June poll

[dl65]

I backup any important docs, pics and data on a second physical hard drive.


dl65 

[patio]

I use a 500GB external HDD.
All my important data goes on this, very handy

When I was a naive nooblet and didn't think I would get a virus because "my system is safe," I managed to go through 4 complete reformat/install Windows in the space of a month before I finally decided to start backing up my data.

External HDD's fail as well...even newer ones.  Add another layer to your strategy.

[GX44]

External HDD's fail as well...even newer ones.  Add another layer to your strategy.

Very true... This topic got me thinking about backing up more often/more ways and last night I backed up using DVD's.

I just prefer dragging whatever I need to my external HD... I'm lazy that way. Guess I'll pay for it one of these days

[Zylstra]

There are free automatic backup software programs.

Maybe, if people know of any good ones, they should post it

(I use the one that comes with Vista now, but I used to use this great free one that I got from www.download.com but I forgot the name)

[michaewlewis]

I wish I could select multiple options.
I backup data to another partition, disk, cd, dvd, or another computer/server. All depends on what I'm backing up.

[2k_dummy]

I wish I could select multiple options.
I backup data to another partition, disk, cd, dvd, or another computer/server. All depends on what I'm backing up.

Agreed. Depends on the requirements and the value of the data.

[linuxlover]

I just recently began backing up my data, and I have over 4GB of data to backup, and that would take 6 CD-Rs so I just use DVD+Rs. I used to do it on a 128MB flash disk that failed recently.

[patio]

My strategy is as follows;

Acronis is scheduled to run every Sunday night at 3 AM.

The .tib files are saved to partition #4 on HDD #2. This partition is excluded from defrag, diskcheck and any other scans which i found out the hard way is a good idea.

On the first Monday of each month i burn 2 copies of the latest backups to DVD's...one to store here and one off site.

Worst case scenario if i lose both SATA HDD's at once (unlikely but not impossible) i am at worst 3 weeks away from back to normal for my whole system. This is on my workbench machine which sees the most action...program testing etc.

My other machines have similar but not as aggresive strategies but are done regularly.

Another good tip i saw on another Forum i frequent is the user backs up his My Documents folder to CDRW's once a week. But i have no need for that.

[michaewlewis]

another good idea, is to move the My Documents folder to a different partition or hard drive. (Since that is the default store for everything.) That way if something screws up the OS and you need to format, you don't lose everything. Just the stuff on the OS partition.
That's something I learned the hard way, too.

[soybean]

another good idea, is to move the My Documents folder to a different partition or hard drive. (Since that is the default store for everything.) That way if something screws up the OS and you need to format, you don't lose everything. Just the stuff on the OS partition.
That's something I learned the hard way, too.

Agree.  I moved My Documents to a non-OS partition.  I think another benefit of doing this is less fragmentation of the OS partition and speedier defragmentation of that partition. 

My main backup media is an external HDD.  CD and flash drive also occasionally get thrown into the mix.

[Zylstra]

Which reminds me to run Auslogics... thanks


Reasons I use a separate partition for just backup:
It works great for making an archive of your files
Its faster than making archives on a CD
Its closer to you (in a sense) that you dont have to go get the CD
I can schedule regular backups easily, without having to insert a disk
Some protection against viruses

But NO protection against disk failure... (unless the data on drive C went corrupt and the extended partition stayed intact)

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Yeah, I back up all my flash drives and mp3 players on another partition. I just back everything up on my external hard drive like very month so it's more or less out of date.

[link100]

I use an external HDD, and sometimes a flash drive as well

[Zylstra]

My flash drive holds 2GB, it has its uses.
My brother got it for me as a Christmas present, it was a really well priced one.

[reaper_tbs]

oooh... where are the moserators? i found a poll glitch. i voted once (for other ) and then went to the next page and thought i had forgotten to vote, but upon voting once again i realised it went from 1 to 2 votes with my first and 2 to 3 with my second  bugz!

figured you might wanna know