I have a home personal computer.  On it, I have imaged and saved over
the years hundreds of important documents--notepad, Word, Wordpad,
PDF, TIF, and also regular types of image files and music files.  Now
there are probably a couple hundred at most, I add about 5-10 per
month. I am
concerned that I don't have a way to generally back up all of those
things on, say, a weekly basis.  What I want is a comprehensive answer
but not necessarily long, that recommends to me options of various
different levels of safety, convenience, AND PRICE, to buy something
to regularly back up my stuff.  (i.e., buying cds? memory chips?  what
are these? how else can I protect and back up all my stuff? web-based
or commercial services?  etc. etc. ).  Just a family wants to protect
all our imaged copies of documents, and etc. etc. etc.

Hi  Ipisors,


   Ratty, in his/her comment below gave you an excellent tip for
burning your data to a CD. That?s certainly a good way to back up, but
there are other ways as well, depending on your budget, and how
serious you are about not losing the data.

  I would still burn all your documents and images to a CD (or DVD)
regardless of whether you consider other ways. Making two copies is a
very good idea.  By burning data to a disc, and storing it in a safe
place, you?ll always have your data. Whether or not your CD burner is
also a DVD burner is another issue. Check you PC for DVD burning
software. Most computers over a year old will have only CD burn
capability and DVD readability only. You can easily add a DVD/CD
burner to your PC or, if you have USB or Firewire ports, use an
external DVD burner. (External is my choice, since I can use it on
multiple computers).


  An additional backup method is to use an external hard drive,
utilizing a Firewire or USB port. I like the Maxtor, although there
are other brands. (Seagate is another, but does not appear to have the
easy One Touch software) You will notice some poor reviews among some
Maxtor users. Let me say, you need to treat the external drive gently,
to avoid damage. Following Windows ?Safely Remove External Hardware?
feature, whose icon will appear on your system tray when you have an
external device attached, will go a long way to protecting your data.

By backing up to an external hard drive, after saving each document,
you?ll never lose any data! When you get enough to go on one CD/DVD,
you can burn a full disc at once. Documents take up little space, so
you?ll be able to get loads of documents on disc.


The Maxtor One Touch comes with software allowing you to automatically
back up you data, at designated times, or as desired. You can also set
it to back up ONLY new data added since last backup, so you don?t make
redundant back-ups.
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.6adb6b8313633595062e6be791346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/External%20Hard%20Drives/OneTouch%20Family


?A wizard guides you through configuration of the automatic backup
settings, making the process painless. You can also create additional
backup scripts to run manually. Pressing a button on the front of a
OneTouch drive causes a monitoring utility to launch the bundled
backup software, Dantz Retrospect Express 6.0, by default. If you have
some other favorite backup program, you can set the Maxtor software to
call it up instead.?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1230498,00.asp

?The good: Quick setup; outstanding throughput; one-button backup;
quiet operation; USB 2.0; Mac compatible.
The bad: Expensive; big enclosure. 
The bottom line: With its single-button backup, Maxtor's 160GB
OneTouch drive not only makes avoiding PC disasters easier, it's also
lightning fast.?
Different sizes are cheaper, of course. Shop around, online and in
stores for the best price.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Maxtor_OneTouch_160GB/4505-3186_7-30643124.html
http://www.shareholder.com/maxtor/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=183100&reltype=Product&maxtor_section=press

?- WHAT it is and HOW it works
The One Touch Backup system was originally developed at Quantum
laboratories, before that company was acquired by Maxtor in early
2001. Maxtor simply had to improve the system before releasing it onto
the market.
The process starts when the user presses the button on the One Touch
external drive, initiating the backup process. It's simply the fastest
way possible to perform a backup, faster than CD or a removable
cartridge system and certainly faster than floppies. Backup and
Restore is handled exclusively by Daunt Retrospect software.

- Simplicity 
Throughout the entire backup or restore process, you won't find any
complex menus or commands and there's no need for any technical
knowledge in order to set up and use the Maxtor One Touch II drive.
Even installation of the One Touch software is a matter of a few
clicks with the mouse and some simple questions such as the user's
name and preferred language.
By leaving everything to default settings, Retrospect backs up
everything on the local drives, including Internet favorites, address
books, my documents folders, outlook express mail folders, operating
system folders, applications, etc.
Retrospect allows for two modes of backup called Comprehensive and
Duplicate. The backup files created by Retrospect when doing
Comprehensive backups are compressed automatically and their format is
such that they are not accessible directly. Only with Retrospect can
the administrator of the PC access all the backed up files and restore
any particular file or files back to the PC. Comprehensive backup
creates restore points so that the user can for example create a
backup for each day of the week rather than simply overwriting the
previous backup.

