ATIH 2012 - BackUp - which one & how please?
Hi
I bought a copy of ATIH 2012 a few months ago and on finding it wasn't straightforward to use left it alone until I had time to sort things out.
I'm looking for a good backup routine but my immediate problem is that I have a large USB2 external drive which has many but not all file on that this laptop does ~ what I'd like to achieve is a copy of all these laptop fils [inc OS if necessary] but NOT loose any other files [mainly a lot of old photos and downloaded files / software updates etc which I keep/archive but need access to regularly]. I think I need a type of differential type of backup where [eventually] the external HDD will carry a full set of files from this laptop & others whicch may have been written directly to it.
When this is done I can wipe this drive [WinXP] and start again and hopefully setup a proper backup routine to the Ext HDD ~ hopefully!!
Any help to achieve this in a relatively simplified manner would be great, thanks.
RobO
Hi James
thanks for your reply. What I have is lots of files [Gb's of photos ~ as an enthhusiastic APhotographer & wife too!] and some Gb's of file downloads of electronics manuals & software updates etc.etc. which are also on the XP laptop ~ however there have been SOME additions to SOME folders so it's not easy unless I can get a differential type of backup - Years ago I had a Norton Suite [not sure which prog tho and it didn't back up] which ran through all files on the PC & suggested dupes - I need backup software to do similarly and ADD the disimilar files to the Ext HDD to make a FULL back.
I will have a look at the guide you mention tho, thanks.
RobO
What is the total size of used disk space on your drive(s)?
Incrementals and differentials can certainly reduce the size of ongoing backups. They entail somewhat more risk than a full disk mode backup, since with an incremental you need every previous incremental in the chain to function properly in order to restore, while a differential requires the original full backup to restore properly. But, the advantages are less time and disk space to perform an updated backup.
Even with large disk usage, you could still perform a full disk backup periodically. Photos, unless you have a lot of them, aren't as large as lossless music files. My drive holds over 450 GB of music alone, plus my other data and my Windows OS. I still do a full disk backup periodically; it takes over 6 hours including validation, but it's worth it.
Thanks Tuttle
Lap HDD is 320Gb & Ext HDD is 2Tb Lap is nearly full and Ext HDD is over half - I don't mind doing a full back BUT I then end up with 2 locations on the same disk with ALMOST but likely NOT the same number of files - It's been bad housekeeping I know but I'm trying to put things in order to start anew! I'dclone the HDD if I could get a bigger one but is an old IDE drive [non SATA]
Thanks so much for any help
RobO
PS - I perhaps should add that everytime I press the camera shutter it adds 100Mb to the disk and at a motorsporting event 1000 shots each [me & my wife] is about average. :)
Not sure I understand. Internal 320 GB HD is mostly full, but you're also using the external 2 GB HD for storage and not just for backups?
Even if your 320 GB HD were totally full, it would still be much less than what I backup from my laptop's internal HD. A full disk backup is the simplest, safest method of backing up and the most likely to allow a simple, successful full restoration if necessary.