Extra HD an extravagance?

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Si

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I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...

However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...

As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive just
an extravagance?

Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

Si.
 
C

cjt

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Si wrote:

> I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
>
> However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
>
> As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive just
> an extravagance?
>

Yes.

> Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

Yes.

>
> Si.
>
>
>


--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.
 
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"Si" wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
>
> However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
>
> As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free,
> is the extra drive just an extravagance?
>
> Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?


If the backup is really for *backup* (not to keep an
archived time record of your documents, say), an extra
HD is a blessing - either internal OR external. I have an
internal secondary HD which has enough room to save
several backups of the primary HD. I save 4 backups
on it at a time, each one selectable by the WinXP multi-
boot feature, and I can boot to any one of them at will.
Selecting the HD is a matter of changing the HD boot
priority in the BIOS, then I select the OS to boot during
the boot process. The backup process itself is done as
a cloning operation using Drive Image 2002. By cloning
the entire HD, I don't have to futz with remembering
which files have changed and which need backing up, and
I avoid having to store and label multiple optical disks.
I just put a folder on the OS's desktop that has as a name
the date of backup, and when the OS boots up, it can
be recognized by the folder on the desktop. Retrieving a
file or folder is just a matter of booting the OS from the
proper partition (I name each partition in the boot.ini file)
and then dragging the necessary file or folder over to the
primary HD.

*TimDaniels*
 
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"CJT" <abujlehc@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:408A9DC9.4070307@prodigy.net...
> Si wrote:
>
> > I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
> >
> > However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
> >
> > As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive
just
> > an extravagance?
> >
>
> Yes.
>
> > Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?
>
> Yes.
>
> >
> > Si.
> >


Thanks,

Si.
 
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Si wrote:
> I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
>
> However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
>
> As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive just
> an extravagance?

No, not if you value your data.


> Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

Not really. A DVD is *slow* and *small* compared to an external HD.
Granted, you're only using a small fraction of your HD space. But
using an external HD for backups will give you the benefit of being able
to easily keep an archive of multiple backups. Plus you don't have to
worry about shuffling around DVDs and making sure not to get them
scratched or anything.

What I do is use an external drive for regular backups. And then
periodically I offload an image to a DVD-RW for a second line of defense.


-WD
 
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In article <7Nyic.67176$B%4.15940@fe2.columbus.rr.com>,
wdormann@yahoo.com.invalid says...
> Si wrote:
> > I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
> >
> > However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
> >
> > As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive just
> > an extravagance?
>
> No, not if you value your data.
>
>
> > Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?
>
> Not really. A DVD is *slow* and *small* compared to an external HD.
> Granted, you're only using a small fraction of your HD space. But
> using an external HD for backups will give you the benefit of being able
> to easily keep an archive of multiple backups. Plus you don't have to
> worry about shuffling around DVDs and making sure not to get them
> scratched or anything.
>
> What I do is use an external drive for regular backups. And then
> periodically I offload an image to a DVD-RW for a second line of defense.
>

Very similar to what I do (except with a pair of
external drives). Use DVDs for archival purposes (maybe
weekly/monthly/quarterly) and stick PAR2 recovery data
on the DVDs using QuickPar.

For backup software, I'm a fan of Second Copy 2000.
Sits in the system tray and will backup whatever you
tell it at periodic intervals to that external drive.
Where it shines is that it's a straight mirror (making
it easy to retrieve a file that you just accidently
trashed), and you can configure it to keep
changed/deleted files in a seperate tree. No muss, no
fuss, never put off doing the backups because you don't
have time to fiddle with the DVD-writer.

Hard drive costs are cheap, 160GB drives are around
$0.59/GB at the moment.
 
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Si <simon@nospamforme.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c6e68u$b5$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...

> I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...

> However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...

> As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB
> free, is the extra drive just an extravagance?

Not really if you would use the extra drive as a destination
for the backups and wouldnt bother using the DVD burner.

> Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

Thats harder to say because only you can say if you would
do that religiously or not. If you arent likely to be that careful,
there is a lot to be said for using an external hard drive as the
destination for backups, and you can automate that so you are
unlikely to get lazy about backups and can do them daily too.

An external hard drive is best, because its unlikely to be
killed by say the power supply in the PC dying spectacularly.

It would still be worth writing to the DVDs occasionally
tho, and keeping the media out of the house, say at
work etc, to protect yourself against all the hardware
or the house burning down or floating away in a flood etc.

Doesnt necessarily need to be a full backup in that situation,
just the essential stuff you'll slash your wrists if you lose them
would be enough on the DVDs with an external hard drive.
 
