Back-up solution for home PC

[dutchfire]

I want to start making regular back-ups of files on my (Windows) PC, so the files will not get lost if the computer crashses/gets stolen. I was thinking about buying an external hard drive for this. The files that need to be backed up are mostly photo's and PDFs/MS Office files, so I think ~100 GB will be sufficient for the next couple of years, but bigger is of course better. I was thinking of buying an external hard-drive for this.

Questions:
* Does an external hard drive have to be powered all the time, or can I unplug it when I'm done with my back-ups and put it away? If it has to be plugged in all/most of the time, is it possible to store it away from the computer?
* Do you know of any good software that will do this? Basically, what I want is just copying certain folders from my PC to the back-up devices regularly. It would be good if it checks if files have changed, that would speed-up the process a lot. (This is called time-stamping, right?). I would probably be able to build such a program myself in a unix environment, but I don't know if the MS command prompt can give me easy access to such functionality.

Any tips?

 

[illram]

External HDs can be turned on and off and only need to be plugged into a power plug when they are on. I would recommend you buy more than 100GB, although wait until the flooding in Thailand subsides to make your purchase.

Not too knowledgeable on the software end, sorry.

 

[mdwh]

I use Cobian Backup ( http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm ). You can select which folders/files to backup (along with exclusions). It only copies what's changed since the last backup. Backups can be automated or run manually. It has two modes:

* The more traditional backup route, which uses that "archive" bit to detect what's changed. This route allows the option of creating multiple successive backups, and the option of things like incremental backups.
* You can also "sync" an backup folder to contain a copy of your folders - this goes by the timestamp. (This has the advantage that you can do multiple different backups without interfering with the archive bit - e.g., one to a second hard disk, one to an external hard disk, another to a USB drive etc.)

It also doesn't use it's own custom format, instead either simply copying the folders/files, or with optional zip compression. The only downside is that it doesn't include any recovery functionality (so if you're doing incremental backups, it's a bit more fiddly; not a problem with full backups though since you can just copy the files back yourself).

External drives can be unplugged when you want. I backup to a 2.5" laptop/portable drive, which means it's small enough to store in a firesafe for a bit of extra protection. (I actually use a raw internal drive, as I have a USB hard disk connector thing which lets me easily plug internal drives in to use.) Whilst you'll need an external drive for backing up 100GB of stuff, you might want to consider a USB drive in addition in there are a smaller set of important files (you can get 32GB drives very cheaply these days) - the advantage is you can keep them on you all the time, protecting against theft/fire/meteorite-hitting-your-house...

 

[Mise]

A wireless network drive might be more suitable, since if they're gonna steal your PC they'll probably steal the small but expensive things attached to your PC too. You can hide a wireless network drive somewhere safe and not have to worry about plugging it in every time. Most of them will have their own backup software too, but there's plenty of that around. They're more expensive but they're really cool

One other thing I thought of doing a while ago was to use a basic plug PC (one that has network access) to control the hard drive. Although that ended up looking more costly and time consuming than buying a ready-made package, it's still a project that I want to embark on at some point. Maybe I'll buy a Raspberry Pi when it finally comes out.

 

[GoodGame]

If you got Norton, you can upgrade to Norton 360 which has a backup solution.

I'd recommend you get a reliable drive cage and insert an OEM drive with about a terabyte of capacity. You can then copy your entire installed OS folder to a compressed folder (good way of making quick .dll repairs), make a slipstream installation disk in another folder, and store system restore points.

 

[J-man]

* Does an external hard drive have to be powered all the time, or can I unplug it when I'm done with my back-ups and put it away? If it has to be plugged in all/most of the time, is it possible to store it away from the computer?

It doesn't have to be plugged in all the time. In fact, when used for back ups it's recommended to store it some where else. Imagine a burglar who steals your computer can also steal your hdd if it's right next to it.

Do you know of any good software that will do this? Basically, what I want is just copying certain folders from my PC to the back-up devices regularly. It would be good if it checks if files have changed, that would speed-up the process a lot. (This is called time-stamping, right?). I would probably be able to build such a program myself in a unix environment, but I don't know if the MS command prompt can give me easy access to such functionality.

Any tips?

I use the build in windows back up function. However, there are a lot of (free) back up programs that you can find on the internet.

Edit: Are you a student? Than you can keep the hdd at your folks place.