With Duplicate backups, older saved files are overwritten with newer versions.
Retrospect also includes a disk self management facility that makes
best possible use of available disk space on the the Maxtor One Touch,
erasing any unnecessary files and always keeping free space at a
maximum.

The Maxtor One Touch drive - just press the button and your files are
backed up in one, simple step. It's simply the fastest backup.?
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=13587 



Review
http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs.php?masterid=1248093

Customer Reviews
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AZW8X/002-1719235-3304824?v=glance&n=172282


Another option is to image (clone) your hard drive, using
imaging/cloning software. Not only does this method save your data, it
makes a ?snapshot? of your drive. When you restore, using your image,
all settings, programs, data,  and preferences are restored. You will
need to save this image to CD, DVD, or the external hard drive. I
recommend CD or DVD in case of an external hard drive failure.

Some imaging software is Acronis, and DriveImage XML

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm


Back up to CD. This site describes methods for backing up to CD or DVD. 
http://www.cadinfo.net/editorial/cd-backup.htm

Another good back up site:
http://www.ugr.com/nl0102.html





Storing your data online is an option, but an expensive one:

http://www.ibackup.com/charginghelp_new.htm

http://www.usdatatrust.com/service/pricing.asp



If you end up with a lot of CD archives, consider one of these storage boxes:
http://www.sleevetown.com/cd-storage.shtml


Be sure to buy special CD marking pens, as regular markers can leach
into the disc, ruining your data.  I have also heard that the paper
labels some people use on CDs and DVDs are not good for archiving
data, and that they can actually cause CDs and DVDs to be unbalanced,
and hard to access when read.


I hope this has helped you decide on a back-up method.

If any part of my answer is unclear, please request an Answer
Clarification. I will be happy to assist further, before you rate my
answer.

Sincerely, Crabcakes


Search Terms
============
External hard drives + Maxtor
Home PC back up
Knowledge of topic

---

Request for Answer Clarification by ipisors-ga on 07 Jan 2006 13:00 PST

Thank you.  I feel a little scared about trying the external hard
drive process.  or the 2nd hard hard drive or whatever, although I did
read it all.  The Comment that was posted kind of implied that on a
DVD I can store much more than on a CD.  Would you agree with this? 
Because I am basically now trying to narrow it down to should I burn
to cd's, or should I burn to dvd--do they have THAT much more
capacity?  I guess I would have to buy a dvd burner.  My computer is
about 4 years old now.  I would feel comfortable going through even a
20-60 minute process, once a month or something.  I just wonder how
much will fit on a cd, and also, in order to keep backing up to the
same cd, can I just buy a cd-rw disc instead of just a recordable one
that closes up?

When I got to walmart or normal stores it seems like it's harder to
tell which ones are writable and re-writeable.  also when I write to a
disc that's re-writeable, will my computer know not to lock/close the
cd or something?

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 07 Jan 2006 13:21 PST

Hello Ipsor,

   Thank you for your clarification. All of this back up information
can be intimidating.

  DVDs do hold a lot more than CDs. 
"A single-layer DVD can store 4.7 GB, which is around seven times as
much as a standard CD-ROM. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD

"Approximately 20,000 letter-sized, black and white pages will fit on
a single CD. Color documents and photos can also be scanned to CD, but
because they require more memory, fewer will fit. This will let you
find your document without leaving your desk. Your files will be at
your finger tips. The fact that the documents are on a CD means that
you may be able to eliminate all those dusty files and file cabinets
and vastly reduce the cost of storage. You can transport millions of
electronic documents in your briefcase, something just not possible
with paper."

However:

"ScanDoc does not recommend the DVD format for most document archiving
at this time. While it does offer promise for large volume document
image storage, DVD is still a fairly new technology and has not been
standardized to provide the nearly universal access to your documents
that is possible with CDs. Not all customized DVD disks are usable in
all DVD drives."
http://www.scandoc.com/faq.php#Do%20you%20store%20the%20documents%20on%20tape,%20CD,%20or%20DVD

Your program will have the option of compressing data to fit more on a disc.