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"Si" <simon@nospamforme.co.uk> wrote in
news:c6e68u$b5$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk:

> I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
>
> However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
>
> As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive
> just an extravagance?
>
> Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

I don't think so. There are several considerations here, but I'll start
with just a few. One is the space required to backup. Obviously another
HD is superior to DVD in this respect. The other is speed. Time is money,
at least for some people it's worth something to save time during backups.
Again, HD wins over DVD. Downtime is money for some people too, so the
time saved restoring from another HD vs DVD can be quite important.

Personally, I backup data and operating system images (using Ghost) to
another HD. It's fast and saves me a lot of time. If you want to go the
extra mile, do the DVD backups as well. Work out a schedule for backups to
HD and to DVD.

It depends on what the data or downtime is worth to you.
 
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"Timothy Daniels" scribbled:
> ...I have an
> internal secondary HD which has enough room to save
> several backups of the primary HD. I save 4 backups
> on it at a time, each one selectable by the WinXP multi-
> boot feature, and I can boot to any one of them at will.
> Selecting the HD is a matter of changing the HD boot
> priority in the BIOS, then I select the OS to boot during
> the boot process....
> ...Retrieving a
> file or folder is just a matter of booting the OS from the
> proper partition (I name each partition in the boot.ini file)
> and then dragging the necessary file or folder over to the
> primary HD.


This does work, but you don't need to boot up the
archived system. You can just use the current system and
drag the required file or folder over from the archived
system (which is seen as just another local disk to the
currently-booted system). Retrieving archived material
is really easy this way, but the downside is that for internal
backup HDs, susceptibility to power supply faults affects
both HDs. For that reason, external backup HDs with
their own power supplies may be more prudent - provided
those power supplies are actually as reliable or more
reliable than PC power supplies. Anybody know about
the reliability of external HD power supplies?

*TimDaniels*
 
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"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote in message news:hO6dnWOBD9d5NxHdRVn-hg@comcast.com...
>
> "Timothy Daniels" scribbled:

Scribbled sounds about right.

> > ...I have an
> > internal secondary HD which has enough room to save
> > several backups of the primary HD. I save 4 backups
> > on it at a time, each one selectable by the WinXP multi-
> > boot feature, and I can boot to any one of them at will.
> > Selecting the HD is a matter of changing the HD boot
> > priority in the BIOS, then I select the OS to boot during
> > the boot process....
> > ...Retrieving a
> > file or folder is just a matter of booting the OS from the
> > proper partition (I name each partition in the boot.ini file)
> > and then dragging the necessary file or folder over to the
> > primary HD.
>
>
> This does work, but you don't need to boot up the
> archived system. You can just use the current system and
> drag the required file or folder over from the archived
> system (which is seen as just another local disk to the
> currently-booted system). Retrieving archived material
> is really easy this way, but the downside is that for internal
> backup HDs, susceptibility to power supply faults affects
> both HDs. For that reason, external backup HDs with
> their own power supplies may be more prudent - provided
> those power supplies are actually as reliable or more
> reliable than PC power supplies. Anybody know about
> the reliability of external HD power supplies?

ROTFLOL.
No one ever noticed that cluelessness in your post so here you are rubbing
it under our nose to make sure that we know how clueless you really are.

>
> *TimDaniels*
 
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"Folkert Rienstra" wrote:
> ROTFLOL.
> No one ever noticed that cluelessness in your post so here you are rubbing
> it under our nose to make sure that we know how clueless you really are.


Hi, Rod Speed. You laugh at what you wish you had said.

*TimDaniels*
 
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"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:

> "Folkert Rienstra" wrote:
>> ROTFLOL.
>> No one ever noticed that cluelessness in your post so here
>> you are rubbing it under our nose to make sure that we know
>> how clueless you really are.
>
>
> Hi, Rod Speed. You laugh at what you wish you had said.
>
> *TimDaniels*


Hmmmm, Tim, this is going to get complicated and all because you
didn't look particularly closely at the headers.
 
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"Mark M" wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Path:
internal1.nntp.ash.giganews.com!border2.nntp.ash.giganews.com!border1.nntp.ash.g
iganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!pd7cy2so!shaw.ca!news-out1.nntp.be!propagator2-ste
rling!propagator3-cogent!news-in-sterling.newsfeeds.com!news.astraweb.com!newsro
uter1.astraweb.com!not-for-mail

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Subject: Re: Extra HD an extravagance?

