Hard Drive Backup Problems help!

[Guest Nut]

I am a computer novice. I don't have any backup for my information or system

programs. I downloaded "titan" backup software from " Give away of the

day"....and the program keeps stopping at a particular point and doesn't

continue. I now want to go buy a external harddrive to transfer my computer

contents to. I was told just transferring wont backup my programs on my

computer. 1) is this true 2) what is the best way I can back up my computer

so I can stop worrying about a crash and loosing all my families memories and

my programs.

 

Thanks to all that respond to a basic but essential need of mine.

GC

[Guest peter]

Re: Hard Drive Backup Problems help!

 

I and quite a few others swear by(not at) Acronis True Image.

It has the capabilities to not only do backups but to also Image your

HD,Create a Rescue Disk that runs without an Operating System ,Clone a HD.

By buying an External HD in an enclosure you can use True Image to Image

your HD.By creating the rescue disk you can restore that image back onto

your HD...or restore files from within that Image back to their original

location.

here is the website

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

they also have a free 15 day trial

peter

"Nut" <Nut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:7C2D9EC2-976C-401D-ACC9-C7874685BB13@microsoft.com...

>I am a computer novice. I don't have any backup for my information or

>system

> programs. I downloaded "titan" backup software from " Give away of the

> day"....and the program keeps stopping at a particular point and doesn't

> continue. I now want to go buy a external harddrive to transfer my

> computer

> contents to. I was told just transferring wont backup my programs on my

> computer. 1) is this true 2) what is the best way I can back up my

> computer

> so I can stop worrying about a crash and loosing all my families memories

> and

> my programs.

>

> Thanks to all that respond to a basic but essential need of mine.

> GC

>

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: Hard Drive Backup Problems help!

 

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:10:19 -0700, Nut

<Nut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I am a computer novice. I don't have any backup for my information or system

> programs. I downloaded "titan" backup software from " Give away of the

> day"....and the program keeps stopping at a particular point and doesn't

> continue. I now want to go buy a external harddrive to transfer my computer

> contents to. I was told just transferring wont backup my programs on my

> computer. 1) is this true 2) what is the best way I can back up my computer

> so I can stop worrying about a crash and loosing all my families memories and

> my programs.

 

 

First, bear in mind that you can back up data, but you can't do a

useful backup of programs unless you do it as part of an overall clone

or image of the entire drive. That's because all programs except for

an occasional tiny one have many entries within Windows, in the

registry and elsewhere. So if you ever have to reinstall Windows, any

restoration of a backup of programs is useless. They won't run.

 

I've never heard of "titan" backup software, which leads me to suspect

that it's not one of the better products available.

 

Here's my standard post on backup:

 

First of all, almost everyone should be backing up regularly. It is

always possible that a hard drive crash, user error, nearby lightning

strike, virus attack, even theft of the computer, can cause the loss

of everything on your drive. As has often been said, it's not a matter

of whether you will have such a problem, but when.

 

Essentially you should back up what you can't afford to lose--what you

can't readily recreate. What that is depends on how you use your

computer and what you use it for.

 

It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort

to recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to

recreate more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's

potentially a lot more to recreate. You should assess how much pain

and trouble you would have if you lost x days of data, and then choose

a backup frequency that doesn't involve more pain and trouble than

that you would have if you had to recreate what was lost.

 

Some things (photographs, for instance) can never be recreated, and

more frequent backup may be wanted for them.

 

At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of

business if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least

daily. At the other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his computer

except to play games. He probably needs no backup at all, since worst

case he can easily reinstall his games.

 

Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but nobody can tell

you where you fall; you need to determine that for yourself.

 

Should you back up Windows? Should you back up your applications? Most

people will tell you no, since you can always reinstall these easily

from the original media. But I don't think the answer is so clear-cut.

Many people have substantial time and effort invested in customizing

Windows and configuring their apps to work the way they want to.

Putting all of that back the way it was can be a difficult,

time-consuming effort. Whether you should backup up Windows and apps

depends, once again, on you.

 

How to backup? What software to use? There are many choices, including

the Windows-supplied backup program. Which choice is best for you

depends at least in part on the answers to some of the questions

above.

 

Finally what backup media should you choose, and how should it be

stored? There are many choices, including CDs, tape, zip drives, and

second hard drives.

 

I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because

it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and

backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,

nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

 

In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept

in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the

life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple

generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be

stored off-site.

 

My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme

uses two identical removable hard drives,I alternate between the two,

and use Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary

drive.

 

I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives for making more frequent backups

of my most critical data (like financial information). For that I just

drag and drop.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

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