DVD vs CD
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dvd3.htm

"The microscopic dimensions of the bumps make the spiral track on a
DVD extremely long. If you could lift the data track off a single
layer of a DVD, and stretch it out into a straight line, it would be
almost 7.5 miles long! That means that a double-sided, double-layer
DVD would have 30 miles (48 km) of data!"
The microscopic dimensions of the bumps make the spiral track on a DVD
extremely long. If you could lift the data track off a single layer of
a DVD, and stretch it out into a straight line, it would be almost 7.5
miles long! That means that a double-sided, double-layer DVD would
have 30 miles (48 km) of data!

Wal-Mart's selection is limited. Try larger electronics stores where
the employees may be able to help you.

Or try my favorite online stores:

http://newegg.com/

and

http://www.cyberguys.com/

and

http://www.tigerdirect.com/


Generally speaking, your CD/DVD writing program will have the option
of "closing" the disc. If you leave it open, you can add more data.
Nero Burning ROM is a good writing program, and I know it has this
option.


It is daunting to think about all your options. Be prepared to create
what are called "coasters" - that is, ruined attempts at burning CDs
or DVDs that make the discs worthless. We've all been there while
learning to effectively store data!

I would not let the One Touch Hard drive scare you though. It is very
simple and an excellent way to back up, or simply store more data. I
adore mine.

Regards, Crabcakes

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 07 Jan 2006 13:52 PST

I forgot to mention, you may want to divide your data onto separate
discs. By that I mean, place documents on a separate disc than photos,
etc.

That will make it easier to organize and retrieve files.

Regards, Crabcakes

Comprehensive answer, and willing to give quick clarification when I
needed some, very helpful!

Hi

Step 1 is to roughly count up how much stuff you have. I'd guess the
whole lot is well under 1GB.

The easiest way to back up is to use CD's (or DVD's). You can back up
all your information to 1 or 2 CD's (or 1 DVD). DC's/DVD's are
readable on pretty much every computer in the world and thus don't
require any special software or hardware to restore your files. DVD's
are slightly preferable as they will hold everything on one disk and
probably will do for some time to come.

You can use Windows do do the writing of the CD/DVD, so there is no
software cost. You'll need a CD writer / DVD writer. Any one will do.

You should always make 2 copies and store one with a friend or
relative (ie any house except your own for fire reasons). Check the
disk is readable having made it.

Write the date on the CD/DVD.

How often you make backups depends on how much you are prepared to
lose. For example, if you make backups monthly, you must be prepared
to lose the last month if something goes wrong.

Suggestion: Back up monthly, based on as soon after 1st of the month
as you get a chance.

Ratty

Thank you!!  Currently I have a basic cd-rw drive where i am able to
write thinsg to cd's.  does that mean probably it will also write to a
dvd if i buy a blank dvd?

Hi

If you have a CDRW, then that will write CD's, not DVD's.

Personally I'd stay with your CDRW for as long as your data fits onto
1 or 2 disks. The disks are USD 0.35 (=EUR 0.30, =GBP 0.20) each and
at that price are very cheap for saving your data.

When you start to need 3 or 4 discs per time, look at the prices for a
DVD writer. Then all your data will fit on 1 disk.

Ratty

Will Tip?

Does this mean that you will leave a tip in your Will?

"miko-moro"...to explain to you how this works, see
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#tipping

ipisors...

I think mikomoro is referring to the fact that, when you follow
the procedure from the link you referenced, the tip shows up in
the rating comment, as in:

"ipisors-ga rated this answer: ***** and gave an additional tip of: $5.00"

...which is absent from your rating comment.

Did you intend to tip, but a slip of the mouse caused a failure?
If so, many users open up a new question with, e.g.,
"for crabcakes-ga" included in the subject line. Since
researchers receive only 75% of the listed price, but
100% of the tip, they often keep the question price low,
and add the bulk of the intended tip in a tip, and make
the question something simple, like, "what's your favorite
color?"

Yes actually sublime, that is exactly what happened.  This is the
first time I had ever done this, so, I actually hit the button having
intended to tip and didn't.  I won't comment on the low class
nastiness evidenced by meeky moko's comment, but thanks to sublime for
giving me the benefit of the doubt and assuming that's what had
happened.  Obviously, I wouldn't have promised a tip and then
intentionally not delvered.  Once I realized my mistake I found no way
whatsoever to change or cancel the payment, and I found no way to
email crabcakes.  Anyway, I am posting said suggested question now to
correct the tip problem.  Thanks -

Hi Ipisors-ga,
I wonder if Crabcakes will give us her grandmother's recipe ...

Mikimoro only did what many others here might have done, nothing
nasty.  Sometimes it is easier for another Researcher to pick up on a
commenter's posting, rather than appearing to be hounding a "customer"
in the interest of a colleague.

Cheers, Myoarin