Backing Up Your Files - Comments Page 3

Like an earlier poster, I want to use my second iinternal drive as a complete system-wide backup of the internal hard drive I use on a daily basis (PC/WinXP). Am I correct in assuming that because I can actually see the second internal hard drive, that that means it's a separate PHYSICAL drive and not a second partition?

Are there any other cautions to using a second internal hard drive for complete system backup? I ask because I noticed your article references only using an exernal hard drive, which made me curious. HUGE THANKS for all the help you provide to me and others on this forum. You need to know you are truly, truly appreciated!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, a second internal drive will work fine. Just not as portable!

Everyone seems to choose what works best for them. I see a lot of different backup software programs being used. I need a package that will be very intuitive and as hands off automatic as possible once installed. I have customers with no real computer experience beyond the programs they use. I tried the Acronis demo and found it complicated with very little instruction built in; never did get it installed completely.
The desired program would have to be networkable, ability to do a native backup, differential and incremental backups and have the ability to restore a complete system from DOS. The backup would use an external USB drive. Seems to be a tall order. Any suggestions?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Acronis will do all that. In fact, I've used it exactly as you describe.

Would you recommend storing backups in dvds? I'm planning to buy a dvd writer and I'd like to make sure I can store data files on dvd just like in cds..Dvds have much bigger capacities than cds so you'll need fewer of them.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sure, just don't count on ANY backup media to last forever... See http://askbobrankin.com/lifetime_of_a_cdrom_disk.html

I just purchased Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini (120GB) and it comes with Maxtor Safety Drill software. The salesman recommended that I purchase Norton Ghost 12.0 in addition to the external drive because the software that comes with Maxtor is not sufficient. I paid $80 for the drive and $70 for Nortons Ghost. Is Nortons Ghost really necessary? I am using a Toshiba laptop that is 1 and 1/2 yrs old and have important data that I now back up using a flash drive. Thanks, Anne

EDITOR'S NOTE: It looks like the Maxtor Safety Drill software should do the job...

My hard drive is going(sigh) on my toshiba laptop which is amazingly only 3.5 years old. I am hoping they will replace it for free. Chances are they will install the operating system on it. But I need to figure out with umpty number of choices of types of backups I can use, can you suggest which one should I look for( not just the product but type of backup(image vs selective files etc).

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm very happy with the Acronis True Image, which does an complete (image) backup. You can extract single files from the backup image if needed.

Sorry I forgot to mention one more comment in my previous note. Once the system boots, the hard drive is quiet as a mouse.. and everything works fine. Now can you please tell me whats wrong. Thanks

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do you think something is wrong?

I am thinking something is wrong with the harddrive because when I first power on the machine it makes a screeching noise. Then it becomes quiet once the boot process starts. Do you thinnk its still the hard drive?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Screeching noise... Hmmm... you didn't mention that little bit of information before. Yes, I would replace that drive ASAP.

Just to reitterate one of the early posts regarding the Retrospect software mentioned in this article. I too had problems with this program. The free version that comes bundled with various hard drives (mine was an Iomega) is called Retrospect Express and the main problem that everyone complains about is that it grabs focus away from other running apps about every five minutes. You have to right-click the tray icon and exit it if you want to run other apps without interruptions. It also has some problems with restore point data not being saved right. It's just not worth the hassle, so I uninstalled it. EMC is aware of the problems, but they don't bother to update this freebie. Maybe their commercial versions are OK, but I'd be wary.