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Old 08-26-2009, 10:32 AM   #1
Sit down Shut up And fish
 
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Question How do you back up a hard drive???

I think it's about time I do this. What's a cheap and easy way to do it? All I really care about is my songs, pictures, and videos. Are there other files I should be concerned about? I'm an idiot when it comes to computers so any help would be appreciated.
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Old 08-26-2009, 10:38 AM   #2
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If you have a cd burner copy the files to a CD. If not buy a "flash drive" they will plug into a USB port just drag and drop the files into it and you are done.
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Old 08-26-2009, 10:42 AM   #3
If Ignorance is bliss, Why aren't more people happy?
 
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Do you have a cd or dvd burner? If so, I would suggest 2 things -
first make copies of your pics, videos and music to cd or dvd

Second - use a program like ghost from symantec to make an
exact copy of your OS and Apps.

If you don't have a burner, you can pick up an external dvd burner for around $100

DVD holds about 4.5 GB, CD holds 660 MB, so a dvd is preferred if you have a big hard drive.
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Old 08-26-2009, 10:51 AM   #4
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I know I have a CD burner, not sure about the DVD burner but I think I do. I have a 12 GB flash drive but that's not big enough to hold everything. I guess I could put what doesn't fit on CD's? I've got about 2500 songs, almost 4000 pictures, and maybe 100 videos.

clt_cpt, I have no idea what OS or Apps are
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Old 08-26-2009, 11:02 AM   #5
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OS = Operating System Windows XP or God forbid VISTA

Apps = Applications (programs)
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Old 08-26-2009, 11:12 AM   #6
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Gotcha

Thanks for the replies
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Old 08-26-2009, 11:19 AM   #7
Crab mustard is good
 
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Bird Dog-

Get Carbonite at www.carbonite.com. It's brainless and it backs up your computer automatically in the background while you work/ play/ surf. Plus it stores your data offsite so if you ever had a fire or storm that wiped you out, you could download your entire original computer onto whatever new computer you purchased...same settings and everything. It's pretty cheap too. Only $54.00 per year.
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Old 08-26-2009, 11:24 AM   #8
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I'm saving a backup copy to a portable HD. Just plug it into a usb port and save it to both your hard drive on the computer and the portable HD.

I believe Seagate has come out with a portable HD that will not only work as a storage drive but will also back up your OS and programs.
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Old 08-26-2009, 05:01 PM   #9
I think Admin is going to let me have this space
 
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With a program like ghost you can use an external hard drive and make a mirror image of the drive and if anything happens you can ghost (burn) it right back onto the old drive or new one if necessary. I would also suggest making several duplicates of picture, music, video, and document files onto good quality DVDs or other media like thumb drive, or media cards. or even a seperate hard drive. If you use DVDs use a good quality and keep them in good covers and out of the light, as they have a tedency to delaminate and degrade.

On a side note does anybody out there have a windows XP Pro cd? Mine has gotten scratched to the point its not readable, and I have been having problems getting one from Microsoft. I have a paid for license I just need a disc. My laptop came with Vista when it first came out and it sucks so I bought a copy of XP now I want to do a complete installation from scratch instead of using my backups and I need a disc. Anybody help?

Last edited by nautiduck; 08-26-2009 at 05:06 PM.
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Old 08-26-2009, 11:03 PM   #10
Crab mustard is good
 
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Nautiduck-

If you go to the Microsoft website, there is information regarding a free upgrade this October to the OS that is replacing Vista. Vista is such a dog product (I have it as well) that Microsoft is giving the new OS to the poor saps who currently are stuck with it.

From what I have heard, Vista has been the single best selling feature for anyone considering switching to a Mac.
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