backup

D

dollyclare

Registered User
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I have approx 30Gb on my hard drive which need to be backed up(if I change computers).What can I use or can I just transfer direct to new pc.?I asked this before but lost reply.Thanks
 
are you sure the 30gb is all information you actually need to move over and not the whole drive's worth i.e windows, program files etc?

Put all your required data into one folder and see how much space it takes up.

you could burn the data to blank dvd's
or use a usb key quite a few times
wirelessly connect the 2 pc's?
I think you can cable between 2 pc's but don't know enough about this!
 
Try some online backup solutions such as www.datahaven.ie or www.interxion.ie. They back up your data securely over the internet. Saves having to purchase a backup device, backup media and also arrange for secure offsite storage of the backup media.

C
 

Do you have any idea how long it would take to do 30GB even at broadband speeds? Plus she would most likely be busting her bandwidth allowances.

Looking at these sites they would cost more a month than a once off purchase of an external HD which could easily hold this amount of data.

Other options include linking the two PCs by ethernet cable if they both have network cards (at least I have read this is possible, I've never done it).

If you are feeling brave you could take the HD out of the first PC and install it as a secondary drive in the new one and do a simple copy over, then take it back out and put in back in the old one.
 
If you have another PC to which you want to move your data and which is already running Windows etc. then you should be able to install your old hard disk as a secondary (non boot) drive in the PC and then just access it as D: (or whatever is the next drive letter). Don't repartition or reformat it - just install it so that it appears as is as a new drive. There are lots of guides on the web (accessible via Google for example) explaining how to install secondary hard disks for this sort of purpose.
 
Dam099

The main advantage those online services give are that you have your information stored securely offsite. No point having your backups in the same location as the information you are backing up. In the event of a fire or other such disaster you lose your original data and your backups.

As far as I know the above services also use pretty good compression utilities so that you do not take up the equivalent storage space as on your machine/network. They also use incremental backups so that only changed information is backed up, not all the data. So bandwidth usage should not become a major issue.

The above solutions are also more applicable to long term backup solutions rather than a once off.

Best bet is to contact the above companies directly and assess the applicability of their services to the requirements.

Note I have no affiliation at all with either of the above companies. I am in the process of reviewing them myself for my own use as I use my laptop a lot for business and am often away from the office. At least with a service like the above I get a backup done providing I have internet access.

C
 
The main issue is more one of data retention/recovery than backup. For backups remember that Windows (Professional editions only I think) comes with a perfectly adequate backup tool bundled in the form of Windows/NT Backup (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup) which allows for the creation of compressed and incremental backups locally onto whatever medium is suitable (e.g. CD/DVD-RW etc.). An online backup system may compress data but I reckon that it will only do this on the server side meaning that the original raw size of the data (e.g. up to 30GB in this case) would still have to be transferred first which is not really feasible with home/capped broadband or even many uncapped broadband links.
 

I agree they make sense in certain circumstances (mostly business users). I was more referring to the specific info given by the original poster which seemed to refer to a transfer type situation and not regular backups (and who I assumed to be a home user perhaps incorrectly)
 
Yes I am a home user.Thanks for all replies.I'm not getting a new pc just yet so I have plenty time to consider these options.It is true that I don't need to backup all thats on the local disk.(forgot that.)for the first few years I backed up stuff onto floppy disks as I went along.Its just that I got lazy and backed up nothing for about 2yrs.Now I'm trying to find the easy way for old stuff and the best way for new stuff(as I go along<Ihope).I may just forget about half the stuff as I have no broadband yet,so its probably pointless trying to use the net for it.from now on what is the most up to date form of regular backup.(giant floppies or whatever).The last time I used one it only stored 2mb.
 
dollyclare said:
from now on what is the most up to date form of regular backup.(giant floppies or whatever).The last time I used one it only stored 2mb.
Click to expand...
How much data would you need to backup? It's possible that (re)writeable CDs (c. 700MB) or DVDs (c. 4GB+) would do the trick. Obviously you would need a CD or DVD (re)writer. Does that make sense to you.
 
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