starting a new back up setup

karam

karam

karam

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Joined
10 Apr 2006
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5
hey everyone,
ive been putting this off for a while but now the time has come where i need to back up my data, very old and important data, which will continue to be topped up with more data. mostly pictures(sizes from 100mb per picture hi res)
and also im going to be holding videos, which will be from all my old video 8 tapes. so ill have a lot of data which will be very valuable to me.

now i need this data to be on a "current" disk on my main pc which will have all data, and which will get used everyday, and will be on all day aswell. but also on this main computer, the software programs, and operating system data should be on another disk? so i could use primary - C: and secondary - second disk ?

that "current" disk maby two or one, will need to be big, now im thinking 500gb should be sufficient, but ive got a 250gb which is already full 30-40gb left. and the software drive which has windows on is a 80gb which is also full

then all this data will need to be backed up somewhere else? and im thinking just getting more disks on another pc which will not be on all the time, and just keep regular up dates?

please advise me on which steps i should take?

now i need to choose which brand disk i should use, and have been advised to use server harddrives? e.g. maxtor's Maxline Pro 500. good or bad? thats what im thinking?

ive used many disks before, started with ibm, had a bsod. then had a seagate, had problem with starting(mechanical problem). now got maxtor few different disks and had no problems. but everyone on here says there not very good?
 
Hi there.

I have a similar requirement to in terms of backing up media. While my media isn't quite as large my solution should work just the same.

My basic plan is to keep my media on a current drive, as you are, for fast access and general use. I will then periodically backup to an external HDD. I haven't decided whether or not it will be a network drive. Either way, the only time the external disc will be used is for backing up my stuff.

Now, anything that is truely precious and MUST NOT be lost, such as family pictures will be occassionally burned onto several DVDs. A copy will be kept in a safe in the house, and another copy in a safe at work or family member's home.

This way, should I lose my current HDD and external HDD I will still have the most important stuff safe. Even if my whole house was wiped off the earth, I would be able to retrieve the data from the other backups.

The DVD suggestion may not be practical in your case if you have a lot of 100mb pictures. Perhaps it would be worth compressing some of these to store on DVD?

Either way, make sure ALL your files are well organised and labelled. Same goes for your DVD backups.

How you go about backing up is up to you. I plan to use automated software, such as the MS Power Tool SyncToy, every day and manually check the backups weekly. Every month I will burn a new DVD with ALL my irreplacable data, not just the new additions.

This might seem a lot but I have thousands of photographs and thousands of tracks of music that I would rather not lose.

If you absolutely, completely paranoid about your data's security why not try a commercial data backup and storage company. This is probably a little extreme but it depends how much peace of mind you want.

As for the make of your HDDs, I recommend Samsung Spinpoint, Seagate Barracudas and Hitachi Deskstars. As for Maxtors, in the past they have proven to be unreliable - I myself have suffered from a Maxtor falling over - however, the newer Maxtors are more reliable. Personally I would go for the Seagate. They offer 5 Year Warranties :D

I hope this has given you some ideas.

SiriusB
 
hi SiriusB

thanks for the reply, a lot of info which was greatly appreciated

as you say maxtor are becoming more reliable, but for maximum reliability would you still go for seagate out of the 4 main brands?

can some body give me a copy of the MS Power Tool SyncToy program, tried downloading frm microsoft, but they want damm genuine win xp to let u download it :mad: lol

~karam
 
Out of the four brands I would go for Seagate personally. I have had a few Seagates and none have gone bad on me.

As for getting the SyncToy.. can't help you. I don't have anywhere to upload the file to.

SiriusB
 
Maxtors are a load of rubbish compared to WD in my honest opinion.

Ive seen loads of maxtors die at work, and friends have reported similar findings. WD do seem very reliable to me - so thats what I recommend.
 
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