From: Mark M <MarkM_csiphsCANT_RECEIVE_MAIL@yahoo.co.uk>
References: <c6e68u$b5$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>
<mP2dnbojgfMFUhfdRVn-hw@comcast.com> <hO6dnWOBD9d5NxHdRVn-hg@comcast.com>
<c6k47b$d3hsn$3@ID-79662.news.uni-berlin.de>
<F_GdndhHyqyBChDdRVn-uQ@comcast.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:42:31 +0100
Message-ID: <94D9B424C5A413A75@64.62.191.96>

X-No-Archive: yes
Lines: 16
Organization: Unlimited download news at news.astraweb.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: 8dd1e4d6.news.astraweb.com
X-Trace:
DXC=cB@d7\c\?iofj0fd2JZgghL?0kYOcDh@jZhbhLMR7jkiSSYYaP5h@nbQ7kTX::1Tjk5@iMFTKdFk
gWB0kiBmEB:i
Xref: number1.nntp.ash.giganews.com comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:285166

"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:

> "Folkert Rienstra" wrote:
>> ROTFLOL.
>> No one ever noticed that cluelessness in your post so here
>> you are rubbing it under our nose to make sure that we know
>> how clueless you really are.
>
>
> Hi, Rod Speed. You laugh at what you wish you had said.
>
> *TimDaniels*


Hmmmm, Tim, this is going to get complicated and all because you
didn't look particularly closely at the headers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The headers say nothing. "Folkert" posts via the free news server
at the Free University of Berlin, which *anybody* can use. A traceroute
to his IP adrs merely leads to Global Crossing has a presence in Australia,
where Rod Speed's handler resides, and so does any Dutch ISP which
has a presence in Indonesia. Furthermore, anyone, even yourself -
who posts via the Astraweb news server - can hide his geographical
location and identity as Rod Speed's handler does. And... who *are*
you, Mark, and why do you prevent Google from archiving your posts
by putting "No-Archive: yes" in your headers?

*TimDaniels*
 
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"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:

> "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:
>
>> "Folkert Rienstra" wrote:
>>> ROTFLOL.
>>> No one ever noticed that cluelessness in your post so here
>>> you are rubbing it under our nose to make sure that we know
>>> how clueless you really are.
>>
>>
>> Hi, Rod Speed. You laugh at what you wish you had said.
>>
>> *TimDaniels*
>
>
> Hmmmm, Tim, this is going to get complicated and all because
> you didn't look particularly closely at the headers.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> The headers say nothing. "Folkert" posts via the free news
> server at the Free University of Berlin, which *anybody* can
> use. A traceroute to his IP adrs merely leads to Global
> Crossing has a presence in Australia, where Rod Speed's
> handler resides, and so does any Dutch ISP which has a
> presence in Indonesia. Furthermore, anyone, even yourself -
> who posts via the Astraweb news server - can hide his
> geographical location and identity as Rod Speed's handler
> does. And... who *are* you, Mark, and why do you prevent
> Google from archiving your posts by putting "No-Archive: yes"
> in your headers?


Tim, I hope this helps:

You may be overlooking that the newserver at the Free Univiversity
of Berlin identifies its posters by a unique reference number in
one of the headers.

Folkert has long posted with the same ID number as the one which
appears in the header of the message which you mistakenly attribute
to Rod.

That is why I said: "Hmmmm, Tim, this is going to get complicated
and all because you didn't look particularly closely at the
headers". The next thing you know might happen is that Rod tells
you in his robust way to restrain making him the subject of your
false accustations, and Folkert meanwhile tells you he is not Rod
but you then think that that poster actually is Rod and you might
feel you need to reply robustly to whom you mistakenly think is Rod
with the result that Folkert, who can look after himself, gets
upset by you and tell you what he thinks of your comments to him
.... etc, etc, etc.

It's a recipe for confusion. As I said, "this is going to get
complicated and all because you didn't look particularly closely at
the headers".
 
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"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote in message news:pM6dnS47LbaorwzdRVn-jA@comcast.com
> "Mark M" tries to protect "Folkert's" identity:
>

Utterly clueless, as always.
 
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"Folkert Rienstra" <see_reply-to@myweb.nl> wrote in message
news:c6s4n7$fmg01$1@ID-79662.news.uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
> > "Mark M" tries to protect "Folkert's" identity:
> >
>
> Utterly clueless, as always.


