Backing up data

Recently the hard drive in my computer decided to call it a day and i lost some pictures and document that cannot be replaced. I now have two hard drives in my computer and was hoping somebody will be able to recommend a programme that will automatically (and on the fly) replicate my main drive onto the other one. Oh and if the programme is free then that will be even better

Am i gonna have any problems doing this? is it going to effect the performance of my pc? Also if i get a virus will it automatically be copied onto the other drive too?

Thankyou for taking the time to read my question, even if you dont have the answers!

Chris

 

I used to be obsessive about this. At work I was backing up twice a day when our IT dept thought that once a month was adequate. Now I only have to worry about my home PC I back up when I ever I have new data that needs preserving. I use Roxio purely because it has a drag to disk function.

I guess that you're looking for some all singing all dancing automated package but if you're not the basic stuff that comes with your Windows package will do. And if all else fails just copy it using Windows Explorer.

The important thing is not "how" but "when" . Certainly everytime you create new data. And then at regular intervals. The more frequent, the less likely you'll miss something.

Just remember this salutory tale of a friend of mine. He was writng games abck in the '80s. He backed up regularly. After three months he took all the floppies down to his employer. Every single floppy was corrupt. He had backed up blindly with out checking to see that each operation was successful.

 

would it be possible to use the raid port for this without any addional software?,asuming your motherboard is raid compatable

 

My computer has 2 HDD's each one partitioned into 3. I also have an external USB HDD that normally lives in my locker at work.
Basically i created a folder called things to back up. Every single file that i ever wish to update or save gets saved into this one folder. I then regularly copy the folder to my external HDD. i also use the Back-up and system restore facility provided by Windows XP on a regular basis, usually after doing a Virus scan, spy-ware scan, disc clean out and de-frag.

I have heard that the chances of all of the partitions on just one HDD going bad are pretty slim, the chances of all of the partitions on two seperate HHD are even slimmer. Added to this that i also back up to a seperate USB HDD and even DVD than hopefully i have all bases covered.

Personally i reckon that windows XP has every back-up facility that one could wish for , if utilised correctly and religeously.

 

whats a raid port? the computer is over 4 years old now, do you think it would have one?

 

I just run Windows XP Backup every so often and backup the files/folders I want to keep to a spare 20Gb HDD in my machine which I don't use for anything else.

Michael.

 

I'm not sure that I feel comfortable with XP backup, or anything else that puts the data into its own proprietary format (when I last looked XP - or maybe it was W2000 - needed to look at an index file to find the file you wanted to restore).

My practice is to copy to a separate HD (using some software I wrote myself to schedule what gets copied when) to make exact folder/file replicas; weekly all of my working folders go onto CD, and all the files I've changed go onto a USB pen - also weekly).

Have a complex procedure, but the technicalities are simple - which makes recovery simple (and when I have needed to recover something it's been a lot quicker and easier than fooling around with specialised backup/recover programs). And the most important thing about any backup procedure is the recovery process.

 

In some ways I agree with you Dick, I'd prefer to have the files just copied to another location rather than packed into a single proprietary big file. However, for the duration my backups are needed for (I never keep more than on iteration) Windows XP and its backup software is unlikely to be unavailable.

I used to use Nero BackItUp (which comes as part of Nero6) and that does just copy the files to another location keeping the original structure. However, it mystifyingly took about 4 or 5 hours to backup the same files that only take 45 mins to backup with XP backup so it was no contest really.

Incidentally XP Backup (and all "professional" backup systems) uses a single large file so it can be written to non random access media such as a tape.

Michael.

 

not sure if this helps http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html,level level 1 looks like the one.my pc is around the same age,my main concern was getting usb 2 and an athlon chip,anything else was a bonus, so is fairly basic.wonder if i need any extra software to make it work? also if i was to add a second harddrive would it automaticly copy the exesting data or would it need a to reinsall everything from scratch?

 

That really depends on how sure you can get it back out again.

The basic rules are

• Decide what beeds backing up including the level of importance
• Decide how to label it. This is vital and should be clear
• Decide when to back it up, i.e. how regularly. Does it change daily or weekly? Should this automated or is a manual operation more suitable
• Decide the medium you will be backing up to, WEebsite, HDD, floppy, tape, disk or paper

Then

• Think how you retrieve the data e.g. individul files or a complete overwrite
• Who will need to retrieve it
• and how quickly

If you use a system like XP backup then make sure all of it is clear as can be. If you use a drag and drop directory you have the luxury of moving individual files and labeling them and any specific folders as you go. The trade off of ease of backup against ease of recovery.

 

does this mean i would have to buy special raid hard drives then?