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Thread ID: 104017 2009-10-14 04:12:00 Suggestions for running backup hrb1968 (15344) Press F1
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820353 2009-10-14 04:12:00 :rolleyes: Hi everybody! I bought a Dell XP 745 Optiplex Duo with XP OS back in June, and I have been told that I should run a back up (just in case). I have some new software that I've bought that should be protected, not to mention my OS. I've never done this before. I have recently bought Express Burn and would use that to do it, but I'm wondering what kind of disc/s I would use and if you have had experience with Express Burn, do I have it on Data DVD or Data CD? I tried to make a backup copy of Express Burn when I bought it and I used the Data CD option and the DVD drive just kept whizzing around for about and hour. The company emailed me back and suggested I try DATA DVD button next time, but it froze the whole computer. Any suggestions you could make to make this a little less terrifying would be much appreciated:dogeye: hrb1968 (15344)
820354 2009-10-14 04:34:00 With the price of USB hard drives now I would just purchase one of those.
Makes it a lot easier than trying to play around with CDs/DVDs.
Then use something like this (http://www.todo-backup.com/) to make a complete image of your computer, system & data.
CYaBro (73)
820355 2009-10-14 06:32:00 I don't bother with DVDs now. I may bother with CD for my car's stereo cos I don't wanna destroy the ambience .. cos it matches the aircon and stuff .. :D

For backup, I use True Image that creates a image file of my HDD incl all software, if a crash I can just do that and it is a lot quicker than to reinstall. Even my photography I just use 2 HDDs and use the spare room on each other to sync the files across.

I use Syncback.
I may use it after day that I worked on my pictures. If I did a lot of emails and personal work on MS Office etc. I could do a sync each week .....

I really don't use DVDs now. We just rent DVDs. I don't copy the download files into DVD anymore cos they outdate and better to redownload it.

A external HDD is also good that it is portable and stored offsite.
The smaller 2.5" HDD is also good that it is much easier to transport ie., no power cable required. Plug in USB and it just goes.
Nomad (952)
820356 2009-10-14 07:21:00 I do weekly backups to a usb disc and to another computer set up for backing up to only and then I do a daily incremental backup to both places as well, I only image the C drive though as the data drive I backup daily using syncback free gary67 (56)
820357 2009-10-14 07:25:00 With the price of USB hard drives now I would just purchase one of those.
Makes it a lot easier than trying to play around with CDs/DVDs.
Then use something like this (http://www.todo-backup.com/) to make a complete image of your computer, system & data.

Or DriveImageXML or Macrium Reflect:)

Or, you can invest in Acronis which supports Incremental Imaging.

+1 For an External HD, will be much better.

Try to go for a larger size. HDs are cheaper the larger they are(per GB) and you'll probably use the extra space later on.

Blam
Blam (54)
820358 2009-10-14 08:14:00 Thanks everybody for your answers. Ill probably go with the USB hard drive options. Im still getting used to all the computing terminology, and figuring out what gizmo does what. hrb1968 (15344)
820359 2009-10-14 21:01:00 With the price of USB hard drives now I would just purchase one of those.
Makes it a lot easier than trying to play around with CDs/DVDs.
Then use something like this (http://www.todo-backup.com/) to make a complete image of your computer, system & data.

CYaBro, have you tried to make a bootable recovery disk with this program? When I try to, it goes through the motions, then after a few seconds it says it has finished the burning process, but it hasn't. There is nothing on the CD.

Otherwise, it looks like a good simple (yet another) backup program to create images.
rumpty (2863)
820360 2009-10-15 00:42:00 Yep, sounds like what happened with my Express Burn backup attempt. hrb1968 (15344)
820361 2009-10-15 03:48:00 I have acronis true image and I made a bootable cd from that and it works well however True image is not free gary67 (56)
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