[Sloth]

Once you have your data back, consider using a hard drive to back up your hard drive. I do this and once you get past the initial expense of a second hard drive, removable drive bay or USB case, there is nothing better. You set it to back up before you go to bed. No disk flipping, no fuss. I back up a lot more frequently now that I have this in place.

Interesting... I got a new computer a couple of months ago & was figuring I'd just get rid of the old one, but now I think I may keep it hooked to our home network, share the hard drive root directory and just periodically back up data on it.

[Petronski]

That's a VERY wise move. We have five computers on the home network, and anything truly irreplacable gets backed up on three or four different systems.

Redundancy Rules!

[LibKill]

Interesting... I got a new computer a couple of months ago & was figuring I'd just get rid of the old one, but now I think I may keep it hooked to our home network, share the hard drive root directory and just periodically back up data on it.>

Good move, Sloth.

I have two computers networked and I often copy vital data from the Primary to the Secondary computer.

When I was recommending hard drive to hard drive backup I was speaking only of my own experience. I CLONE drives. If the primary fails I can remove it and put in the "B TEAM" and boot from my last backup.

However you do it, a good backup is a good friend.

I prefer to backup to hard drive because it is easy and simple. That is to say that it is simple and easy AFTER you have it set up. While you are setting it up it can be difficult (depending on your skill level) and it is expensive. An 80G WD drive sells for about $100 at my local computer extortionist. That does not count the cost of the box that you put it in.

Removeable hard drive rack, $20.

USB case for hard drive (cable not included) $40.

Cable for same $5.

Peace of mind, knowing that you can restore your system from the last backup, priceless.