Ronniebootwest Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 I am a very unhappy chappy! I lost a complete hard drive recently and with it went most of my music and photo's. I had meant to get around to making a back up, but you know how it is with the time available and all that stuff.Now I have made this back up thingy my priority, but what is the best and quickest method. I tried the Windows XP backup utility but it is so slow - there must be a better way of doing things! Any ideas?Also, what about the file sizes - is it better to backup the original picture/sound file, i.e. tiff and wav or be content with jpeg/mp3 to reduce file size?What do you all do? I would be interested in your views.Ron West Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxig Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 Ron,Sorry to hear that. I had same case few years ago when my computer got on fire. I lost all my photos I took during the years in many exotic countries, family pictures, and a lot of othes stuff. In my opinion the only sure and secure way is to burn a CD at least once a month, and every day upload all new stuff to a Pen Drive. I have a 512 MB Pen Drive and dozens of CDs. Since you burn once a month all your computer stuff, that means that you actually makig a backup of the backup and even if one CD will be lost, you will still have almost all your stuff on other CDs. Once in a year or so I arrange my CDs and throw those I don't need.Granot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bharkins Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 I use Acronis True Image for backups, scheduled for weekly incrementa backups to an extenal 250 Gb drive. This is kept off most of the time so it should have significant reliability. Before running a full backup, I use PerfectDisk for defrag, also scheduled to run before the backups. It is a far better defrag utility than what is offered in XP (IMHO).That is a sad tale of woe to lose one's photos considering the amount of time and effort put into them, including any Photoshop work. If I only had one section of my data to backup it would be my images. I have about 20Gb of digital images so removable media such as CDs is not practical for me.Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronniebootwest Posted June 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2005 Bharkins, hello and thanks ffor the advice on Acronis and Perfect disc. I downloaded the trials for both this morning and have used Perfect Disc to derfag my main C drive. What a difference! my computer now sings along at a rate of knotts I have rarely seen before.With regard to the Acronis software, well it looks very detailed but, I am afraid that I am lost with it at the moment. I am not a computer wizard and so this program is leaving me quite cold. I will get to grips with it though because I MUST MUST MUST backup my data.Tell me, is it wise to make a complete copy of the hard disc or can I just select individual folders?I have 4 hard drives on my computer:- C is the main (internal) drive which holds the OS system and all my programs, D is the second (internal) drive and holds sundry data files, I is an external USB drive and holds all my music and finally, J is another external USB drive and holds all my photo's.I would particularly like to back up drives I & J (music/photo's) - How would I do this using the Acronis software?Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronniebootwest Posted June 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 Glad to say that I am now 'a very happy chappy' because I took the advice on offer and have now purchased both of the programs listed above. I can now defrag all of my drives with ease (with the consequent speed up of each drive) and have now made a full back up of everything on my computer. I won't be caught out again, that's for sure!Thanks for all the help and advice I recieved.Ron West Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 Just a cautionary tale !I use two very large harddrives but always also save the files onto DVDs for extra safety.(very often).My husband also had an external hard drive and was "advised" to do the same. A few days ago he accidentally plugged his laptop lead into his external hard drive..... ......So he literally "fried" all his files and as he hadn't done any copying on Cds or DVds for some time .......... lost all his files. about 20Gb of digital imagesThis is only about five DVDs - well worth the security !I do now have many DVDs full of images & files (including lots of template versions of my PTE sequences !).....but feel I'd rather have the option of having too many copies than losing them and having none. Hope this sad tale helps someone else avoid the same very simple error.BW MaureenPS Wish Igor would allow me to save the template folder to a location of my choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmanz Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 PS Â Wish Igor would allow me to save the template folder to a location of my choice.You do have this option now.When you go to Manage Templates you can set the DIR at the top.when you click OK.It will copy all of your files to this folder.I just wish PTE would remember this when we update to a new version.the folder we already picked needs to be set again if you update to a new version.cc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted July 2, 2005 Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 Thanks I hadn't spotted it before !BW Maureen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContaxMan Posted July 2, 2005 Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 Nor had I - very useful, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted July 2, 2005 Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 with all this yapppin about backups -- the curse has come to me and i lost a driveplease refrain from this sort of chatter btw that is what a drive crash sounds likebeen a long day night dayken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronniebootwest Posted July 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 Sad news Ken! The wisdom of back-ups eh! I have learned my lesson - hope you have also learned yours. Give Acronis a go mate!Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted July 6, 2005 Report Share Posted July 6, 2005 A few days ago he accidentally plugged his laptop lead into his external hard drive..... I should have said he plugged his laptop mains lead into his external hard drive.As they are different voltage - the files were "cooked" ! Hope I didn't alarm anyone currently happily plugging USB leads from external drives into their computers - as I do all the time.Be aware of which MAINS lead is which !BW MAureen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethan Posted July 7, 2005 Report Share Posted July 7, 2005 Hello everyone,As this is a thread about 'backing up' data I thought I might mention a number of applications I use that I find quite useful for transferring data to external drives etc. Salty Brine - Folder CloneSalty Brine - Folder MatchFrom : http://www.saltybrine.com/Genie-Soft - Genie Back-up Manager 6 Prohttp://www.genie-soft.com/default.htmlOf these Genie provide a very comprehensive solution, while the Folder Clone option provides a great 'click and run' solution needing minimal configuration.Hope these are useful to someone.Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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