Posted on 01/08/2015 3:36:14 PM PST by TurboZamboni
wanted for a dying laptop.
Big usb thumb drive, copy copy copy. or use whatever backup program is with the o/s to the thumb drive.
Ghost would probably do a good image of your drive.
thinkin makin a data dvd would last longer than thumb drive or hard drive.
Forgot to mention, for a laptop with 500GB drive (about half full)
Windows?
If so, trying a image backup rather than a regular backup.
Control Panel >> System and Security >> Backup and Restore
then select ‘Create a system image’
With a successful system image, you can install it on a new disk drive and possibly save having to reset and reinstall software.
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If you just want to save data files, use the regular file back up.
Macrium Reflect (easy to find with bing search). It’s a free application for non-commercial use. After you install it, you can image your computer to a network drive, USB external drive, etc. You can also make a bootable CD after you install it to be used to boot from in the case you need to recover. The software can also be scheduled to do backups unattended if it’s something you want (and should) do on a continuing basis. Read the user guide and understand it. The CD is only for booting, you need to keep your actual backups on accessible media. I highly recommend an external USB drive if you do not have a network for such purposes.
Is that simple to use and easy to copy to a new unit?
Get an external USB drive and copy all of your stuff onto there. Repeat weekly even after you get your laptop fixed or replaced. Burn important files onto a DVD and stash them someplace offsite, too.
...forgot to add... this software will backup everything and IMAGE you PC. This is basically a clone so if you ever lose your hard drive, you can replace it and restore the image without even having to install windows and start over. It will be an EXACT duplicate of the moment in time you last ran the image. If you simply want to backup files that are important, as others mentioned, the built-in windows backup software and an external USB drive are more than capable of meeting that basic need.
USB drive, you can get half a gig for about $50.
If it is a dying HDD, get a replacement drive along with an external case. Clone your failing drive to the new one using a tool like Acronis - there are others, and then swap the new for the old in the laptop. Just be sure you know exactly the connector version needed on the HDD.
I use a Toshiba backup that I got at Staples.
I got a passport, but use windows backup, not the one that comes with it.
500gb...yea, that would be alot of dvds
I use the Macrium Reflect [free for home use] for my desktop and laptop disk drive images.
Those image programs save HOURS if one ever needs to re-image a drive.
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I also have a 2nd partition on my hard drives and I use those for my data. They usually survive a disk drive crash.
Additionally, USB external drives are too cheap for anyone not use backup their data.
IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE YOUR DATA, YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO NOT HAVE AN EXTERNAL BACKUP.
Yeah, I’d say ghost is pretty simple to use.
bfl
SyncBackFree is good freeware backup program that you can use. I have been using it for a couple of years now.
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