How Do You Back Up Your Computer Files???

[jeepgirl]

How do you back up your computer files??? Do you burn CD's? Is there something you can buy to automatically back up your files everyday??

Just need some help in this department, thanks!!!

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

I don't. That said... Yes, you can buy software and hardware to back up your files every day. :)

What you use would depend on how much stuff you want to save though (like, a few hundred meg? a gig? ten or twenty gig?), what kind of system you have, and how much money you want to spend. So... Details? ;)

[lml41981]

Do you have files that are so crucial you *need* to back them up each day? I back up once every two weeks or so (actually, when DH does it for me). My files don't change enough to warrant more frequent backups...mostly it is just grabbing any new photos I've uploaded onto my computer. We actually backup my computer to one of his hard drives, which is backed up to a spare hard drive. We figure that we won't lose 3 hard drives at once. We also have cd copies of his hard drive that are made about once a month or so...whenever he decides to change his OS or something major that could mess up a bunch of files.

If I didn't have his computer to back up to, I'd just back up any important things to cd.

[lawyerlee]

I have a dot Mac subscription, so I use iDisk as a backup for our hard drive for most things, like documents and random pictures. For sets of pictures from vacations and holidays, I burn them to discs because that just seems to make the most sense. I also back up our music by burning it to discs. :)

[KarenS]

Heh. Backing up is crucial to me. I have 2 methods.

I back up all client files to DVD - 2 copies, one kept on site and one kept in our storage unit down the road.

I also back up my system files and my other documents (financial files, etc.) to a 200GB external hard drive once a week. I have it automated to start at something like 3 a.m. on Sunday or something like that. The software I use is set so that it only overwrites files that have been changed or added since the last backup.

Karen

[jeepgirl]

Sorry I am so slow getting back to this thread... I've just been dealing with computer problems!!! So... that is one of the reasons I started looking into "back up" options. Here's the story... basically, I have a computer I've used for everything for 3 years... it has all kinds of things - pictures, itunes, personal documents, school documents, etc. on it. I'm not sure how much space it all adds up to. I'm sure it would take MULTIPLE CD's to burn everything (I don't have a DVD burner). It made me realize I would like to have a "system" to easily and regularly back up my files... so I was just wondering what everyone else does.

The other reason I want to back everything up is that my family, who run a small ministry, desperately needs to borrow my 3 year old computer/laptop. I have a newer one I just got for school, so I do have an extra one. Since they are going to use my old laptop for "projecting" slides onto a screen, I really need to get everything backed up and "wiped off" my old computer. I wouldn't want anything personal left on there - I'm just private that way.

So that's the story.

Karen, it sounds like you have a really good "system" worked out. Do you have any brand recommendations for DVD burners?

Does anyone have suggestions for "cleaning" out my computer system before I give it away???

[KarenS]

To be honest, I just bought the DVD burner that was on sale at Sam's and installed it. I'm not picky! :)

If you want something quick, I'd buy an external hard drive that you can plug in with a USB cable and back up that way. It would be a lot faster than burning DVDs or CDs and you could continue backing up on a regular basis. You can get a good quality 200GB external hard drive for around $200.

Karen

[jeepgirl]

Thanks Karen, I think I will look into an external hard drive. Any brand/model recommendations on those???

[KarenS]

Hm. I like Western Digital or Maxtor, personally, but I think most known brand names would be fine. All of mine are Western Dig.

Karen

[lml41981]

Does anyone have suggestions for "cleaning" out my computer system before I give it away???
If you know someone who can install a new harddrive on a laptop (it isn't hard, but is different from doing it on a desktop), I'd actually replace the harddrive and put a new installation of Windows on there. That's the most effective way to ensure nobody else gets your personal data.

If you want the easier route, then I'd suggest formatting and f-disking the harddrive and then reinstalling your operating system and any programs the computer needs. This will require having a boot disk and your original cds and keys for things such as Windows and any word processors or spreadsheet programs you have.

DH says there's also a program called Wipe that you can use if you're extremely paranoid. Basically, it writes 1s and 0s over and over and over again to the whole hard drive. A person would have to have a whole lot of time on their hands to be able to retrieve your data.

The absolute, most simple way (and least secure) way to get rid of stuff is to simply delete the files (remembering to empty your recycling bin) and empty your browser cache, temporary internet files and cookies folder. One step more secure is to do that and format, but not f-disk the harddrive.

[jeepgirl]

Karen - thanks for the brand names. I just honestly don't know anything about external drives, and so that is why I asked!

LML - thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciated how you listed the options from least secure to most secure. It was very helpful for me, and I will DEFINITELY look into it further. I'm not extremely paranoid, just concerned that if a family member ends up with it they might get into things either purposefully or accidentally that I would rather them not (for example, I broke up with my ex-fiance about 3 years ago and there are still correspondence letters from that time... and I'm not really sure what all my ex-fiance did ON my computer either... just none of their business if you know what I mean!)

Tonight I backed up all of my data files just on CD for now (I learned one of my computers has a virus so I decided to just jump in there and do it and look into an external drive after at least these initial files are secure)... now I have to back up my music files (mostly itunes) which will take a lot of burning time, but I should have done it before now anyway. I did run a virus check on both of my computers, but only one of them had 1 infected file... doesn't quite make sense. Anywho... once my music files are backed up I will need to make a decision about which way to "wipe" my computer clean.