<hee, hee> Utterly Rod Speed, as always. Hey "Folkert"!
Why don't you post through your ISP's news server? <hee, hee>
How are the dikes and windmills in Australia? <hee, hee>

*TimDaniels*
 
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On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 18:04:08 +0100, "Si" <simon@nospamforme.co.uk>
wrote:

>I'm thinking of getting an extra HD, primarily for backups...
>
>However, I have a DVD+R/+RW drive built in...
>
>As my current HD is 80GB with currently 62GB free, is the extra drive just
>an extravagance?
>
>Am I better just burning a backup to DVD once a week?

If you will actually do it once a week (I never could, especially if
it spanned multiple DVDs), and don't mind possibly losing a week's
worth of data (I wouldn't like that), it's OK.

I do a full backup once a week and daily incrementals, with an
alternate full backup (no incrementals) midweek just in case. Takes a
few minutes a day average, and requires no user intervention.

Considering an external USB2 drive can be had for well under $150, and
looking at the aggravation of replacing a dead HD, I'd consider it a
wise investment, not an extravagance, but that's me.


Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer
 
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"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:

> "Folkert Rienstra" <see_reply-to@myweb.nl> wrote in message
> news:c6s4n7$fmg01$1@ID-79662.news.uni-berlin.de...
>>
>> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
>> > "Mark M" tries to protect "Folkert's" identity:
>> >
>>
>> Utterly clueless, as always.
>
>
> <hee, hee> Utterly Rod Speed, as always. Hey "Folkert"!
> Why don't you post through your ISP's news server? <hee, hee>
> How are the dikes and windmills in Australia? <hee, hee>
>
> *TimDaniels*


Now that is funny.
 
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Used "Quoted Printable" to disable line breaking so may not quote properly.
"Mark M" <MarkM_csiphsCANT_RECEIVE_MAIL@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:Xns94DBA1BD5EF6A3A75@64.62.191.95
> "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:
>
> > "Mark M" tries to protect "Folkert's" identity:
> >
> > ========================================
> > "Mark M"
> > Path:internal1.nntp.ash.giganews.com!border2.nntp.ash.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!feed2.news.rcn.net!rcn!news-router2.astraweb.com!news.astraweb.com!newsrouter1.astraweb.com!not-for-mail
> > Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
> >
> > Subject: Re: Extra HD an extravagance?
> > From: Mark M <MarkM_csiphsCANT_RECEIVE_MAIL@yahoo.co.uk>
> > References: <c6e68u$b5$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>
> > <mP2dnbojgfMFUhfdRVn-hw@comcast.com>
> > <hO6dnWOBD9d5NxHdRVn-hg@comcast.com>
> > <c6k47b$d3hsn$3@ID-79662.news.uni-berlin.de>
> > <F_GdndhHyqyBChDdRVn-uQ@comcast.com>
> > <94D9B424C5A413A75@64.62.191.96>
> > <zdydnZY0XdzNZRLdRVn-hw@comcast.com> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004
> > 13:55:19 +0100 Message-ID: <94DA8D9FAA60C3A75@67.98.68.11>
> >
> > X-No-Archive: yes
> >
> > Lines: 59
> > Organization: Unlimited download news at news.astraweb.com
> > NNTP-Posting-Host: 8cc288ed.news.astraweb.com
> > X-Trace:DXC=;[cNOY:LLgcNIa8EGN3lWcL?0kYOcDh@jc4;Ka;_DJAc2HPbaNQi>AgQ7kTX::1TjkmobaOAJ[ei d`2^F]_BcS0g
> > Xref: number1.nntp.ash.giganews.com comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:285208
> >
> > [.......snip.......]
> >
> > Tim, I hope this helps:
> >
> > You may be overlooking that the newserver at the Free
> > Univiversity of Berlin identifies its posters by a unique
> > reference number in one of the headers.
> >

[snip]

>
>
> Oh Tim, I have tried to help you but I find your
> belligerent attitude makes my efforts feel unwarranted.
>
> You say such stuff above as "The news server at Free University of
> Berlin just puts the IP adrs of the user in its NNTP headers". If
> that were all that was true then I wouldn't have wasted my breath.
>
> Why don't you have a good look at the X-Trace headers and see if
> you can spot something you missed the first time at the end of that
> header line in square brackets and then check out if that is (as I
> have told you once already) a unique user-id or not.
>
> See http://news.individual.net/faq.html#4.3 - Bullet point 3
>
> Your rather restless re-quoting of my own headers is not helping
> you see what I am trying to tell you. As for my own XNA, that will
> not help you with correctly identifying Rod and Folkert.

And don't even think of quoting headers without obscuring the Reply-To
header in it.
 
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