My goal is to have a backup of all of my data (including Quicken, Outlook & Word files) on my computer in case it crashes. I also want to have a backup for all of my digital photos (I have at least a 5GB of pictures and very short clips of video). I've gone through the experience of the Blue Screen of Death in the past year did NOT have much backup - I don't want to go through that again! I need something simple and easy to set up - your suggestions are most welcome!!
2007-08-22 07:59:25 · 10 answers · asked by punkinsmom 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
I also need something that will help me back up on a regular basis - if it could do that automatically, that would be even better! Thanks!
2007-08-22 08:12:54 · update #1
For that size, an external hard drive would be a good back up but 2 DVD discs would be the cheapest.
2007-08-28 12:37:23 · answer #1 · answered by Karz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, there are two suggestions I have both have their pros and cons.
1. You can get a DVD burner for your computer, then you can just burn as many DVDs as you need to, to back up all your information. The downside to this is you will have to add the hardware (DVD burner to your computer) and you will have to burn a DVD whenever you want to make a back up which can be wasteful if you want to save a backup every day. The pro to this solution is you will now have a DVD burner which you can use for other things.
2. This is the choice I would choose. Buy an external USB hard drive. You should be able to get one for $50-$100. It will be similar to the flash drive solution the other answer suggested. You can just drag your files and then they will be saved. It will take some time for this back up, probably several hours. The hard drive will be larger in physical size and hold more data than a flash (USB) drive.
2007-08-22 08:15:36 · answer #2 · answered by jennifer 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What i do is::
I have a big external hard drive (about 400-500 GB) and there i have a copy of everything important in my computer (setup files, documents, videos, music, pictures). No backup software, no compression. Just a copy of all these to the hard disk.. As fot he Outlook data files...Just copy them in a new folder...and when needed restorethem back to thecorrect place.
IMPORTANT: Look at this site to see where Oulook Data files are stored:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA010549741033.aspx
The best time for this backup is the evening.. You make copy & paste of all the useful files before going to sleep and in the morning everything is done..After the backup you may turn the hard disk of (Power off) and turn it again on only when needed..
I think this solution is the best for backing up...without difficulties.
Do this once a month or whenever you think is more safe..
Don't worry about the price of new hard disks. The big sized (400 gb & more) external USB hard drives are very cheap nowadays.. so you can equip your room with one of them...
Here are some big External Hard Disks:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,123728;page,1/article.html
2007-08-26 22:57:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anestis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would actually suggest you ghost off images of your entire hard drive on a regular basis. You can burn them to DVD and that way if your hard drive fails you can have everything installed operating system and all the software and updates as well as data that was on your machine at the time of your last backup in an hour or so.
Symantec Ghost or DriveImage should do the job for you nicely.
Hope that helps
Kevin
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2007-08-28 20:11:14 · answer #4 · answered by Kevin 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suggest that you get a DVD to back up your information. I'm not sure what your operating system is, but if you have Windows XP Home edition, you do not have the Backup Utility; it is only available in the Professional edition. If you want me to I can send you the setup file so you can install the Backup Utility on your computer. I installed the Backup Utility a few days ago on my XP home edition operating system.
2007-08-22 11:33:14 · answer #5 · answered by ♥Shania♥ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One thing that I do to save my pictures and things is that I use a flash drive for all my pictures and documents. Its really easy to use you just plug it into your computer and drag the files on there
I also agree with an external hard drive my brother is a big computer wiz and my whole computer had to be wiped out and i didn't want to lose my files so i used one of those and i got my files back
2007-08-22 08:08:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Avoid the "blue screen of death"-
Buy a Mac.
20 years and I never had ANY of these problems.
And another thing- MACs come with DVD burners right out of the box. Save all your pics every few months to DVD.
2007-08-27 06:46:57 · answer #7 · answered by StuArtNJ 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I back up all my photos and files to CD, my music is on a DVD. Works well, I also have a couple of flash drives.
2007-08-25 12:42:52 · answer #8 · answered by snowwillow20 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I advise you to use Acronis True Image.
It's very good software for backing up your data,pictures,etc. and it's reliable and easy to use.
www.acronis.com
2007-08-23 02:37:55 · answer #9 · answered by fund_in_me 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
back the pics and the video in a webalbum like this
http://picasa.google.com/
But first you ll to download the prog which will orgenise all your pics and video
2007-08-28 22:39:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