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Post by jjr1770 (Judy) on Aug 20, 2016 15:16:27 GMT
Recently had a hard drive crash and all is fixed now. My computer guy was able to grab my documents and photos from
the old hard drive. I have a Clickfree back drive but I'm happy with it. I was looking at the Seagate Plus portable drive or
Carbonite. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. Something easy and not too challenging as
I'm not that computer savvy.
Thanks a bunch.
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bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 21, 2016 15:46:05 GMT
For a Mac - I use Superduper! - which is a software program that makes a bootable copy of my hard drives(s) (I have a couple of different hard drives on my old Mac Pro. My main hard drive is "superdupered" on 2 different externals drives that I keep in different "safe" locations - away from my work area. What I like about super duper is that when I want to make the backup copy - it will do so by only changing on the backup what is new on the main hard drive - saving lots of time. I'm not sure if there is a same program type for PC's. I'm sure that PC users will be able to chime in on what they use. As far as Carbonite - I have heard good things but..... you have to have a good upload internet access that is fast - because it can take a very long time to do the first backup. You have a monthly fee attached to that I believe. I do not know if it creates a bootable backup. Why I find the bootable backup important - I had a drive go down on me. I was able to start up from the Superduper cloned backup directly from the external hd and then superduper from the backup directly onto my new internal hard drive. All was right with the world  . Good luck on your search for the right program for you. As always - it's not "if" your hard drive will fail but "when". And this applies to both the disk hds as well as to solid state drives! ~bruce. |
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Post by BuckSkin on Aug 21, 2016 19:00:57 GMT
If you are meaning external hard-drives, I very much prefer the "Storejet" ones made by Transcend; 1TB is about $55; they are rated to some military standard for surviving drops and vibration. I have just been researching creating a "Mirror Image" of Windows. From what I gather, the technology to do so is already installed within Windows and is easily doable by anyone remotely familiar with saving files. You save this in an external hard-drive that is NTSF formatted, not FAT32 (which ours currently are). To restore a crashed hard-drive also requires a system repair disc, which is not to be confused with a system restore disc; all of which is also createable right in Windows. The best information I have found is on Andy Rathbone's site : www.andyrathbone.com/2010/02/19/system-image-vs-regular-backup-in-windows-7/comment-page-2/#comment-400312A system image (mirror image), is the entire contents of your (C:) hard-drive, INCLUDING the operating system, Windows 7 in my case. My understanding is you boot (start) the computer via the system repair disc, then load the system image that you saved, thus restoring contents of your computer to that exact point in time, including all programs, drivers, etc. You can even install an entirely new hard-drive and load your system image on it and you are good to go. A plain old backing up of files is not a system image. I avoid any of those "cloud" or online back-up deals because of the big bite all of that data transfer takes from my expensive bandwidth capacity, let alone having another monthly bill to pay. I am uncertain, but I do not think you can boot and reload from a cloud or online anyway. As bnk1953 stated, it is a good idea to keep at least one of these system images stored at a different physical location. Thanks for reading. |
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Post by jjr1770 (Judy) on Aug 21, 2016 20:09:08 GMT
Thank Bruce and Buckskin for your input. I will research the site you gave me Buckskin.
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Post by Andy on Aug 21, 2016 23:52:19 GMT
This isn't an either/or question. You really need to be prepared for several possible catastrophes, and don't get too focused on your most recent situation. Here are just a few things to consider:
1) Hard drive failure or other issue such that you can't boot your computer
2) Hard drive failure such that your pictures and other data can't be recovered
3) Catastrophic event at your residence (fire/flood/etc.)
4) An issue with your internet storage provider such that your backup is now not accessible (I refer people to the Megaupload story if you think this can't happen).
I recommend the following:
1) Don't store your data on the same physical drive that holds your computer operating system. Have two drives.
2) Have at least one USB backup of your data. Any file copy program can do this for you (I use FreeFileSync)
3) Use a cloud backup provider (I have used Carbonite for awhile and I'm happy with it)
4) Recovering your operating system, while time consuming, it has the least impact. A new hard drive can pretty easily be installed and the operating system reloaded. Two ways to make this easier - 1) If you are on Windows, make sure you create a System Recovery USB drive (I'm not sure of a Mac equivalent); 2) If you want to pay more Carbonite has this option as well. I don't pay for it as I don't consider it worthwhile.
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Post by BuckSkin on Aug 22, 2016 2:12:00 GMT
4) An issue with your internet storage provider such that your backup is now not accessible (I refer people to the Megaupload story if you think this can't happen). Some years ago, a bunch of members of a diesel truck forum that I frequent had their entire collections of photos stored with an online photo-sharing site. It was sort of a monkey see monkey do situation where so many forum members saw that others were using the service and followed suit; I was probably the only one without any images stored there. It is unbelievable how many of them just dumped the contents of their memory cards into there with no other backup storage whatsoever. Then, one day, just out of the blue, the site shut down forever. Hence is one of the many reasons why I don't use such sites. |
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Post by Peterj on Aug 22, 2016 12:38:40 GMT
My backup solution includes 1 Mac, 2 Windows 7, and 2 Linux machines. I decided that using commercial backup solutions was a bit complex for me, plus I had reservations about trusting the commercial cloud applications that abound. In addition I desired to have a common data source for these dis-similar machines. My solution was to purchase a network attached storage [NAS] and have it backed up on my private network. I purchased consumer grade products [about $400] and now have a 7 TB [NAS] available to all 5 machines. Since I wasn't in a hurry I waited until manufactures refurbished units were available. I intentionally disabled the Cloud aspect limiting access only to my in home private network.
Products purchased:
* 3 TB My Cloud - NAS from Western Digital
* 4 TB My Book - USB3 from Western Digital
* Gig switch to connect NAS and selected devices to WIFI router
How this is used:
* My Book is always connected to the My Cloud NAS providing a target for backups.
* My Cloud is always accessible from any where in my home via WIFI providing a common data stor
* Initial backups of each computer was performed when hard connected to the switch
* Backup now performed via WIFI
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Post by jjr1770 (Judy) on Aug 22, 2016 15:38:42 GMT
Thank you Andy and Pete for your added input - thank you all for being so helpful.
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