Gman, I thought you had posted something about all of this a good while back and I even thought I printed it out if I could find it anywhere now about two years ago or a year ago. I could not find it in my saved emails though. Christine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:47 AM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Backups Patti (and anyone else looking for info on backing up), After much thought and a smack on the back of the head by a good friend, I have come to the realization that my proposed plan for fielding every question that anyone has ever had about backups is simply way too much for me to handle. So, I'm going to first assign a bit of homework for those who need to learn more about the art of preserving precious data. Bring up google.com and type in the words "how to backup pc" (or just click on the link below). My search shows 3.75 million hits, but just about everything everyone needs to know can be found within the first several hits that rise to the top of that list. (the first one is a dud as far as methods go, but it does contain some decent info). Once everyone understand the basics, we can handle more targetted questions here. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+backup+pc The idea is to sit down in a quiet environment and figure out ALL of the stuff you would hate to lose. Make a list. Go through every folder on your hard drive and make sure you haven't missed anything on your list. when you're done, you will know what you need to back up and can choose the best methods for different things. After that, the only thing left is to actually back that stuff up. In answer to your original questions, I use several different methods depending on what I'm backing up, how long I'll need to retain it and how important it is. Because I deal with so much data that falls into so many different categories, I have found it best to back up personal, learning and entertainment files separately from backing up the operating system itself. I also have become an expert at reinstalling OS's, so my OS hardly ever gets backed up. As a result, my backups consist primarily of CD/DVD burning, duplication (back up an entire hard drive to another drive) and drive images. For example, the entire part of my music library that has been ripped to my hard drive is also stored in its ripped formats (MP3, Flac, WMA, etc.) onto DVDs. It's not so necessary for me to do this for original music CDs I own since I can simply rip them again, but it's VERY important for the music I ripped from Vinyl, Cassettes, etc. since doing all of that work again would destroy me (not to mention that I no longer have some of the originals). This same approach would apply to Home videos and family pictures if I had any on here. What you heard about CDs is correct. They don't last for 100 years. The pressed ones might, but not the ones that we use for burning. According to several research labs testing their lifespans, they appear to have an average life of about 5 years, although I have tested some that I have that are much older and found most of them still working fine. As a precaution, I copied their entire contents to my drive and burned them onto a fresh DVD blank to be safe (6 - 7 CDs can fit onto a single layer DVD blank, so the space occupied by my backups keeps getting smaller). DVD's are supposed to last longer, but I don't have any reliable info on that. Peace, Gman "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patti or Ken" <patken@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:59 PM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Backups > > > What is your recommended way of backing up? I am going to tackle my > personal > files and photos etc and burn them to CD-R's. I use a lot of DVD-RW when > I'm I've not decided on a permanent home :-) > > I read somewhere that Compact Discs do not last forever and any precious > photos should be printed off and kept safe in photo albums for our future > generations! > > Patti --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. 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