

I do NOT like the backup setups built into the various external drives.
Had problems with one a while back, never really figured out why the problem occured, just had problems.

You can also consider, as an 'extra' some form of cloud storage.
Getting it offsite can be a real peace of mind, ComCr*p offers me a few gig, I don't use it yet but am considering for some special things. Like our digital photo library.

The simpler the better, otherwise you'll hate doing it and won't.

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

Did you read this ? http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/8384

Not specifically, but I read about the problem.

Things like that are why I am very against the cloud, you don't have control of your data.

As an extra, in addition to the in-house backups I would consider it.
I also won't pay for it, I never knew CC gave me free storage in the cloud, found out by accident. As an additional copy I would consider it, but I would never use cloud storage as my primary.

__________________
KLK, MCSE

1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

I keep a couple of local backup copies of everything; just a few gigs of important data is also in the cloud, just in case something catastrophic happens.

I picked up a 1TB "My Book" from Malfart* for a mistakenly marked price of $50.00 last fall. I wish I had picked up the other 4 sitting on the shelf...but I chickened out on the budgeting.

I see them selling (properly marked) now for $109.00.

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

I use a Maxtor external hard drive for one of the computers at work that can't be attached to our server and it works well. No need to download software. Just plug it in a go.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL