Automatic HD Backup - How To?

fmueller

I am a notorious for not doing backups - here, I said it! Almost all of my data, including thousands of irreplaceable photos, are sitting on a 160GB Maxtor ATA HD that hasn't been backed up in years. I've decided to finally do something about that and buy a second hard drive, which I would like to set up to do regular, automatic backups. What do I need to look out for, and what's the easiest way to do this?

My Rig:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (SanDiego)
Motherboard: Biostar Geforce6100-M9 nVidia Socket 939
OS: Windows XP Version 5.1 SP3

Many thanks

Frank

RADA

Hi Frank,

How much actual data do you have? 80 gig? 100?

Do you want to just back up your data, or are you looking to create an image you can restore your whole system from?

is the HDD partitioned with the data separate from the OS, or is it one big partion including OS?

Do you want an external drive, or to add a 2nd drive internally to your PC?

Cliff_Forster

fmueller wrote:

I am a notorious for not doing backups - here, I said it! Almost all of my data, including thousands of irreplaceable photos, are sitting on a 160GB Maxtor ATA HD that hasn't been backed up in years. I've decided to finally do something about that and buy a second hard drive, which I would like to set up to do regular, automatic backups. What do I need to look out for, and what's the easiest way to do this?

My Rig:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (SanDiego)
Motherboard: Biostar Geforce6100-M9 nVidia Socket 939
OS: Windows XP Version 5.1 SP3

Many thanks

Frank

Local back ups are well and good, but what if your house burns down, what if your drives simultaneously fail because of a power surge?

http://www.carbonite.com/ - off site back up, its the way to go, its not that expensive, and its super easy to set up.

fmueller

Many thanks for your quick responses!

RADA - I have about 100GB on that one HD. That includes all my data and the OS. The HD is not partitioned, and I thought I'd backup the whole thing, data and OS, but I haven't given that question a lot of thought yet. I have no particular preference for internal or external - whatever is easier/cheaper. I put the computer together myself from components - with the help of the good people on this site :thumbup - and have plenty of space in the case as well as around it.

Cliff_Forster - That looks like a very interesting idea! $60 per year is not excessive, but on the other hand you can rent 100GB of server space for a lot less than that. I wonder if there wouldn't be some freeware that does the same thing as the carbonite software and you could use your own server space

Frank

Kwitko

I use Cobain Backup. It's free, can run as a service, and will back up to your extra HD, a network share, or even to an FTP site.

miles_n_bird

I use a .38 special for backup..

fmueller

Kwitko - that sounds perfect. One question though, should I use Version 9 Amanita, which is open source, or Version 8 Black Moon, which is not open source? Since I am just going to use it, not change the code, will it make a difference for me which one I use?

miles_n_bird - I have no idea what that means

Frank

Linc

Frank, he was making a joke about using a gun for "backup".

Kwitko

fmueller wrote:

Kwitko - that sounds perfect. One question though, should I use Version 9 Amanita, or Version 8 Black Moon

Actually, 9 is the closed source version. Like you said, since you're not hacking code, it makes no difference. I would go with 9 because it can back up locked files.

fmueller

Lincoln - ah, I see! I have not yet sufficiently assimilated into the American culture to have joined the NRA - plus being German I guess I should not be expected to have any sense of humor, so I hope my ignorance can be excused.


Kwitko - yeah, sorry for mixing up the versions, and thanks for the advice. Version 9 Amanita it will be then. I don't think I'll go for the remote storage option though. 100GB of server space seems to cost easily $60 per year, and there are some security considerations also by having all your private data on some server. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the house won't burn down, and have ordered a new HD last night - 500GB Seagate Barracuda for $60.

Again, many thanks!

Frank

Linc

fmueller wrote:

I hope my ignorance can be excused

My facepalm was directed at the lameness of the joke, not at you for not getting it.

fmueller

Lincoln - my sarcasm was also directed at the lameness of the joke, not at you for pointing it out to me

Who would have thought such a lame joke could cause such a lively conversation? :type:

Frank

Gate28

fmueller wrote:

Who would have thought such a lame joke could cause such a lively conversation? :type:

Lame people. Or unbelievably intelligent people that over analyze gun puns.

fmueller

Frank

rayray

I'd use rsync, even on windows :]

floppybootstomp

Just use a RAID 1 setup, assuming your motherboard has a RAID controller.

fmueller

My motherboard has a RAID controller, but I don't know much about it. I considered it, and started reading here at Icrontic, as usual when I want to educate myself about a computer issue. The first thing I read was the sticky about RAID right at the top of this forum. I took that advice, and considered RAID no further.

Frank

floppybootstomp

fmueller wrote:

My motherboard has a RAID controller, but I don't know much about it. I considered it, and started reading here at Icrontic, as usual when I want to educate myself about a computer issue. The first thing I read was the sticky about RAID right at the top of this forum. I took that advice, and considered RAID no further.

Frank

'k, fair nuff.

It just seemed to me that a RAID 1 setup is about as automatic as you can get. Free too.