I currently have a Seagate FreeAgent, but their software is not compatible with Vista 64-bit. This HDD is fine, i'll use it as a security back up vault to periodically archive all of my growing picture and music collections.

But i would like one that is compatible with Vista 64 in order to provide real-time back up of my computer and documents. None of seagate's products are compatible at this time, and from some quick reading it doesnt look like they are in a hurry. I know seagate is very trusted by you guys, but who else should i look towards at this point?

3/12/2009 11:18:25 AM

acronis

3/12/2009 11:21:43 AM

Quote :

"I know seagate is was very trusted by you guys"

until they dropped the warranties to 3 years and started releasing drives with firmware glitches

sorry, carry on

3/12/2009 11:22:41 AM

^^you suggesting using acronis home image software to backup to said external HDD?

3/12/2009 11:29:53 AM

i think he is...it's pretty good softwarez

3/12/2009 11:38:52 AM

Quote :

"you suggesting using acronis home image software to backup to said external HDD?"

yea, it's pretty good stuff. i'm not sure what you mean by "real time" though. i mean, you can schedule it to backup every night or whatever you want but its not going to back up every single file as soon as it's changed. If you want something like that I would think you need a RAID setup.. there might be other ways that I don't know of though.

3/12/2009 11:42:07 AM

well, i used real-time in the wrong sense. I just meant regularly scheduled backup.


i'm starting to think that it may be smart to have 2 external HDDs regardless. One for everyday storage and backup and one for master archiving periodically.

is this how most of the computer saavy operate?

I just hate thinking about trusting my entire media collection to one drive and i dont really want to stuff my new notebook's internal HD with it.

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 11:47 AM. Reason : add]

3/12/2009 11:43:56 AM

o

yea, just use acronis then. torrent it.

3/12/2009 11:44:15 AM

added to post

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 11:52 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2009 11:47:55 AM

personally if i were going w/multiple drives i'd just get an external enclosure that supports RAID. it's a lot less to deal with then as you put the data in one place and it goes to two drives.. so both drives would have to fail at the same time for you to lose everything...which isn't going to happen. do some reading on RAID and/or post your budget. but i think that's an option to consider

[Edited on March 12, 2009 at 11:58 AM. Reason : http://www.cooldrives.com/twodrsaiirac.html for example..first result in google]

3/12/2009 11:54:02 AM

how much data do you have to back up?

i have a NAS with 2 TB that's synced every 2 weeks using GoodSync
i use Dropbox to sync project files that I'm currently working on with my laptop and desktop and other team members
i have a portable 250GB hard drive that i keep synced up with my desktop every 2 hours so i can take all my useful data with me on the go wherever and then come back and plug it into my desktop and have it sync up all the work i did outside
i use a USB docking station and some enclosures to keep all the useless stuff (e.g. movies, TV shows, etc.) on hard drives that I leave around

and I mail a hard drive full of all my project files to a friend once every 1-2 years in case anything very horrible happens like a fire or whatever that would wipe out my entire room and everything in it

and I keep a thumb drive on my keys with my mail or whatever I'm working on at the moment on it in case i go really mobile and leave my laptop and portable hard drive and still want to do stuff. it has all the portable apps and stuff on it too.

and I keep a SD data card on my phone with project files I may need on the go but i rarely sync it up so it turns out to be only effective when I have to give presentations and use my phone as the viewer to see the slides i am talking about on the screen behind me

3/12/2009 3:12:09 PM

^that seems a little overkill, but i can understand how valuable personal data can be.

I dont have anything work related on my computer, all of that is kept on our server in our atlanta office. even my work desktop has minimal work files. I use remote desktop to access most all of that.



most of my stuff is music, but like most audiophiles i really charish my collection. I imagine though, that having it all on my ipod, and backed up on my external HDD should be enough security for the time being.

i cant decide if i want to import my music collection onto my new laptop's internal HDD or not. I'm thinking no at this point since i'll take my ipod anywhere i'm mobile/travelling..

3/12/2009 3:22:40 PM

ya when i write it all out it seems like overkill but until i put the NAS in a month or two ago, i really had no backup solution. the portable stuff is just that, portable - it's meant for me to be able to do my work on the go. i don't really consider that true backup.

3/12/2009 3:39:13 PM

Not to hijack the thread, but I've been thinking I need to begin backing up data on my hard drive at home, and honestly I'm in the dark about the best way to go about it.

I'd much rather purchase an external drive and keep the backups at home, instead of using one of the online sites.

I have a Win computer (XP, not Vista), while the wife has a Mac.

What exactly would I need for both computers to regularly be backed up? I've heard Time Machine mentioned a few times for a Mac, but my google is screwy right now and is taking about 5 minutes per search, so I was hoping to find some information on here.

What type of hard drives are the most dependable these days? I know Seagate used to be the big name, but I think they've been having trouble lately with buggy firmware...not sure if it's been corrected or not.

I would need: Whatever software for both a PC and Mac, Hard Drives to back up to (is it possible to partition the drive and back up both to one?), any other suggestions.

[Edited on May 14, 2009 at 12:03 PM. Reason : .]

5/14/2009 12:03:09 PM

my parent's want a backup solution as well. They have a WinXP desktop and a Vista laptop. Preferably a solution where both computers could back up to a big single external HD plugged into the desktop. The computers are networked.

5/18/2009 3:42:54 PM

^^ the Mac is easy as pie. Just get any external USB hard drive, plug it into the Mac, click "Yes", and you're done.
The Windows machine? beats the shit out of me. i've been wondering the same thing

5/18/2009 3:47:11 PM

ntbackup is part of xp (maybe vista too) and will do no frills scheduled backups.

5/18/2009 3:53:39 PM

In Windows 7:

Start->Maintenance->Backup and Restore
Click "Set up backup", pick a disk (or any network location)
Click Next, Click Next, "Save Settings and Run backup".

Done, including scheduling based on your usage stats.

You can do all sorts of fancy stuff with it, but that's the dead simple, set it and forget it way.

5/18/2009 6:08:23 PM

^ what about pre-7, for the the 99.9% of the Windows universe who's never heard of 7

5/18/2009 6:13:36 PM

In Windows Vista:

Start->Maintenance->Backup and Restore Center
Click "Back up Files" or "Back up Computer", pick a disk or DVD writeable drive
Click Next,
If you chose to backup files, you select your files, and go.
If you chose "Back up computer", select the harddrives and go.

File backup has a scheduler, Complete Backup does not.

---------

If you have Vista Ultimate or Enterprise (or Win7 Beta/RC), you can just use VolumeShadowCopy and System Restore instead (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc137798.aspx). Move your VSS Store from the local disk to another disk, and everything happens silent and continuously.

Also, BTW, both Vista and Win7 produce VHD's from the "Complete PC Backup" / "Image" option. You can take that file and pop it into any compatible VM Server and be up and running on your platform.

5/18/2009 7:45:16 PM

I love my Seagate Freeagents. Got 2 320s that I constantly use for backing up and storing all of my picture files (which are my most important data asset). I constantly sync these to my internal HDD and often try to keep one offsite. I also I have another 80GB 2.5" laptop HDD enclosure that I use as an additional backup source that always stays with me. That way if tomorrow I had everything go to hell at home and work, I would have a third location for my files that is always with me.

5/18/2009 7:57:22 PM

Didn't read above but my company just released a free backup product:

http://www.gfi.com/backup-hm

5/18/2009 9:38:56 PM

^looks pretty cool, any chance of a continuous backup / sideload function? (IE monitor my pc and backup as I create/change files, but only using spare cpu/disk cycles)

5/18/2009 9:43:28 PM

Quote :

"IE monitor my pc and backup as I create/change files"

i've used Western Digital/Memeo's "Anywhere Backup" for this purpose and it works well.
http://www.memeo.com/wd/multiple_computers/en-US.htm

5/18/2009 10:46:17 PM